Hollywood Star Robert Wagner to Receive Second Gold Coast International Film Festival's 'Golden Era Award'

Robert Wagner, the handsome and debonair actor and one of the most popular and successful stars in the entertainment industry, has been named to be the recipient of the Gold Coast International Film Festival's second annual Burton Moss Hollywood Golden Era Award. Regina Gil, founder and executive director of the Gold Coast Arts Center and its Gold Coast International Film Festival, announced the selection along with members of an advisory board that included such noted celebrities as Joel Grey, Larry King, Richard Thomas, Edwina Sandys, Mrs. Anthony Katherine Quinn, Tippi Hedren, Greg Mullavey, Carole Shelley, Angie Dickinson, Diane Baker, Stefanie Powers and Constance Towers Gavin.

Presentation of the Burton Moss Hollywood Golden Era Award will be on October 24, 2018 at a time and location to be announced shortly. The event is expected to be attended by a number of well-known celebrities.

Born on February 10, 1930, in Detroit, Michigan, Robert Wagner has amassed an impressive list of feature and television films, along with three hit television series over a career that has spanned nearly seven decades. He made his film debut in 1950 in The Happy Years, and soon after was put under contract with 20th Century Fox. At Fox, his first film was in 1951 in a supporting role in Halls of Montezuma, a World War II movie starring Richard Widmark. Cast by Darryl F. Zanuck as a crippled soldier in the 1952 film With a Song in My Heart, Mr. Wagner's performance brought immediate public reaction to the studio. The rest, as it is said, is history.

Film legend Spencer Tracy saw Mr. Wagner in Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef and requested him in the role of his son in Broken Lance. Impressed with his acting skills, Tracy cast him as his brother in The Mountain. Among Robert Wagner's numerous film credits includes Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, The Pink Panther, The Curse of the Pink Panther, Midway, The Towering Inferno, Banning, Harper, Prince Valiant, The True Story of Jesse James, and All the Fine Young Cannibals. He re-created his role of Number Two, the villainous henchman to Dr. Evil, the archenemy of Mike Myers' title character in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

As a television star, Mr. Wagner has starred in three long-running hit series, It Takes a Thief, with Fred Astaire, Switch, with Eddie Albert and Sharon Gless and Hart to Hart, with Stefanie Powers. He was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Alexander Mundy in It Takes a Thief. He also starred with Jaclyn Smith in the top-rated miniseries Windmills of the Gods, based on Sidney Sheldon's best-selling novel; with Angie Dickinson in the miniseries Pearl with Audrey Hepburn in Love among Thieves; with Lesley Anne Down in Indiscreet and in North and South III with Joanne Woodward in A Kiss Before Dying; and with Elizabeth Taylor in There Must Be a Pony, which he also executive-produced. He also appeared in the memorable Seinfeld episode, "The Yada, Yada, Yada," as Dr. Abbot.

Longtime close friend, Larry King, who also serves on the nominating committee for the Burton Moss Hollywood Golden Era Award said of the nomination, "Robert Wagner is most deserving of this award."

Named for the man who has represented some of Hollywood's finest stars, the Burton Moss Hollywood Golden Era Award pays tribute to film legends who may not have been appropriately honored during their lifetimes, and whose legacy is in danger of becoming forgotten by newer generations of filmgoers.

Burton Moss, for whom the award is named, represented Hollywood legends over an illustrious career that has spanned several decades. Moss's client roster has included Bette Davis, Sidney Poitier, Robert Vaughn, Tom Cruise, Mia Farrow, Juliet Mills, Hugh O'Brian, Cliff Robertson, Tippi Hedren, William Shatner, Dyan Cannon, Carroll O' Connor, Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, Dina Merrill, Connie Stevens, Tom Bosley, Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, Dorothy McGuire, Charles Bickford, Victor Jory, Sally Kellerman, Carrie Snodgress, Larry King, Elizabeth Montgomery, Constance Towers, Ruth Roman, Cyd Charisse, June Allyson, Jack Valenti, and Hollywood's "Love Goddess," Rita Hayworth, who posthumously received the inaugural Burton Moss Hollywood Golden Era Award in October 2017.

The Burton Moss Hollywood Golden Era Award, itself an original work of art, was created by renowned sculptor Edwina Sandys, who is a granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill. The first award was accepted by Hayworth's daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, at the presentation made at a private reception held at the New York City home of Ms. Sandys.

"American culture owes a debt of gratitude to THE PIONEERS of the film and television industry for creating out of whole cloth a form of entertainment that is accessible to the ordinary individual and that has had the potential to educate and transform the thinking of millions of people," said Ms. Gil. "The producers, directors, actors and technicians who dreamed, worked, invented, reinvented, and developed what we know today as Hollywood were the greats of this industry, upon whose shoulders today's stars stand. Robert Wagner has the long view of this pond, having served in film and television as a leading man and talented actor. He worked alongside the greatest in his profession because he was one of them. It is our honor to recognize him with this award."

About the Gold Coast International Film Festival
Since 2011, the festival has brought the latest Hollywood hits and Indie favorites to standing-room-only audiences throughout the fabled Gold Coast of Long Island and beyond. Add A-list celebrities and unforgettable events to the mix and it's easy to see why the Gold Coast International Film Festival has become the "go to" festival for film buffs and the public; (it is also the last major film festival on the East Coast before Awards season). The Gold Coast International Film Festival is produced by the not-for-profit Gold Coast Arts Center.
Previous honorees and special guests of the festival and the Gold Coast Arts Center include film and entertainment industry VIPs Francis Ford Coppola, Hugh Grant, Baz Luhrmann, Brian Dennehy, Paul Sorvino, Ed Burns, Bruce Dern, Isabella Rossellini, Lou Diamond Phillips, Morgan Spurlock, Eli Wallach, Gabriel Byrne, Jacques Pepin, Bill Plympton, Phil Donahue, Phylicia Rashaad, Joan Allen, Jay McInerney and Michael Cuesta, as well as composer Morton Gould, artists James Rosenquist, Oleg Cassini, Edwina Sandys and Bob Gruen, comedian Susie Essman, Broadway stars Kelli O'Hara, Melissa Errico and Savion Glover, and 4-time Oscar winner for production and costume design Catherine Martin. More information can be found at http://www.goldcoastfilmfestival.org.

About the Gold Coast Arts Center
The Gold Coast Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting the arts through education, exhibition, performance and outreach. Located on the North Shore of Long Island, it has brought the arts to tens of thousands of people throughout the region for over 20 years. Among the Center's offerings are its School for the Arts, which holds year-round classes in visual and performing arts for students of all ages and abilities; a free public art gallery; a concert and lecture series; film screenings and discussions; the annual Gold Coast International Film Festival; and initiatives that focus on senior citizens and underserved communities. These initiatives include artist residencies, after-school programs, school assemblies, teacher-training workshops and parent-child workshops. The Gold Coast Arts Center is an affiliate of the John F. KENNEDY Center for the Performing Arts Partners in Education program, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. More information can be found at http://www.goldcoastarts.org.

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