Serious Talent At Guild Hall's Lifetime Achievement Awards

Guild Hall Lifetime Achievement Awards host Marshall Brickman said practically all there was to say about the more than 300 people in attendance at the annual ceremony, held on Monday night at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

“This is the best assemblage of people in the arts ever,” the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winner said at the beginning of the ceremony honoring this year’s winners: John Alexander, Walter Isaacson, Nathan Lane and Mickey Straus.

Mr. Alexander, an artist who splits his time between Amagansett and Manhattan and volunteers for the East Hampton Fire Department, was awarded the Visual Arts award. He was introduced by friends Dan Aykroyd and Lorne Michaels.

“Talent and character don’t often reside at the same address, but with John it does,” said Mr. Michaels. “I sleep better at night knowing that he’s my friend, and a first responder.”

“He travels at an extremely high level of molecular vibration,” Mr. Aykroyd joked affectionately.

Mr. Alexander, who has had a major retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and whose work is included in some of the most prestigious museums in the country, said that Guild Hall in an exceptional and important part of the arts community.

“Without places like that, the culture and fiber of the East End would be completely different,” he said.

Writer Ken Auletta introduced his friend, Mr. Isaacson, the Literary Arts winner who is the current president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, the former chairman and CEO of CNN, the editor of Time magazine and author of the best-sellers “Steve Jobs,” “Einstein: His Life and Universe” and “The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made.”

“Walter has had more titles than Queen Victoria,” Mr. Auletta joked of his friend for the past 40 years. “His Steve Jobs book last year sold more copies than the Bible, it was the number-one selling book in the entire world.”

Mr. Isaacson, a Rhodes Scholar whose early career included a stint at the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States Item, credited the people, and his friends, of the East End for contributing to his success.

“I thought it was a lot of fancy people, but what I found though was that it was a community. If it hadn’t have been for this community, I probably would’ve been back at the Times-Picayune,” he said. “I really am flattered to be getting an award like this.”

Mr. Lane, the Performing Arts winner, was introduced by the legendary director, producer, writer and lyricist Jack O’Brien. The two are currently working together on “The Nance,” which previews at the Lyceum Theater on Thursday, March 21, and opens on April 15.

“He’s amazing. On the first day of a new play, he knows the words to the new play. He makes it look easy,” Mr. O’Brien said of Mr. Lane, whom he called the most beloved man in American theater.

The actor, who said he lives “in little shtetl behind the movie theater” in East Hampton, “where day and night I don’t hear people going to my movies,” laughed that he was honored to be a Lifetime Achievement winner, even if it did mean that it meant he was getting older. “I hope I can live up to this award,” he added seriously.

Mr. Straus, who received the Special Award for Leadership and Philanthropy and whom many credit with the success of Guild Hall and other important cultural institutions, was also the recipient of two standing ovations on Monday night. His longtime friends Richard Reiss and Eugene Zuriff introduced him.

“Mickey’s not a man of numbers, Mickey’s a man of people,” said Mr. Zuriff. “Everybody’s welcome at Mickey’s.”

“He’s a supreme optimist, always kind and incredibly generous,” Mr. Reiss added. “He’s a true friend.”

Honorary co-chair Alec Baldwin also made his way to the stage to speak of his friend.

“He’s had a profound impact ... most of all at Guild Hall,” Mr. Baldwin said. “We all know people like this ... who are true leaders who get things done ... this man is a great, great board chair.”

In his acceptance speech, which he invited his wife, Leila Straus, to come up and help him give, Mr. Straus thanked everyone else for allowing him the opportunity to contribute.

“This honor is not at all necessary because I have gotten so much pleasure,” his wife read for him. “It has been Heaven on Earth.”