Richards will be presented with The Fund's Medal of Honor. The evening will also honor Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, who will receive The Fund's Lee Strasberg Artistic Achievement Award, and People Magazine Managing Editor Martha Nelson will be on hand to receive The Fund's Corporate Citizen Award.

Richard Gere and Hollywood couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones will serve as honorary chairs for the evening, which will include dinner and a star-studded tribute performance. Clive Davis and Harvey Weinstein are the gala chairs.

Martin Richards is the Academy Award-winning producer of the Miramax film "Chicago." He also produced the original Broadway production of the Kander and Ebb musical. His many other Broadway producing credits include Sweeney Todd, A Doll's Life, La Cage aux Folles, Roza, Grand Hotel, The Will Rogers Follies, The Life and Sweet Smell of Success.

Meryl Streep won Academy Awards for her performances in "Sophie's Choice" and "Kramer vs. Kramer." She was also Oscar-nominated for her work in "Adaptation," "Music of the Heart," "One True Thing," "The Bridges of Madison County," "Postcards from the Edge," "A Cry in the Dark," "Ironweed," "Out of Africa," "Silkwood," "The French Lieutenant's Woman" and "The Deer Hunter." Streep received a Tony nomination for 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, and her other Broadway appearances include Happy End, The Cherry Orchard, Secret Service and Trelawny of the "Wells".

Cocktail reception begins at 6:30 PM with dinner/performance at 8:40 PM at Cipriani, 110 East 42nd Street. Tickets, which begin at $750, are available by calling (212) 221-7300, ext. 129. The Actors' Fund of America, a nonprofit organization founded in 1882, provides for the social welfare of all entertainment professionals. Its headquarters and The Aurora Residence are located in New York City, and its nursing home and assisted living care facility are in Englewood, New Jersey.