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Hollywood actress Stefanie Powers and TV and film consultant Professor Andrew Erish present a two-hour masterclass on American film and television and its expression of the country’s culture. It is a unique opportunity to hear from someone who directly experienced the last years of the Hollywood star system and who worked with the likes of John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Bing Crosby and David Niven. Powers and Erish will cover the technical history of the industry, the media moguls, and the idealised view of life as expressed in films such as Lassie, and they will discuss the notion of film and Hollywood as an iconic US statement.

They will look at the men who started the film industry and where they came from. Many originated in central Europe. And they will show how the film industry is one of the US’s biggest exports and has done more than anything else to spread US culture around the world.

Powers portrayed Jennifer Hart in the hit US TV series Hart to Hart. She has appeared in 27 feature films, in many stage productions and runs her own production company.  Powers has also carved a name for herself outside the film industry. She helped to found the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, in honour of the late actor, and serves as its president.

Erish has worked in TV and film for over 25 years variously as a writer, soundman, script reader and consultant. For the last four years he has been a consultant for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and curated its exhibition and screenings honouring the Los Angeles motion picture centenary in 2009. His book, Col. William N. Selig: The Man Who Invented Hollywood, was published last year.