Many thanks to our buddy Grigg for fishing this one out of a used bookstore for us. We remember those celebrity "year" books that were popular in the '70s and '80s, geared toward younger readers, where you could learn more about your favorite TV or movie stars. (
Yea, yea, there's the Internet for that now, but this really takes ya back ...)
"TV Superstars '82" by Ronald W. Lackmann (Weekly Reader Books) profiles a whopping 64 stars in a slim paperback -- 192 pages. That's about three pages each, with black-and-white publicity photos. It's
soooooo super-cool. The actors from "The Love Boat," "M*A*S*H," "Happy Days," WKRP in Cincinnati," "The Greatest American Hero," "Little House on the Prairie," "Alice," "CHiPs," and so many other shows we love, including the shows we cover here at BRBTV ...
Some fun tidbits rising up from the pages:
"Dallas"
- Larry Hagman once had the juvenile lead in a production of "South Pacific" in London, which starred his mother, Mary Martin.
- Patrick Duffy was 6'2" and 195 pounds at the time.
- Linda Gray as a child attended school across the street from the MGM studios where "Dallas" was filmed and would stand out there after school to meet stars.
- Victoria Principal was studying to be a chiropractor at Miami Dade Junior College when she decided to go into acting after recuperating from a car crash.
- Barbara Bel Geddes at the time lived in a "beautiful country house in Putnam Valley, New York."
- Charlene Tilton was 5' tall and 95 pounds. Yea, you probably knew that one.
- Leigh McCloskey studied acting at the Julliard in New York under John Houseman.
- Ken Kercheval collected a bunch of stuff, including the glass he became known for later.
- Steve Kanaly worked as a manager and instructor at a trap and skeet shooting club frequented by celebs before his break on "Dallas."
"The Dukes of Hazzard"
- John Schneider was overweight and unpopular in high school. (OK, wha???? We know that's a cliché among celebs, but again ... what?) When he was 16, he dieted during summer break from school and thinned down.
- As a boy in Lodi, Wisconsin, Tom Wopat's original singing audience were the cows in the barn. He excelled in sports and other activities in high school, and his father is quoted as saying, "It was very important for Tom to win all the time. In his last year in high school, Tom even played football with a broken bone in his ankle."
- Catherine Bach is quoted as saying, "I empathize with Daisy. She's my kind of people. She knows how to enjoy herself, and she's always ready to give everything she has to help out in whatever big problem comes up. And she's a bit reckless. That's me, too. I enjoy that. I like taking chances, not only in my acting life but in real life, too."
The merriest of Christmases from BRBTV !!!!
