NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Gala honored five of Hollywood's elite-Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Marcia Gay Harden, Sheila Nevins, and Diana King-Monday night in New York.

Grazer and Howard, who worked together on movies such as 'Angels & Demons' and 'The Da Vinci Code,' hope to translate "The Lost Symbol" to film. Howard told ET, "Dan Brown wouldn't let any of us read it until it was literally published, so we were out there that first weekend getting our copies along with everybody else."

Grazer stressed the importance of partnership and collaboration in his acclaimed career, saying, "Without collaboration, it's very difficult to build the narrative and storytelling and making films, it's essential to be able to collaborate with somebody." He continued, "You have to have respect for the other person...their work ethic, their taste, and everything that emanates from those areas and you have to have trust because there is criticism that's involved in the partnership, so we feel safe enough that we're able to sort of look at each other's work as objectively as we possibly can."

Howard's daughters Bryce and Paige are graduates of Tisch. He credited the school, saying, "It gave them the beginnings of many collaborations, in fact, that they've been able to build on in their careers already." Grazer's daughter Sage is currently enrolled.

Marcia Gay Harden, an alumnus of Tisch, considers the honor "a give-back opportunity." She explained from her heart, "I wouldn't know what I know. I wouldn't have been able to pursue what I pursued. I wouldn't have been able to have been where I am had it not been for NYU and I was a recipient of a scholarship myself, so I know what it means."

Alec Baldwin, Glenn Close, and Samuel L. Jackson also attended the event to show their support of the arts and their peers.