Look To The Stars News: Robbie Coltrane

British Celebrities Doodle For Charity

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:30:00 -0000

A variety of British celebrities have completed unique drawings to raise awareness of a charity committed to helping the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK break through injustice, deprivation and inequality, so they can achieve their full potential.

The Celebrity Journeys campaign asked stars to illustrate “the start and end of a personal transformation in their lives in a single, unbroken line”. The drawings are currently appearing on an online gallery for Action for Children.

Stars who have taken up the challenge include Rod Stewart, Joanna Lumley, Gemma Atkinson, Ranulph Fiennes, Jo Brand, Robbie Coltrane, Ronnie Corbett, Esther Rantzen, Alexi Sayle, Brian Blessed, Vanessa Mae, Peter Davison, Kim Wilde, Ben Elton, Amir Khan, and many more.

“[My] picture tells the story of how anybody can start from very little and with the right ingredients and determination, can rise to the top,” said celebrity chef Gary Rhodes.

Action for Children said the online gallery will highlight the support it gives to thousands of young people as they start their own personal journeys.

To view the gallery, click here.

Stars Heal Patients With A Kiss

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Written by Marie Gorrettie

Medicinema is a registered charity that has partnered with the Health Sector and the Film Industry, installing state-of-the-art cinemas on site in hospitals around the United Kingdom.

By creating purpose built cinemas in hospitals, Medicinema provides a much needed escape for the patients – it’s a welcome break from the hospital ward. Each cinema is specially designed to cater for beds and wheel chairs and nursing staff on duty throughout every Medicinema screening.

With nurses instead of usherettes, Medicinema harnesses the magic of the Silver Screen to help enrich the quality of life for patients. By screening the latest releases for patients young and old – including those in beds and on wheelchairs – patients and their families are able to escape the reality of hospital life.

As the lights dim and the film starts, with the big screen filled and Dolby Surround sound bursting into life, patients can be forgiven for thinking they are spending a night in the West End – apart from the occasional bleep of a patient’s monitor, you could be in a cinema!

Everyone needs a little escapism in their lives, especially if they’re in hospital. There is often not very much to look forward to so a visit to the cinema can give a much-needed boost to the spirits, providing the sort of family outing that is otherwise difficult in hospital. With the help and active support of the leading film distributors, Medicinema screens a wide variety of feature films from action and adventure to romantic comedies. Some films are even screened to Medicinema audiences before they go on general release.

As part of a new initiative, stars of the Silver Screen have donated kisses to celebrate ten years of Medicinema to help enhance therapeutic care for patients in hospitals around UK. To mark their 10th Anniversary, MediCinema is auctioning the HEALED WITH A KISS COLLECTION. The collection contains over 50 original signed lip prints from some of the biggest names in the Film Industry. The following are the stars who have donated Healed With A Kiss Lip Prints to help bring magic of the Silver Screen to hospital patients across UK: Madonna, Catherine Zeta Jones, Dame Helen Mirren, Sigourney Weaver, Ewan McGregor, Kate Winslet, John Hurt, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Helena Bonham Carter, Dame Judi Dench, Joan Collins, Glenn Close, Shirley MacLaine, Dame Diana Rigg, Kate Beckinsale, Thandie Newton, Nickolas Grace, Tim Roth, Jeremy Irons, Ben Stiller, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Broadbent, Honor Blackman, John Travolta, Claire Bloom, Martine McCutcheon, Greta Scacchi, Saffron Burrows, Geraldine Chaplin, Mariella Frostrup, Juliet Stevenson, Robbie Coltrane, Zoë Wanamaker, Cathy Tyson, Jason Isaacs, Anthony Andrews, Tommy Steele, Mark Addy, Kenneth Branagh, Alice Eve, and Dwayne Johnson.

The Auction party will be held in April 2009 and the complete Healed With A Kiss collection will be auctioned at the Medicinema Private Auction Party at The Movieunm, London’s biggest Film Memorabilia Museum.

The Healed With A Kiss Auction party will offer you the opportunity to own these highly collectable pieces of film memorabilia and the chance to rub shoulders with Movers and Shakers of the film industry. Hugh Edmeades, Christie’s International Auctioneer, will chair the auction in support of MediCinema. An exclusive drinks reception, live entertainment and a private tour will be followed by the auction of the healed with a kiss collection in support of MediCinema.

Here are some of the quotes from patients and their families whom MediCinema has touched:

“Really happy at the thought that I was not going to have to spend an evening on the ward, staring at a blank wall with no neighbours and chewing my lips to avoid being in pain”. Niamh.

“I completely forgot that I was in hospital, and that I had loads of needles in my arm, and when the film ended I thought “right, time to go home; and it was only when the lights came back on and I saw all the other beds and steelchairs that I remembered that I was in hospital”. Jesica, St Thomas patient.

If you would like to Bid for Original Signed Lip prints from the Stars of the Silver Screen and attend the Auction Party and bid in person please contact MediCinema: Tel:+44(0) 20 7188 3697 or email medicinema@gstt.nhs.uk.

If a celebrity lip print has caught your eye, you can make an advance bid before attending the Auction event in writing, on line or by telephone.

If you are unable to attend the Auction Party in person, you can secure an original signed lip print by placing “ABSENTEE” Bid, in writing, on line or by telephone. Please register your bid/s in the Healed with a Kiss Auction by contacting medicinema@gsst.nhs.uk or telephoning +44 (0) 20 7188 3697.

Once you have registered interest in placing an “Absentee” or advance bid, you will be contacted to confirm your bid and contact details.

For more information about the Auction Party please contact MediCinema on +44 (0) 20 7188 3697 or email medicinema@gstt.nhs.uk.

British Stars Sign Favorite Books For Africa

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Some of Britain’s best loved stars have signed editions of their favorite books for a new charity auction.

Helen Mirren, Joanna Lumley, and Ian McKellen are amongst the celebrities to sign the books, which cover a wide variety of genres.

“Education offers a route out of poverty and books are the foundation of lifelong learning, yet the majority of people in Africa cannot afford books of their own,” said Lesley Pinder, Book Aid International spokeswoman. “The proceeds from this online auction will help Book Aid International support reading and learning in some of the world’s poorest countries by getting books into libraries, universities, hospitals and refugee camps.”

The range of books chosen as favorites by the stars is vast and revealing. Mirren has signed Suite Francais by Irene Nemirovsky, Sir David Jason has chosen Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows – which he voiced for a BBC series in the 1980s – and Gary Lineker has inscribed A Good Walk Spoiled by John Feinstein. Joanna Lumley has chosen Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, while Robbie Coltrane has signed Huckleberry Finn. Other names to take part include Twiggy, Alexander McCall Smith, Alan Rickman, Sue Townsend, Frederick Forsyth, Tim Rice, and Julian Fellowes.

Book Aid International is a non-profit organization that sends over half a million books to sub-Saharan Africa every year to support literacy, education and development. The books are almost always new books donated by UK publishers, and are distributed to national libraries, local and regional libraries, community libraries, schools, prisons, refugee camps, and NGO resource centers in 12 African countries. They also provide grants for purchasing books locally (especially those in local languages), and training and advice to ensure that books are targeted to the right groups of people and are well used.

The auction runs until October 27, and can be accessed through eBay.

The Spy Who Loved Me For Charity

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Ever fancy a kiss with James Bond? Or a cuddle with Hugh Grant? One lucky bidder did on Tuesday night, when they won the chance to do exactly that at a charity auction in London.

The Great British Movie Event, a dinner and auction to raise cash for the National Film and Television School, attracted a host of famous faces, including Richard Attenborough, Christopher Lee, Rowan Atkinson, Honor Blackman, Bill Nighy, and Richard Curtis. Hosted by Jonathan Ross, the evening raised over $800,000 for the school, which specializes in high-end media training.

The chance to kiss three living legends – Hugh Grant, James Bond actor Daniel Craig, and Harry Potter’s Robbie Coltrane – sold for a whopping $39,000, with the honor going to Barbara Broccoli, producer of the James Bond film franchise.

And although they didn’t have to fight over the girl, Craig and Grant did enter into a bidding war over some Harry Potter memorabilia, with Craig eventually paying $36,000 for the chance to own some of the famous wizard’s belongings. Hugh Grant was later outbid again, this time for two walk-on parts in one of his own films…

Other items up for auction on the night included the dinner jacket worn by Daniel Craig in the most recent Bond film ‘Casino Royale’, which sold for almost $20,000, and a signed copy of JK Rowling's ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, which fetched $39,000.

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