Film on Henry Segerstrom to reair Friday, in honor of 100th anniversary of his birth

Henry Thomas Segerstrom, a man who transformed vast family farmland into major developments including South Coast Plaza and Segerstrom Center for the Arts, is being remembered this week, as Wednesday would have been his 100th birthday.

In honor of the milestone, PBS SoCal on Friday will reair “Henry T. Segerstrom: Imagining the Future,” a 2016 documentary that weaves together interviews, personal photographs, historical footage and oral history to describe Segerstrom’s life and the scope and breadth of his legacy.

PBS SoCal Executive Producer Maria Hall-Brown led a team that began work on the film prior to Segerstrom’s passing in 2015 at age 91. It premiered in 2017, coinciding with the 30th anniversary Segerstrom Center for the Arts and the 10th anniversary of the Renee & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

Hall-Brown said in an interview Thursday while the entire project took more than four years to complete, filmmakers benefited from the enthusiastic response of many who knew, worked with and were influenced by the elegantly composed, articulate and highly private Segerstrom.

“It was easy to get people to talk about him, from any realm you can imagine, from luminaries to the heads of major fashion houses to performers who’d had an experience with the Segerstrom Center,” she said. “As soon as you said what you were doing, everyone said, ‘Sure, what time?’”

Hall-Brown believes that, as a result of that openness, “Henry T. Segerstrom: Imagining the Future” encapsulates the story of a man whose impact extends beyond Orange County. The film premiered in New York, for example, due to Segerstrom’s connections to Carnegie Hall as well as high fashion.

“Henry is the reason we have Nordstroms all over the United States. You don’t have to have known Henry to enjoy the story, because his story touched a lot of things,” the Costa Mesa resident added.

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday adjourned its regular meeting in Segerstrom’s honor, a day ahead of the milestone event. Mayor John Stephens credited South Coast Plaza and Segerstrom Center for the Arts as “an enduring testament to Henry Segerstrom’s bold vision, constant drive for excellence and dedication to giving back.”

“Costa Mesa would not be Costa Mesa, in many respects, without him,” he said.

Hall-Brown said that while many aspects of Orange County might have evolved along similar pathways without the influence of a visionary like Segerstom, it likely would have lacked the cultural heart it has today.

“His mother and those who were in his world were the ones who decided there needed to be cultural interests in this place they were living, so Henry already believed in the power of the arts. He just took it and shot it into the stratosphere.

“I feel very privileged that I got to be a part of the telling of his story.”

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