by Judy Thorburn
Photos by Stephen Thorburn
Reel Awards and the 7th Annual Celebrity
Impersonator Convention at the Imperial
Palace
On Monday May 28 the 7th Annual Celebrity Impersonator
Convention that brings together hundreds of top celebrity
impersonators and tribute artists from all over the world, set up
shop inside the Imperial Palace. So it seemed perfectly fitting that
after 15 years in Los Angeles, the Reel Awards which honors the
world’s best celebrity impersonators would finally follow suit and
bring its 16th annual awards ceremonies to the same venue in Las
Vegas, the city that is world renowned as home of the best
impersonators and tribute acts. It also makes sense since both the
Reel Awards and CIC are produced by the sister team of Janna and
Alanna Joos, who run the agencies International Celebrity Images
and Entertainment Express.
For the first time since its inception, the Reel Awards was held inside
the Legends Showroom at the Imperial Palace, on the evening of
May 27, the night before the CIC got under way.
Prior to the awards,
a Red Carpet event took place for a more up close photo opportunity
with some of the look-alikes. Then it was on to the showroom for
the evening’s main event, aptly billed as “Hollywood Goes Vegas”.
Acting as “Mistresses of Ceremonies” was none other than Joan Rivers
and Whoopie Goldberg. No, not really! But Dee Dee Hanson and
Bettina Williams are such incredible dead ringers and sound alikes
of the stars that you could almost swear they were the real thing.
Both have the looks, voice, and mannerisms down pat. Add some
very funny material and great chemistry between the two and you
have the perfect emcees for a memorable evening filled with live
music, comedy and dance performances, and of course, 17 awards
(winners chosen by industry members) given to outstanding individuals who perform in the field of impersonations, plus a special
Favorite Director / producer award given to the show’s
producer / director Janna Joos.
Among the dozen or so tribute performances were Legends’ star Matt
Lewis as Elvis Presley, Suzanne Goulet as Liza Minelli, Hollie Vest as
Tina Turner, Suzanne Griffiths as Marilyn Monroe in a duet with
Andrew DiMino as Dean Martin, Sherie Rae Parker as Bette Midler,
Jay White as Neil Diamond, Inez Zak in gyrating form as Shakira and
my personal favorites, Marty Edwards and Sandy Anderson as Kenny
Rogers and Dolly Parton.
The 17 Award categories included Best
Actress and Actor, Best Television Performance, Rising Star Award,
and Male and Female Life Achievement Awards among others.
 The big winner of the evening was Deborah Smith Ford who walked away
with both Best Actress as “Trinity” from the “Matrix” movies, and
Television Performance as “self” in a national TV commercial.
Unfortunately, Jay Koch could not be there to receive his Life
Achievement Award. It was presented posthumously for his
impersonation of Ronald Reagan in films, Reagan Library functions
and hundreds of personal appearances.
Now, it wasn’t just on stage as presenters, performers and award winners where you could see the celebrity doubles. The audience
was filled with recognizable faces that would cause anyone to do a
double take. In fact, surrounding me were an array of celebrity
clones; the likes of Michael Jackson, Ozzie Osborne, Jack Nicholson,
Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, Richard Gere, Paris Hilton, George
Clooney, U2’s Bono, not one but two Mick Jaggers and Austin
Powers, three Elizabeth Taylors, numerous Willie Nelsons, Hilary
Clinton, several Chers, Tina Turners and Marilyn Monroes, David
Letterman, Jay Leno, Pee Wee Herman, and Anna Nicole Smith, just
to describe a few in my eye-catching vicinity. I must admit while
many of these impersonators could be a celebrity twin, others, well
you will have to check the photo gallery that accompanies this article
and make up your own mind on how well they resemble someone
famous.
Supposedly there are thousands of celebrity impersonators around
the world. A nice portion makes a decent living working at corporate
events, conventions, private parties, and in tribute shows. The
Celebrity Impersonators Convention, not only acts a gathering place
for these lookalikes, it offers them a chance to learn about the
entertainment business, meet agents and showcase their talents in
front of the public and talent buyers. That said, The Talent Showcase
was held on Tuesday afternoon inside the Legends Showroom.
Robert Ensler as Donald Trump and Richard Halpern as Austin
Powers were Masters of Ceremony for the three hour event where at
least forty celebrity impersonators did their best to “impress” the
audience. Standouts for their amazing physical and vocal
impersonations were 19 year old Katie Shelswell as Kylie Minogue which won her the FUJI Film UK competition, David Born as Robin
Williams, Steve Larkin as Freddie Mercury, William Peterson as
Rodney Dangerfield, Brent Mendanhall as President George W. Bush,
Cindy Harrelson as Barbara Streisand and Connie Garrett as Tina
Turner.
I don’t know about you but after seeing all these impersonators, it
got me wondering what the real stars think about these faux
celebrities going around pretending to be them. If it is true that
imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then the Annual
Celebrity Impersonator Convention is a huge compliment. |
