Actor John Bedford Lloyd To Emcee Child Care Center Benefit In Bedford

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. — Actor John Bedford Lloyd, a familiar face from movies, including “The Bourne Supremacy,” “Philadelphia" and “The Manchurian Candidate,” and television shows such as "Law & Order" and HBO's "John Adams," is doing his part to help Mount Kisco's community's premier child care and education center.

Lloyd, a Katonah resident, is slated to emcee the Mount Kisco Child Care Center’s eighth annual Feed Me Fresh: An Edible Evening gala fundraiser Saturday, Sept. 22, at Ivanna Farms in Bedford Corners.

Proceeds from the event, which will feature fresh tastings from 20 local restaurants as well as live and silent auctions, will benefit the nonprofit’s scholarship program. It provides $800,000 in tuition assistance to nearly half the children enrolled there.

The Mount Kisco Child Care Center is banking on a great turnout, and Lloyd knows just how this works, having helped run the auction at the Northern Westchester Community Center in Katonah for the past eight years.

“There’s a room full of people with like minds,” said Lloyd, who has lived in Katonah for 25 years, raising two daughters with his wife, actress Anne Twomey.

People get in the giving spirit in part because “they know everybody they’re talking to, they know everyone they’re standing next to,” he said. “They drive by this place every single day.”

“We’re very fortunate to have John,” Director Dottie Jordan said. “Hopefully he’ll be a presence that will get people to listen and understand why they’re there.”

Lloyd has acted in a number of Broadway plays, including “Tartuffe” and “The Rainmaker,” and at Carnegie Hall in “Showboat.” He currently can be seen in the USA miniseries “Political Animals.”

Since 2006, Lloyd has volunteered with Rehabilitation Through the Arts , along with Patrick Collins, another Katonah-based film actor. Last year, Lloyd directed inmates at maximum security Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville in a production of "Macbeth."

Saw Mill Club and Curtis Instruments founder and personal friend Curtis Beusman, a member of the center’s board of directors, asked Lloyd to host the event. Another friend, late local builder George McTavey, oversaw the child care center’s construction, he said.

The Sept. 22 event will honor Beusman as well as two other Mount Kisco luminaries: Frances and Isidoro Albanese, proprietors of Bellizzi and Frannie’s Goodie Shop. For information about tickets and donations, visit the center’s website.

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