STAR FUCKER & CELEBRITIES

The husband has claimed that I am a star fucker.... not completely untrue, but that is another post for another day.
I have always been attracted to talented people & have sometimes had crushes on guys, foremost, because of their talent. Hey... It is what first brought my eye to my future husband (first rate-A class set designer, director, actor, singer & handsome).

I have been fortunate enough to have met some very famous & fabulously talented people. I have been directed by Cameron Crowe, Lawrence Kasdan & Gus Van Zant. I have never asked for an autograph from anybody.

When I was in college in LA. my friends in the Theatre Department & I had the audacity to crash the Metro-Goldywn-Mayer 50th Anniversary premiere of "That's Entertainment" which was attended by M-G-M's biggest stars such as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Donna Reed, Esther Williams, Lassie, Jimmy Durante, Ava Gardner, Shirley MacLaine, Louis Jordan, Jane Powell, Jackie Cooper, Debbie Reynolds, Howard Keel, June Allyson, James Stewart, Glenn Ford, Charlton Heston, Margret O' Brian, Marge Champion, Janet Leigh, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, George Burns, Nannette Fabray, Buddy Ebson, Merle Oberon, Myrna Loy, Donald O' Connor, Ginger Rogers, Johnny Weissmiller, Roddy McDowell, Alexis Smith, Keenan Wynn, Eva Gabor, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jack Haley, Tom Drake, Adele Astaire, Dan Daily,Vic Damone, Gloria Swanson, Dennis Morgan, George Hamilton, Marjorie Main, Nicholas Bros,Virginia O Brien, Ann Rutherford & many others. A few people on the list were not M-G-M stars but it was the largest premiere I ever saw. They had the red carpet where the stars walked from the theatre to the party at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel across the street.

We had planned it months in advance, reserving a suite at the hotel & "borrowing" formal wear from the costume department. I got in by attaching myself to Dennis Day, who's daughter was a schoolmate. I sat at Merle Oberon's table & I still have her place card. I met & chatted with many stars. My most memorable time was a conversation with Elizabeth Taylor, who asked me about myself. I explained that I was theatre major at Loyola Marymount. She told me that her training was all done at the studio. M-G-M had its own program of speech, elocution, singing, & dancing. She touched my arm & whispered to me that she hated her speaking voice & thought she would have been better thought of as an actor if she had had "Greer Garson's voice".

I have been fortunate to work with some wonderful actors that also turned out to be really great people.

I got my SAG card for an episode of Murder She Wrote, which at that point had not been on the air. This episode was the 3rd one filmed. My scenes were shot on the rooftop of a building in Belltown in Seattle. I spent a lot of time with Angela Lansbury sitting under a large umbrella, so neither of us would get sunburned. I had to remind her that we had met once before- in the parking structure of the Shubert Theatre in LA, after a matinee of GYPSY (she was the best MaMa Rose ever!). I had stopped her as she was getting into a very ordinary automobile (no limo & driver), that she was driving herself. I told her how much I had loved the show & told her that this production of Gypsy was the high point in my theatre going life. She also took time to ask about me & again I told her that I was a theatre major. She was gracious & charming & funny.

When I was filming I LOVE YOU TO DEATH, I ended up having lunch with Joan Plowright because we were dismissed early from the set. She asked me about the California Poppies that were growing in the cracks in the sidewalk at our location in a vacant lot in Tacoma. I told her about the flowers & we had a long conversation about gardening. I later sent her some seeds & she wrote me a thank you note. I never once mentioned Lord Olivier.

Also on that shoot...when the van picked me & Kevin Kline up to go to location, Mr. Kline extended his hand & said- "hello, I am Kevin Kline". I said- "no kidding!" He asked me about the Seattle theatre scene & I congratulated him on his recent Oscar win & new baby. He was manic & zany on the set. Tracey Ullman was very serious on set, but we did chat a bit.

I have worked with Matt Dillon (twice), who always has lunch with the crew, not in his trailer & with Keifer Sutherland (also just "one of the guys"). They were both personable & great to work with. On DRUGSTORE COWBOY, Matt Dillon stayed & fed me his lines for all of the reverse shots of me. One day, in Seattle, I was in the antique store that R worked at. We were standing with a group of people that we knew & Matt Dillon & a woman friend came in. Everyone buzzed about Matt being in the store. R said- "Steve knows Matt Dillon" & everyone just sort of snorted & smiled a bit & looked like- "sure he does". Matt Dillon looked around, our eyes met & he said- "yo, Steve!". Everyone had whiplash from the surprise.

In Seattle, I was briefly a minor celeb. In the mid-80s I had a very showy part in a hit show- ER/EMERGENCY ROOM that ran for 18 months to sold out audiences. My character did something & said something that became a bit of a "catch phrase" in Seattle during that time. For a couple of years I would be stopped almost everyday by strangers who would imitate me from the role. R hated it, I think. I was also in ads that were used on the side of buses, on billboards & as a full page on the back of the newspaper.

Happy Times. Good Memories. Nice for the ego.