Clooney launches fundraiser for troubled entertainers

London: Actor George Clooney has launched a new fundraising drive to help entertainers who have fallen on hard times.

The 50-year-old along with film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg hope to raise $350 million to benefit the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF), which provides healthcare and other services to struggling showbusiness professionals and retirees. "I was raised to believe that, as a community, we should be judged by how we take care of people who can`t take care of themselves. This is our community. This is our commitment," contactmusic.com quoted Clooney as saying. MPTF was founded in 1921 by legends like Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. IANS