Archon Nicholas Royce

Nicholas Royce Honored
Apr. 9, 2004
Longtime Academy member Nicholas Royce,who put his dancing
talent to work for many humanitarian causes, has
received the Southern California Motion Picture
Council's Lifetime Achievement Award for his
contributions to the entertainment industry and the
performing arts. Royce, an activist for the Greek
Orthodox Church, was also one of the first males to
speak out against gender discrimination in the
entertainment industry and one of the first men to join
the organization Women in Film. He was best known to TV
audiences for his performances on the Milton Berle, Ed
Sullivan and Kate Smith shows during the 1950s. The
Andrews Sisters presented the award to Royce at a
celebration on December 5, 2003, in Studio City.
RECOGNIZING NICHOLAS ROYCE
HON. DIANE E. WATSON
(Extensions of Remarks - November 14, 2002)
[Page: E2039] GPO's PDF
HON. DIANE E. WATSON OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, November 14, 2002
* Ms. WATSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I wish to acknowledge Mr. Nicholas Royce, a dedicated American and Southern Californian, who has spent more than fifty years as an advocate for the Eastern Orthodox religion and its inclusion as an integral part of American religious life.
* Mr. Royce's first experience with religious discrimination was when he entered the Armed Forces and found the service had limited religious choices--Protestant, Catholic and Jewish. Through Mr. Royce's encouragement and a prolific letter writing campaign, U.S. Senator Leverett Saltonstall introduced and had passed legislation in 1955 which recognized the more than 500,000 Orthodox Catholics who had fought and died in uniform. Today, service men and women are able to wear name tags designating Eastern Orthodoxy and they have access to Orthodox chaplains. In addition, thirty-three states now recognize Eastern Orthodoxy as a major religion.
* Having retired from a successful show business career that began at the age of 14 as a dancer, Mr. Royce has devoted his time to fighting for AIDS victims, the homeless and abused women and children. Breaking down gender barriers, Mr. Royce has been an active member of the Hollywood Women's Press Club. Women in Film and American Women in Radio and Television.
* I am pleased to be able to recognize the accomplishments of Mr. Nicholas Royce on the occasion of his birthday and wish him many more years of successful activism.
NICHOLAS ROYCE, A DEDICATED ACTIVIST
HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN
(Extension of Remark - August 02, 1994)
[Page: E1623]
---HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN
in the House of Representatives
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1994
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I commend to my colleagues the following National Catholic Register article which depicts the activism Los Angeles film distributor Nicholas Royce has undertaken for the rights of Orthodox Christians in what has historically been the center of Eastern Christianity.
[Page: E1624]
Background: Eastern Orthodox activist wages tireless campaign for the rights of Christian minorities in Turkey.
For Christians, not all roads lead to Rome. Some lead to Constantinople--Istanbul, as the Turks call it now. Reminding Americans of this simple historical fact and the reality that Christians are persecuted today in what has historically been the center of Eastern Christianity is the quest of Los Angeles film distributor Nicholas Royce.
..Rome has to look for its roots in the East,' Royce argues, noting that present-day Turkey was for hundreds of years the Center of Christianity, including the site of ecumenical councils which brought leaders of both Western and Eastern Churches together.
Now, however, Turkey is dominated by Islam. And Moslem militants have made life difficult for the few thousand Christians who remain, most of whom are of Greek descent.
Under the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos, who as leader of the Church in Istanbul is considered the spiritual leader of 270 million Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, Christians in Turkey are quietly enduring a persecution which has continued for centuries, says Royce.
Even the Christian dead are not immune. In recent years, hundreds of Christian gravesites have been vandalized. And the Patriarch, who is among only 5,000 ethnic Greeks still residing in Istanbul, has been criticized by some Moslem militants for attempting to construct a ..second Vatican' in an Islamic country.
Three years after his election as spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Bartholomeos is planning to travel the world, meeting with Orthodox communities in Eastern Europe and joining in ecumenical discussions with Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, among others.
Royce would like to see the Patriarch speak forcefully about the persecution of Christians in
* Turkey. Too often, he says, Orthodox Christians have tried appeasement and have failed to better their situation. ..Our people are still being crucified,' he stresses, noting that for centuries Orthodox leaders ..have been very passive.' ..We need martyrs today,' he says.
* Royce has taken his campaign for the rights of Orthodox Christians to the United Nations and to every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter. He found that American Cold War politicians were reluctant to offend Turkey, then considered a vital strategic U.S. friend on the Soviet border.
* Royce is a tireless contributor to the religious press of all denominations as he attempts to generate outrage about the persecutions.
* The activist recently persuaded the Los Angeles Council of Churches to petition the U.N. Human Rights Office in Geneva for the return of St. Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul, now a museum, to religious uses. The Council of Churches group also called for the reopening of seminaries and the return of Church property now administered by the Turkish government.
* The campaign has not yet proven successful. But that hasn't stopped Royce.
* Born in Bethlehem, Pa., as Nicholas Vlangas, he and his Greek-American family soon moved to Baltimore, where he was raised.
* The Catholic youths in his neighborhood made fun of his Eastern Orthodox ways, recalls Royce, who is 68. Later he realized that responding to their taunts inadvertently helped him to learn more about his tradition.
* ..It was up to me not to become bitter but to study my culture and my traditions,' he says.
At 14, he was entertaining American military troops and eventually he made a career as a nightclub singer and dancer, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show and other national network programs in the '50s. He changed his ethnic name like other big-name entertainers of that time.
But while his name changed, Royce never forgot his ethnic origins and his religious tradition. For years he helped wage an ultimately successful campaign to have Orthodox chaplains admitted into the American military.
..We had to educate the Christian world.' Royce declares, saying that before his campaign the only groups allowed chaplains in the military were Catholics, Protestants and Jews. It took nine years to recognize the rights of Orthodox Christians in the military.
Next, he embraced the cause of Orthodox Christians in Turkey, inspired by the sight of devastated churches and shrines he saw on a trip there. That has proven to be a more difficult effort.
Ultimately, Royce wants to educate Roman Catholics--he emphasizes that Orthodoxy also embraces the ..Catholics' term--to the spiritual links they have to the Eastern Church. Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, was for centuries one of the two great centers of the Church, sharing its role with Rome. ..We were all united at one time,' he emphasizes.
1945 Staff Sargent Royce; billed as the Greek Fred Astaire in GI clothing. Entertained over 75,000 GI's in WWII Appeared at the Ernie Pyle Theater in Tokyo, Japan with General MacAthur in attendance.
Nicholas Royce cruising the Agean Isle's
St Sophia's Cathedral Los Angeles, CA
The late Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras receives Nicholas Royce at the Phanar in Istanbul, Turkey (July 1965)
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