PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Emmy Award winner Jeff Margolis is one of the most successful live TV event and variety special directors of all-time. As a kid, he was introduced to showbusiness by his uncle, gameshow legend Monty Hall. What followed is a career spanning five decades including directing mammoth hits of the 1970s like The Sonny & Cher Show, and Tony Orlando and Dawn and continuing with mega specials like Michael Jackson: One Night Only, Sinatra 75: The Best Is Yet to Come, Whitney Houston: Love Will Save the Day, Kenny Rogers Live in Concert, Quincy Jones… The First 50 Years, and Happy Birthday Elizabeth [Taylor]: A Celebration of Life. Jeff also achieved live television’s biggest and most coveted directorial prize–directing the Academy Awards, which he’s directed eight times along with multiple director and producing duties at the Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, American Music Awards, and Miss America Pageant. Pushcart Prize and Emmy Award nominee Loren Stephens is a novelist, biographer, and widely published essayist. Her critically acclaimed novel “All Sorrows Can Be Borne,” is inspired by her husband’s epic story of being raised in Montana after being adopted from his native Japan. As founder and president of Write Wisdom and Bright Star Memoirs, Stephens has co-written dozens of books with notables from fashion and entertainment world. Collaborations include “Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Rouge,” by Cliff Simon and “Fighting for the Truth” by actor and singer Aki Aleong. As an essayist, her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, MacGuffin, Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, and the Montreal Review. She lives in Los Angeles. Prior to her career in writing, Loren was a documentary filmmaker. Notably, she was Emmy nominated for her PBS film “Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist narrated by Burt Lancaster. Additional credits include “Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman” which won a Golden Apple Award from the National Education Association (NEA); and “Los Pastores: The Shepherd’s Play” for PBS.
"“Jeff Margolis and I have worked together for over 25 years on numerous TV specials including the Oscars. Over the decades, we've developed a deep professional respect for each other, a true fondness for one another, and an unshakeable and abiding friendship. Jeff is my brother from another mother. With ‘Live in 5,’ the world will get a front row seat to Hollywood’s biggest moments as they really happened.” -- <B>Quincy Jones</B> “I’m happy to have gotten to know Jeff working together on the Oscars and so many other gigs over the years. Nobody has better stories or more to say.” -- <B>Whoopi Goldberg</B> ""The man who has called the shots, pulled the strings and been in the driver's seat of every major Hollywood TV spectacle has seen it all and now he's gonna show it to you. Break out the bejeweled sunglasses—you're in for a ride!” -- <B>Bruce Vilanch</B> “From my perspective, Jeff is an entertainer's director. He would be there in rehearsals with me figuring out camera shots to enhance my choreography. He would make sure the lighting and sound was immaculate and that the dialogue, staging and costumes were perfect. I knew that if Jeff was in the booth, it would be great.” -- <B>Donny Osmond</B>"
