Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 10, 1995 TAG: 9501100060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WHITE HOUSE LENGTH: Long
There's just one drawback to acting in a reality-based television show such as NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries": You might get mistaken for the person you're portraying.
And that especially can be a problem if the person you're playing is, say, an accused mass murderer or a wanted drug smuggler.
Los Angeles-based actor Richard Foster found that out recently when he played an escaped killer in an episode of Fox's ``America's Most Wanted,'' a television show that helps state and federal authorities locate fugitives through viewer participation.
``I was making a joke on the set,'' he recalled. ``I asked the producer, `What happens if I get arrested at gunpoint for being a multiple killer if somebody recognizes me from the TV show?'
``Without a blink, he pulled out this card. They have a 24-hour phone hot line actors can call because so many have been arrested!''
In another month or two, Foster might need to worry about being mistaken for Bland County pilot Wallace Thrasher, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1984, just as he was about to be indicted on drug charges.
Foster has been in the Roanoke area since Saturday playing Thrasher for a segment of "Unsolved Mysteries" that is to air in February or March.
The filming has taken the "Unsolved Mysteries" crew from Smith Mountain Lake Airport (where they shot scenes of some of Thrasher's alleged drug runs) to Bent Mountain (where they staged a fake plane crash).
Many of their filming locations have been kept secret to prevent stampedes of curious onlookers, although that may not have been necessary for the Bent Mountain shoot. Getting to the scene of the "plane crash" required a long climb up a steep hill through thick, orange mud.
Location scouts for the TV show surveyed the Bent Mountain area a few weeks ago before they found city firefighter Stuart Franklin's property - a remote, wooded plot of land in Roanoke County where trees knocked over by last year's ice storms made it appear as if a plane crash actually had taken place.
The "Unsolved Mysteries" crew created a plane crash scene complete with debris strewn in the trees, police tape and firetrucks with lights flashing. Adding to the illusion were smoke and flames provided by hand-held torches.
The scene depicted the 1984 airplane crash in Carroll County that implicated Thrasher in drug smuggling.
Shortly before Thrasher disappeared, a plane thought to belong to him hit the side of a mountain and burned, killing one of two people aboard and scattering 500 pounds of marijuana across the hillside.
The pilot survived and called Thrasher from a pay phone. Police traced the call, and Thrasher vanished when it appeared likely that he would be indicted.
Holding his infant grandson, Franklin watched the film crew that had invaded his property and used his house as a headquarters - for a fee.
"Who would have ever thought anything like this could happen? It looks like we had a raid," he said, watching police and firefighters - real ones who were hired as extras - combing through the blackened wreck of the small plane, recovering bags of fake marijuana.
Earlier, on a chilly Saturday morning following the first ice storm of the winter, the crew set up at Smith Mountain Lake Airport to film Foster dashing from the airport and into the co-pilot's seat of a twin-engine airplane, carrying a green parcel, presumably full of drug money.
Later, two planes landed at the airport for scenes in which actors portraying Thrasher's alleged henchmen loaded bales of marijuana - actually straw and hay - onto the planes.
As the scenes were shot and rehearsed over several hours, some lake residents who heard about the filming came by to watch.
Bill Mackey, who lives nearby and has a plane at the airport, said, ``This is marvelous. I've never seen anything shot before. I want to be here when they say, `That's a wrap!'''
He was a bit more discriminating about Foster. "I'm not sure what the story is about but I think he's supposed to be a drug dealer. He doesn't look like a drug dealer to me."
For Joe Borgess, the owner of the airport, it brought back memories of the film "What About Bob?", which also was shot at the lake.
"I flew Richard Dreyfuss around a few times while he was here. He chartered air service out of here. I'm pleased that this is the second time that the airport has been used for something like this."
Later, in between shots, Foster went inside and was recognized instantly - as Wallace Thrasher - by state police Special Agent David F. Dean, who was waiting to be interviewed by the television show's staff.
"Are you playing Wallace Thrasher?" Dean asked Foster. "Man, that's a good resemblance. I never met [Thrasher] but I know a lot about him. You really look like him."
As he got his hair cut to play a slightly older Thrasher, Foster mused on the man he was playing.
"They faxed me some information about [Thrasher] in LA. I really don't know a whole lot about him but I think I may have had a drink with him in the Bahamas last year."
For most people acquainted with the story of Wallace Thrasher, the real reason for watching the show will be his wife, Olga, the mysterious beauty who became a local celebrity with her broad smile, olive complexion and long black hair.
Dubbed the "Black Widow" by law enforcement officers, she took the witness stand against her husband and several of his compatriots in exchange for her freedom.
As she stood trial for various charges, including attempting to hire a hit man to kill a witness, Roanokers took up the sport of Olga ogling. No one seemed immune to her charms.
"She was quite the Black Widow. I remember her well," said Roanoker Julie Hunsaker. "Her outfits were fabulous. She was really something."
Hunsaker, who does wardrobe for the NBC show "Homicide," also did wardrobe for the "Unsolved Mysteries" segment, tracking down Members Only jackets and Calvin Klein jeans to capture the flavor of the '80s.
"It was funny when I told people I'm working on this," she said. "The first thing they'd say is 'What about Olga? Where is she? Are you going to get to meet her?'''
Olga Thrasher, who is living in Georgia and, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, has refused federal witness protection, is not assisting the "Unsolved Mysteries" crew. But the mystique she generated still can be felt there.
Maria Romeo, a Washington, D.C.-based actress and dancer, is playing Olga.
"She sounds fascinating, though not necessarily nice," Romeo said. "From what I understand, she had a vibrant personality but she could be very manipulative.
"She would basically be the best friend or lover of whoever could help her out at the time and then as soon as his influence was done, she was out of there."
Michael Palazzolo, the segment's producer, hopes that some of the show's estimated 20 million viewers will know where Wallace Thrasher is, if he's still alive.
"We're a wonderful tool for law enforcement. We're like a giant billboard. We're in our seventh season now and 27 percent of our stories have been solved. If he's out there, somebody in those 20 million is bound to have seen him," Palazzolo said.
Don Lincoln, a DEA agent who has been tracking Thrasher for the past decade, said, "I'm all in favor of [televising the Thrasher story]. Anything that will widen the public's knowledge, I'm in favor of.
"In our business, we don't like unsolved mysteries."
by CNB