NEW YORK – Hollywood stars and top musicians led a huge fundraising drive for Haiti live on television Friday, pleading for funds to help the devastated Caribbean nation rise “from the ashes.”

Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney led a galaxy of stars performing live on national television networks and also manning the phones in the “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon.

The telethon, one of the biggest such events since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was broadcast across every major US television network.

Featuring some 130 celebrities and presented by music channel MTV, the telethon came as the Caribbean nation struggled to recover from the deadly January 12 disaster.

Heart-rending images of fragile survivors being pulled from the rubble of Haiti interchanged with emotional performances from top rock acts, including Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen, in the attempt to raise millions of dollars for the shattered country.

Actress Reese Witherspoon was among the celebrities who lent a hand at the phone bank, handling calls from donors.

Haiti is “a tragedy that reaches across all borders, all boundaries,” Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney said, and “at the core of every religion is the belief that we take care of one another.”

“The Haitian people need our help. They need to know they are not alone,” he told the national audience.

In one of the most moving segments of the event, Rapper Wyclef Jean told the national audience: “I am a Haitian. From the ashes we shall rise.”

Other star acts lined up for the telethon, airing across MTV, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, HBO and other major networks, included Madonna, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Bono, and Jennifer Hudson.

Joining Clooney in hosting the program were CNN’s star reporter Anderson Cooper in Haiti and Wyclef Jean in New York.

“There is so much more for many of us to do,” Cooper said. “They need to know we care for one another.”

Facebook and MySpace were helping to drum up aid, while donors could also go online at HopeForHaitiNow.org, or give over the phone by dialing 877 99-HAITI, or by just texting the word “GIVE” to 50555.

Clooney says he will donate one million dollars of his own money.

Hollywood megastar Leonardo DiCaprio announced Thursday that he was also giving $1 million to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, while Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie donated $1 million earlier to help aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres’s operations in Haiti.

In the telethon, DiCaprio praised aid workers, recalling an incident in which a poorly-equipped doctor “had to use a bottle of vodka to clean a wound.”

The 7.0-magnitude quake killed at least 110,000 people and left half a million homeless.

Friday’s telethon had few parallels over the last decade, said Charity Navigator, an organization monitoring charities across the United States.

A telethon was held in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against New York and the Pentagon. Also hosted by Clooney, the event was simulcast across 35 network and cable channels, raising about $150 million.

Another big telethon took place after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, but that was broadcast only on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and less major channels. About $40 million was raised.

NBC and its affiliated networks broadcast a telethon in aid of victims of the Asian tsunami in 2005, raising $18 million.