Geoffrey Rush: Yeh Best Start Believing in Talented Actors! He is one!

Throughout a career of more than 40 years in show business, he’s made movies playing the principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, a beloved Australian pianist, an unsympathetic police inspector, King George VI’s speech therapist, and even a ruthless, greedy pirate! Many of the characters that he portrayed were stubborn. Some used their stubbornness for the greater good while others used it for greed and selfishness…but we loved him for it nonetheless! I’m referring none other than Geoffrey Rush—an incredibly versatile actor!

Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queenland, Austrailia on July 6th, 1951. His father, Roy Bayden Rush, was an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force and his mother, Merle Bischof Rush, was a department store sales assistant. They unfortunately divorced when he was five years old and he went to live with his mother in Brisbane. He attended Everton Park State High School and graduated from University of Queensland with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts. While attending the university he was talent-spotted by the QTC (Queensland Theatre Company) who offered him to join their group. He accepted and officially began his career as an actor in 1971.  

Rush made his debut with the QTC in a production called Wrong Side of the Moon. He was involved in the group for four years and briefly left the group to study mime in Paris for two years. After that, he returned to the QTC, where he appeared in Shakespearean productions such as The Winter’s Tale and Trolius and Cressida. He also appeared in a production of The Importance of Being Earnest, where he met his wife, Jane Maenelaus, whom he married in 1988. While appearing in each of these productions, Rush also appeared in the series Consumer Capers in 1979 and in the film Hoodwink in 1981, both of which were produced and distributed by Australia.

After appearing in various other Australian-produced films and television series (i.e., Starstruck (1982), Menotti (1980-1981), and Twelfth Night (1987), Geoffrey Rush made his American film debut in Shine (1996), in which he played Australian pianist David Helfgott. His performance in the film was universally praised and earned him both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Actor. In 1998, two years after “Shine,” Rush made four films: Les Miserables (not the musical) in which he played Inspector Javert opposite Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean and Uma Thurman as Fantine, A Little Bit of Soul which was produced in Australia, and Elizabeth, in which he played Sir Francis Walsingham, opposite Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I. Rush had previously narrated the film Oscar and Lucinda (1997), which also starred Blanchett, and he reprised the role of Francis Walsingham in the “Elizabeth,” sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), which reunited him again with Blanchett. He also appeared in Queensland Art Centre’s production of The Marriage of Figaro in ’98 and he made Shakespeare in Love the same year, playing theater entrepreneur and impresario Philip Henslowe, a role that earned him his second Oscar nomination, though first in the supporting category.

In 2000, Rush made the film Quills, opposite Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michael Caine, where he played The Marquis de Sade, earning him a third Oscar nomination. Not long after making that film, Rush was approached by Director Gore Verbinski to play the role of Captain Hector Barbossa in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). Verbinski wanted Rush for the role because he knew he could play the role with a simple villainy that would fit the story perfectly. Rush had previously worked with “Pirates,” co-star Orlando Bloom on the Australian film Ned Kelly, which also came out in 2003. It was Rush who gave Bloom the script for “Pirates,” and suggested he read it while they made “Ned Kelly.” 2003 proved another one of many busy years for Rush, as he was invited by Pixar Animation Studios to voice Nigel the Pelican in their next collaboration film with Disney at the time, Finding Nemo, released May 30th, a little over a month before “Curse of the Black Pearl’s,” July 9th release. 

Geoffrey Rush reprised the role of Hector Barbossa in all four of Disney’s “Pirates,” sequels, Dead Man’s Chest (2006), At World’s End (2007), On Stranger Tides (2011), and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). The year after he made “Curse of the Black Pearl,” he made the HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), impersonating Peter Sellers winning him his first Golden Globe since “Shine.” The role also won the Globe for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. Before he made “On Stranger Tides,” he conquered Broadway in 2009, starring as King Berenger in the play Exit the King, a role that he had originated at the Malthouse Theatre in Australia. The Broadway production earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a play. In 2010, he took on the role of Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech (2010) which earned him his fourth Oscar nomination. Most recently, he portrayed Albert Einstein in the National Geographic Series Genuis (2017-present) and he also appeared in the Australian family adventure film Storm Boy (2019).

Geoffrey Rush has played some guys who have existed in real life, and some who also haven’t, in stage, television, and film. Disney lovers probably will always remember him best as Barbossa in the “Pirates of the Caribbean,” franchise, but looking back at all the biopics and period dramas he’s done, he’s just a great actor, period, and he brings a character to life brilliantly whether the character is real or made up. The Title of this Blog is taken from perhaps his most famous line from the “Pirates” series: Yeh best start believing in ghost stories Miss Turner! You’re in One! 

Welcome to the world of Mark Henn!

From the 1930s-‘60s, Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” the creative braintrust of the studio, created feature length films and short cartoons for the studio. By the ‘70s and ‘80s, some of them were still working for the studio while others had either retired or passed on. Soon, however, a new generation of animators were hired by the studio, many of them mentored by Eric Larson, one of the last remaining experts was Mark Henn, who continues to work for Disney today. Henn himself has created an incredible legacy of animation, from leading ladies to supporting clowns and even Mickey Mouse. 

    Mark Henn was born on April 6th, 1958 in Dayton, Ohio. In 1978, at the age of 20, he was officially accepted into the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California. “CalArts,” as it is known, had been founded by Walt and Roy Disney, along with Nelbert Chouinard in 1961. In addition to studying under Eric Larson, Henn also studied under Disney animators Jack Hannah and Thorton “T.” Hee. Classmates included John Lasseter (writer/director of Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999)), Mark Dindal (Effects Animator for Oliver & Company (1988)) and Joe Ranft (Story Artist for Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)). Henn joined the studio in 1980 and his first assignment was working as an in-betweener (an artist that transitions each of the drawings from frame to frame) on The Fox and the Hound (1981), collaborating with Glen Keane who supervised the animation on the film’s animal characters.

His next assignment was animating Mickey Mouse in the Oscar-nominated short Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), along with various characters in The Black Cauldron (1985). He first assignment as a Supervising Animator was on the characters of Basil, Dr. Dawson and Olivia in The Great Mouse Detective (1986), but he finally got to animate his first leading lady, Ariel in The Little Mermaid in 1989. He also supervised the animation on Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992). His design for Jasmine was inspired by his younger sister, Beth’s, high school senior photo. 

Henn was supervising animator for Young Simba in The Lion King (1994), Mulan and her father Fa Zhou in Mulan (1998), and in 2000, he directed the short film John Henry. Henn had loved the story of John Henry as a kid and was excited to bring it to life at Disney. Before working on the film, he and the rest of the film crew visited Big Bend Tunnel near Talcott, West Virginia, where the John Henry legend was born. Henn and the rest of the crew also received inspiration for their short from Paul Bunyan (1958), another Disney short, directed by Les Clark, another of the Nine Old Men. John Henry’s patchwork quilt opening scene was inspired by Mary Blair, who produced a great deal of concept art for Disney movies during Walt’s time.

Mark Henn also supervised the animation on several animals for Home on the Range (2004), Giselle in Enchanted (2007), Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh (2011). He provided additional visual development for Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and he animated Tinker Bell in Saving Mr. Banks (2013). He has also animated Mickey Mouse for various Disney Parks shows as well. More recently, he was an animator for Judy Hopps in Zootopia (2016) and Mickey Mouse in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph (2018).

  Mark Henn will always be remembered for his amazing animation at Disney, but his story is special because of the mentorship that brought it about. He says when he started at Disney, his mentor Eric Larson “Advised us to learn from the past but to bring out own sensibilities to our animation.” And the interest Larson took in Henn undoubtedly led to amazing opportunities. When looking back on Henn’s incredible body of work, I’m sure we can all agree that his “sensibilities” resonated with many, many Disney viewers.

Easter Movies

On this Easter Sunday, I thought we could explore fun facts about movies with spiritual themes. Please feel free to comment on your favorite!

1. Paramount’s The Ten Commandments (1956)-The same year that Yul Brynner played Rameses in this film, he also made the films Anastasia (1956) as well as the film version of his career-defining role The King and I. Before Brynner made “The Ten Commandments,” he underwent an intense weightlifting program so that he wouldn’t be physically overshadowed by co-star Charles Heston and would look physically fit as he appeared shirtless throughout most of the movie. Heston later said the Brynner gave the best performance in the movie. There is a moment in “King and I,” where Anna sees the King reading the story of Moses in the Bible and the King tells Anna he thinks Moses is a fool, ironically similar to what Rameses thought of Moses! But the movie does a great job of depicting the famous “Exodus” of the children of Israel00described in the Bible in a book by the same name, and highlighting the story of Passover, celebrated by Jews each year, but foundational to the Easter story for Christians.
2. Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)-This film received three Academy Award Nominations for Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Mixing. It won the award for Best Makeup. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson, for whom this was his live-action debut, having previously directed animated films such as Dreamworks’s Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004). Adamson also directed Disney’s to “Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe,” The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in 2008. Both of these films, and the books upon which they are based, are the allegory for the story of Christ, the first of which includes the all-important fact of Christ’s resurrection, demonstrated by Aslan’s death and resurrection.
3. Paramount’s Braveheart (1995)-Mel Gibson only wanted to direct the film and didn’t want to play William Wallace because he was nearly 40 years old at the time and the character was supposed to be in his 20s. Paramount agreed to finance the film only if he played the role, so he changed his mind. While he made the movie, Gibson spent time with actual members of the real-life Wallace clan to learn their history, and even brought them in as extras in the movie. There were roughly 1,600 in the battle scenes. It is a strong tale of faith and freedom, with Wallace portraying both a Christ-like figure and a leader of the freedom movement in Scotland. 
4. United Artists’s The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)-After playing Moses in “Ten Commandments,” Charlton Heston played Judah Ben-Hur in Ben Hur (1959), which won him the Best Actor Oscar for that year and then he played John the Baptist in this film. It was also the American film debut of Max von Sydow, and although he played Jesus in this film, he was in reality an affirmed atheist. Von Sydow also smoke and drank but wasn’t allowed to do either of those things while filming on the set. This movie was also the last film appearance of Four-time Oscar Nominee, Claude Rains, who portrayed King Herod. It has been much-beloved by people for more than 50 years, and considered by Christians as an excellent portrayal of the Bible stories foundational for their faith.
5. Dreamworks’s The Prince of Egypt (1998)-Jeffrey Katzenberg, this film’s executive producer and former CEO of Dreamworks Animation, had always thought it would be a good idea to make an animated movie of “The Ten Commandments,” and had originally pitched the idea while working for the Walt Disney Company to former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, but Eisner never liked the idea. When Katzenberg left Disney in October of 1993, he later founded Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994, they managed to get “The Prince of Egypt,” off the ground and Katzenberg hired Disney screenwriter Brenda Chapman to co-direct the film with Steve Hickner and Simon Wells. This film not only marked Chapman’s debut as a director, but also made her the first woman to co-direct an animated movie from a major movie studio. Chapman later won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for direction on Disney/Pixar’s Brave in 2012. It of course continues in the tradition of the live-action film, portraying the Jewish Passover and Exodus that is intrinsic to the Easter season for Christians. 

While these are just some of many spiritual themed movies, there are still a lot other movies that acknowledge the beauty and the mystery of God. Others such as Forrest Gump (1994), Facing the Giants (2006) and even Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Lion King (1994), and The Bucket List (2007) acknowledge God’s existence and presence in the universe. Overall, it really is amazing the trouble and efforts that these people who worked on them went to, making each of them not only great films, but inspiring to people of faith.

The Sun Will Shine Again!

With everything that’s going on in the world right now due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, I thought today’s blog could actually be a letter of encouragement. People have lost their lives, and they have also been laid off/furloughed or have been forced to take pay cuts. It’s extremely traumatic, and when we all will overcome this unfortunate epidemic remains to be seen. One could maybe argue that it’s even more sad and unpredictable than 9/11. 

It’s times like these in which we have the choice of believing either that this is the end of the world and we’re all done for, or that there is hope and that we will overcome. Personally, I choose to believe the latter. While there are many things that might make us feel pressure to believe otherwise, hope comes in all shapes and sizes. Being surrounded by the family and friends that you love gives you hope, and so does faith in God. But it can be difficult not knowing whom or what to rely on when you’ve had an unfortunate tragedy in your lifetime.   

Disney Movies typically tell stories of protagonists who are hoping to achieve a certain goal or acquire a certain achievement at some point in their lifetimes, and often those protagonists express the emotional desire to achieve those goals or acquire those things in song. However, up until the early 2000s, Disney movies seldom included a protagonist song about failing: getting to the halfway point of achieving his/her goal and then losing a sense of direction, not knowing where to turn next. A lesser known film, however, did the opposite: Home on the Range in 2004. 

When “Home on the Range,” was in production at Disney, Alan Menken (Oscar-winning composer of The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) and other Disney classics), was hired to compose the music for the film, along with Glenn Slater as lyricist. While working on the film, Slater and Menken were told by the film’s creative team, writers/directors Will Finn and John Sanford and Producer Alice Dewey Goldstone, that they wanted there to be a song in the film where the film’s three main protagonists (The Cows: Maggie, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway) are lost and they don’t how to go on. A “Where Do We Go From Here” song was in order. Menken shared later that he had never written that kind of song in his other Disney films. He said “I thought that was a terrible idea for a song. I don’t want to write a ‘Where Do We Go From Here’ song, I mean, what will we do with it?”

But, 9/11 happened while “Home on the Range,” was in production at Disney, and like many artists, Menken wanted to “write something that would be a balm to me and to other people.” He hoped that when people heard the song they would realize that when there is so much despair, there is always hope. As a result, he and Slater wrote “Will the Sun Ever Shine Again.” Performed by Bonnie Raitt in the film, it really struck a chord for audiences. Menken received so many phone calls from people telling about how the song made them want to cry. (For the record, the song also makes me emotional !.) 

In these unprecedented times of upheaval—in which all routines have changed, and the future appears bleak, or at least undefined—we could all use the words that Slater penned and Menken so beautifully rendered musically. (Lyrics are below, and I have also attached the YouTube link if you’d like to listen to the song.)

Most importantly, I believe that the sun will shine again someday, and I hope you can find the strength and courage to not only believe that, but to believe that we’ll overcome. Collectively encouraging each other, as in this emotive song, will help us believe in the sunshine to come.

 

Will the Sun Ever Shine Again

(by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, performed by Bonnie Raitt)

Rain is pourin' down like the

Heavens are hurtin'.

Seems like it's been dark since

The devil knows when.

How do you go on, never knowin'

For certain,

Will the sun ever shine again?

Feels like it's been years since

It started to thunder.

Clouds are campin' out in the valley

And glen.

How do you go on, when you can't help

But wonder.

Will the sun ever shine again?

What if the rain keeps fallin'?

What if the sky stays gray?

What if the wind keeps squallin',

And never go away?

Maybe the soon the storm will be

Tired of blowin'.

Maybe soon it all will be over, amen.

How do you go on, if there's no way

of knowin'?

Will the sun ever shine?

Wish I could say.

Send me a sign-

One little ray.

Lord, if you're listenin', how long

until then?

Will the sun ever shine again?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tthYzUhuvZE

Eric Larson: Generous and Unstoppable Animator 

Some of my earlier blogs have talked about Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” a nickname that Walt Disney gave to the top animators at his studio. At this point, my blog hasn’t acknowledged all of the men who were in that group, and I wanted to tell you about an artist who not only animated a variety of Disney characters, but also helped a new generation of animators during his 53 years at Walt Disney Studios: Eric Larson.

Eric Larson was born in Cleveland, Utah on September 3rd, 1905. When he was 10 years old, his family moved to a ranch in Salt Lake City. Although his original childhood ambition was to become a journalist, he secretly took drawling lessons because he was fascinated by the personalities of the animals who lived on his parent’s ranch. In 1925, he entered the University of Utah and later relocated to Los Angeles to look for a journalism job, sadly to no success. He then decided to try to pursue a career as an artist, and at the suggestion of a friend, submitted some of his drawings to Walt Disney Productions. He was hired as an “in-betweener,” in 1933. (An “in-betweener” is an artist that transitions each of the drawings from frame to frame).    

Eric Larson first applied his drawing skills to the “Silly Symphonies” Short Cock o’ The Walk which was released in 1935. This short featured a sequence that Larson animated with dancing hens like dancing showgirls. Despite the difficulties he experienced, Hamilton Luske, who was another animator who worked at Disney at the time, recognized the talent and potential of Larson and promoted him to assistant animator, and because of that, he got to collaborate with James Algar and Milt Kahl, another one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men,” on animating each of the animals in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). When Disney green-lit Pinocchio (1940), Eric was promoted to Animation Director and supervised all the animation of Figaro the Cat, along with the scary “Donkey” sequences. Figaro the Cat became one of the favorite characters of Larson’s to animate, because he also explained his later years how little boys can relate to not being comfortable with showing affection to their younger siblings, as Figaro is towards Cleo the Fish. Although both Figaro and Cleo still love their father, Gepetto dearly. (Figaro was also a favorite of Walt Disney, himself.) 

Larson continued to be an animator on Dumbo (1941), a supervising animator on Bambi (1942) and a Directing Animator on Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady & the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). In 1953, Burny Mattinson was employed by Disney and on June 4th, 2018, he surpassed Eric Larson as the Walt Disney Studios longest-serving employee at a total of 65 years. Mattinson was very well acquainted with Eric Larson and said he was “like a dad,” to him.  Larson explained that one of his fondest memories of working at Disney was getting to animate Peggy Lee as Peg the Tibetan Spaniel in “Lady & the Tramp,” because he was greatly inspired by her sultry singing voice as well as the way she walked. When Disney started Mary Poppins (1964), Larson was also very excited to return to his country roots when he was given the task of animating each of the animals in the farm sequence in the “Jolly Holliday” scene in the film.  

In the 1970s, Eric Larson was still working at Disney while the other “Nine Old Men,” either had retired or were deceased. In 1973, he founded a recruitment training program that brought a new generation of animators to the studio. This new generation included Brad Bird (future Oscar-winning screenwriter/director of The Incredibles (2004) and its sequel, and voice of Edna Mode), John Musker and Ron Clements (future writers/directors of The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), and Moana (2016)), Andreas Deja (future supervising animator of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Jafar in Aladdin (1992), and Scar in The Lion King (1994)), and Glen Keane (future supervising animator of Ariel in “Little Mermaid,” the Beast in “Beauty and the Beast,” and Aladdin in “Aladdin.”), to name a few. This new generation also included Tim Burton and Henry Selick, who later collaborated together on Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and James and the Giant Peach (1996).

Eric Larson also designed the opening main titles on The Rescuers in 1977 and served as an Animation Consultant on the Oscar-nominated short Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) and the films The Black Cauldron (1985) and The Great Mouse Detective (1986) before he finally retired from Disney in 1986 and died two years later at the age of 83 on October 25th, 1988 due to natural causes. In the history of Disney Animation, there have been many artists who left enduring legacies, but few have left a legacy that is as beautiful and as generous as Eric Larson. 

Carol Burnett’s Rep Players

You might remember from one of my earlier blogs, a tribute to Carol Burnett, and how in addition to starring in her own show for 11 years, from 1967-1978, she also performed in various things for the Walt Disney Studios, (host of the Disney Sunday Movie episode “Great Moments in Disney Animation,” in 1987 and playing the role of Queen Aggravain in ABC’s Once Upon a Mattress in 2005). I didn’t acknowledge that last summer she also voiced, Chairol Burnett, a cartoon version of herself in Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 4 (2019), and reprised that role in an episode of the Disney+ series, Forky Asks a Question (2019). If you’re a fan of “The Carol Burnett Show,” you might also remember that Carol had a group of “repertory players” who were exceptionally talented performers, and each brought their own ingenuity to the show: Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway, and Lyle Waggoner. Did you know that each of these performers have also been in things for Disney as well?

• Harvey Korman played the role of Captain Blythe in Disney’s Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), which was the fourth film in the “Herbie/Love Bug,” franchise. Korman also lent his voice to the Disney television series, 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997-1998), Hercules (1998-1999), and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001). (Korman lent his voice to the “Hercules and the Griffin,” episode of Hercules, which ironically also starred his co-star from “Carol Burnett,” Tim Conway.) Besides his roles on “Carol Burnett,” and Disney, Korman is also known for his contributions to the first three original “Flintstone” shows, voicing The Great Gazoo on The Flintstones (1964-1966), Dictabird in The Flintstones (1994), and playing the role of Colonel Slaghoople in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000). Like Carol Burnett, Korman also performed in an episode of The Muppet Show (1976-1981).
• While Vicki Lawrence many characters throughout her time on “The Carol Burnett Show,” she will forever be remembered for her portrayal of the iconic Mama/Thelma Harper in the “Mama’s Family” sketches. She later reprised the role on her very own sit-com Mama’s Family (1983-1990), and for the last 45 1/2 years has been married to Al Schulz who was the Makeup Artist on “The Carol Burnett Show.” She made her Disney debut when she was cast as Mamaw Ruthie Stewart, mother of Robby Ray Stewart and Grandmother of Miley Ray Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Original Series, Hannah Montana (2006-2011), a role that she reprised for five episodes throughout the shows five-year-run. She also lend her voice to The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006), Disney’s direct-to-video sequel to The Fox and the Hound (1981), and the Disney Channel Original Animated Series, Phineas and Ferb (2007-2015).
• Tim Conway is best known at Disney for portraying the role of Amos Tucker in The Apple Dumple Gang (1975) and its sequel The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979). Before those films, Conway’s Disney debut was in The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973), and in 1976 he made comedies Gus, which reunited him with “Apple Dumpling Gang,” co-star Don Knotts and The Shaggy D.A., which was Disney’s sequel to The Shaggy Dog (1959). Conway was very close with Don Knotts, as well as all of his co-stars from “The Carol Burnett Show,” and also Ernest Borgnine, with whom he co-starred on the show McHale’s Navy (1962-1966). He worked with each of his friends on numerous other projects as well. He wrote the films The Prize Fighter (1979) and The Private Eyes (1980), in which he co-starred with Knotts, and he and Borgnine lent their voices to Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy on Spongebob Squarepants (1999-present). Conway also went on a comedy tour with Harvey Korman, appeared in both Touched by an Angel (1994-2003) and Hot in Cleveland (2010-2015) with Carol Burnett, and he and Vicki Lawrence and Don Knotts have all lent their voices to the faith-based CGI series Hermie & Friends (2004).
• In addition to playing several various characters on the show, Lyle Waggoner shared announcing duties on the show with Ernie Anderson. Waggoner is also known for originating the role of Colonel Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman (1975-1979) the series, the role that is now portrayed by Chris Pine in the reboot films. The role of Colonel Trevor was easy for him to identify with because he served for two years in the United States Army as a radio operator. Besides acting, Waggoner was also a skilled carpenter and businessman, and in 1979 he founded, Star Waggons, a company that loaned customized location trailers to be used by people in the entertainment industry.     

Carol Burnett’s “Rep Players,” were all talented in their own special ways and they never ceased to make us laugh on the small screen and even sometimes on the big screen. Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence are still making us laugh, Burnett with her recent memoir In Such Good Company: Eleven Years Of Laughter, Mayhem, And Fun In The Sandbox and Lawrence with her role on the Fox Broadcasting Company series The Cool Kids (2018-2019), and while Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Lyle Waggoner are no longer with us, each of their humor legacies will continue to live on forever.  

Suzanne Pleshette: More Than Newhart’s Wife

Suzanne Pleshette is known for her iconic role as Emily Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978). The role earned her two Emmy Nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and she is the only regular cast member, other than Bob Newhart himself, to have appeared in all 142 episodes of the show. In reality, Suzanne Pleshette had a career in show business that spanned nearly 50 years, in which she appeared on stage, television, and film. Did you also know that she also has some fascinating connections to the Walt Disney Studios as well?

Suzanne Pleshette was born on January 31st, 1937 in Brooklyn Heights, New York to Eugene and Geraldine Pleshette. Her mother was a dancer and artist while her father was a stage manager who managed the Paramount Theater in New York City. She would claim in her later years that New York City’s High School for the Performing Arts was where she “found” herself. She graduated that High School and later attended Syracuse University for one semester before she transferred to Finch College for additional semester, and she transferred a third time to the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre where she studied acting under Sanford Meisner and graduated.

In 1957, at the age of 20, Pleshette made her Broadway debut in Meyer Levin’s Compulsion which was a play about the famous Leopold and Loeb Case. Film and Television came calling around this time and she made the film The Geisha Boy (1958) and she also starred in an episode of the Crime Drama Series Decoy (1957-1958). In 1959, she returned to the stage, starring in the comedy Golden Fleecing opposite Constance Ford and future “Bob Newhart,” co-star, Tom Poston. She opened the ‘60s, starring in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965) as well as another television series called Hong Kong (1961) in which she played the love interest of Rod Taylor. She would later work with both Hitchcock and Taylor again when she landed the role of Annie Hayworth in The Birds (1963). Hitchcock himself was fond of her and enjoyed working with her and as a result, asked her to play Sean Connery’s sister-in-law in Marnie (1964), but she declined, intent on pursuing more “leading lady” roles. She did, however, reunite with Rod Taylor for a third time when they made the film Fate is the Hunter (1964). She also married Troy Donahue, with whom she appeared in the films Roman Adventure (1962) and A Distant Trumpet (1964) but the marriage sadly lasted only eight months.

Suzanne Pleshette made her Disney debut when she was cast opposite Dean Jones in The Ugly Dachsund (1966). “Ugly Dachsund,” was one of the last films produced before Walt Disney’s unfortunate and untimely death in December of that same year. The very next year, she worked for Disney again starring in The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967) starring Roddy McDowall and Karl Malden. She later reunited with Dean Jones a second time in Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968) and a third time in The Shaggy D.A. (1976), Disney’s sequel to The Shaggy Dog (1959). The year that she made “Blackbeard’s Ghost,” she married businessman Thomas J. Gallagher III and the marriage lasted until his death in 2000. 

Not long after marrying Gallagher, she landed her signature role as Emily Hartley on “Bob Newhart.” (Tom Poston was also cast as Bob’s college buddy, Cliff Murdoch, a role that lasted five episodes.) She was cast when she appeared on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992). The producers thought she and Bob clicked together and asked them to read together. Throughout the series the phrase “Hi, Bob,” was spoken 256 times, 17 of which were spoken by Emily Hartley. 

In 1982, Pleshette attempted to return to her stage roots by starring in a Broadway play called Special Occasions. The show closed unfortunately after only one performance, so she stayed with film and television for the rest of her life. She reprised her role as Emily Hartley on an episode of Bob Newhart’s other sit-com Newhart (1982-1990), which Tom Poston was also a regular on. She was later invited back to Disney to voice Zira in Disney’s direct-to-video sequel to The Lion King (1994), The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998). Jason Marsden provided the voice of Zira’s son, Kovu in the film, and he Pleshette later voiced mother and son again in the Disney/Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away (2002), which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Her last acting role was playing Lois Whitley, mother of Karen Walker (played by Megan Mullally) on Will & Grace (2002-2004). In 2001, Pleshette married Tom Poston and they remained married until Poston’s death due to respiratory failure on April 30th, 2007. Pleshette, herself, later passed away also due to respiratory failure on January 19th, 2008, just 12 days shy of her 71st birthday.

Suzanne Pleshette was a very talented and versatile actress. Throughout her career she played some roles that made us laugh, and even some that might have also scared us just a bit. She will forever be remembered for playing Mrs. Bob Hartley on “Bob Newhart,” and for her roles in Disney films, but her acting skills and her husky voice made every role that she played more and more interesting.