TIM CONWAY TO SPEAK AT 44th BENEFIT DINNER

Freed-Hardeman University has announced Tim Conway to be its guest speaker for its 44^th Annual Advisory Board Benefit Dinner, which will take place on Dec. 5, 2008. Conway, an award-winning actor, has been honored for his performances in family-friendly motion pictures, television and stage acting.  

Conway is best known for his 11-year run co-starring on TV’s classic Carol Burnett Show. The show earned him five Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. Conway was known for using his humor to intentionally make his co-stars laugh while filming, and, unlike many other shows of the time, the producers often chose to keep the outtakes in the show.

“It’s an honor to have someone like Tim Conway to be speaking to us this year,” said Dr. Joe Wiley, who will be attending his first Benefit Dinner as president of Freed-Hardeman. “I admire his standing for family-friendly television, and I know he will be appreciated by all of our guests this year.”

Conway grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and earned a degree from Bowling Green State University in television and radio. He worked in local television until he moved to New York City in 1956 and earned a part on The Steve Allen Show. After two years with Allen, Conway played in McHale’s Navy before Burnett invited him to join her ensemble.

Conway’s latest accomplishments include an eight-year spot in Together Again, a show for which he toured some of the country’s most respected performing arts centers across the nation. According to Pollstar Magazine, the concert industry’s primary trade magazine, the comedy series achieved success putting it among the annual top-grossing shows six times.

Conway frequently appears as a guest-star on sitcoms such as Yes, Dear and 30 Rock, for which he just received an Outstanding Guest Performer Emmy nomination, and is a regular on ABC Family Channel's Living the Life. He has also spent time doing voice-over work for the popular animated program Sponge Bob Square Pants in which he is “Barnacle Boy.”

His film career has included starring roles in The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, Dear God and The World’s Greatest Athlete. He also wrote and starred in They Went That Way and That Way and The Long Shot.

His stage career includes 182 performances as Felix in The Odd Couple and starring in Just For Laughs. He toured for 130 performances of A Day with Gates and Mills, which he also wrote.

With all of his accomplishments, Conway has earned his star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and recently he and his long-time sidekick Harvey Korman were inducted into the Academy of Television and Sciences Hall of Fame. In 2004, Conway was named a Disney Legend and a year later, the cast of The Carol Burnett Show received TV Land’s Legend Award.

Honored by Regent University’s Candlelight Award for outstanding contributions to family-friendly film and television, Conway is an advocate for good family programming and serves on the advisory board of The Parents Television Council. An avid fan of thoroughbred racing, he is the co-founder of the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund to aid injured and disabled jockeys.

Conway’s lengthy list of contributions he has made to family-friendly entertainment makes him a prime choice for Freed-Hardeman’s Advisory Board Benefit Dinner, which has raised more then $1 million for student scholarships each year since 2001. Other recent speakers for FHU’s Benefit Dinner include George H.W. and Barbara Bush, Walter Cronkite, Cal Ripken Jr. and last year’s speaker Tom Brokaw.

Sponsorships for FHU’s 44^th Annual Advisory Board Benefit Dinner are available from $600 to $100,000. To reserve seats, contact the FHU Office of Development at 800-630-3482. Click to purchase tickets now!