Julie Halston to get special Tony Award for her advocacy

Actor Julie Halston will receive the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her work fighting the lung-scarring disease pulmonary fibrosis

NEW YORK -- Theater actor Julie Halston will receive the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her work fighting the lung-scarring disease pulmonary fibrosis. The Tony Awards Administration Committee announced Wednesday that Halston would get the special Tony “for her dedication and advocacy in raising funding and awareness.” The annual award is presented to a representative of the theater community who has made a contribution through humanitarian, charitable or social services. Others who have been handed the award are David Hyde Pierce, Eve Ensler and Larry Kramer. “I am so genuinely humbled and sincerely touched by this recognition,” Halston said in a statement. "I am so grateful to be a part of the extraordinary Broadway community and I am profoundly indebted to them for their support of my advocacy."