"Word" Has It...

Hello my loves. It's been a wild, crazy week in The Underworld and too long since my last posting! I have a few neat things in the works, but to tide you over until I can break free of the lunatic schedule I've been keeping, I'm going to revisit a subject I've touched on before here  and here. This has become a sort of go-to topic when I'm pressed for time, but want to give my readers something to think about in the meantime.

Turner Classic Movies fills their time in between cinematic treasures with equally captivating and delightful recollections from some of the stars and crew from the glory days of movie-making. They say that archeologists become ecstatic at the sight of a previously buried and unseen relic, but I can tell you that I get just as elated when I get the chance to see a retired or at least currently less-visible star pop up on TCM's interview segment “Word of Mouth!”

Sometimes, it might be disappointing to see how someone has fared, but more often it's a great relief to see the people looking so good and speaking candidly and enthusiastically about their careers and the people they knew and worked with during them. So, today, I give you round three of some folks who've appeared on this terrific little series of inserts (and am I the only one who wishes they would LAST LONGER and not be as brief as they so often are?)

First, we meet Van Johnson, discussing his costar from 1949's In the Good Old Summertime, Judy Garland. It's almost a consensus that Garland was considered brilliantly talented, tremendously overworked and, as a result, terribly troubled. Johnson had his own share of problems, not the least of which was a near-fatal car crash in 1942 that nearly severed his head at the scalp! This injury, however, did keep him home during WWII which contributed to his career immensely. With so many young men enlisted in the service, he became a top box office draw among teenage girls. He also had a controversial marriage (to the wife of his best friend Keenan Wynn!)

If you look closely at these shots of him, you can see that he has some ill-advised mascara on that flicks up at the corners, giving him a vaguely feminine quality that plays up rather than plays down his sometimes prissy personality. Mr Johnson died in 2008 of natural causes at the age of ninety-two!

We so love Miss Jane Powell and are amused that she opted for the camera to be way back instead of up close and personal. (And she's lit up like runway six at La Guardia Airport!) Perhaps she saw some of her old pals from MGM being captured in other Word of Mouth segments with the lens up against their pores. Powell was discussing the joys of working with dancing legend Fred Astaire during 1951's Royal Wedding. She and Astaire played siblings despite a thirty-year age difference between them! June Allyson had first been cast in Wedding, but pregnancy prevented her from doing it. Then Judy Garland was brought in, but swiftly fired. Powell won the part at last and then discovered close to the end of filming that she was pregnant as well! Miss Powell is currently eighty-four.

I have a special place in my heart for this next star because he is someone I have met on two occasions. (You can read more about that encounter right here.) Prior to his emergence as a featured actor (in films like 1961's West Side Story, for which he won an Oscar), George Chakiris was a dancing chorus boy in movies such as White Christmas (1954) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), in which he took part in the famous number “Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend” featuring Marilyn Monroe. Mr. Chakiris is currently seventy-eight years of age and is in very good, if very lean, shape.

His West Side Story cohort Russ Tamblyn has a segment in which he describes working on the huge Cinemascope production of the musical tom thumb (1958), lower case intentional. He intentionally had to overstate all of his physicality against the giant sets and in the large screen format. A highly acrobatic dancer, Tamblyn was just right to play the diminutive fairy tale hero. Prior to that, he scored an Oscar nod as the repressed and henpecked teen Norman in Peyton Place (1957.) The statuette went to Red Buttons for Sayonara. Tamblyn continues to work even now, having appeared in the recent Django Unchained (2012), in which he appeared with his daughter, now famous in her own right as an actress, Amber Tamblyn. Russ Tamblyn is seventy-eight years old at present.

What fun to see classy and elegant Constance Towers on an installment of Word of Mouth! She popped up to discuss working with craggy, but very dynamic writer-director Sam Fuller, who used her as the female lead in two films, Shock Corridor (1963) and, in particular, The Naked Kiss (1964.) Since 1974, she has been happily married to the once-hunkalicious John Gavin and she continues to act today. After a very long stint on General Hospital, she appeared in an episode of the TV show 1600 Penn this year. She is seventy-nine years old today.

Darryl Hickman had worked steadily as a child actor, appearing in films of as high a pedigree as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Leave Her to Heaven (1945), among many others. He was able to work with some of the industry's greatest performers, including Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in 1942's Keeper of the Flame. By the mid-'60s, his career was foundering more than a little (though his little brother Dwayne Hickman was becoming a household name as the star of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis), so he went into the business side of show business, with an occasional on-camera appearance.

Always a very introspective person, he briefly lived and studied in a monastery, but later married and had two children (one of which, sadly, committed suicide at the age of nineteen.) Hickman also developed his own approach to acting, which he successfully parlayed into a second career as an acting coach. Now eighty-one, he has not acted on-screen since the late-1990s.

Another child actor who worked in many early films, some of them classics, was Jackie Cooper. Already having worked alongside the considerable Wallace Berry in 1931's The Champ, the two were reunited in 1933's The Bowery, 1935's O'Shaughnessy's Boy and, notably, in 1934's Treasure Island. He greatly enjoyed the pirate adventure saga, less so the wig that was foisted upon him... Known to a later generation for his role as Perry White in the film Superman (1978) and its three sequels, he exited the acting business in 1990 when his wife became ill and he needed to help care for her. Upon her recovery, he decided he liked his free time too much to go back after sixty+ years of working! The youngest male ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar (for 1931's Skippy, though he lost to Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul), Cooper passed away in 2011 of natural causes at the age of eighty-eight.

Completing a trifecta of child stars in this post is Kevin Corcoran, best known for having played little brother Arliss in the Walt Disney classic Old Yeller (1957) as well as for other Disney films including The Shaggy Dog (1959), Swiss Family Robinson and Pollyanna (both 1960.) Like many child actors, Corcoran found it necessary to segue into other areas such as producing and directing once his acting opportunities began to lessen (in his case by the late-1960s.) Corcoran was one of eight children, most of who pursued acting in their childhood as well. He is now sixty-three.

Jane Alexander was a significant presence in films of the 1970s and still works today, but not nearly enough, nor in important enough projects. She was nominated four times for the Oscar (1970's The Great White Hope, 1976's All the President's Men, 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer and 1983's Testament), but never took one home. The statuettes went to Helen Hayes in Airport, Beatrice Strait in Network, Meryl Sreep in Kramer vs. Kramer (obviously not a supporting role, the category in which she was placed) and Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment. Here, she spoke about how her scene in President's Men was filmed without her having even gone to makeup or having put on the assigned costume! The director Alan J. Pakula glanced at her and liked her just as is and the result was an Oscar nomination. A gifted actress, she really should be getting better parts in prominent movies. She is currently seventy-three.

Surely one of the more animated and effervescent personalities to show up on Word of Mouth is Miss Mitzi Gaynor. Best known for South Pacific (1958), she was also the star of Les Girls, directed by George Cukor and co-starring Gene Kelly. I love her glitzy, zesty, upbeat personality, a by-product of her never-say-die career as a nightclub entertainer in the wake of her Hollywood career diminishing. Her last movie role was in 1963!! Thankfully, she did present a series of dazzling TV specials for about a decade from 1967 to 1978. She is eighty-one at present.

Remembered by many as the star of the police detective series The Streets of San Francisco (1972 – 1977), Karl Malden actually enjoyed a long, varied and significant career as a movie character actor. He won the Oscar for 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire and was nominated once more for 1954's On the Waterfront (losing to Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa.) Here, he discusses working with the intensely dedicated Burt Lancaster in The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962.) Malden had worked with most of the important stars of the cinema, had served five years as the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and been married to his wife for over seventy years (!) when he passed away of natural causes in 2009 at the age of ninety-seven. He was an exemplary actor and human being.

Here, we see Farley Granger, describing how it was to work for the technically exacting Alfred Hitchcock in Strangers on a Train (1951), though he had also previously performed for the Master of Suspense in Rope (1948.) Though Granger's career lasted for quite a long while after that, it could be argued that his most important roles were completed by the mid-1950s. Granger passed away in 2011 at the age of eighty-five of natural causes.

You see a shift over the years in these interviews, from floral, elegantly-appointed backgrounds to more sleek, contemporary backdrops. For a few interviews, the background is mostly black, giving stark contrast to the subject at hand. Take director Blake Edwards (of The Pink Panther films, among many others) who, with the dark background and dark glasses looks positively villainous here! Married to Julie Andrews for more than forty years, he succumbed to pneumonia in 2010 at the age of eighty-eight. He'd been nominated for a writing Oscar for 1982's Victor/Victoria, which starred Andrews, but it went to Costa-Gavras and Donald Stewart for Missing. In 2004, Edwards was given an Honorary Oscar statuette.

Another of the dark looking Word of Mouth segments was this one with Sidney Sheldon. He discusses his screenplay for The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, the title of which he disliked and thought would lead to a wretched flop rather than the smash hit that it was. He is also known for having created and written for the popular series The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart and enjoying a latter-day career as a novelist. Mr. Sheldon died of pneumonia in 2007 at the age of eighty-nine.

We recently sang the praises of Miss Nina Foch in our post about Mahogany, but here she is later in life describing her role in Executive Suite (1954), a role so flimsy and scant on the page that she was hesitant to accept it. It brought her, however, her only Oscar nomination thanks to the way she fought to make herself memorable as the all-seeing, all-knowing secretary of a deceased businessman. The award went to Eva Marie Saint (in what was really a leading role) for On the Waterfront. A supporting player in The Ten Commandments (1958) and many other movies, Miss Foch died in 2008 at age eighty-four of myelodysplasia, a blood disorder.

When you see certain Hollywood actresses continue to color their hair, add attachments to it, pull their faces taut, inject things into it and just basically do anything they can to crystallize their looks in amber, it's refreshing to see someone who has either had little, very good or no work done and just looks like an attractive, older woman. Frankly, I think Sally Ann Howes looks sensational, white hair, extra pounds and all! Here, she's discussing the acting expertise of Vivien Leigh during Anna Karenina (1948), though Miss Howes is better known herself for starring in the maligned musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) opposite Dick Van Dyke. Amazingly, she is eighty-two years of age at present and is just the type of “out of the spotlight” persona we look so forward to seeing on Word of Mouth.

I'll be back very soon with the other goodies I've promised. In the meantime, stay dry during the rainy month of April!

Be Our Guest: Volume One

Sometimes here in The Underworld, I come off a bit like they used to in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s in that I treat actors’ careers as if appearing in feature films is king and television is a come down. It’s not really intentional. I guess I sometimes seem to absorb that attitude from looking into people’s career paths and seeing that it was, in most cases (and is perhaps still now!) most desirable to be a movie star versus one from TV. But I LOVE vintage television and one of the chief reasons I do is the opportunity to see the work of guest stars. It’s fun to see favorite acting personalities in unusual roles (and surely one of the benefits of being the star of a regular series was that one could meet a parade of other famous names over the course of the run.)

I’ve been occupied for several months with watching a lot of older shows on DVD. I’ve mentioned before here my lifelong obsession with the opening credits of television shows and how my favorite ones involve the faces of the guest stars along with his or her name either being displayed or spoken. (See my beloved Dack Rambo, shown here from an episode of Cannon.) I love seeing these personalities pop up on screen (and what a disappointment if the episode contains a bunch of nobodies!) Conversely, when I’m watching an old show that doesn’t immediately identify the guests, I don’t like to know who they will be in advance. I like to sit back and wait for the stars to appear, surprising me with their arrival.

Today, I’m going to share a few guest shots with you. There’s nothing amazing about any of it, really. I just thought it would be neat for people to see some of these folks in their various guises as they worked on these shows. (At right is Geoffrey Scott in the credits of Barnaby Jones, a few years before he grew a much-welcome mustache and became one of the handsome men of Dynasty.) Half the fun of vintage television, especially ones that took place in the present, is the chance to see some of the hair and clothing choices. Due to the overwhelming amount of options for this, I will likely return to this subject in the future, thus the “Volume One.”

One of the shows I’ve been seeing a fair amount of lately is the long-running (twenty seasons!) Gunsmoke. I’ve never been as fond of Gunsmoke as a lot of western fans are (to me, the color episodes are always blurry and blah looking), but over time I’ve become a tad more interested in it. One episode, from 1965, gave viewers the chance to see one actor who killed his own fledgling career through his actions and one who almost did as well, but who eventually made it after a pretty long and tumultuous journey. First is John Barrymore Jr, the son of the legendary stage and film actor of the same name. After about eight years in the business, he began going by John Drew Barrymore. What talent he had as an actor (and there was some) was eventually decimated by his personal demons and extensive drug use. By the late-60s, his career was virtually over, though he lived almost as a hermit until 2004. In 1975, his daughter Drew Barrymore was born and, though she had an awfully rough time with drugs herself, she went on to a highly successful career and what seems to be a far more grounded life in general. In 1980, he and his son unearthed the corpse of his father in order to follow his wishes of cremation. The gruesome story can be found on John Drew Barrymore’s imdb.com bio page.

In that same episode was Dennis Hopper. As a youth, Hopper appeared in now-legendary films like Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. However, after the crushing loss of his friend/idol James Dean, he began to experience a reliance on alcohol and suffer from depression. This, paired with his aspirations to do things that were, perhaps, a bit beyond his means led to a set-to with Louis B. Mayer. Then there was the major league clash with director Henry Hathaway during 1958’s From Hell to Texas. Before all was said and done, he was lucky to get any sort of work and turned to TV for income. Absent from films of any distinction for a while, it was John Wayne, a friend of his late mother-in-law Margaret Sullavan, who gave him work in The Sons of Katie Elder in 1965. Still, there would be many ups and downs in the coming decade or so. It wasn’t until 1986’s Blue Velvet that he began to emerge as a significant screen actor, allowing him to work regularly (and memorably in Speed and other movies.)

A less depressing story was that of Leonard Nimoy who, of course, parlayed his role of Mr. Spock on Star Trek into a nearly lifelong source of employment. He at first resented the famousness of the role and the typecasting it created, penning a book called “I Am Not Spock,” but many years later wrote one called “I Am Spock.” In 1966, he played an Indian in a Gunsmoke episode. Though it might have seemed light years away from the science-fiction of Trek, it was nevertheless another stoic, introspective characterization.

Later in 1966, Gunsmoke turned to color filming. One of the guests that year was a biggie. Miss Bette Davis came on board as the vengeful matriarch of a passel of bad boys (Bruce Dern being among them.) She kidnaps Miss Kitty in order to draw the object of her ire, Marshal Dillon, to her ranch where she has a special revenge in the works.

One of the most startling aspects of the episode is how unbelievably stained and disgusting Miss D’s teeth are! The camera zooms in for a close-up on a set of yellowed, weathered, nicotine-tinged choppers that are equal in their scariness to anything her character does on the screen. Co-star Dern (who’d been given a small role in her Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte two years prior) later commented on how devastating to him it was to see an actress of Davis’ stature reduced to working as a guest on a western TV series. Despite a couple of middling recent successes, Davis was about to enter a pretty rough dry spell that lasted close to a decade.

Back to Star Trek for a second, one of the original series’ best-remembered guest stars was Ricardo Montalban as the super-strong, maniacal Khan. In fact, when the second (and far, far better received) feature film was made starring the original cast, Montalban was pegged to return as the character, now an older, but no less furious man. In 1970, he guested on Gunsmoke as an Indian, just as Nimoy had. He showed off a physique that was impressive for a man of fifty (especially for that time.) Twelve years later, during Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he still was impressively fit (now sixty-two!) to show off his chest in his character’s revealing costume, but naysayers had trouble believing that it was all really him. Unfounded and inaccurate rumors began to surface that he’d worn a prosthetic chest plate during filming! Perhaps the ever-present necklace he wore helped lend credibility to this legend. While there was some body makeup involved (as there would be for anyone ever showing their skin in a movie), it was indeed all him.A 1971 episode of Gunsmoke, one that centered on a passel of orphans at Christmastime, featured a variety of little ragamuffins who would eventually go on to much higher heights. Trapped under a blonde wig was young Erin Moran. Several years after this, she would be cast as the young sister (Joanie) of Ron Howard on the mega-hit sitcom Happy Days. Viewers watched her grow up on that long-running program. Auburn-haired Eric Scott was also soon utilized as Ben in The Waltons, a series that also ran for many years and returned periodically with movie reunions. Willie Aames would make another appearance later on Gunsmoke, along with other gigs, before making a splash as teenage Tommy on the popular show Eight is Enough. This was followed a while after with Charles in Charge (opposite Scott Baio, who had been paired with Erin Moran both on Happy Days and on the infamous debacle Joanie Loves Chachi!) The other blonde girl, a real blonde, was a heavily-utilized child actress by the name of Jodie Foster. Apart from a deliberate sabbatical from the movies in order to obtain a college degree, she has gone on to stellar heights as an actress and director, with two Best Actress Oscars on her mantle along the way!

Wizard of Oz fans would surely get a kick out of the 1973 episode featuring Miss Margaret Hamilton as a Miss Gulch-like Dodge City resident. She drags young ruffian Willie Aames into Marshal Dillon’s office, demanding that he be punished for stealing one of her pies. Later, after Hamilton has been locked in a safe by an escaped Aames, Hamilton gives the Marshal “what for” as only she condescendingly could. However, in that season’s gag reel, there’s a clip of Hamilton substituting her dialogue about reporting Dillon to the Attorney General with the unlikely and hilarious phrase, “I hope he burns your ass!”

At last we depart the dusty streets of Dodge City and trade them in for the breezy, beautiful island locations of Hawaii 5-O. Actors who came here for a job got the added benefit of spending their down time in one of the country's (if not the world's) most breathtaking locales. For a little more about the show and it's star, you can click on Jack Lord's name in the column to the right. We touched on Mr. Spock and Khan, so why not highlight Captain Kirk? Following the 1969 cancellation of Star Trek, the series' star William Shatner entered a period of career trauma in which he scrambled for work in many TV movies and on episodic television. In the decade between the series' demise and the big-screen reunion Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Shat made a lot of shit, not that some of it wasn't enjoyably terrible. Nowadays, he is celebrated for his unique approach to characterization and his sometimes insightful (when he actually stops interrupting and allows his guests to speak!) interview show, Shatner's Raw Nerve. In 1972, though, he was just trying to make a living. He frequently used his guest appearances, such as this one on Hawaii, to overact his heart out, hoping that it would reinvigorate his flagging career. Always one to struggle with his weight, he was forty-one when he did this beefy, but certainly not obese, role as a man who allows himself to be seduced in order to expose a blackmailing ring. Note to self: Never buy a swimsuit a size too small. It causes spillover.

Another 1969 episode of Hawaii 5-O gave a role to Farley Granger, a 1950s heartthrob who had only appeared in one minor movie since 1955! In this age of the "Big Three" television networks, an actor could still make a decent living through guest appearances and he did so, though sporadically. What struck me in this episode was how, despite his horned-rim glasses and uptight clothing, he still displayed a trim, healthy physique. Then again, he was only forty-four and already basically discarded Hollywood (or it him?) and gone to New York to work on the stage. In the ensuing years, he would work in quite a few foreign movies, serve an ill-advised stint on As the World Turns (his longtime partner was a producer at the time) and then retire by 1990, with one more role in 2001. He passed away just a couple of months ago at age eighty-five.

One of Farfel's (as close-friend and on-time fiancee Shelley Winters called him) other TV roles was on Ironside. Here he played the husband of Underworld favorite Lee Grant. The first scene they share is amusing in that, in the middle of a pool party at their spread, she sidles up behind him and presses herself up against his behind, grabs his torso with her claw-like hands and says, "You like?" as he closes his eyes in mild ecstacy! Oh, he liked.... though perhaps the other guest star, Richard Anderson might have been more up his alley. Anderson, later to become legendary as Oscar Goldman, the boss of The Six-Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, was still balancing small film roles with many, many TV appearances. He would do this until his two series took off and when they ended in 1978, he continued to stay very busy on television. One thing I absolutely love about vintage TV is the chance to see the clothes and hairstyles of the actresses, even ones in the background. Look at the buxom lovely with the bikini top, headband, mass of thick hair and false eyelashes. I think it should be mandatory for women to look like this!

In this 1967 episode, Miss Lee Grant models a variety of vivid clothes, several of which are sort of "out there" in their colors and patterns, a few of which are shown here. She also tries to vary and augment her ever-present wigs by either adding some more hair to the top for an "up-'do" or attaching a little jeweled ornament to the crown. The early years of Ironside (which ran in all from 1967 to 1975) happened to hit my very favorite era for hair and makeup. Costar Barbara Anderson (shown here, even though she is not a "guest"... I'm on a fashion and hair tangent at the moment!) had the most chic, short, blonde hair and wore an endless array of simply cut, but dazzlingly flattering and colorful, little dresses and suits. As we've been on a Star Trek kick today anyway, she was a memorable guest star on one of that series' earliest episodes as the daughter of a famed Shakespearean actor who may have once been guilty of genocide.

This same episode of Ironside with Farley and Lee, has a guest appearance that is very rare indeed. See if you can recognize the "actor" shown here. (You can click to enlarge.) The man only acted on two TV shows in his life, the second being in 1991. He also appeared uncredited in one movie. He is a very known persona, however. The top photo makes it a little harder to identify him, but I think the second, in which he has a more typical expression, is more of a giveaway. Yes, portraying a piano-playing nightclub owner is none other than mega-successful musical composer and producer Quincy Jones!

To touch on clothes again for just a moment, consider this 1969 episode of Marcus Welby, M.D. Miss Anne Baxter is counseling a young pregnant runaway in the middle of a shopping plaza when a cellulitic female extra sashays by in what appears to be a long-sleeved, navy blue, turtle-necked bodysuit. When I say bodysuit, I mean that it is legless…stops right at the hip and was probably intended to have a skirt or pants over it! (Some females out there will remember ‘60s and ‘70s tops that stayed tucked in thanks to snaps in the crotch, almost like a baby’s outfit!) When I had salved my corneas and thought it was safe, the bitch came strolling back into frame for a surprise frontal assault! What made this chick think that this was appropriate shopping (or anything) attire?!

Ironside was a bit of a sociopolitical forerunner in that star Raymond Burr's on-screen personal assistant was a black ex-con played by Don Mitchell. Another show that really broke new ground for racial diversity was The Mod Squad. The fact that black actor Clarence Williams III was one of the three leads meant that occasions would frequently come about that included other non-white performers. Future Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr appeared as a guest three different times, always as another character. In this 1968 episode, he played a troubled war veteran and, bald even then at thirty-two, was placed in an afro toupee! It looks pretty good upon first glance, but throughout the show, one can see the line of demarcation where it meets the hair on the sides of his head.

Cannon was the private eye show that starred William Conrad as a rotund, but surprisingly resourceful, ex-cop who took on difficult cases in his retirement. It’s credits placed the guest stars in little circles (cannonballs?) and you can imagine my reaction (aforementioned at the top of this post) to seeing the love of my life and reason for living, Dack Rambo, in one of them. Dack was at the height of his humpy good looks and in a couple of instances even showed off his crazy, off-the-hook package in a couple of pairs of snug pants. Anytime, as a kid or now, that I stumbled upon Rambo in a TV show, I knew I was in for a good time.Another crime/police show I've been watching is Starsky and Hutch. The gritty-on-the-surface series had a soft underbelly, notably in the handling of stars David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser's relationship, described by many as an ongoing demonstration of platonic love. Sometimes, there would be a "very special episode" (in a time before that phrase was ever coined) like in 1976 when little Kristy McNichol showed up as a street kid whose only relative, her father, is gunned down, causing her to move in with Hutch (David Soul.) McNichol would come back on the show two other times, always as a different character. This shot of her with the stars could almost be utilized in one of my infamous posts about TV bulges, thanks to Soul's trousers, but I can use it here because there is more where that came from, stay tuned for details on that!

One two-parter, also from 1976, offered up Miss Lynda Carter as the chief female guest star. (Others in the episode included Roz Kelly and Jayne Kennedy, a name that ought to stir up memories for people of a certain age.) Carter played a Las Vegas showgirl who is in danger of being targeted by a relentless strangler. She was already enmeshed in The Adventures of Wonder Woman by this point, but appearing on Starsky and Hutch meant that she could temporarily abandon the stylish, but demure, clothes of Diana Prince and exchange them for eye-poppingly revealing, silky, low-cut dresses. You can see in Paul Michael Glaser's eyes what it is he finds most interesting about her in this shot.

Also on board for this ep is 1930s and '40s star Joan Blondell. (Her career lasted far beyond that, all the way up to the late '70s - early '80s, in fact.) Having worked with David Soul on the earlier series Here Come the Brides, she was reunited with him briefly as the night manager of a 24-hour drug store. What really struck me was the fact that she was restocking a big pile of toilet paper. Number one: The toilet paper is in a variety of pastel colors! I had somehow forgotten that this was once the norm. Number two: The toilet paper is being sold by the ROLL! I have no memory of this. (And did I really just expound on the marketing of toilet paper by writing "number one" and number two?" LOL)

Every once in a while a TV series episode will feature a small role by someone unbilled (or tacked onto the end credits) who later went on to much higher heights. Such was the case in this 1978 installment of The Love Boat. True, Shelley Long had spent one season on SCTV, but had yet to catch a break in Hollywood. In this crowded episode, Frankie Avalon played a man who brings a matchmaking computer on to The Pacific Princess in order to pair up a bunch of single cruisers and Long was one of the ladies who was given a mate. It wasn't a featured role, but gave her a fair amount of lines and face time, paving the way for more roles on shows like Family, Trapper John, M.D. and M*A*S*H until she landed her own show, Cheers, in 1982.

We've come to the end of this post on TV guest stars, but, you know, I always try my best to go out with a bang, so I will leave you with a shot from the pilot episode of the 1984 pay cable series 1st & Ten, all about rich wife Delta Burke taking on ownership of a pro football team. She wins the team when she comes home to find her husband Ben Cooper in the throes of a naked rubdown with one of the players, leading to a divorce and a hefty settlement. Cooper was a young actor in the 1950s who appeared in the camp classic Johnny Guitar with Joan Crawford! By the time of this episode, he'd been acting on screen for three and a half decades and been married for two and a half. It was a rather surprising role to see him in. The handsome player, Rick Moser, had been a real pro footballer and served as a consultant on the series. His homosexual character stayed on the series for quite a while, though when the AIDS crisis came about, with its resultant panic and fear, the character was de-gayed and eventually depicted as straight!

Sometime in the future, I'll be back with another sampling of TV guests stars from what I consider "the good ol' days." I hope you got some enjoyment out of this one.