Actress Mariette Hartley at Library "Ride the High Country" Screening on June 6

Emmy® Award-winning actress Mariette Hartley will be making a special appearance during the screening of “Ride the High Country” in the South Pasadena Public Library Community Room on Thursday, June 6 at 7:00 p.m. The classic film was her first starring role and helped to launch her stellar acting career in film, theatre, and television. Now considered one of the last great movie westerns, "Ride the High Country" also put director Sam Peckinpah on the map. Featuring South Pasadena's own Joel McCrea who, by the time he retired after 80 starring film roles, was declared "The Last of the Great Cowboy Film Heroes."    In 1962 Newsweek called “Ride the High Country” “faultlessly crafted—pure gold” while tabbing it as the “Year’s Best Film.” The New York Times hailed it as a “downright pleasure to watch” and The New York Herald Tribune pronounced it a “Superior Western, a consummate work of art.” Life dubbed it a “reverse sleeper” with “solid action and rich humor.”   Mariette Hartley has appeared on “Law & Order” and the FX series, “Dirt” and in many television shows including “The Mentalist,” “Big Love,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Cleaner” and “Saving Grace.”  She has starred in such movies for television as “Silence of the Heart” and “MADD: The Candy Lightner Story.”  Known widely for her Polaroid commercials with James Garner, she also hosted the “CBS Morning Program” and is currently hosting her tenth season of “Wild About Animals.”    Her other film roles include Alfred Hitchcock’s “Marnie,”  “Encino Man,” “1969” and “Improper Channels.”   Hartley’s bestselling autobiography, “Breaking the Silence: Overcoming a Family History of Alcoholism and Suicide,” is a surprising, powerful memoir of family secrets and personal courage.  Mariette is the co-founder and national spokesperson for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  Mariette facilitates survivor groups in Los Angeles and received the 2010 Personal Legacy Award from the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health.  Copies of her book will be available for purchase at the conclusion of the program.   Master of Ceremonies for the screening will be acclaimed Cowboy Poet, Larry Maurice who will also be introducing the film with Wyatt McCrea, one of the grandsons of Joel and Frances McCrea. Wyatt and Larry will team up to conduct a Q & A, along with Mariette Hartley and David Lyons, the son of the film's producer Richard Lyons. Larry Maurice will perform some of his cowboy poems too.   Admission is free and refreshments will be served. The Community Room is located at 1115 El Centro Street. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and no tickets or reservations are needed. The event is presented by the South Pasadena Public Library, the Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library, and Poets & Writers, Inc. with the financial support of the James Irvine Foundation. Special thanks to Videotheque, South Pasadena Mercantile/Scott Gandell & Anneline De Croos, and the Joel and Frances McCrea Ranch Foundation.