Representative Tony P. Hall, who is nearing the end of his third week of a protest fast, was joined Friday by 40 celebrities around the country in an effort to raise awareness of hunger and to protest a House decision to abolish the Select Committee on Hunger.

Mr. Hall, a Democrat from Dayton, Ohio, began fasting on April 5 after the House voted to cut its budget by eliminating the hunger committee, which he led, as well as special committees on aging, children and narcotics.

"It's not some kind of crazy guy who's fasting trying to get his way," the actor Jeff Bridges said Friday, from his home in Montana. "This is a well-respected Congressman. I wanted to help him sound the horn and get the message out."

Mr. Bridges said he helped organize the one-day celebrity fast in hope that people would pay attention to the 35,000 people who die of starvation in the world each day. He is also hoping to get the attention of members of Congress.

"I hope this will put some fire under their tails and they will find a way to replace the committee now that it's gone," Mr. Bridges said.

Since beginning his fast, Mr. Hall has lost about 20 pounds. The Congressman, who said he is drinking only water, said he would break the fast early next week, after Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announces a plan to coordinate the work of Federal agencies that handle programs to combat hunger.

Mr. Hall said the fast had given him empathy for the famine victims he had seen in Somalia, Ethiopia and elsewhere. "I know how they go days without food," said Mr. Hall, who has continued his work schedule, "but how do they walk? I walk a block and I am winded."

William Stanton, the senior adviser for external affairs at the World Bank, said Mr. Hall's fast had inspired officials of the development bank to promise a series of worldwide "hunger summits," beginning with a symposium in the United States this fall. The bank spends about $1 billion a year on nutrition programs, he said.

But Linda Elswick of the World Sustainable Agriculture Association said famine-relief groups had mixed views about World Bank programs.

She said some groups complained that developing nations had been encouraged to grow crops for export rather than crops that feed local people. Others complained that the money went to local governments but did not reach the people that needed it the most, she said.

Mr. Hall's fast has inspired one-day fasts on college campuses around the country, as well as the celebrity fast, which the actress Valerie Harper helped Mr. Bridges organize.

The actors who said they would take part included Brooke Adams, Steve Allen, Beau Bridges, Gary Busey, Michael Cole, Bruce Davison, Shelley Fabares, Andy Garcia, Cynthia Geary, Scott Glenn, Deidre Hall, Harry Hamlin, Mel Harris, Michael Jeter, Carol Kane, Perry King, Stepfanie Kramer, Michael Learned, Jayne Meadows, Rob Morrow, Edward James Olmos, Susan Ruttan, Susan Sarandon, Connie Stevens, McLean Stevenson, Brenda Vaccaro, Lindsay Wagner, Lesley Ann Warren and Sam Waterston.

Others who announced fasts on Friday included the former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the musicians Graham Nash, Mary Travers and Peter Yarrow and such personalities as Phyllis Diller, Dick Gregory, Casey Kasem, Cassandra Peterson and Olden Polynice.