Johnny Whitaker, Celeste Holm and Jeff East, stars of "Tom Sawyer," a Readers Digest movie filmed in Arrow Rock. These photos were taken in 1972 by Donna Huston while the stars were in Arrow Rock making the movie. Photo of Celeste Holm. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

Academy Award-winning actress Celeste Holm and two other members of the original cast of "Tom Sawyer" will pay a visit to Arrow Rock for the 35th anniversary celebration of the filming of the 1973 movie.

Donna Huston, a member of the Lyceum board of directors, announced Wednesday, June 27, that Holm had confirmed she would make an appearance in Arrow Rock.

Holm, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance in the 1947 production of "Gentlemen's Agreement," will be on hand for festivities commemorating the 1972 filming of the Mark Twain novel in Arrow Rock.

Joining her are Johnny Whitaker, who played the title role in the movie, and Jeff East, who played Huck Finn.

Holm is best known in this area for her portrayal of Aunt Polly in the Readers Digest movie musical. Holm, East and Whitaker will be the Grand Marshals of the Fourth of July parade which steps off at 1 p.m. from the Old Schoolhouse on the west end of Arrow Rock. After a 2 p.m. presentation of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" at the Lyceum Theatre, some of the stars will join in a "talk back" session in the lobby following the show.

Photo of Johnny Whitaker. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

Festivities will conclude with a 5:30 p.m. Open House Picnic Buffet with the stars at "Becky Thatcher's Home" on Main St. behind the white picket fence.

Holm began her long career as a stage actor with studies at the University of Chicago, and first graced the stage opposite Leslie Howard in "Hamlet."

After her show-stopping performance in the role of Ado Annie in the first Broadway production of "Oklahoma" in 1943, she was signed by 20th Century Fox and began her film career with "Three Little Girls in Blue" shortly afterward.

In addition to her Academy Award in 1947, she was nominated twice more for the award: in 1949 for "Come to the Stable," and in 1950 for "All About Eve."

In 1955, she starred with Frank Sinatra in "The Tender Trap," and in 1956, with Grace Kelly in "High Society," but her first love was always the stage.

Photo of Jeff East. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

She was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1992. She has frequently appeared in regular series television and briefly had her own show "Honestly, Celeste" in 1954.

Most recently, she was a regular on the ABC soap opera "Loving," and the CBS series "Promised Land" with Gerald Rainey.

In 2006, she was the first actor to receive the newly-established Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the SunDeis Film Festival at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.