Stars present a united front against cancer

Here’s one of Lilly Tartikoff’s secrets to being a most-valued player on Los Angeles’ charity circuit -- the Rolodex of her late husband, Brandon, the former chief of NBC and Paramount who died from Hodgkin’s disease in 1997. It helped her raise millions for women’s cancers over 10 iconic Fire & Ice balls, and it sprang to life yet again Monday for her latest assault on deadly disease -- the Second Annual Louis Vuitton United Cancer Front Gala.

The couple’s close friends Kelly and Ron Meyer, who is president and COO of Universal Studios, handed over a soundstage for the lavish evening. Suzanne and Bob Wright, chairman and CEO of NBC, co-chaired the event. So did “Spider-Man” producer Laura Ziskin, whose recent bout with cancer helped inspire Tartikoff to continue rallying the troops.

“Hollywood has never shut the door to me,” she said. “My home continues to be NBC. Brandon left a long time ago, but I never have.”

Tartikoff’s other power partner is Louis Vuitton, which underwrote the gala and pumped up the glam factor with event planner Ben Bougeois. As the evening began, celebrities posed for the paparazzi before a wall covered in Vuitton’s signature monogram material, for which countless handbags must have died. Guests sipped Dom Perignon and nibbled foie gras and Vietnamese spring rolls in an appetizer antechamber -- a long, narrow room with tall, narrow funhouse mirrors and flowers and candles dangling over a long, narrow light table.

After a while, a curtain rose to reveal a large room draped in regal red and purple fabric, with Vuitton trunks hanging from swings lining the walls. Four acrobats dangled from the ceiling as guests found their tables, where they dined on Wolfgang Puck’s Kobe New York steak and sipped a Dom Perignon rose created for the then-Shah of Iran.

Before the event, Tartikoff had sneaked in a piano as a surprise for Jamie Foxx, who co-hosted the gala with Sarah Jessica Parker and Dustin Hoffman. When Tartikoff misplaced her speech notes at the podium, an ebullient Foxx at the piano broke into a rousing chorus of “Help her find her speech, Dustin.” Hip-hopper Ashanti later regaled the crowd.

Parker modeled a 185-carat kunzite cocktail ring by Vuitton, which was auctioned to help bring the evening’s total take to nearly $1.5 million. The money will help fund the work of 35 scientists selected by noted cancer researcher Dr. Dennis Slamon. While Fire & Ice focused on women’s cancers, the United Cancer Front has broadened the target to cancers of the entire body.

As Tartikoff told the black-tie crowd of 650, “I am someone who is obsessed with moving cancer research forward.”