Cancer research advocates and more than 60 celebrities ranging from Jennifer Aniston to the US presidential candidates made history tonight with a live telethon that aired simultaneously on America's three television networks.
Jack Black, Halle Berry, Keanu Reeves and presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama were among those participating in Stand Up to Cancer, an hour-long, commercial-free fundraising show spearheaded by entertainment-industry heavyweights whose lives have been touched by the disease.
"This is an absolutely historic night, thanks to the unbelievable generosity of the three networks," producer and cancer survivor Laura Ziskin told the audience at the Kodak Theatre before the show began, referring to ABC, NBC and CBS,
Cancer survivors Lance Armstrong and Elizabeth Edwards kicked off the program with statistics: Cancer kills 550,000 Americans and six million people worldwide each year.
"That's the equivalent of 9/11 every two days," Armstrong said.
Patrick Swayze, Billy Crystal, Salma Hayek and Christina Applegate urged viewers to call in and donate, while Neil Patrick Harris, America Ferrera, Christina Ricci and Kirsten Dunst answered phones.
A visibly pregnant Jennifer Garner, along with Berry, Forest Whitaker and Casey Affleck, read personal accounts from those battling cancer.
Network news anchors Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams hosted the program, discussing advances in research and telling heartwrenching tales of those struggling with the disease.
Black provided a dose of comic relief: "I usually watch these things at home in my underwear," he said, adding that the celebrities answering phones may have some of the fattest pockets around.
"I'm going to make these gravy-trainers pony up," he said. "Who's got Spielberg's number? He's got a lot of dough."
The show featured musical performances by James Taylor and Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban and Monica Mancini, Melissa Etheridge with Sugarland, BeBe Winans and Jason Mraz.
It also featured a performance by more than a dozen divas - including Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige and Rihanna - who sang their new charity song, Just Stand Up, via video from the Fashion Rocks show in New York City.
Aniston helped close the program with a nod to Hollywood.
"In our world, the boy gets the girl, the hero defeats the villain and cancer is no more," she said.
Ziskin, who teamed up with Couric, Sherry Lansing and other cancer community activists to put on the live telethon, has fought cancer since 2004.
"Cancer is not in the closet anymore, and now that it's out of the closet we have to motivate the public to demand that as a country we do better," Ziskin said.
"And if the country won't do it, we'll do it. We'll raise money ourselves and try to spend that money in a way that will lead to better, less toxic treatments that we can get to patients more quickly."
The aim of Stand Up to Cancer was to raise funds for "translational research," Ziskin said, which encourages scientists to collaborate rather than compete, translating basic science into applicable therapies for patients, she said.
