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Liza does it again
16/03/2002 18:54 - (SA)
Franklin Paul
New York - Entertainer Liza Minnelli on Saturday 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 cinema legends who were close friends of Minnelli's mother.
"Everything was very delicate," actor Robert Goulet, who performed with Garland in the 1960s, said of the hour-long ceremony. "She is very much in love and you can see it."
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."
Rebound aided by Gest
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.
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.
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.
Rocking reception
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 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 as 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.
- Reuters
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South Africa
