Top-10 moments in 2008 celebrity activism
Oprah throws the party
Oprah Winfrey is the diva of chat and the celebrity American publishers most want to be their authors’ best friend. She makes diets (and breaks them) as well as bestsellers, and this year she decided to help make a president. And she sure did her best for President-elect Barack Obama. Her involvement began with a garden party so grand and exclusive that it snarled traffic all over Santa Barbara and turned even that star-kissed resort into a town full of gawkers. Oprah’s invitation to the exclusive fundraiser she threw for Obama on the lawn of her sprawling and gated Montecito estate came with explicit instructions: no high heels on her lawn. The guests came for the message, but many ignored the fashion tip. Later, the Chicago-based talk show host and media traveled to North Carolina for an Obama rally big enough to be mistaken for a Tar Heel basketball game. (Elise Amendola / AP)
Norman Lear thinks young
Norman Lear is liberal Hollywood’s elder statesman. Not only because he is a longtime political contributor, but also because he’s one of the guys who can see the whole playing field. This year, Lear, who founded People for the American Way, decided the name of the game was registering young voters and getting them to the polls. So, he threw himself and his aides into Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan online voter registration effort that also encouraged youth to go to the polls. And even if the youth turnout was less than some had hoped for, it still proved to be a vital part of Obama’s winning formula. (Chris Pizzello / AP)
George Clooney plays it coy
George Clooney and Obama have been friends for years, but the Hollywood superstar sometimes acted as if he were auditioning for the lead in a remake of “The Shadow.” Maybe he and Obama were exchanging e-mails, discussing style tips and foreign policy. Maybe they weren’t. Only George and the president-elect know for sure, and they’re not talking. But Clooney, who feared that stumping for the Democratic candidate might create a distracting celebrity buzz around a serious campaign, did use his drawing power to host a high-wattage private dinner party for his old pal in Switzerland. The event was so exclusive and discreet that you practically had to have a numbered Swiss bank account to get in the door. (Mannie Garcia / AP)
The rise of the Avant family
Former Motown chairman Clarence Avant, wife Jackie and children Nicole, pictured left, and Alex have long been mainstays of the African American political elite. This year, they played a key role in the campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Obama and emerged as one of Hollywood’s premiere political power families. Clarence remained an influential advisor and fundraiser to his old friends the Clintons, while Nicole made a daring move: She forged out on her own and declared her support for Obama. By the end of the campaign, she had become one of Obama’s key fundraisers in California. On Jan. 21, Obama will be president and the Avants will be that rare Hollywood thing: a family political dynasty. (Arnold Turner / WireImage)
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Hollywood misses its Prop. 8 cue
While the industry had its eyes fixed on the national election, a cause that mattered deeply to many of the town’s leading activists somehow slipped under the radar. By the time polls showed that Proposition 8, the initiative banning same-sex marriage, might be on its way to victory, it was too late for Hollywood to slip into its fundraising and campaigning role. The result was a lingering feeling that a business in which gay and lesbian artists and executives play a key role had done too little, too late on the fundamental civil rights issue. If there’s a replay of the initiative campaign -- and you can bet there will be -- look for Hollywood to come in with its checkbook open and all stars blazing. (Kevork Djansezian / AP)
Picking the industry’s pockets
The last time anybody was shaken down as thoroughly as Hollywood was by Democratic candidates and causes this year, Al Capone’s boys were running their famous protection racket. All over town hand-helds crashed under the weight of calendars stuffed with fundraising invitations. Ron Burkle hosted so many high-level gatherings that his famous living room looked like a meeting of SAG’s Malibu local. It was hard to choose the most glittering venue. Haim Saban’s sprawling compound certainly was among them -- and it may have been the only one where you needed GPS to find the ladies room. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Keeping focused on Darfur
Hollywood is a global business and no international cause moves quite so many stars quite so deeply as the ongoing genocide and dislocation of the people in Darfur. The cool guys from “Ocean’s 11-13” were convinced by costars and friends Don Cheadle and Clooney to make the cause of Darfur their own. With that crew on your side, it’s hard to go wrong, but as more of the industry educated itself about the situation in western Sudan, it became the international crisis closest to the film industry’s heart. Fundraising for relief continues, and a surprising number of stars have taken the extra step of intervening whenever possible with the governments and international organizations involved. Hollywood’s a town with a notoriously short memory, but don’t look for Darfur to slip off the radar any time soon.
tina.daunt@latimes.com (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
