Kingsley Pledges to Help Raise Funds for Pakistan Quake Victims

Posted Feb 21st 2006 4:23PM by TMZ Staff

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS -- Ben Kingsley promised Tuesday to help raise funds to assist victims of a powerful earthquake in Pakistan last year that killed about 87,000 people and left millions homeless.

The 62-year-old British actor praised efforts by the Pakistani government to handle the aftermath of the Oct. 8 earthquake that flattened entire villages in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir and surrounding areas.


Kingsley met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad, the prime minister's press office said in a statement.

Aziz said Kingsley's involvement would help draw the attention of the world community to the continuing need for assistance in rehabilitating and rebuilding quake-hit areas, the statement said.

"Sir Kingsley assured the prime minister that he would join the Pakistan government's efforts to raise more funds" for those affected by the quake, the statement said.

It didn't say whether Kingsley had visited the quake zone or would travel there soon. Officials at Aziz's press office weren't available for comment.

Kingsley, 62, won a best-actor Oscar in 1983 for "Gandhi." His screen credits also include Oscar-nominated roles in "Bugsy," "Sexy Beast" and "House of Sand and Fog."

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002.

Filed under: The Biz, Life Style

Comments [0]
Digg itDel.icio.usMy YahooSphereRSSMySpace

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry.
Inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. E-mail addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Your e-mail address is what makes your comments unique, not your user name. To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or e-mail address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to three URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted -- no need to use <p> or <br> tags.

Do you want us to remember your personal information for next time?
What this means: We place a cookie on your computer that stores your e-mail address and the non-unique name you have selected. Next time, these comment form fields will be automatically populated with your information. It saves you a couple of steps so you can quickly express your thoughts on the latest TMZ story.

Hot Tips