Wiesenthal Center Honors Tom Cruise and 3 Medal of Valor Honorees at its 2011 National Tribute Dinner

May 5, 2011

The Simon Wiesenthal Center bestowed its highest honor, the Humanitarian Award, upon actor and producer Tom Cruise for his longtime support of the Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance.

View Reuters video from the event here...

L-R: Rabbi Meyer H. May, SWC Executive Director; Dinner Co-Chair and SWC Trustee, Jeffrey Katzenberg; Marilyn Katzenberg; SWC Humanitarian Award honoree Tom Cruise; Les Moonves; SWC Founder & Dean, Rabbi Marvin Hier; Janice Prager, SWC National Director of Development. Photo: Marissa Roth/Simon Wiesenthal Center	Dinner Co-Chair and SWC Trustee, Jeffrey Katzenberg; Marilyn Katzenberg; Humanitarian Award honoree Tom Cruise; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Rabbi Marvin Hier , SWC Founder & Dean. Photo: Iris Schneider/Simon Wiesenthal Center
L-R: Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, Brad Grey; Mayor Villaraigosa; Jeffrey Katzenberg; J.J. Abrams; Tom Cruise; Rabbi Hier; SWC Board Chairman, Larry Mizel; Kevin Huvane and Rabbi May.
Photos: Bart Bartholomew and Marissa Roth

Producer/Director/Writer J.J. Abrams emceed and the Humanitarian Award was presented to Mr. Cruise by Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. Dinner Chairs were Mr. Grey, Kevin Huvane, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Barry Meyer, Ron Meyer and Tom Rothman.

Others in attendance also included Katie Holmes, Jerry Bruckheimer, Mark Burnett, Julie Chen, Roma Downey, David Ellison, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Malin Akerman, Richard Lovett, Les Moonves, Edward James Olmos, Brett Ratner, Jeremy Renner, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The Wiesenthal Center also presented Medals of Valor to: Luis Alberto Urzúa, the foreman of the 33 trapped Chilean miners whose cool head and calm leadership guided the men through their ordeal; Gyöngyi Magó, a Catholic schoolteacher in Hungary determined to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive despite a backlash from the growing far-right; and Peter Bergson (posthumously), an activist who, during the Holocaust, challenged the Roosevelt government and establishment Jewish organizations to make the rescue of Europe’s Jews a top priority.

Use this link for additional photos....

L-R: Rabbi Hier; Chilean miner foreman,  Luis Alberto Urzúa and SWC Latin American Director, Sergio Widder.	Gyöngyi Magó
Rabbi Hier and Peter Bergson's daughter receiving the award for her father.

Read Mr. Cruise's speech here...

Read Rabbi Hier's speech here...

For more information, contact the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400.000 members. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS and the Latin American Parliament.