Memphis, Tennessee, April 23, 2002

Hollywood rolled out the red carpet Thursday night for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at the 22nd annual St. Jude Hollywood Gala.

St. Jude celebrated its 40th anniversary with this annual fund-raising event, which spotlighted four decades of success in fighting childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

Tony Thomas and Terre Thomas, son and daughter of St. Jude founder Danny Thomas, hosted the gala along with Phil Donahue, whose wife is Marlo Thomas. The event was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

"This is an annual tradition for St. Jude and the Thomas family," said Tony Thomas. "Our father relied heavily on the Hollywood community to support his dream. My sisters and I are proud to carry on that tradition. We are so appreciative of Hollywood's continued support."

More than 1,000 people attended the gala, including celebrities such as Jim Carrey, Courtney Cox-Arquette, Bradley Whitford, Jane Kaczmarek, Dylan McDermott, Lara Flynn Boyle, Crystal Bernard, Shannon Doherty, Daisy Fuentes, Amber Valetta, Tom Shadyac, and Gary Oldman. Comedienne Rita Rudner and singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge provided the night's entertainment.

"We are very proud of St. Jude's 40 years of pioneering research," said Tony Thomas. Marlo Thomas was appearing in a play out of town and was not able to attend, the first time she has not been at the Gala since its inception.

St. Jude patient Bayleigh Jones was on hand as were Jack and Barbara Pavlat, whose daughter, Suzanne, was a St. Jude patient. Suzanne passed away last year.

Article from http://www.stjude.org/search/0,2616,582_3161_3247,00.html

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