And It Was a Roaring Success

The Scene: Hollywood’s hottest dating duo--Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas--along with Griffith’s mother, Tippi Hedren, hosted “Humane for Hollywood,” a $125-a-head fund-raiser at Thunder Road House on Saturday night. A part of the proceeds went to the Roar Foundation, which supports the Shambala Preserve in Acton for lions, tigers, leopards and cougars. (Hedren is Roar president.) Also benefiting was the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Southern California Counseling Center (strictly for humans). Cocktails at the home of talk show host Leeza Gibbons and her husband, architect J. Stephen Meadows, followed by brandy and cigars at Dunhill were included for $125 extra.

Who Was There: Patrick Swayze, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Dennis Hopper, Marlee Matlin, Loni Anderson, Diane Ladd, Donna Mills, Richard Lewis, Barry Manilow, Florence Henderson and about 700 others.

On The Record: “I’m so thrilled to have my little girl in support of this whole endeavor. She and I have been through some incredible times with the lions and tigers,” Hedren said. “We got our first lion when I was three,” Griffith said, “and I learned a lot about people from the cats actually. But now mom has 70 of them.”

Quoted: “The first time Melanie said, ‘My mom has 70 cats’ I didn’t believe her,” said Banderas.

Nice Touch: Hedren thanked each and every animal keeper at the preserve by name. “My real heroes,” she said.

Love Spat: “I have three cats, little Persians. But I can think of nothing more wonderful than to have a wild tiger by my side,” said Loni Anderson. Said boyfriend Geoff Brown: “Behind glass.” “It’s a fantasy thing,” Anderson said. “Behind glass,” said Brown.

Noted: Gibbons had never opened her house to a charity event before. “It’s a cozy family home. It’s not like a showplace,” she said of the large, movie star-ish estate once owned by Joan Crawford.

You Should Know: The Harold and Cynthia Gershman Foundation underwrote the evening. Thunder Road House donated the food and staff. Harold Gershman, a real estate investor, and his wife live in Beverly Hills.

Dress Mode: Anything spotted or striped, the fake variety, of course, safari gear and jeans.

Chow: Strictly vegetarian including breaded zucchini sticks, jalepeno peppers stuffed with cheese, Caesar salad, vegetarian chili, fettucini with vegetables in cream sauce, and papaya and cheese quesadillas.