- Title: USA: ENTERTAINER LIZA MINNELLI WEDS FOR THE FOURTH TIME TO PROMOTER DAVID GEST
- Date: 17th March 2002
- Summary: (W1) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 16, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. MV LIZA MINELLI AND DAVID GEST LEAVING CHURCH TO CHEERS FROM CROWDS 0.18 (W1) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 16, 2002) (REUTERS) 2. MV LIZA AND DAVID ARRIVING AT RECEPTION 0.45 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SINGER ROBERTA FLACK SAYING "It was a wonderful time because it was also heart-felt. It didn't sound like it was scripted or like - you say this and you turn that way. It happened very naturally." 1.02 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR KIRK DOUGLAS SAYING "I have known Eliza back with her father, when I look at the camera with two big eyes." 1.20 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS JOAN COLLINS SAYING "The wedding was lovely, almost as beautiful as ours a month ago, I wish them to be as happy as we are." 1.34 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DENISE RICH, SOCIALITE, SAYING "It is one of the most beautiful weddings we have ever been to and so everyone clapping, it has been so beautiful and when Liza turned around at the end and was smiling at everyone. It was fantastic." 1.46 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SINGER MONICA SAYING "It means a lot to me that David and Liza would have me sing at their reception, be one of their guests. He consistently calls me for a lot of opportunities that I don't know if would just appear if it wasn't for him. So really look at him more as friend and as family. I am just glad to be able to here." 2.10 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR LOUIS GOSSET JUNIOR SAYING "The wedding spoke from the heart, he had to speak from his, she from hers. It was just wonderful." 2.21 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS SALLY KIRKLAND SAYING "It was brilliant, brilliant, joyous, delightful, it was funny. It was romantic as hell. They kissed forever and Eliza was quite a good dancer. Michael Jackson carried the train for awhile then Marisa took over." 2.41 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DONALD TRUMP, PROPERTY TYCOON, SAYING "This was beautiful, it was fun and she looked really lovely. I hope they are going to be happy for a long time." 2.58 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROSIE O'DONNELL, ACTRESS AND CHAT SHOW HOST, SAYING "Well it is a great week to have this wedding on my 40th birthday, because if my mother lived to see her daughter was in the fourth row of Liza Minnelli's wedding, she would would have a heart attack." 3.08 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MIA FARROW SAYING "We have been friends since Kindergarten, that is how long we have been friends with her so I know how happy she is and we have to wish her a lifetime of happiness. She sure deserves it." 3.23 13. MV ZOOM OUT LIZA WAVING GOODBYE TO FANS 3.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st April 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA8DSVSGAYFD3KNP0REJ566F0MP
- Story Text: Entertainer Liza Minnelli has wed for the fourth time
at one of the most ballyhooed nuptials in recent memory,
relishing her new role as a bride after rebounding from
injuries that threatened her career.
Minnelli, the Tony- and Oscar-award winning performer
and daughter of actress Judy Garland, said "I Do" to concert
promoter David Gest before a packed house of celebrities, many
of them cinema legends who were close friends of Minnelli's
mother.
"It was a wonderful time because it was also heart felt.
It didn't sound like it was scripted or now when you say he
turns that way. It happened very naturally, said singer
Roberta Flack.
Guests, including Diana Ross, Lauren Bacall, Luther
Vandross, and Carol Channing, braved a chilly late-winter
evening and endured heavy security and metal detectors at the
church, but said they were warmed by the bond of the couple,
who kissed often -- before and after speaking their vows.
The ceremony, at the 147-year-old Marble Collegiate Church
in the shadow of the Empire State Building on New York's Fifth
Avenue, was the first for Gest, 48.
He's perhaps best known for orchestrating Michael
Jackson's tribute concert at Madison Square Garden in
September, and producing the International Achievement in Arts
Awards, a celebrity fund raiser.
Gowned in a white dress designed by Bob Mackie, the
slimmed down Minnelli, 56, showed little sign of the hardship
that just two years ago sparked talk she would never perform
again.
She had undergone hip replacement and back surgery,
struggled with weight problems and viral encephalitis -- a
potentially fatal disease that causes swelling of the brain --
and battled an addiction to pain-killers.
Minnelli has said that during that time, she was confined
to a wheelchair, unable to talk, and was very near death.
"As long as she keeps trying, they will make it," said
actor Mickey Rooney on the way in to the ceremony. "Happiness
is very elusive and we wish them the best of luck."
On her way to recovery, she has shed more than 70 pounds,
a feat to which she credits Gest. With health and home on the
mend, Minnelli is set to launch a European Tour, produced by
her new husband, starting in April.
At the ceremony, Elizabeth Taylor and Marisa Berenson, who
appeared with Minnelli in the 1972 film "Cabaret," stood as
maids of honour, while Michael Jackson and his brother, Tito,
childhood friends of Gest, were the best men.
The high-powered bridal party included actors Tony
Franciosa and Robert Wagner, actresses Mia Farrow, Janet
Leigh, Gina Lollobrigida, and singers Petula Clark and Michael
McDonald.
"We have been friends since Kindergarten, that is how long
we have been friends with her so I know how happy she is and
we have to wish her a lifetime of happiness. She sure deserves
it," said Farrow.
Others on the list of more than 200 invited guests
included music icon Sir Elton John and Patricia Neal, actors
Michael Douglas, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Hopkins, composer
Andrew Lloyd Webber, and property tycoon Donald Trump.
"This was beautiful, it was fun and she looked really
lovely," said the millionaire.
Actress Joan Collins compared the wedding to hers a month
ago. "The wedding was lovely, almost a beautiful as ours a
month ago....I wish them to be as happy as we are."
While it certainly will go down as one of New York's
grandest social events, local gossip writers have poked fun at
the list of guests, teasing that most had seen their heyday
end before current pop-culture queen Britney Spears was born.
"At the party ... it was like a night of 1,000 facelifts,
every person from 50 years ago," gossip writer Cindy Adams --
a member of the wedding party -- told CNN on Friday, referring
to Minnelli's bridal shower.
After tossing her bouquet to cheering onlookers outside
the church, Minnelli and Gest headed to a reception at the
Regent Hotel on Wall Street. Rocking to an 80-piece orchestra,
entertainers performing there were to include Tony Bennett,
Roberta Flack, Gloria Gaynor, Dionne Warwick and others.
Minnelli ended her third marriage, to sculptor Mark Gero,
in 1992 after 13 years. Her first marriage was to singer Peter
Allen in 1967, which lasted for seven years. Soon after they
split, she married filmmaker Jack Haley.
The daughter of legendary actress Judy Garland and
director Vincente Minnelli, Liza Minnelli has spent most of
her life on the front lines of the entertainment world,
particularly after her mother's tragic death in 1969 of an
accidental drug overdose.
An accomplished theatre actress, Minnelli had already won
several Tony Awards before she was awarded an Oscar in 1972
for her role in the film version of the musical "Cabaret."
Her film career in recent years has been far less lauded.
Still Minnelli has thrived in concert, belting out signature
tunes such as "Cabaret," and "New York, New York."
Minnelli launches her European tour on April 2 with five
concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall, followed by shows in
Denmark, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
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