Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and actress Marlee Matlin will take part in Evansville’s Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series.

Dungy’s lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 16 at The Centre. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Matlin’s lecture is scheduled for Oct. 13, also at The Centre.

The lectures are free, but tickets are required. Tickets for Dungy’s lecture will be available beginning at 10 a.m. Feb. 21 at The Centre box office. Each person can request up to four tickets, and the requests must be made in person at the box office. Group tickets will not be distributed. Tickets and seats also are available upon request for anyone who needs special accommodation, according to a news release from Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel’s office. Read the rest of this entry »

When Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin comes to town, she gets around.

A former contestant on “Dancing With the Stars,” Matlin was in Indianapolis last week with the television show’s national tour, which included a performance Jan. 15 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

While in the Circle City, Matlin — who stayed at the Conrad Indianapolis — dropped by the Phoenix Theatre for a rehearsal of “Love Person” and posed for pictures with fans.

Matlin, who is deaf and won an Academy Award for her role in “Children of a Lesser God,” ended up at the Phoenix because she knows Tami Lee Santimyer — who also is deaf and plays a deaf woman in “Love Person,” which runs through Jan. 31.

Santimyer starred in a 2007 Kennedy Center production of “Nobody’s Perfect,” based on a book by Matlin and Doug Cooney.

Matlin apparently got someone to call the Phoenix on Jan. 14, inquiring about the show for “Dancing With the Stars” cast members. But the caller didn’t tell the Phoenix’s producing director Bryan Fonseca, who answered the theater’s phone, that it was Matlin who was asking.

“I didn’t know who she was talking about,” said Fonseca. “It could have been roadies.”

There wasn’t a public performance that night, so Fonseca, who directed “Love Person,” invited them over to watch the rehearsal.

A day later, Matlin encountered more Hoosiers after the Conseco show. Jeff Maess, executive director of the Pike Performing Arts Center, got a picture of himself with Matlin. He said his students plan performances of “Nobody’s Perfect” next year.

I have added some pictures of Marlee at the Dancing With The Stars Tour.

Dancing with the Stars - The Tour: 27th December 2008

The reality star of the year had to be Cloris Leachman, who won more fans in a few weeks on Dancing with the Stars than she had done in 60 years in the biz. Still, no one gets bigger props than Marlee Matlin, who not only held her own on Dancing, but did a better job than many of the hearing contestants.

Source

I have added a new promotioanl pictures of Marlee in season 6 of The L Word.

Promotional Pictures

Rock star fantasy
Deaf actress Marlee Matlin anchors ‘Dancing with the Stars’ tour

SOURCE

Marlee Matlin, a longtime client of Bragman’s, said his image-shaping approach is especially helpful during bleak economic times.

“In this world where everything changes so quickly and competition gets fiercer by the minute, the idea that you need to get your foot in the door through tried-and-true concepts that have worked to well in the entertainment business (and) personal PR makes perfect sense,” Matlin said in an e-mail.

There’s no down time for Marlee Matlin. She’s wrapped work on the sixth season of “The L Word” — yes, she’s back — and is now completing editing her forthcoming Simon & Schuster “I’ll Scream Later” autobiography. She’s scheduling book promotion time, plus a lengthy road tour for next year. The “Dancing With the Stars” alumna isn’t discussing the latter as yet, but she already knows she’ll be away from home much of 2009.

“I know I’ll miss my kids, but I’m grateful that they’ll be visiting me,” she tells us in a written interview, referring to her children with hubby Kevin Grandalski.

“I couldn’t do it without my husband, who is there 24/7. I’ve often said that as a child I imagined myself as Marcia Brady, who just happened to be deaf, but now with four kids I’ve grown into Alice the Maid. But that’s OK because my husband is like Alice’s Sam the Butcher, ever dependable and always there to fill in.”

Already a best-selling author of young people’s books, the deaf actress, who won 1986 Best Actress Oscar honors for “Children of a Lesser God” says, “I decided to write about my life now because so many thousands of people wrote in to tell me how much I inspired them as a result of doing what I did on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ I realized then that there were parts of my life that I had never spoken of but which might inspire others if I shared them. I’ve had my obstacles that I’ve overcome in my life related to my deafness, but that’s only a small part of who I am.”

“The L Word” has been a prominent part of her life since being signed to play deaf sculptor Jodi, erstwhile girlfriend of Bette (Jennifer Beals, Marlee’s close pal) on the show that just got its fifth-season DVD release this week. “We had always hoped to work together ever since we met in New York City 20 years ago,” she says. “And we finally did on ‘The L Word.’ … It was fantastic. The icing on a very delicious cake.”

I have added a picture of Marlee at “95th Annual Founder’s Day”.

And here is an article about it:

“The only thing a deaf person cannot do is hear,” Oscar-winning deaf actor Marlee Matlin told the 95th annual Founder’s Day crowd at Starr Commonwealth outside Albion Sunday.
The message was one of inspiration. The actor listened to the students in sessions and said she wanted to impart to Starr students that she had dealt with barriers when she was young.

“I understand their goals, hopes and desires, and where they are going,” she signed, adding that after reviewing the lifeskills programs at Starr, “you feel everything is going to be all right when you leave here,” she signed.

A lot of students told her of their mentors at Starr — whether other students or staff. Matlin acknowledged that her mentor, actor Henry Winkler, last year’s speaker, urged her to find out about the program, which helps children Michigan and Ohio.

“Even if I didn’t have kids I would be here to support the program because it takes anyone who believes children need attention and a future. All people need to know what good work Starr does,” she said through her sign language interpreter. “There needs to be an opportunity for kids to develop a sense of independence in their lives, to learn to dream, especially kids with difficulties. (Starr) provides the environment all children should have.”

Matlin said she wanted to bring the positive aspects of Starr back to her own four children, ages 12, 8, 6 and 4.