Stefanie Powers’
professional career in
films, television and
theater began at age 15, but
her love and protection of
animals goes back to her
first recollection and
earliest memory. Her mother
provided her with a
stepfather who raised
thoroughbred racehorses and
who collected the odd exotic
animal to dot around the
stud farm or to rescue from
an undesirable fate. Thus,
she grew up surrounded by
animals of all descriptions.
Later Stefanie found a baby Malaysian Sun Bear for sale
in a pet shop in West
Hollywood and, convinced
that he would fall into the
wrong hands, she "rescued"
him, thus opening the doors
to the world of wildlife,
veterinarians, collectors,
protectors and
conservationists. But it
was through her long
relationship with
actor/conservationist,
William Holden, whose many
years in Kenya motivated his
conservation activities—long
before the notion of
conservation was embraced by
popular culture. Through
Holden’s work as co-creator
of the Mount Kenya Game
Ranch several East African
species have managed to
escape extinction by on site
captive breeding and by
export to zoos and
zoological parks in Europe
and North America. After his
death, Stefanie, along with
Holden’s former partners,
created the William Holden
Wildlife Foundation (a
U.S.-based public charity)
in an effort to carry on
with his dream of an
education program as a back
up to the species
conservation ongoing at the
game ranch. (Now the Mount
Kenya Wildlife
Conservancy.) Today, the
Foundation’s Education
Center offers conservation
programs appropriate to the
local population and serves
well over 10,000 students
per year. In addition, the
Foundation operates a rural
outreach program providing
libraries and field
installations at rural
schools that involve over
2,000 students and their
families.
Stefanie Powers is a Fellow of the Los Angeles Zoo and
formerly served on its
board, she is also a former
member of the advisory board
of the Zoo Atlanta and the
Columbus Zoo. She has
received many awards for her
work with WHWF as well as
her work with Dr Biruté
Galdikas (The Orangutan
Foundation), Dr. Betsy
Dresser (Center for the
Reproduction of Endangered
Wildlife - Audubon Zoo, New
Orleans), Karen Sussman
(International Society for
the Protection of Burros and
Mustangs) and Grace Belcnore
(California Equine
Retirement Foundation for
rehabilitation of retired
racehorses). Ms. Powers is
a frequent keynote speaker
for causes dear to her heart
such as Farm Sanctuary
(humane treatment for farmed
animals), and the Bushmeat
Crisis (alerting and uniting
people to the effects of
over-exploitation of forests
in Africa and the world and
its disastrous effect on
wildlife). She has been
honored by venerable
Explorers Club with its
Lowell Thomas Award for her
conservation efforts and
received a Fellowship to the
Royal Geographic Society.
In addition, a
ground-breaking opportunity
arrived with Jaguar Motor
Company of North America in
2003 when Ms. Powers was
appointed Conservation
Consultant offering her an
opportunity to create the
by-laws for the Jaguar
Conservation Trust, a full
spectrum conservation
program for the Jaguar cat.
This marks
the first
time in motor industry
history that an automobile
company has dedicated itself
to the preservation of the
very species from which it
derives its name. The Trust
awards annual grants to
organizations that preserve
protect and propagate the
jaguar, and Ms. Powers,
working with judges in each
country, selects the
winners. She is also
involved in Jaguar’s parent
Ford Motor Company’s efforts
to save the wild mustang and
is on the advisory board of
the newly-formed Vanishing
Herds Foundation in India,
whose primary effort is the
protection and preservation
of the Gujarat Asiatic lion
population dangerously in
peril of extinction.
It is safe and accurate to
say that Stefanie Powers
leads a double life, one in
front of the camera or on a
stage and one in absolute
dedication to the
preservation of animals and
the natural world.
Don
Hunt
2nd
Vice-President
Iris Breidenbend Hunt
3rd Vice-President
Posthumous Directors:
Tom
Mankiewicz 4th Vice-President
(July 1, 1942 - - July 31,
2010)
Tom Mankiewicz had a multi-faceted and
successful career as a
screenwriter, producer and
director.
On television, after writing the Emmy-winning musical
specials "Movin With Nancy",
starring Nancy and Frank
Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and
Dean Martin, and "The Beat
of the Brass" with Herb
Alpert & the Tijuana Brass,
Mankiewicz co-wrote and
directed the two hour
television pilot for the
popular series "Hart to
Hart", as well as directing
twelve of its episodes.
As a screenwriter, Mankiewicz co-wrote the first of
several James Bond
thrillers, "Diamonds Are
Forever". He later scripted
"Live and Let Die" and "The
Man With The Golden Gun",
while consulting on others
in the 007 series, including
"Moonraker" and "The Spy Who
Loved Me".
After writing and producing the comedy "Mother, Jugs
and Speed", starring Bill
Cosby, Harvey Keitel and
Raquel Welch, with director
Peter Yates, Mankiewicz
wrote the final draft for
Yates' production of "The
Deep" with Robert Shaw, Nick
Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset.
He followed this with the
screenplay for the wartime
adventure "The Eagle Has
Landed", starring Michael
Caine, Robert Duvall and
Donald Sutherland. Next game
the European suspense
thriller "The Cassandra
Crossing", with Sophia
Loren, Richard Harris, Burt
Lancaster and Ava Gardner.
After contributing to Joe Dante's "Gremlins", John
Badham's "War Games" and
Richard Donner's "The
Goonies", Mankiewicz next
worked on Donner's
"Superman", writing the
final draft of that box
office smash as well as the
hit sequel "Superman II". He
then co-wrote the screenplay
for Donner's medieval
romantic epic "Ladyhawke",
starring Matthew Broderick,
Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger
Hauer.
In 1987, after executive-producing the Paramount comedy
"Hot Pursuit", with John
Cusack, Mankiewicz directed
and co-authored the
screenplay for the highly
successful box office hit
"Dragnet", starring Dan
Aykroyd and Tom Hanks. He
also directed the 1991
season premiere of HBO's
"Tales From The Crypt", as
well as the feature film
"Delirious" starring John
Candy, and the Showtime
movie "Taking The Heat" with
Alan Arkin, George Segal,
Peter Boyle, Tony Goldwyn
and Lyn Whitfield. In 1996
he reunited with Robert
Wagner and Stefanie Powers
to direct the final two-hour
film of "Hart to Hart" for
the Family Channel.
A graduate of Exeter Academy and Yale, Mankiewicz was
the son of writer-director
Joseph L. Mankiewicz ("All
About Eve") and the nephew
of screenwriter Herman J.
Mankiewicz ("Citizen Kane").
He was a former member of the
Board of Governors of the
Academy of Motion Pictures
Arts and Scienes, a former
Director of the Thoroughbred
Owners of California, a
Director of the William
Holden Wildlife Foundation
based in Kenya, and Chairman
of the Board of Trustees of
the Greater Los Angeles Zoo
Association. In 2006, he
served as Filmmaker in
Residence at the Dodge
College of Media Arts,
Chapman University, where he
taught a course
in Film Language.
