Connie Stevens To Receive Lifetime Achievement At Temecula Valley Int'l Film & Music Festival

Aug. 30, 2011 - PRLog -- CONNIE STEVENS, LEGENDARY ACTRESS, SINGER, HUMANITARIAN TO RECEIVE
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT HONOR AT 17th ANNUAL
TEMECULA VALLEY INT’L FILM & MUSIC FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA
Festival Awards Gala to be held Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011
TEMECULA, CA (August 22, 2011) ---- Connie Stevens has captivated audiences on both the small and big screens and entertained millions from the jungles of Southeast Asia while touring with Bob Hope to the Broadway and Las Vegas stage.
On Sept.18 the award winning actress, singer, director, producer and humanitarian will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 17th annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival at the Pechanga Resort & Casino.  The Festival runs September 14-18.
Past recipients of the award include Gena Rowlands, Ray Charles, Carl Reiner, Lalo Schifrin, William Shatner, Etta James and Shirley Jones.  Stevens will be honored along with legendary music producer Russ Regan, Writer Producer Director Oren Peli of “Paranormal Activity” fame, DVD and Blu Ray Manufacturing Technology pioneer Erick Hansen and highly sought after Film Orchestrator and Arranger Pete Anthony.
"The Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival is honored to present Hollywood legend Connie Stevens with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her large and remarkable body of work in Film, Television, Broadway and Music; and for her phenomenal success in the business arena and even more significant, for her tireless philanthropic and humanitarian contributions to various causes,” said festival producer and co-founder Jo Moulton,
Stevens burst on both the music and television scene in the early 1960s playing Cricket Blake on the hit detective show “Hawaiian Eye” and with the pop single “Sixteen Reasons.”
Other television and movie roles soon followed. Steven also traveled to Southeast Asia to perform with Bob Hope and his USO shows, an experience she would use later in life in writing and directing the award-winning documentary “The Healing” (1997) about Red Cross nurses in Vietnam.
Her career also took her to the Broadway stage as Neil Simon’s “Star Spangled Girl” and to starring roles in cult film classics such as ‘The Grissom Gang” (1971) and “Scorchy” (1976) and smaller roles in feature films such as “Grease 2” (1982) and “Back to the Beach” (1987).
An accomplished businesswoman, in 1986 Stevens founded “Forever Spring, ”  a cosmetic empire that has spawned over 300 popular products that includes skin care, make up and hair  care items, earning Stevens the ranking of one of 500  top female executives in the US.  
In 2005 she was elected twice, unopposed as the secretary-treasurer of the 120,000 member Screen Actors’ Guild.
Her tireless charitable work is legendary including founding the Windfeather Project which provides scholarships to Native American students.
Her more recent film projects including directing the feature film “Saving Grace B. Jones” (2009) which starred Tatum O’Neal, Michael Biehn and Penelope Ann Miller.  
Stevens considers her crowning achievement and the pride and joy of her life, are her daughters Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, from her marriage to crooner Eddie Fisher.   Both are successful actresses in their own right.
ATTENTION MEDIA: To arrange an interview with the honorees of this year, call 951-699-5514 or send an email to johnhunneman@yahoo.com.
About the Festival
The 17th annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival takes place Sept. 14-18, 2011 at Ultrastar Tower 10 in the Tower Plaza Shopping Center. The festival is presented by Cinema Entertainment Alliance, a non-profit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating world cinema and music.  In 2010 over 300 filmmakers, musicians, producers, directors, writers, judges, composers, arrangers, agents, publicists, cast and crew participated in the festival, which was attended by more than 18,000 people.
Past TVIFF honorees include Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins, Raquel Welch, Dionne Warwick, Carl Reiner, Mary Steenburgen, Michael Madsen, Shirley Jones, Gena Rowlands, Michael York, Hector Elizondo, Ray Charles, Rita Coolidge, William Shatner, Patty Duke, Billy Preston, Earth, Wind & Fire and Louis Gossett, Jr.  Additional honorees have included Directors John Badham, Andy Fickman, Jonathan Lynn and Robert Wise, as well as Producer Lucas Foster and Composers Lalo Schifrin, Christopher Young, John Ottman and John Debney.
For more information, call (9510 699 5514 or visit www.tviff.com
About Temecula
Home of Southern California’s Wine County ---- with more than 30 award winning wineries ---- the Temecula Valley offers championship golf courses, hot air balloon rides, relaxing spas, a vibrant Old Town, restaurants, shopping and a wide variety of accommodations, all within an easy drive of anywhere in Southern California. For more information contact the Temecula Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.temeculacvb.com.
CONTACTS:
Annette Brown – Festival PR & Marketing - annette@marketingtemecula.com. – 951-541-2537
John Hunneman- Festival PR & Marketing Support – johnh@tviff.com
TVIFF 951-699-5514 – Fax: 951-699-5503, www.tviff.com