On October 4, 2008, Tyler Perry Studios held its opening gala and celebrated with Hollywood and black music’s finest celebrities including Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee (who has a soundstage dedicated to she and her late husband Ossie Davis), L.A. Reid, Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Star Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Lou Gossett Jr., Debbie Allen, Will Smith, Tasha Smith, Gayle King, Stedman Graham and the list goes on.
On Tuesday, May 1, 2012, a four-alarm fire at his southwest Atlanta film studiodamaged the back lot facade of one of Perry’s sound stages, according to a statement from the studio Wednesday. —yvette caslin
