THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501210033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long : 184 lines
HERE IS WHAT the notables and quotables in television have been saying during the semiannual critics' tour:
Oscar winner Kathy Bates, who will star in and direct a ``Great Performances'' segment for PBS about women whose lives are touched by tragedy: ``My mother tells a real corny story about when I was born. When the doctor smacked my behind, I thought it was the sound of applause. I've been looking for the sound ever since. That's why I'm an actor, I suppose.''
Patty Duke, star and co-executive producer of ``Amazing Grace,'' an upcoming series on NBC in which she plays an ordained minister who is the single mother of two: ``I was born into a Roman Catholic family and was one of the best little believers you ever saw. I have also been a Christian Scientist. I have studied Buddhism and there was a time I seriously considered, and even studied for, conversion to Judaism. I hope that one day I will again be the best little Catholic believer you ever saw.''
Two-time Academy award winner Sally Field, star and executive producer of an NBC miniseries, ``A Woman of Independent Means,'' to air in February: ``Traditionally in Hollywood, women over the age of 40 have no more careers as leading ladies. Why that is, I don't know. I wonder what happens to actresses that is so terrible after they are no longer of childbearing age. I hope this generation will change all of that.''
Cybill Shepherd, star of the CBS sictom, ``Cybill``: ``In terms of criticism, I've ridden a roller coaster in my career. When the reviews are bad, I want to say, `Who cares what the critics think?' But in fact I become a basket case when I go through the reviews. It's like having a nervous breakdown every time I read one. I always try to do the best work I can. Sometimes it's liked, sometimes not. I'm thankful that `Cybill' is more liked than not.''
Sherilyn Fenn, who will star in NBC's Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story,'' which Taylor doesn't want produced: ``It will be both exciting and frightening to play her. I feel overwhelmed. It's one thing to play a character who is fictitious. It's quite another to play one who is alive and well. If I ran into her today, I would tell Elizabeth Taylor that I am not somebody who wants to exploit her. At this stage in my career and life, I feel this is an important thing for me to do.''
Earl Hindman, who plays Tim Allen's neighbor on ``Home Improvement,'' the one you know is there but can't get a close look at because of a high fence: ``I like the anonymity of the role. It's nice to go out to a bar or restaurant and not be harassed. Being on the highest rated show on television is wonderful. It should set me up financially for the rest of my life.''
Corbin Bernsen, starring on ABC in a new sitcom, ``A Whole New Ballgame'': ``While on `L.A. Law' I never thought of myself as a hunk. I never went to my publicist and said I want to be on People Magazine's Top 10 hunk list. I think of myself as a character actor who bases what he does on some sort of real-life experience. I want to have a career on different levels, in different areas.''
Heather Locklear of ``Melrose Place,'' who will soon co-star with Peter Strauss and Dennis Franz in the ABC miniseries, ``Texas Justice'': ``Some people in this business say all that's important to me is hair and wardrobe. Hair and wardrobe. I took this role to take some of the sneers off people's faces. It was no piece of cake. It took a lot of work. Next I'd like to do a comedy, and I'd love to do a `Private Benjamin' kind of a thing.''
Dennis Franz, Emmy award winner as a hard-nosed Detective Sipowicz on ``NYPD Blue'': ``It was tough to film that scene where I was nude in the shower. There is some degree of discomfort to be an actor who is naked in a room full of people . . . who are not naked. I used that discomfort and incorporated it into Sipowicz's reactions. As the day went on, I became more comfortable with the scene.''
Glenn Close, who will star on NBC in ``Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story,'' which is about the National Guard colonel who was drummed out of the service when she announced she is a lesbian: ``Maybe there is a risk to my career in playing a role such as this. I would hope that with such outstanding films about homosexuality as `Philadelphia,' those attitudes would change. If this is a risk for me, then it's worth taking because this is a great story.''
Author Tom Clancy, creator and executive producer of the ``Op Center'' miniseries headed for NBC: ``America has saved the whole world. We won World I for the Allies. We won World War II by defeating Hitler and expansionist Japan. World War III never came because we defeated the malignant Communist philosophy. America's legacy is that this country brought peace and democracy to countries which never had any hope of it.''
Naomi Judd, co-executive producer of a NBC film about the musical careers of Naomi and Wynonna Judd, ``Love Can Build a Bridge'': ``Wynonna's real name is Christina. We changed her name even before the family got into music because she loved that song, `Route 66.' You know the lyric that talks about `Flagstaff, Arizona, but don't forget Wynonna.' She was a rebellious young woman. I also changed my name from Diana Ellen Judd to Naomi Ellen Judd.'' (For the record, the Arizona town hailed in the song on Route 66 is spelled Winona.)
Agnes Nixon, creator of the soap opera ``All My Children,'' which recently marked its 25th anniversary on television: ``I realize it's an old cliche that happiness doesn't sell soap. You'd be surprised how much I try to give the characters quite a bit of happiness. There's no set time or schedule for how long they have that happiness. What we try to do with our couples is give them internal struggle without breaking them up.''
David McCallum, who will soon co-star in a new Fox series, ``VR-5,'' speaking about the series that made him famous, ``The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'': ``That show had magic about it. It is part of American folklore. It's become this wonderful thing, this great myth, that people remember with great affection. A day hardly goes by that I don't get called Illya Kuryakin. I did one TV movie that reunited me with Robert Vaughn. I won't do another. But I believe they will remake the series for the movies as they did with `The Fugitive.' If that happens, I can't wait to see who plays me.''
Ed O'Neill, co-star of ``Married With Children,'' the longest running sitcom on network TV: ``The family I grew up in wasn't the Bundys. But there is a similarity. We were a blue-collar, working in a mill, five-children-to-feed kind of a family. It was a strange mix, and yes, I'd say I draw on some of my family experiences when I play Al Bundy. I have Bundy-type relatives. Who doesn't?''
Adam Arkin, one of the stars of the CBS medical drama, ``Chicago Hope'': ``We never wanted to go toe-to-toe with `ER' on Thursday nights at 10. We didn't want to succeed at that show's expense. It was set up as a contest that we never wanted to be a part of at the time. Now we're on Monday nights and should be fine there.''
Producer Robert Lieberman of a new Fox show about interns, ``Medicine Ball'': ``Our show will be more irreverent than the medical shows on NBC and CBS. Fox is willing to let us have a quirkier approach to medicine. We're younger. We're hip. We're Fox. I'm delighted the other hospital shows are doing well because that tells me a lot of people like the medical genre. There's room for us.''
Shelley Long, formerly of ``Cheers,'' and soon to star in a remake of ``Freaky Friday'' in the ABC family movie series: ``I left `Cheers' because I didn't want to spin my wheels in one place for too long. I completed my contract, and what was expected of me, and I moved on. It was a good move for me but I can't say that leaving a successful series will be a good move for David Caruso or anyone else.''
Delta Burke, who plays a congresswoman in the CBS sitcom, ``Women of the House'': ``I'm a Republican but I never liked politics. But with this role, it's politics at work and politics at home. CNN is always on in my house. I'm starting to pick up some of this political stuff.''
Singer Reba McEntire, soon to be seen in the CBS miniseries ``Buffalo Girls,'' on her busy career: ``Acting in films doesn't do any harm to my concert touring schedule. I like doing them both and don't mind juggling my schedules to make it work. It's neat to do a movie and then get back into the music world. The movie business is such hard work that I really appreciate getting back to music.''
Kevin Costner, who will host and produce an eight-hour miniseries, ``500 Nations,'' for CBS, which picks up where ``Dances With Wolves'' leaves off: ``Maybe I'm politically incorrect or maybe I'm an idiot but I use the word `Indian' when talking about Native Americans. Sometimes I don't realize I say Indian peoples. From now on, I'll aim to please.''
Tony Danza, who will appear in a CBS movie, ``Deadly Whispers,'' on the skiing accident that left him hospitalized for weeks: ``It was not just a skiing accident. It was a major wipeout. It was legendary in Utah. I broke my back and had assorted other injuries. Nowadays, when skiiers get wiped out by trees, they call it doing a `Danza.' ''
Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones, who wrote, produced and starred in ``The Good Old Boys,'' a film for TNT: ``Directing means being born again for an actor. It's easier for the director if he knows the lead actor well, which I do. The lead actor is me. I learned from this experience that I couldn't put one foot in front of the other without help from about 50 other people on the set.''
Producer Steven Spielberg, who is about to start up a studio with partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, and who will be supplying programming to ABC: ``I don't think the movie business will fade away before this information superhighway we've been hearing about, the one that is supposed to keep everyone at home tied to their computers. I hold to the old-fashioned belief that people will still want to go out, to brave finding a parking space, to pay money and see a movie on a large screen in a theater. I guess I'm just a hopeless cinemaniac.''
James Earl Jones, who will co-star in a new series on CBS, ``Under One Roof,'' on signing autographs: ``I love giving autographs to kids who say they've seen me as Darth Vader or know me from my work on `The Lion King.' But I get real frustrated because I can't spell the names. The African names are lovely, beautiful inventions. But, boy are they hard to spell.''
Valerie Harper, who will star in a new CBS sitcom, ``The Office'' on seeing herself in reruns: ``Nick at Nite has given a lot of new life to the shows I did in the past. We need more sweet shows in this empty MTV generation. I don't watch `Rhoda' or `The Mary Tyler Moore Show' that often. But my daughter watches, and at times she'll say, `Come here mom, and look at this funny thing you're doing.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Delta Burke, star of ``Woman of the House'' on CBS: ``I'm a
Republican but I never liked politics.''
Dennis Franz, star of ``NYPD Blue'' on ABC: ``It was tough to film
that scene where I was nude in the shower.''
James Earl Jones loves to sign autographs but has trouble spelling
invented names.
by CNB