By Adrienne Papp

Many stars came out to support the 40^th Anniversary Presentation of The Vision Awards™ in an elegant black tie setting in the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills that is famous for its high profile guests and events. The 2010 Awards recognized a number of pioneering visionaries across the fields of film, television, music, research, technology, sports, and leadership. The evening was produced by Helen Harris, founder of both The Vision Awards™ and Retinitis Pigmentosa International, the presenting organization behind The Vision Awards™

The 2010 Awards were given to legendary TV news journalist Dan Rather; renowned music producer Quincy Jones; Apollo 11 Moon walking astronaut,Buzz Aldrin; humanitarian/businessman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong; longtime entertainment industry figures Stanley Jaffe (producer of Kramer Vs. Kramer and Fatal Attraction);  George Schlatter (creator of Laugh-In); Steve Jobs & Apple, Inc.; Precious director Lee Daniels; The Blind Side producer Molly Smith; Showtime executive Melinda Benedek;  World renowned inventor Ray Kurzweil; comedian Norm Crosby; U.S. Gold Medal winning athlete Steve Holcomb; and Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, the Beverly Hills-based doctor who had restored Holcomb’s vision from near blindness.

Will.i.am, Quinton Aaron, Vision Awards Founder Helen Harris, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Jolene & George Schlatter, Sherry Lansing, Lily Tomlin

Celebrity Presenters for the 2010 Vision Awards™ included Billy Bob Thornton; Lily Tomlin; actor John Cho;  director/producer Jerry Zucker; Sherry Lansing, former CEO of Paramount Pictures; writer/producer Clyde Phillips; director Luke Greenfield; Sideways director Alexander Payne; athlete Tristan Gale; and Extreme Makeover dentist Dr. Bill Dorfman, among others.

Mrs. Harris, being blind herself, launched both RP International and The Vision Awards™ in 1970 as high profile vehicles by which to raise awareness of the millions of people who fight against the gradual loss of their vision from both RP and Macular Degeneration. The Vision Awards™ also raise funds for medical research.

Past recipients of The Vision Awards™ include Bob Hope, Aaron Spelling, Bill Cosby, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Joel Schumacher, Oliver Stone, Richard and Lauren Shuler-Donner, Lawrence Bender, William Friedkin, Tim Burton, John Frankenheimer, Roone Arledge, Sherry Lansing, Robert Towne, Tom Cruise, Bill Mechanic, Phil Collins, and Jon Landau, among many others.

Helen Harris has been a tireless advocate on behalf of people with visual impairments for the past 40 years. Herself a victim and legally blind for more than three decades (the disease attacked her when she was a young mother, and two of her three sons, ages 2 and 5, were also afflicted by the disease,) Mrs. Harris personally knows all too well the helpless and hopeless feeling of having a disease that is hardly known at all. She established both organizations for the “preservation and restoration of sight.”

Harris is also an author of the book, How to Survive Losing Vision, as well as a poet, a painter, and a member of the Producers Guild of America. She has testified before Congress about major issues facing the blind, and has also enlisted the aid of hundreds of major Hollywood directors, producers, and stars — as well as that of former President George H. W. Bush — in the creation of TheatreVision™ presentations, in which blind audiences can experience a major motion picture in a theatre that offers them a special audio soundtrack.

From its modest beginnings 40 years ago, RPI (Retinitis Pigmentosa International) has grown into a global organization and with the support of dedicated volunteers of all walks of life has raised over $ 5-million to date for eye research and education.

Steve Holcomb, Lois & Buzz Aldrin, Tristan Gale

In addition, RPI has also enlisted other donors into contributing more than THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS directly to medical research for eye health.

What was impossible just to imagine five years ago will almost certainly become a reality within the next decade due to the contribution of Helen Harris, who is one of those people who walk the walk by making a difference in the World, and not just talking the talk.  Due to her dedication to a serious cause new technologies and medical techniques have brought us to the threshold of hope, and to the day when Retinitis Pigmentosa or Macular Degeneration will no longer carry a lifetime of darkness.

About the Author of This Article:  Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, West Side Today among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity company, Atlantic Publicity and publishing house, Atlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities, world leaders, inventors, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. She also owns Atlantic United Films that produces and finances true stories made for theatrical release or the silver screen. Spotlight News Magazine is owned by Atlantic United, Inc with Adrienne Papp being the majority shareholder.

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Oliver Stone Getty Images

By Adrienne Papp

Oliver Stone is a household name. A master of controversial subjects in award winning movies, a legendary provocateur, a brilliant film-maker, director, writer and producer.  Somewhat of a rebel, an influential visionary and a prominent portrayer of uncensored contemporary political and cultural issues, he does not beat around the bush about any issue.  Why would he? He had his own battle fields to win not only as a war veteran who was awarded a Bronze Star for Gallantry and a Purple Heart, but also as a creative genius in Hollywood with a long list of films behind him, winning one Oscar after another.

His first win was for Midnight Express in 1978, but that was just the beginning of his expanding career and fame as a filmmaker.

In 1986 he directed the political film Salvador, starring Oscar-nominated James Woods. But his big hit was the Vietnam war film Platoon, starring Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, and Francesco Quinn. Stone then followed up with the critically acclaimed Wall Street . The movie, starring Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, focused on the business world of tycoons and stock brokers. The film won an Oscar for Douglas’ portrayal of the villainous Gordon Gekko.

Stone then directed Tom Cruise in an Oscar-nominated role in Born on the Fourth of July for which Oliver Stone won an Academy Award for Directing, which was his third win to date. Later he took a hand in producing several movies, including the Academy Award-winning film Reversal of Fortune, which movie played a crucial role in my own life as well when I contacted Alan Dershowitz, a respected Professor of Law at Harvard University who represented Claus von Bülow (played by Jeremy Irons) on whose actual case the movie was based.

Oliver Stone then returned to the director’s chair in 1991, once again with two giant films in one year: Val KilmerJim Morrison starring as the legendary in Stone’s psychedelic film The Doors. The Doors was overshadowed by Stone’s colossal film JFK, which Stone himself considers the best of his films. In the film, Jim Garrison tackles the conspiracy behind the murder of America’s president John F. Kennedy. The large cast featured such well-known names as Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, John Candy, Joe Pesci, Donald Sutherland, and Walter Matthau.

Stone’s energy and commitment to his craft is extraordinary without a doubt. Besides the obvious wonder if the man ever sleeps, his list of movies whether as a producer, writer, or director seems endless. Or at least, endlessly successful continuing onto such films as Nixon and Natural Born Killers, both of which he directed. He then moved onto films such as The People vs. Larry Flynt, Any Given Sunday, The Day Reagan Was Shot, and the epic, Alexander, all of which he produced, in addition to South of the Border, a documentary about Hugo Chavez that Stone also directed.

Now he is shooting Wall Street 2. The cast includes Michael Douglas reprising his Gordon Gekko role 23 years later, Shia LaBeouf, Carrie Mulligan, Frank Langella, Josh Brolin and Susan Sarandon.

I first met Oliver Stone in person at a party in his Santa Monica apartment 13 years ago when I was young and naive, and pretty much intimidated by anything and everybody. I choked up in his charismatic, almost regal presence. He seems preoccupied with his thoughts, as most geniuses are, and burns a hole on your forehead with his eyes as he talks. Yet, there is something very humble and reserved about him, almost as if he just wanted to be left alone and away from the celebrity hype and work behind the scenes undisturbed.

Always controversial, Stone recently expressed his concerns about government, media and politics in an interview: “I’d like America to succeed. I get a little nervous about the country making it. The war in Afghanistan is a disaster. We make enemies. Our news media is terrible, they don’t analyze well. TV in America has reached the Babel-state. It’s all crap and bullshit. There’s no news in America, not even on the best channels. It’s superficial, the news is for profit, it’s selling entertainment.”

I take great joy in the fact that we hear this from Oliver Stone. I have been sickened about the news having been analyzed and interpreted by “experts” on TV who get paid handsomely for telling us what to think and how to interpret who said what and why. I find this offensive and outrageous! Not only the news is becoming opinionated and sensational entertainment, but they keep on discussing the stupidest things while the world is going down the drain faster than water can flow down the gutter. Newscast has become a control system more than anything by literally telling us what to think! Where is the integrity in all this?

And when asked about the current presidency Oliver Stone says,

“The question is: Is there a permanent government that makes people do things like go on with this “War on Terror” and “War on Drugs“? The thing is: We have to fix our own country; we’ve said this for years. How do we break gridlock? How do we get healthcare? How do we get anything done? I’m wondering.”

And, I am wondering too along with most Americans and the World!

The richest, most advanced country on Earth and we hardly do or say much anymore that makes any sense at all.

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