For Immediate Release on Entertainment Drive
Released by Beck/Smith

Foxworthy/Sinbad Teaming on American Music Awards
Hollywood -- Jan. 29, 1996 -- Comic-turned-sitcom star Jeff Foxworthy says tonight's co-hosting gig with Sinbad on the American Music Awards marks a reunion for the two comedians. "The day I quit IBM, I drove to a comedy club in Birmingham, AL, for my first gig. I was the opening act and Sinbad was the headliner," recalls Foxworthy. "At that point I used to get so nervous I couldn't eat the day I would have to go on stage, and when I introduced him he was walking up to the mike shoving an egg roll in his mouth. I went to the back of the club and told my wife, 'That is my goal!'" Foxworthy warns that anything could happen on tonight's live telecast. "I'm pretty good at keeping to a script but Sinbad just throws it out the window." The comedian, whose latest "Games Rednecks Play" comedy album has been nominated for a Grammy, is looking forward to going back to doing standup when his "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" goes on hiatus. He says he went through a little withdrawal after being away from the stage for so long last year because of his series duties. "I didn't do standup from July until November. Then I did a weekend at the MGM Grand Hotel and the first night I was like nervous again. But once I got on stage everything was fine. Comedy is like my first love outside my family. I can't ever imagine not doing it."

Comic Louie Anderson's New Show Deals with Fat Issue ASAP
Hollywood -- Jan. 30, 1996 -- Comic Louie Anderson plays a therapist in his new "The Louie Show" sitcom. Some would ask how a therapist with a glaring weight problem can be very effective if he hasn't been able to help himself lose weight. Anderson points out that very issue is dealt with in the first episode of "The Louie Show." "A patient asks me, 'How can you be of any help?' and we talk about that. I say, 'I can help you,' and talk about how I used to eat 12 donuts, but now I'm down to 2.'" Anderson, who's made a living doing comedy about his lifelong struggle with his weight and his dysfunctional family past, says his new sitcom "is about love and relationships and family. What I try to do is make us look at ourselves in a funny way that isn't judgmental. I think the fact that my assistant [Nancy Becker Kennedy] in the show is a paraplegic and I treat her as an equal is a really important part of the show, too. When you first see our characters you think we are both disabled, but I think when you really look at us we're not disabled. I may be fat and she may be in a wheelchair but we don't give up on life." Anderson says he was adamant about not "using an actress who was just a character in a wheelchair. I don't think you can portray it honestly. We would have changed the part. But we were lucky to find a great actress who was funny and happened to be in a wheelchair." Anderson was so impressed with Kennedy, he says, "she's opening my show in Las Vegas March 7."

Diamond Recalls Painful Years
Hollywood -- Jan. 31, 1996 -- Neil Diamond, who's setting off on tour to promote his new "Tennessee Moon" disc, says he's looking forward to being on the road. "Performing," he says, "is easier than recording." He recalls as one of the easiest times of his life a time that was also one of the most terrible times for him. It was the 70s. He started suffering a loss of sensation in his right leg. By the next year the pain grew so acute he was sure he was going to die. Finally, the doctors discovered an enormous tumor inside the vertebrae, crushing the spinal cord. Neil underwent surgery. The tumor proved to be benign -- but it took Neil over a year to learn to walk again. "First I used a walker, then I used a cane for three or four months." Then came the offer to star in the movie "The Jazz Singer" -- and Neil pulled himself together and returned to work. He recalls the many months of inactivity and physical therapy and said, "Oddly enough, that was a good period in my life because I was able to put everything aside and concentrate on me. I was able to relax and not be stressed out. It was a wonderful feeling. Then I threw myself right back into the rat race."

Caroline Goodall Tells of Real "White Squall" Drama
Hollywood -- Feb. 1, 1996 -- "I was SQUALLED," says Caroline Goodall, explaining how she could have left her purse containing all her i.d., credit cards, and money at a theater the other night -- and not even realize the loss until she got a call from the movie house's security at 4 a.m. Caroline plays the wife of Jeff Bridges in the adventure movie "White Squall," which opens today. (Her purse was recovered at a theater where the film was screened pre-opening.) She's also the only female in the cast, which includes 13 young actors -- "Party of Five's" Scott Wolf among them. The picture, about a 1961 brigatine sailing trek that went seriously awry, put all aboard through their paces. Caroline says, "I heard about the film about a year ago, and I was thrilled to be in it because my family are all sailors. The idea of being able to get aboard a tall ship and learn how to sail it was tremendously exciting!" The "Disclosure" and "Schindler's List" actress continues, "The extraordinary thing about this film is that the majority was done on board the ship. Very unusual for a Hollywood movie, there were no chairs or trailers for the stars, no backup at all. You got on board the boat at 6 a.m. and there you stayed until the filming day was done. And if you were not on the half of the boat where they were filming, you were sitting on equipment on the other side." Caroline and the rest of the cast did train in sailing the tall ship -- "these boats were flying the seas in the 17th and 18th centuries," she points out -- prior to starting filming. The story demanded that they encounter 40-foot waves. After most of the shoot was finished in the Caribbean, according to Caroline, the decision was made to sail the ship to South Africa (it was sailed there by its regular crew). There, the film company, including the actors and director Ridley Scott, reboarded -- and found the gargantuan waves they needed. Caroline reports everyone aboard was terribly seasick. "They'd call 'Action!' You'd do a brief bit. They'd call 'Cut!' and then you'd go throw up over the side. And it wasn't just the actors, the camera and sound and everyone else were rushing to the side to throw up between takes, too." The British/Australian actress says she felt quite at home on board the vessel by then, and yet "you were aware that only a few planks separated you from death."

Ted & Mary's Euro Adventure
Hollywood -- Feb. 2, 1996 -- Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen are in Europe to tout their giant-sized NBC "Gulliver's Travels" miniseries -- which finishes its U.S. airing on NBC Sunday and Monday (Feb. 4 and 5). Their trek will take them through a press event in London and a special "Gulliver's" screening involving members of the royal family in Monaco. "We have about six different stops," notes Mary. She also says she and Ted haven't had much time for relaxation since their October wedding, "but we're having a wonderful time. We love being married. I've never been so happy in my whole life." The one thing that's making Steenburgen unhappy in this storybook period of her life is the treatment being accorded her longtime friend, First Lady Hillary Clinton, who of course has been in the hot seat as the Whitewater case unfolds. "It's sad and very strange watching people put traits on her that I have never seen -- what they fear, or what is politically expedient," Mary complains. She says she's been approached by people on the street who ask her to relay their support to the embattled Mrs. Clinton. She also says she and Hillary have "left messages for each other" but not connected in the last couple of weeks. "I wish that everyone could know the real person I know, and have known well for years. I'm very proud of her."

Copyright (c) 1996 Beck/Smith Ent.


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