EvanL
04-27-2004, 01:07 AM
CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — Actor Russell Crowe was among the dozens of callers from around the world offering moral support to a Jewish school that was firebombed earlier this month.
The star of such hit films as Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind phoned the principal and general director of United Talmud Torahs' elementary school.
"He was very upset at what had happened," said school spokeswoman Shelley Paris.
Crowe also pledged money to help rebuild the school's library, which was destroyed in the fire, the Montreal Gazette reported today.
Paris said she couldn't comment on whether Crowe had donated money to the school, or the amount of his pledge.
In an attack that made headlines across Canada and overseas, the school's library was destroyed by a firebomb on April 5. The school estimates it will cost about $300,000 to replace all the books. Police have yet to make an arrest in the attack.
A note left at the school said the fire was in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Since the attack, the school has received thousands of dollars in donations, from anonymous benefactors to children sending in their allowance money, Paris said.
Letters pouring into the school have been compiled in a binder.
"We have heard from just about every region of the country," she said.
The New Zealand-born actor called the school after students had returned to class following the eight-day Passover holiday.
Paris said the Oscar-winning actor had asked the school to relay the calls only to students — not the public at large.
"He was very gracious on the phone," Paris said. "It was a major morale boost for the whole school community."
Crowe is in Toronto filming The Cinderella Man, the story of 1930s-era U.S. boxer James Braddock.
MONTREAL — Actor Russell Crowe was among the dozens of callers from around the world offering moral support to a Jewish school that was firebombed earlier this month.
The star of such hit films as Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind phoned the principal and general director of United Talmud Torahs' elementary school.
"He was very upset at what had happened," said school spokeswoman Shelley Paris.
Crowe also pledged money to help rebuild the school's library, which was destroyed in the fire, the Montreal Gazette reported today.
Paris said she couldn't comment on whether Crowe had donated money to the school, or the amount of his pledge.
In an attack that made headlines across Canada and overseas, the school's library was destroyed by a firebomb on April 5. The school estimates it will cost about $300,000 to replace all the books. Police have yet to make an arrest in the attack.
A note left at the school said the fire was in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Since the attack, the school has received thousands of dollars in donations, from anonymous benefactors to children sending in their allowance money, Paris said.
Letters pouring into the school have been compiled in a binder.
"We have heard from just about every region of the country," she said.
The New Zealand-born actor called the school after students had returned to class following the eight-day Passover holiday.
Paris said the Oscar-winning actor had asked the school to relay the calls only to students — not the public at large.
"He was very gracious on the phone," Paris said. "It was a major morale boost for the whole school community."
Crowe is in Toronto filming The Cinderella Man, the story of 1930s-era U.S. boxer James Braddock.