Page 31 - atoday

PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Celebrities urge world leaders to fight for girls and women
MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A num-
ber of high-profile enter-
tainers — including Oprah
Winfrey, Mary J. Blige,
Charlize Theron and Meryl
Streep — have signed an
open letter calling on world
leaders to fight for gender
equality across the globe.
The letter released Sunday
states that some 62 million
girls around the world are
denied the right to edu-
cation, 500 million women
can’t read and 155 coun-
tries have laws that discrim-
inate against women.
“Nowhere on earth do
women have as many op-
portunities as men. No-
where,” the letter states.
“The fight for gender equal-
ity is global.” Signers also
include Tina Fey, Robert
Redford, Shonda Rhimes,
Prince of Tides’ author Pat Conroy lauded after death at 70
BRUCE SMITH
Associated Press
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) —
Author Pat Conroy, whose
beloved works “The Great
Santini” and “The Prince of
Tides” are set against the
vistas of the South Carolina
coast that was his home,
was lauded Saturday as a
great chronicler of the hu-
man condition and a hum-
ble and loving soul.
Conroy, 70, died Friday at
his home in Beaufort, about
an hour south of Charles-
ton, surrounded by family
and friends at the time, ac-
cording to his publisher.
The heavy-set author died
less than a month after an-
nouncing on Facebook
that he was battling can-
cer. He promised to “fight
it hard” and told his fans “I
owe you a novel and I in-
tend to deliver it.”
A funeral mass will be held
Tuesday at Saint Peter’s
Catholic Church in Beau-
fort with a private burial af- cantation.”
terward.
Barbra Streisand, who
starred in and directed the
movie version of Conroy’s
“The Prince of Tides” post-
ed a picture of herself with
Conroy on Instagram on
Saturday. The 1991 movie
starring Streisand and Nick
Nolte earned seven Oscar
nominations, including best
Monday 7 March 2016

Ashley Judd, Amy Poehler, In this Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014, file photo, actor, talk show host concerted, focused effort
Colin Farrell, Danai Gurira, and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey addresses an audience after and that requires speaking
Connie Britton, Elton John, accepting the W.E.B. Du Bois medal during ceremonies, on the directly to the global lead-
Patricia Arquette, Mu- campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. ers who have the power
hammed Ali, Sheryl Sand- to make change,” Gurira
berg and Sean Parker. The Associated Press said. “It’s an extension of
push is organized by the myself to fight for and, as
ONE Campaign, co-found- fight HIV and malnutrition an advocate for women much as I can, give voice
ed by Irish rocker Bono to and support female eco- and will travel to Capitol Hill to those who are in systems
end extreme poverty and nomic empowerment. to meet with members of of oppression based on
disease. “We still living in Gurira, who also plays a Congress on Tuesday. their gender.”
a time period where the sword-wielding zombie as- “Enough is enough. We An accompanying report
most impoverished and dis- sassin on AMC’s “The Walk- have to close this gap, called “Poverty Is Sexist
advantaged people in the ing Dead,” has long been and we have to make a 2016” reads: “In too many
world are, without question, countries, being born poor
women and girls,” said Gur- and female means a life
ira, the playwright of the sentence of inequality,
Broadway show “Eclipsed,” oppression and poverty —
in an interview. “The light and in too many cases also
and the potential of wom- a death sentence.”
en and girls in the world to- Last year, Streep and sing-
day is being blocked.” ers Beyonce and Lady
The letter comes a few Gaga signed an open letter
days before International saying empowering wom-
Women’s Day, which is en was the key to fighting
Tuesday. It calls on lead- the world’s inequalities and
ers to help girls and women poverty.

In this Oct. 13, 2010 file photo, author Pat Conroy announces the Nan A. Talese, Conroy’s remember. The author was
longtime editor and pub- the eldest of seven children
finalists for the National Book Foundations annual awards during lisher, said that the late au- in a family constantly mov-
thor “will be cherished as ing from base to base, a
a gathering at the Flannery O’Connor House, in Savannah, Ga. one of America’s favorite life described in “The Great
and bestselling writers, and Santini,” the film of which
Associated Press I will miss him terribly.” starred Robert Duvall as the
Charleston Mayor John relentless and violent patri-
picture. ber the University of South Tecklenburg, who had arch.
known Conroy most of his The 1976 novel initially en-
“He was generous and Carolina Beaufort held a adult life called him “the raged Conroy’s family,
great chronicler of the time but the movie three years
kind, humble and loving ... 3-day literary festival featur- and place that I call home. later made such an impres-
He saw it with clarity. He sion on his father that he
such a joy to work with. I ing Conroy and discussions wrote of it with purpose.” claimed credit for boost-
Conroy, who sold 20 million ing Duvall’s career. The
was so honored that he en- of his work and included books worldwide, candidly book also helped achieve
and expansively shared de- peace between father
trusted his beautiful book a screening of “The Great tails of growing up as a mili- and son.
tary brat and his anguished “I grew up hating my fa-
to me,” she said in a state- Santini.” The event culmi- relationship with his abusive ther,” Conroy said after his
father, Marine aviator and father died in 1998. “It was
ment from her publicist. nated with a 70th birthday military hero Donald Con- the great surprise of my life,
roy. He also wrote of his after the book came out,
“Pat’s natural language party in his honor. time in military school, The what an extraordinary man
Citadel in Charleston, and had raised me.” He would
was poetry ... he wrote sen- “The water is wide and he his struggles with his health reflect on his relationship
and depression. with his father in the 2013
tences that are like an in- has now passed over,” his “The reason I write is to memoir “The Death of San-
explain my life to myself,” tini.”
wife, novelist Cassandra Conroy said in a 1986 inter- “The Prince of Tides,” pub-
view. “I’ve also discovered lished in 1986, brought
While Conroy had been ill Conroy, said in a statement that when I do, I’m explain- Conroy a wide audience,
ing other people’s lives to selling more than 5 million
in recent weeks, last Octo- from publisher Doubleday. them.” copies with its story of a
Much of his youth was spent former football player from
in the shadow of Donald South Carolina with a trau-
Conroy, who “thundered matic past and the New
out of the sky in black- York psychiatrist who at-
winged fighter planes, ev- tempts to help him.
ery inch of him a god of It was not greeted warmly
war,” as Pat Conroy would by reviewers.