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“I want to thank Crusader!”
Those were the words of “Best Actor” winner
Jamie Foxx as he accepted his Oscar at the Academy Awards
ceremony on Feb. 27. Foxx was referring to Crusader Entertainment,
one of the production companies responsible for this year’s
hit film, Ray, the life story of music legend, Ray
Charles. And, yes, the company has a Holy Cross connection—Karen
Mulvihill Baldwin ’85.
HCM first profiled Baldwin eight years ago. At
that time, she was working to launch a hockey-themed movie, Mystery
Alaska, which featured a young—and still mostly
unknown—actor named Russell Crowe. Over the ensuing
years, Baldwin and her husband, Howard, have steadily built
a reputation as industry players with a knack for spotting
talent and a good story. In the wake of the acclaim that Ray has
received—and with three big-budget films scheduled
for release before the end of the year—the Baldwins
are making their mark in a notoriously competitive and fickle
industry.
A psychology major while on the Hill, Baldwin originally
planned on a career in medicine. But 20 years after graduation,
she finds herself reading scripts, attending casting sessions
and, increasingly, walking down a succession of red carpets
at award shows. Turn to Page 14 to learn how this budding
mogul rose to the top of her field.
Another alum “on the rise”—in an altogether
different fashion—is Fred Contrada ’74, who,
on Page 30, recounts for us his recent expedition to Mount
Kilimanjaro. Appropriately, Contrada’s climbing hobby
began on Mount St. James, with a trek up nearby Mount Monadnock.
After years spent scaling peaks in the Rockies, the Cascades
and the Andes, Contrada set off last September for Africa
and a midlife attempt to climb higher than he’d ever
before attempted.
Like Baldwin, Contrada has also been featured in a previous
issue of HCM. In our winter 2000 issue, Fred recalled
the story of his spur-of-the-moment, 1973 road trip to New
York City, where, as editor of The Purple, he finagled
an impromptu and mildly surreal interview with Salvador Dali
at the St. Regis Hotel. Thirty-one years later, Contrada’s
trip to Tanzania was a bit more grueling, but his account
of the journey is no less humorous.
And while we’re on the subject of Crusaders scaling
peaks, I want to call your attention to a new, recurring
section of the magazine. The close out to each issue, “The
Profile” will feature alumni at the top of their game—business
visionaries, pioneering entrepreneurs and mavericks of industry.
We debut this new section with a visit to J.D. Power ’53,
who, at press time, was popping up in The New York Times, Business
Week, and TheFinancial Times with
some exciting news. In case you missed it, turn to “The
Profile” on Page 96 for details.
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