George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep were among the stars who celebrated Paul Newman’s legacy at a gala in New York.

The Avery Fisher Hall event – An Evening of SeriousFun – honoured both the late actor’s philanthropy and his SeriousFun Children’s Network, which sends kids with illnesses from more than 50 countries to camp.

“Paul’s great idea has grown and grown and grown to such a degree that I don’t think he would even believe it, if he had lived to 90 (years old),” Meryl said on the red carpet.

“They’re opening three more camps this year. They have 30 now functioning. They have served a half a million kids and families. He’s really delivered joy, not just in his work but in this work, which is a great legacy. All of his friends and people who admire him are just thrilled to be here and come out and celebrate.”

Paul, who won an Oscar for his performance in Martin Scorsese’s The Colour Of Money, died in 2008 aged 83. He co-founded the food company Newman’s Own, with all post-tax profits and royalties donated to charity.

George and Danny DeVito joked they had a song and dance number planned and were sharing a dressing room backstage.

George Clooney and Danny DeVito
George Clooney and Danny DeVito (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

George Clooney said the camps have an impact on the kids: “They get to be campers and not patients for a period of time and that’s really something kind of spectacular.

“You get lost in all these things in the rush of our lives and you forget that they, on top of having to deal with very serious illnesses, they’re also kids. There was a kid here today saw snow for the first time, which is pretty great.”

Danny added: “It’s all about the kids and it’s all about the fact that this camp is really a special thing in their lives and they’re struggling all year long with everything that they’ve got going on, which is like, you know, just mind-blowing.

“They get to be kids at this camp and they get to do stuff that they wouldn’t normally get to do and Paul did this. It’s all about what he saw and that’s why we’re here, because we’re going to make them happy.”

Tom Hanks and George Clooney
Tom Hanks and George Clooney (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

To Tom Hanks, Newman was a great example of how it’s possible to use a celebrity status for good.

“What it is, it’s about this example that he put forward that choose your issue, give it your all, cash in on some degree of celebrity cache and you’ll be amazed how many lives you can change,” he said.