Sally Cole

When Megan Follows got a telephone call at her Los Angeles home informing her that she and the 1985 miniseries that she starred in were being honoured by Masterworks, she was thrilled.

"I was really touched. It means a lot to me," says the Canadian actress, who played the title role in the Anne of Green Gables film series produced by Kevin Sullivan.

Masterworks is produced by AV Preservation Trust, a charitable organization that promotes preservation and renewed access to films, television and radio programs and music/sound recordings.

Follows is one of 12 masters who, with their works, will be recognized during a gala evening at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa today.

And Follows is delighted.

"I've always been very, very proud of what we accomplished with Anne. It's obviously got a very important place in my heart," says Follows, who will attend the award ceremony with her son, Russell.

The former child actress says the Anne miniseries was her lucky break.

"Thank God it was well received. It was like being a pioneer for the country because the movie went around the world just like the book has.

"The power of the first film in the series was its truthfulness to the novel and the spirit of what L.M. Montgomery had created, certainly was all our intention.

"And it made an impact around the world. Wherever I go in the world - Asia, Africa, United States, Mexico, continental Europe - people have seen that program, so it has touched a lot of people,'' says Follows who gave a master class at the P.E.I. Conservatory in Charlottetown last summer.

Anne of Green Gables, the story about the little red-haired orphan girl who comes to P.E.I. after being adopted by a brother and sister, has a universal appeal, says Follows.

"It's a testament to what Lucy Maud (Montgomery) created, this female voice, a type of female voice that had never been heard before. And that's why I think she had such an impact," says Follows.

She says Montgomery's characters have empowered women around the world to become their own person.

"One of the beauties of the story of Anne is that idea of someone who society deems as unworthy, who through a series of small miracles turns around a community. And they grow because their perceptions on who has value and who doesn't are changed. And that, I think, is the universal theme," she says.

While she's thrilled that Anne of Green Gables will be honoured, she's even more pleased that the series has been preserved for future audiences to enjoy.

"I remember hearing that the original print of The King and I had deteriorated, and it's something that we don't really think about. Thank God someone is thinking about them.

"In Canada, we've lost the first silent feature film that was ever made . . . and we've lost the first Canadian feature film with sound. They're both gone, forever," she says.

"That's a part of our cultural history, our heritage that's uniquely ours."

Follows is not alone in receiving the honour.

Other honourees include The Friendly Giant, opera legend Teresa Stratas, band leader and musician Mart Kenney of Mart Kenny and his Western Gentlemen and the late Barbara Frum for her radio work on As It Happens and Gordon Pinsent and his film, The Rowdyman.

Source: Charlottetown: The Guardian