For Immediate Release on Entertainment Drive
Released by Beck/Smith

Fabares/Farrell Series Record?
Hollywood -- April 1, 1996 -- With "Coach" due to go into its ninth season in the fall, Shelley Fabares and husband Mike Farrell have to be up for some sort of Guinness record for husband-and-wife actors with the longest running series on TV. "Mike's series 'M.A.S.H.' was on for 11 years," recounts Shelley. Her first series, "The Donna Reed Show," was on for eight. Then Shelley was on "One Day at a Time" for five years. "We're sort of getting up there, aren't we?" laughs the actress. "It is unusual to have two people who are married who have such long-running series. For us, they've been wonderful experiences, both personally and professionally. They go beyond making differences in your career, they're life-changing. You form bonds with people you might not have ever met if it weren't for the series. Your lives become entwined. We've both led full lives at the studios, felt at home with people there. To have a job, period, in this day and age, that's thrilling. To have a job you really enjoy is amazing." And of course, though Shelley doesn't mention it, with a long-running series you become set for life financially! But anyway...she knows she and her husband are a different breed of actor from some. "Some actors and actresses don't want or don't work well in the confines of a series. I can understand that, but it's hard for me to relate to. Personally I enjoy the structure of a series. I find that reassuring, and within that stucture, I feel free to try new things."

Sinbad's Muse is Music
Hollywood -- April 2, 1996 -- Comedian Sinbad says he had no idea what he was going to do for his April 13 "Son of a Preacher Man" special on HBO until just days before he shot it. "I hadn't been on the road for a while, so I had no material worked out," he notes. "But I get all my ideas from listening to old music....I just sit down from like midnight to five in the morning and play my oldies. Well, I was listening to the soundtrack to 'Pulp Fiction' one day and 'Son of a Preacher Man' came on and I said, 'There it is.'" Sinbad, who is, of course, the son of a preacher man, opens the special with a skit about a member of a huge choir who keeps messing up the song until the choir director kicks him out. His mother and father were at the live taping and Sinbad assures they were not offended by the irreverent piece. "I take things right to the edge, but I do everything with respect for my father and mother," says Sinbad. "And all the things I do on stage I've done in my life. I used to mess up the choir when I was in church and I got kicked out of my dad's choir." Sinbad, who plays a Secret Service agent assigned to the president's son in Hollywood Pictures' "First Kid," due out in August, just got back from a trip to Bosnia with First Daughter Chelsea, First Lady Hillary Clinton and singer Sheryl Crow. "They called us and asked us to go and we had to be ready in three days," he says. "We went to four different camps and an air force base in Italy. It's kind of bleak over there in Bosnia. I gotta give credit to the men and women there...they've got good spirits."

Delany Plays Saget's Sister at Comic's Request
Hollywood -- April 3, 1996 -- Dana Delany is about to start shooting ABC's "For Hope" telepic based on the life of comedian/actor Bob Saget's sister, who was a victim of the fatal disease schleroderma. The former "China Beach" star says she was able to get invaluable insight into her role from Sharon Monsky, the woman who founded the Schleroderma Research Foundation. Delany was so impressed with Monsky when she did a benefit for the Foundation five years ago, they've been friends ever since. But she says she never had the courage to delve into Monsky's condition before Saget asked her to play his sister. "I asked her questions I would normally never ask," says Delany, "like, 'How did it feel? What kind of pain do you have? What is your day like?' People are scared to ask those questions, but I think she was actually grateful to be able to talk about it." Delany says normally she wouldn't do "what people think of as disease-of-the-week movies, but 'For Hope' is so different from that. It's about how Bob and his family dealt with his sister's illness and the writer talked to everybody. It's a beautiful script with a lot of humor....Bob is funny and so is his family. And Bob keeps trying to get in the off color jokes that ABC is having problems with," she adds with a laugh. Delany believes "For Hope" will be "a great way to inform people about the disease." She wants folks to know there is a schleroderma hotline number: 1-800-441-CURE. "People who have the disease can call up and come in for a blood test to test their DNA. They need to get their DNA so they can start doing genetic research. We're hoping people will see the movie, then call in and be willing to take a blood test."

Couric Looking Forward as Gumbel Prepares for "Today" Departure
Hollywood -- April 4, 1996 -- Katie Couric, who'll be paired with a new "Today" host when Bryant Gumbel leaves the show next January, says she's not at all concerned about making the transition. "Bryant's been terrific, he's never waned in his enthusiasm, but he's ready for new adventures after 15 years." She says she doesn't know if the decision about his replacement has been made. "I don't know who is on the short list -- or if there even is a short list yet. But I'm confident I can get along with whoever it is." Katie, who recently returned from maternity leave, says that the past year was tough on her "with the O.J. trial and all -- racing back and forth to L.A. to cover the case. I didn't slow down during my pregnancy. I felt well -- but I think the pace started to take its toll." Asked how she felt about Marcia Clark taking on the Simpson case shortly after her children had their lives turned upside down by the end of their parents' marriage, Katie says, "I hate to pass judgment. I can say it must have been extraordinarily difficult for her. I felt bad that she had to be away from her children as much as she was."

Olmos: Most Westerns Got It Wrong
Hollywood -- April 5, 1996 -- Edward James Olmos costars as a Mexican Army officer in "Dead Man's Walk," ABC's May 12 and 13 miniseries treatment of the Larry McMurtry prequel to "Lonesome Dove." Olmos likes his character, whom he describes as "a very strong leader who has been exiled out of the main garrison in Mexico because he has become too powerful....He's been pushed into no man's land. He believes in law and miltary rules, and he has a lot of integrity." Such roles are rare for Hispanics in Hollywood-made Westerns, notes the respected actor and community leader. The Hollywood-made view of the Old West is way off the mark in terms of accuracy. As Olmos puts it, the Hollywood version of Western history "has been about as inaccurate as money can make it. The dollar always makes things distorted; the more romanticized, glamorized or exploitive something is, the more people want to see it....If you're doing something for the sake of accuracy rather than the sake of making money, you're going to have a different product." Olmos has more of his own products in the works, including several long-form TV productions under the wide-ranging deal he recently made with ABC. He also has a feature film in development about Pancho Villa. Olmos, who has a penchant for realism, feels the real story of the larger-than-life historical figure has never been told in the movies, even though there have been three films made dealing with Villa.

Copyright (c) 1996 Beck/Smith Ent.


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