Six Degrees Or Less
01/14/06 Filed in: Balderdash
A Few Connections:
My old friend Jim Beaver, whom I first met at The Variety Arts Center in the early 80's, is starring as Henry II in a new production of The Lion In Winter at LA's Theatre West. Jim is familiar to some of you from his many film and TV roles and currently, he plays Ellsworth on the HBO hit Deadwood. We last crossed paths in late summer of 2000 when he was playing Gary on the ABC series The Trouble With Normal, and I guested on one episode as the voice of a motivational guru.
The star of that series was Jon Cryer, and Jon's paternal grandfather, Dr. Donald Cryer, was the minister at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Madeira, Ohio, where I was a member of the congregation. Jon and I discussed this at lunch break, and he told me that both of his grandfathers had been ministers (Jim's father was a minister, and of course, both of Jon's parents are actors...)
The Trouble With Normal was produced by Tim Doyle, who was the assistant director on You Can't Take It With You, the very first play I did after graduation in California. The play also starred Glenn Shadix (who got me the job at the Variety Arts Center where I met Jim) and was produced at the Bank Playhouse in Pasadena, operated by Dr. Nathan Roth, father of David Lee Roth.
Starring opposite Jim in the play as Eleanor of Aquitane is Bridget Hanley, probably best known from the old series Here Come The Brides. Bridget is the widow of director E. W. Swackhamer, from whom I learned a great deal while working on the film Longshot.
If you're in LA, go see Jim and Bridget. The Lion In Winter is one of the truly terrific plays of the last 50 years. I've done it twice...both times playing Richard the Lionhearted...and Robin Riker and I have discussed playing Henry and Eleanor together when we reach the appropriate ages. Robin appeared with Glenn Shadix and me in the radio series The Adventures of Doc Savage, costarred with me in the blink-and-you-miss-it internet series Mars and Beyond, and starred in Thunder Alley, produced by Tim Doyle and costarring (et voila) Jim Beaver.
My old friend Jim Beaver, whom I first met at The Variety Arts Center in the early 80's, is starring as Henry II in a new production of The Lion In Winter at LA's Theatre West. Jim is familiar to some of you from his many film and TV roles and currently, he plays Ellsworth on the HBO hit Deadwood. We last crossed paths in late summer of 2000 when he was playing Gary on the ABC series The Trouble With Normal, and I guested on one episode as the voice of a motivational guru.
The star of that series was Jon Cryer, and Jon's paternal grandfather, Dr. Donald Cryer, was the minister at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Madeira, Ohio, where I was a member of the congregation. Jon and I discussed this at lunch break, and he told me that both of his grandfathers had been ministers (Jim's father was a minister, and of course, both of Jon's parents are actors...)
The Trouble With Normal was produced by Tim Doyle, who was the assistant director on You Can't Take It With You, the very first play I did after graduation in California. The play also starred Glenn Shadix (who got me the job at the Variety Arts Center where I met Jim) and was produced at the Bank Playhouse in Pasadena, operated by Dr. Nathan Roth, father of David Lee Roth.
Starring opposite Jim in the play as Eleanor of Aquitane is Bridget Hanley, probably best known from the old series Here Come The Brides. Bridget is the widow of director E. W. Swackhamer, from whom I learned a great deal while working on the film Longshot.
If you're in LA, go see Jim and Bridget. The Lion In Winter is one of the truly terrific plays of the last 50 years. I've done it twice...both times playing Richard the Lionhearted...and Robin Riker and I have discussed playing Henry and Eleanor together when we reach the appropriate ages. Robin appeared with Glenn Shadix and me in the radio series The Adventures of Doc Savage, costarred with me in the blink-and-you-miss-it internet series Mars and Beyond, and starred in Thunder Alley, produced by Tim Doyle and costarring (et voila) Jim Beaver.
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