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Actress Moore Honored For Life's Work

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Terry Moore, right, was presented the Gasparilla film festival's lifetime achievement award by fellow actress Anne Jeffreys.

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By WALT BELCHER

wbelcher@tampatrib.com

Published: February 27, 2009

TAMPA - They rolled out the red carpet Thursday night for the opening of the 10-day Gasparilla International Film Festival, where a sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 watched Hollywood actress Terry Moore get the event's first lifetime achievement award.

"Wow, a full house in only three years, and we expect thousands to attend the screenings of more than 100 films during the next week," festival director Eric Odum said.

"I am just thrilled because this is the first time I've ever got a lifetime achievement award and I've been around a long, long time," said Moore, 80. She made her first film appearance in 1940.

"This night means everything to me," Moore said, noting that she had received so many congratulatory e-mail messages and letters praising her, "It feels like I'm attending my own funeral."

Festival officials say Moore was picked because the Oscar-nominated actress has been in more than 70 films and was one of the first female pilots. Most of her films, such as "Mighty Joe Young" and "Come Back, Little Sheba," were made in the 1950s.

Presenting the award was Moore's longtime friend, actress Ann Jeffreys, 86, a film star in the 1940s. Jeffreys joked that one of Moore's "great features is that she's been married six times and all of them were handsome millionaires," including billionaire aviator Howard Hughes.

Many in the audience gasped when Jeffreys dropped the heavy cylinder-shaped crystal as she handed it to Moore. It wasn't damaged.

Filmmakers and film buffs from the Tampa Bay area also saw a political thriller, "Nothing But the Truth," starring Kate Beckinsale as a journalist jailed for not revealing her sources. The film's director, Rod Lurie, said he was impressed with the festival.

Also in attendance was actor Armand Assante, who stars in an independent film being screened Sunday at Channelside Cinemas.

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