Star Fucker

The Husband has occasionally accused me of being a star fucker.... not completely untrue, but that is another post for another day.


I have always been attracted to talented people & I have sometimes had crushes on guys, foremost, because of their talent. Hey... it is what first brought my eye to my future husband who is first rate-A+ designer/artist.


In my little insignificant lifetime, 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 worked with some extraordinarily talented actors.


When I was in college in LA, my friends from Theatre Department & I had the audacity to crash the Metro-Goldywn-Mayer 50th Anniversary Party & premiere of the film- That's Entertainment. The entire event was Jack Haley Jr.’s idea. This event was attended by M-G-M's Royalty: 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, Margaret 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, Andy Williams, Dennis Morgan, George Hamilton, Marjorie Main, the 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 had ever known of, & all the "anyone who is anybodies" were on the red carpet on this evening.

My friends & I 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 moment from this evening was a conversation with Elizabeth Taylor (breathtaking in a yellow gown with yellow jewels), 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". She was friendly, tiny, & lovely.


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 young theatre going life. Ms. Lansbury took time to ask about me & again I told her that I was a theatre major at Loyola Marymount. She was gracious, charming & funny.


When I was filming I LOVE YOU TO DEATH, I ended up by default, having lunch with Joan Plowright, as we had both been dismissed early from the set. She asked me about the California poppies that were growing in the cracks of the sidewalk at our location in a vacant lot in Tacoma. I told her all about the flowers & we had a long conversation about gardening. I later sent her some California poppy seeds & she returned the gesture with a lovely thank you note. I never once mentioned Lord Olivier during our hour together.


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. He always had lunch with the crew, not in his trailer. Working with Keifer Sutherland in The Vanishing was very much the same. He put himself out as” just one of the guys". They were both personable & great to work with.

When filming DRUGSTORE COWBOY, Matt Dillon stayed & fed me his lines for all of the reverse shots of me. He didn’t have to, this job is often done by a P.A. One afternoon in Seattle, I was in the antique store that the Husband worked at. We were standing with a small group of friends & the owner of the shop. Matt Dillon & entourage entered the shop. Our little group buzzed about Matt Dillon being in the shop. The Husband said to our group- "Steve knows Matt Dillon" & everyone just sort of snorted, smiled a bit & looked like- “yeah, sure he does". Matt Dillon looked around the shop, our eyes met & he said- "Yo, Steve, my man!" Our little group had whiplash from their double takes.


I was a minor celebrity in Seattle in the 1980s-90s. In the mid-80s I had a very good & very showy role in a hit show- ER/EMERGENCY ROOM that ran for 18 months to sell out audiences. I appeared very nearly naked in this show, & I had a 90 minute workout, 6 days a week at the gym. My character in this play did something & said something that became a bit of a "catch phrase" in Seattle during that era. For the next few years I would be stopped almost every day by a stranger who would imitate me in ER/Emergency Room. The Husband hated it, I think. I was also in print ads that were used on the sides of buses, on billboards & as a full page on the back of the Seattle Times. I used to see myself all over town. One billboard was at the end of the Fremont Bridge, & we had a peek-a-boo view of the billboard from our bungalow in Wallingford. There I was...lit up in lights!


In all my dealings with famous folk, I have never asked for an autograph from anybody. But, I am happy to sign them for the fans. I still feel it is a gigantic cosmic mistake that I don’t have my own TV show- Steve!.