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Post by Lauren on Mar 8, 2006 21:27:22 GMT -5
From: www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4521885,00.html (Since registration is required to get the article, though it is free, it's still a pain, so I'm just posting the whole thing here to make it easier for everyone.) Veteran actor Katt headlines Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival ( www.pbshakespeare.org/ )
By JEFF ALEXANDER jeff.alexander@scripps.com March 8, 2006Outdoor concerts, a weeklong farce with star William Katt at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre and two plays at Carlin Park are making up the season for the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival. "It's a very exciting time for us," said Kermit Christman, founder/artistic producing director. "This is our busiest season." (Note by Lauren: who I think could be Katt's double! i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lauren9847/Katt/KermitChristman.jpg ). The season, in conjunction with Palm Beach County Special Events, kicks off with the third annual Sunset at Carlin Concert Series, on Sunday, March 12, 4-7 p.m., with Sweet Justice reggae band providing the entertainment. The April 23rd concert will feature Jonathan Panks Band with Panks, formerly of the band Savannah, as the headliner. On May 14, Mother's Day, Bob Hoose "a perennial favorite," and Sinatra tribute artist will be the featured artist, Christman said. Patrons should bring chairs, blankets and picnic baskets. All concerts are free. Next, William Katt, star of TV's "Greatest American Hero" and nine TV "Perry Mason" movies, will star in the PBSF production of George Feydeau's farce, "What A Night!," set for April 20-30 at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Tickets, available now at the Maltz box office, will range from $10-$25. "Billy and I have always worked together," Christman said. Katt, in fact, co-starred in "Descendant," (2003) which was co-written by Katt, Christman and Del Tenney. Katt performed in Edward Albee's production of "The Zoo Story," directed by Christman, for Bookfest in West Palm Beach in 1993. It was at Christman's suggestion that Katt, who arrives for rehearsals later this month, undertake a drama at the Maltz and they decided on a comedy instead, Christman said. Set in Paris in the 1920s, "What a Night!" focuses on a chain of events which occurs after a man discovers his wife is having an affair with his best friend. It will be co-directed by Christman and Tenney, with whom Christman is working on a new movie in Los Angeles as well. "This will be a way to introduce ourselves to the Maltz audiences and new audiences, a combining of Shakespeare and Maltz," Christman said. After Sunset at Carlin and "What a Night!," PBSF will turn its attention to its summertime play-in-the-park, with Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in modern dress on the Carlin Park amphitheatre. The show, over two weekends of July 13-16 and 20-23, will be co-directed by "the usual gang of thugs," Christman joked, meaning Kevin Crawford and Paul Prescott who have worked together on the outdoor shows since 2003. "We may incorporate political overtones of Iraq," Christman said. Originally, "Cymbeline," the story of a commoner who marries a king's daughter, was considered, but the tragic tale of Caesar was chosen because it's more popular, Christman said. The season will close with the inaugural and hopefully annual production of "A Christmas Carol," set for Dec. 11-21 at the Carlin Park amphitheater, Christman said. The shows are a step towards developing architectural plans with Palm Beach County to develop a more formal and permanent amphitheater setting, Christman said. What: Sunset at Carlin Concert Series. When: Sundays, March 12, April 23, May 14, 4-7 p.m. Where: Carlin Park, State Road A1A, south of Indiantown Road, Jupiter. Admission: Free Contact: Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, (561) 575-7336 or Palm Beach County Special Events at (561) 547-2173, ext. 211. (Gads, whatta headshot! *sighs*) ;D
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Post by Ms Boku on Mar 8, 2006 22:36:08 GMT -5
Aw I wanna go!
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Mar 8, 2006 22:41:17 GMT -5
So sign up to go.
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Post by Ms Boku on Mar 8, 2006 23:47:32 GMT -5
So sign up to go. Well If I win the Lotto I will. I just put 2000 in my car and now it has a gas leak another 300 but I'm OK. So now you understand my story caption. I will have to love him from afar...Very afar. On the other hand...I have an after MS to Don't mess around with Jim that you can read... www.fanfiction.net/s/2835653/1/
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Mar 9, 2006 0:06:45 GMT -5
So sign up to go. Well If I win the Lotto I will. I just put 2000 in my car and now it has a gas leak another 300 but I'm OK. So now you understand my story caption. I will have to love him from afar...Very afar. On the other hand...I have an after MS to Don't mess around with Jim that you can read... www.fanfiction.net/s/2835653/1/You go right ahead and love him from afar. By the way, I like the scene, but I don't see it as ever happening that way...mainly because I think he would be too scared to say it...just in case the answer was NO.
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Post by Ms Boku on Mar 9, 2006 0:14:40 GMT -5
Well If I win the Lotto I will. I just put 2000 in my car and now it has a gas leak another 300 but I'm OK. So now you understand my story caption. I will have to love him from afar...Very afar. On the other hand...I have an after MS to Don't mess around with Jim that you can read... www.fanfiction.net/s/2835653/1/You go right ahead and love him from afar. By the way, I like the scene, but I don't see it as ever happening that way...mainly because I think he would be too scared to say it...just in case the answer was NO. I see it as more nervous. He is always uncomfortable around the green guys..Besides there is a madness to my method.
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Post by MelMac on Mar 9, 2006 0:18:45 GMT -5
You go right ahead and love him from afar. By the way, I like the scene, but I don't see it as ever happening that way...mainly because I think he would be too scared to say it...just in case the answer was NO. I see it as more nervous. He is always uncomfortable around the green guys..Besides there is a madness to my method. Sometimes, madness works well, as I do that all the time in stories and screencaps. I wrote a screencap based on this banter, and as always, in good humor. Back OT, I'd love to go see Katt perform, but even I'm too far away and it's a bit out of price range right now. Well, someday when I win the lottery, maybe I can too.
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Post by Ms Boku on Mar 9, 2006 0:20:23 GMT -5
I see it as more nervous. He is always uncomfortable around the green guys..Besides there is a madness to my method. Sometimes, madness works well, as I do that all the time in stories and screencaps. I wrote a screencap based on this banter, and as always, in good humor. Back OT, I'd love to go see Katt perform, but even I'm too far away and it's a bit out of price range right now. Well, someday when I win the lottery, maybe I can too. OK let's make a pact! If one of us wins the lottery we all go on a Katt tour. I like it!
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Post by MyTatuo on Mar 9, 2006 15:12:24 GMT -5
We'll rent a little school bus and take a little field trip.
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Post by Lauren on Mar 9, 2006 17:35:41 GMT -5
Works for me.
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Post by MelMac on Mar 9, 2006 18:03:15 GMT -5
Sometimes, madness works well, as I do that all the time in stories and screencaps. I wrote a screencap based on this banter, and as always, in good humor. Back OT, I'd love to go see Katt perform, but even I'm too far away and it's a bit out of price range right now. Well, someday when I win the lottery, maybe I can too. OK let's make a pact! If one of us wins the lottery we all go on a Katt tour. I like it! Sad thing was, I was accurate for about two months when someone would win the Mega Millions jackpot, but I didn't win. Go figure.
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Post by Sayscalled on Mar 9, 2006 20:13:00 GMT -5
Holy mackrel! I live in Jupiter Wow.
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Post by Ms Boku on Mar 11, 2006 21:48:00 GMT -5
Well I hope to meet him in this life time. Maybe if things pan out. I wil just have to keep my finger crossed.
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Post by Maxwell - F.B.I. on Mar 14, 2006 14:51:55 GMT -5
"Help me, Rhonda... help help me Rhonda..."
;D
("The table in the back. The table IN THE BACK.")
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Post by Ms Boku on Apr 16, 2006 18:17:42 GMT -5
Found a little tid bit on our favorite boy int h red jammies... American Hero' star comes to Jupiter
By Leslie Gray Streeter
Palm Beach Post Arts Writer
Sunday, April 16, 2006
He looks pretty much exactly the way you remember him. He's still got curly blond hair, although it's shorter and a little grayer. Ditto the soft smile and the boyishly sincere face.
The cape and pajama-like red super suit, however, are nowhere to be seen.
Richard Graulich/The Post
enlarge
BLIND AMBITION: William Katt, whose parents were both TV stars, wasn't sure he wanted to be an actor. 'I'm not sure I want to be an actor now!' he says with a laugh. Post Arts Critics Hap Erstein: Theater • Recent articles, reviews • Chat with Hap on his blog
Gary Schwan: Art • Recent articles, reviews
Sharon McDaniel: Classical music • Recent articles, reviews
Scott Eyman: Books • Recent articles, reviews
Greg Stepanich: Classical music, books • Chat with Greg on his blog
William Katt doesn't get annoyed when you mention that suit, in which the actor flew lopsidedly to fame in ABC's 1981-83 hit series The Greatest American Hero. He played mild-mannered school teacher and accidental crime-fighter Ralph Hinkley, who is given the suit by aliens who entrust him with the powers and responsibilities it comes with, but not the directions on how to use it, most importantly: how to fly without crashing into Dumpsters and the sides of buildings.
Of course, the theater-trained 55-year-old actor has done a lot more than that — Carrie, Pippin, the cult surfing film Big Wednesday, a lot of theater, the critically acclaimed 1999 indie Twin Falls Idaho, NBC's 1980s series The Perry Mason Mysteries, co-starring original stars Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale, Katt's mother, and many television guest spots, including an episode of FOX's medical hit House on April 25.
Even though he's worked consistently for more than 35 years, that friendly face and tousle-able thatch of hair will always, for some, be associated with his relatively brief time on Greatest American Hero, with its goofy suit and inescapable theme song, whose chorus "Believe it or not, I'm walking on air" is almost impossible to dig out of your head once it's in there.
Currently in town for rehearsals for the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival's What a Night!, a farce by French playwright Georges Feydeau that plays the Maltz Jupiter Theatre later over the next two weekends, Katt sat down to lunch with us to talk about the play, growing up in Hollywood, his near-brush with Jedi greatness, and how he's come to peaceful terms with the red pajamas.
Question: So I hear that you're friends with Kermit Christman, the founder and producing director of the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, and the director of What a Night! How did you meet?
Answer: I met him in 1960, at Orange County College. We became fast friends and did many things together. We were together at the South Coast Repertory (in Orange County) for four seasons. The last time I was in West Palm Beach, I did something for him at the book fair. This would have been in the early '90s.
Q: Is stage work different for you than movie and television?
A: It's the same thing, when you're doing good work. When you're on a movie set, when the director says 'Cut!' the crew applauds, and it's the same when you do theater. It's that immediacy. You feel the audience.
Q: Tell me about the play. It's a farce, right?
A: Yes. Feydeau was writing in the early '60s — that's the 1860s — at a time in France where there was a cultural revolution in that country, which was doing very well. (The play) is a low-brow comedy, very different than Moliere, which was more sophisticated. You can see in it the (roots) of vaudeville or the Marx Brothers, or even comedy now, like Frasier. It's a lot of fun — slamming doors and just missing people walking out. It's all about the timing. It's like a freight train, nothing naturalistic about it.
Q: Your parents (Hale and late Adventures of Kit Carson star Bill Williams) were both actors. Did you always know you wanted to be an actor?
A: The older you get, you appreciate being well-rounded, being curious about life. I never knew I wanted to be an actor. (laughs). I'm not sure I want to be an actor now!... I have some early memories of being on sets with my parents.... They wanted me to find something else to fall back on. I was always interested in music and studied it. I got my pilot's license when I was 17 or 18. And I was in the service during Vietnam, in the National Guard. And I was working with the South Coast Rep, happy doing theater.
Q: So what made you step out of theater into movies?
A: My first big break was Carrie. I don't know how it happened. (Carrie co-star) Amy Irving and I were dating at the time, and we both tested for it. Brian De Palma and (Star Wars director) George Lucas were auditioning at the same time, in the same place. I was still upset that I didn't get to play Luke Skywalker.
Q: I heard about that!
A: On one of the DVDs of Star Wars, you can see me and Kurt Russell screen-testing for it, as Luke and Han Solo. We did a really good job. I was auditioning for both that and Carrie at the same time.
Q: Both of those movies were huge, but was there any indication when you were trying out that they'd be hits?
A: (On Carrie), I had a friend of mine, who was a little older, who explained to me that this was going to be Brian De Palma! That was his breakout. Look at that cast — Amy Irving, John Travolta, Sissy Spacek, Nancy Allen, me. We all had careers.
With Star Wars, I liked the premise. George Lucas had just done American Graffiti — another movie where everybody (in the cast) had careers. For Star Wars, I had three different auditions. My God, look at the (audition section) on the DVDs! Every young star in Hollywood auditioned for that, all the young Turks.
Q: How would your Luke have been different from (eventual Skywalker) Mark Hamill's?
A: (laughs) It would have been better.
Q: How did you get to the Greatest American Hero?
A: In 1979, I was doing a play with Dianne Wiest in New York, doing pretty well for myself. During the last show, Meryl Streep came backstage and kissed me on the cheek. She'd been in The Deer Hunter, so she was huge! I thought 'I'll never wash my cheek again!'
But I got the script for (Hero) and thought 'This is never gonna go! It's too far out! It's a cartoon.' Much to (creator Stephen J. Cannell's) credit, he wanted to play it straight. (Hinkley) was this angst-ridden kid who had some dark (places) — and I do as a person, too. He was a hero, but then he was kind of an anti-hero, too. He was like Jimmy Stewart (in movies), where he had to shoulder this burden, this thing that no one else would pick up. So he was like 'I'll do it.' I'll tell you one thing, though — I hated that suit. The look on my face onscreen when I see myself in the mirror wearing it for the first time was pretty real.
Q: Why? Was it... constricting?
A: (laughs) Only to my ego.
Q: So why did you hate the suit?
A: I hated that my life had come to that, from being on stage with Dianne Wiest right to that.
Q: I guess that was before the modern era where movie stars clamor to be on TV series, where you can do that and not have it be a stigma.
A: Things are different now. (Producers) really wanted to box you in to one thing, and that's what you were. I'd go in for things and they'd say 'Oh, you're the guy in the super suit.' It was hard to get cast in regional theater. Nobody was hiring me to do Tennessee Williams.
Q: But you've come to appreciate it now?
A: I didn't have the perspective then. If I were my own parent now, I'd put my arm around my shoulder and say 'Relax. It's all good.' (The show) still makes me laugh. When I go out into the world, people say. 'I love you!' It was so cool, that these kids, who were kids then, could come home every week and look forward to watching the show. I feel good about that I was involved in contributing something to television history. I've stayed friendly with everyone on the show. Connie (Selleca, who played Ralph's girlfriend Pam), is still gorgeous, with an incredible sense of humor... Bill Culp (who played crusty FBI sidekick Bill Maxwell) and I had a tremendous working relationship. It was so much fun.
Q: Are any of your kids in the business?
A: No. That's fine with me. You really have to want to be in this business. You have to want it more than anything. I always thought 'If I can discourage you, then you shouldn't be doing this.' I tried to raise my kids with a real sense of normalcy.
Q: So knowing what you know now, you don't mind when people come up to you and start singing 'Believe it or not, I'm walking on air?'
A: They always sing the song. I had an experience a few years ago, taking the subway uptown in New York late at night. There was nobody else on the train but this guy, down the end of the train. He sees me and comes up to me — this is a seedy-looking guy — and I'm freaking out. He says 'Aren't you that guy with the cape?' It was great! I made him sit next to me the rest of the way. I was so relieved I wasn't getting mugged. So I welcome getting recognized!
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Post by Lauren on Apr 16, 2006 19:57:07 GMT -5
Don't forget the picture that's with the article! ;D
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Post by MissDavidson on Apr 16, 2006 21:45:22 GMT -5
Well it's nice to know he's come to terms with the suit, and he doesn't feel so bad about it now. It's really nice to know he liked playing Ralph after all!
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Post by Ms Boku on Apr 17, 2006 7:09:48 GMT -5
OOh And we loved him playing Ralph
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Post by MissDavidson on Apr 17, 2006 22:11:07 GMT -5
Oh yes. YES yes we did and still do. And BTW after I win the lottery and move to Palmdale you are all invited to a house party! ;D
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Post by MelMac on Apr 17, 2006 22:38:57 GMT -5
Don't forget the picture that's with the article! ;D OK, a bit OT, but you know, I know some say Katt looks bad for his age, but I think it's actually the reverse. For his age, he still looks handsome. I've seen several actors from the '70s and '80s either age very well or no. (I can give several examples of both). For some reason, I don't think a lot of today's actors will do as well, but that's my two cents. I'd love to go see this play, not just because he's in it, but it's also a farce and I've always enjoyed them. Unfortunately, even from Texas, it's just a tad too far for my budget. Also, it's pretty cool that they did a nice job on the story. I've seen reporters give older actors the cold shoulder as they're not "cool." You know, I'd much rather go to a play with actors such as those in "GAH" and other favs of mine from the '70s and '80s over movies with a majority of today's celebrities (and I'm referring more to those in their 20s-30s, not those with long careers).
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