Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 18, 1990 TAG: 9006180340
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DANVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The Danville girl was selected from 1,200 little girls trying out for a part in the movie "Prince of Tides" starring Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte.
Streisand also is the director of the film. When asked how Streisand treated her, Tiffany replied, "She treated me like she's supposed to treat me."
Tiffany never doubted for a minute that she'd get the part, even though she was up against tough competition from girls already packing portfolios. "I feel the beat inside of me. I knew I could do it," said the impish, sandy-blond youngster.
Tiffany's father, Barry G. Davis, said he heard an announcement on his car radio about May 27 auditions in Raleigh, N.C. He said Tiffany quickly agreed to try out for a part.
Davis said when they got to the audition, they were told the name of the movie but not what the producers and directors were looking for. "Nobody ever really knows what they're applying for," he said.
The producers weren't going to give Tiffany a script because they didn't know if she would be able to read well enough or memorize the lines. But the self-possessed child told them she could read just fine and learn any lines they gave her.
So she tried out for the part and was told she would hear something later in the week. After several excruciatingly long days, the call came at 1 p.m. on May 31. Davis was asked to have his daughter in Beaufort, S.C., by 3 p.m. the next day for another audition.
"That was incredible to me when they put that to me," he said. "I was packing as they were talking on the phone!"
Davis said when he and Tiffany arrived he learned that the other children had been interviewed by Streisand herself. But he later realized his daughter pretty much had the part before she got there. Because once Streisand verified that Tiffany could swim - there's a swim scene for Tiffany's character - she was a shoo-in. "I'm a real good swimmer," Tiffany said.
One of the highlights of the trip for Tiffany was lounging poolside with Nolte. "I was just falling in love with him," she said, clutching her heart dramatically. "He was just gorgeous."
She said Nolte was very nice to her and was just like she thought he'd be. "He was really OK. He was just right."
Another delight for Tiffany came when she was fitted for her costumes for the movie.
"Tiffany was just real tickled they were going to specially make her clothes," Davis said.
Tiffany's father, a member of a union that contracts people out for work in movies, has rubbed elbows with a few stars himself. Working on the set of the movie "Crazy People," in scenes filmed last year in Chatham, he met Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah.
"Tiffany hasn't got a union card yet," he said. "She'll probably get an actor's card after this [movie]."
"Prince of Tides," set in the 1950s, centers on a flashback in the life of a family. Tiffany will play the part of Savannah as a child. Melinda Dillon of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" fame plays the older Savannah.
Davis said Tiffany and the two boys in the movie will get a shot at three other movies when filming for "Prince of Tides" is finished. But Tiffany will be hard-pressed to work it into her schedule.
She sings, dances, plays piano and wants to take karate lessons. She may make film a priority, however. "She wants to be a movie star or a rock star in her own band," her father said.
by CNB