The 2011, 6th Annual Legends Awards celebrated the amazing achievements of some incredible Florida legends in the film, television and production industry! It took place at the Keith C. & Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida and was put together by the amazing stars of the Film Florida Legends organization. It was an elegant and spectacular event!
The host of the evening was Frank Licari. As a phenomenal triple threat, Frank blew me away with his talent! He entertained the crowd as if he was hosting the Oscars! He was incredibly charismatic, funny, musically talented on the piano, could sing like a rockstar – and even dance! He’s an amazing and humble gentleman, and as I watched Frank deliver on stage, I could see a super successful career ahead of him!
The incredibly talented band that played on stage throughout the awards ceremony was String Theory. Shane, Bruce, Marti and Mark did not leave one moment of time unfilled as they played between announcers and even accompanied Burt Reynolds with ba-ba-ba (I’m sure you get the idea) on the drums after his jokes! It was truly hysterical! String Theory has been together playing from the Florida Keys all the way up to North Florida for more than three years. Check out String Theory's website and book them for your next event! Trust me, you won’t be sorry!
Hugging the iconic legend, Burt Reynolds was just like being at home. He’s warm, loving and caring – the reason I fell immediately in love with him when I first met him as my teacher at B.R.I.F.T. However, Burt was not only my teacher, but my friend as well. Watching Burt accept his SO well deserved Film Florida legends award was incredible; however, crying through his heart-felt speech about how much his students mean to him, may not have been one of my finest moments. I mean, tears were literally streaming down my face (sorry to the beautiful actress I was sitting next to). However, I was laughing too, as his humor was so dry and funny! Burt Reynolds tells the most amazing story as to how he got started in the business! You can hear his story here or by clicking on the video on the sidebar! The video is the tail end of his award acceptance speech and it’s amazing!
Seeing the wonderful casting director, Dee Miller, CSA, owner of The Casting Directors, Inc., accept her Film Florida Legends award was great! She is such a lovely lady! I’ve personally cast for Dee Miller a multitude of times and she always had a way of making all actors feel comfortable and important in front of the camera – not to mention, as a person in general, she is extremely kind, warm and approachable! I love you, Dee! Watching Dee Miller being honored not only by the Film Florida Legends committee, but by her many friends, including, the great and talented casting director (and my friend) Brad Davis, from Marquee Entertainment Casting - Brad David Casting, who is also one of the finest, kindest and approachable casting directors and people I know, was phenomenal! Your “munchkin” loves you too, Brad! And you as well, Greg Corarito from Marquee Entertainment Casting!
Congratulations also go out to Ray Fielding, the founder of Florida State University's film program, Wes Skiles, a celebrated freelance adventure photographer/cinematographer (Posthumous) and Victor Milt, a veteran director/cinematographer, as well, for winning their Film Florida Legends awards! Victor Milt, who is also an amazing teacher, allowed me to hold the beautiful glass award he received, and boy was it heavy! He was afraid I would drop it, but I assured him that appearances can be deceiving -- I was strong enough to hold the beautiful trophy -- giving it back was the difficult part!
Seeing some amazing and extremely talented friends at this event and meeting some new ones such as Brett Loewenstern from American Idol 2011 and his beautiful sister, Stephanie Loewenstern and their dad was a delight!
What a GREAT night! And those little vanilla cupcakes at the end of the evening were just the icing on the cake (pun definitely intended).
CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO OF BURT REYNOLDS' 2ND HALF OF HIS SPEECH.
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