Montecito Award, Geoffery Rush, Arlington Theater.

Reviewed by John Starr. Viewed at the Arlington Theater.

Watching Geoffrey Rush receive the Montecito Award, presented to him by the Santa Barbara Film Festival, truly was an honor. Geoffrey Rush is one of the greatest actors and performers of his time. He is most well known for his rolls in movies such as “Shakespeare in Love”, “Intolerable Cruelty”, “Shine”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”, and his most recent roll as Lionel Logue, the speech therapist in “The Kings Speech”.Accompanying his long list of cinematic performances, Geoffrey Rush has also stayed very active in the theater, performing in plays around the world.

The tribute was moderated by Pete Hammond and included a fun video montage of Rush’s work. Geoffrey was very honored to be receiving the award and seemed to welcome all of Pete’s questions. I was surprised at how funny Geoffrey was, he had a great sense of humor that I did not expect.

Another unexpected suprise was when Helena Bonham Carter, along with the director of “The Kings Speech”, Tom Hooper came out on stage at the end of the ceremony to honor their friend. It was great to see Geoffrey Rush receive this much deserved reward.