“Moonstruck,” the third film in Tryon Fine Arts Center’s Leading Ladies film series will be shown on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.

Cher plays Lonetta Castorini, a young Italian American widow in this 1987 romantic comedy that is set in Brooklyn, New York. Believing that her husband’s death was the result of a curse, Loretta further complicates her life by falling in love with the brother of the man that she has agreed to marry. Cher is joined in the cast by Nicholas Cage and numerous well-seasoned actors including Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, Danny Aiello, Julie Bovasso, Louis Guss, John Mahoney, Feodor Chaliapin, Jr., and Anita Gillette.

“Moonstruck” was nominated for six Oscars, winning Best Actress (Cher), Best Supporting Actress (Olympia Dukakis) and Best Original Screenplay (John Patrick Shanley) and all three also won Golden Globe Awards. Another winner from the movie was the Cammareri Bros. Bakery in Brooklyn which continued baking 5,000 loaves a day during the filming and became a tourist destination after the film was released.

Cher, being part Armenian and part Cherokee, could not relate the Italian American character of Loretta from her own background, so she drew upon the family of her ex-husband, Sonny Bono, whom she described as “Everybody eating, talking and shouting — but you have such good times.” She and Bono rose to fame during the 1970s when their weekly TV show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, was watched by more than 30 million viewers. She has continued her career as a solo performer in films and on stages from London to Las Vegas, and has appeared on such varied TV shows as Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, The Simpsons, Gilmore Girls, Will & Grace, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sex in the City, and The X-Files.

The Tryon Fine Arts Center doors will open 45 minutes before the film begins to allow patrons to mingle and enjoy complimentary samples of Tryon’s own Buck’s Pizza. Additional refreshments will be available from the bar.

For more information about this series and other happenings at Tryon Fine Arts Center, visit tryonarts.org or call the TFAC Box Office at 828-859-8322.

– submitted by Frances Flynn