Question:Whatever happened to the guy who played the nerdy guy with glasses with tape on them on a private-eye series with Joe Penny and Perry King in which they lived on a boat?
Answer: You mean Thom Bray, who played Murray "Boz" Bozinsky on "Riptide," which ran on NBC from 1984 until 1986 and was about private eyes Nick Ryder (Penny) and Cody Allen (King)? Hmmmm ... Well, Bray went on to become a writer-producer on such TV series as "Nash Bridges" (CBS, 1996-2001) and "Now and Again" (CBS, 1999-2000). Now he teaches theater and writing at a college in Oregon.
Question: I am writing regarding the 1991 movie "Doc Hollywood" starring Michael J. Fox and Julie Warner. Could you please tell us what happened to Warner and if she ever starred in any other movies?
Answer: Well, it's not like she's descended into working for a newspaper or anything. Warner recently appeared in the TV movie "Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness," and she plays Megan O'Hara on the FX series "Nip/Tuck."
Question: There was a "Cold Case" episode in which an African-American girl dresses in men's clothes to go into a nightclub to listen to Billie Holiday. She falls in love with a white girl who is into poetry. They can't be together so they decide to drive off a bridge and die together, but only one of them died. Can you tell me the name of the songs in that episode?
Answer: The episode was "Best Friends," which originally aired in May 2005. The songs were "I Got Rhythm" by Ethel Waters, "Travelin' All Alone" by Billie Holiday, "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" by Duke Ellington and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" by Bessie Smith.
Question:I'm interested in finding a copy of the miniseries "Fatal Vision," about the trial of Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald, who was accused of killing his wife and daughters. Is it on video or DVD? Is MacDonald still imprisoned?
Answer: "Fatal Vision," based on the book by Joe McGinnis, aired as a miniseries in 1984. Gary Cole played MacDonald, and Karl Malden played the father-in-law who helped bring him to justice. It's on video but not DVD. MacDonald is still imprisoned in Maryland. He was denied parole in 2005.
Question:About 13 or 14 years ago my family watched a Charlie Brown special in which Linus' girlfriend got cancer. It became a favorite, but I haven't seen it since. My husband passed away from cancer, and we had our church choir sing the old gospel song "Farther Along," which was sung on the cartoon. Can you please locate the name of this and find out if it is in circulation?
Answer: That's the 1990 TV special "Why, Charlie Brown, Why?" with the voices of Olivia Burnette, Brandon Stewart and Kaleb Henley. It's on video but is now out of print.
Question: I was recently watching a rerun of "House" about a teenage gypsy boy who had swallowed a toothpick that lodged in his intestine. They played a song at the end when the boy and family were leaving the hospital. Can you tell me what it is called and who sings it?
Answer: The song is "In the Waiting Line" by Zero 7.
Question: I remember a movie on TV in the 1960s where a ship wrecked on a deserted island. As the people explored the area, they found all kinds of birds and animals that were very oversized. I'm not sure of the name of the movie, and I was wondering if it's on DVD.
Answer: Sounds like 1961's "Mysterious Island," with Herbert Lom, Michael Callan, Joan Greenwood and Pincher, the world's largest crab. It's on DVD.
Question:There was a movie on TV in the 1970s, I think, about a man who gets locked inside a department store after closing time. A security company shows up and releases a pack of Dobermans to roam the store. Security leaves and the man spends the rest of the night trying to outfox the dogs. On video or DVD?
Answer: That's the 1973 TV movie "Trapped," which stars Susan Clark, Earl Holliman and Erica Hagen as "air hostess." In a department store? Anyway, it's not on video or DVD.
Question: Fiona Shaw from the movie "Catch and Release" bears a striking resemblance to Molly Shannon. Is she Molly's mother?
Answer: No. Shannon's mother was killed in a car accident when Shannon was 4. Shaw and Shannon are not related.
Question:I remember a Western movie made in the late 1960s or early '70s about a white man who falls in love with a young American Indian woman. The chief of the tribe decrees the man can marry the woman if he subjects himself to certain Indian rituals, including having whalebones inserted into his pectoral muscles and then being lifted by rope a few inches from the ground. Do you know the name of this movie? Is it on video or DVD?
Answer: Sounds like "A Man Called Horse," or, as I call it, "Ow!" It's a 1970 film with Richard Harris in the title role. And it's on video and DVD.
Question:In the Cary Grant movie "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," one of the actors in the credits is someone named Jason Robards. Is this the same Jason Robards of so many movies and films that we are all familiar with?
Answer: Nope. You may recall that in the 1960s or so, Jason Robards was often billed as Jason Robards Jr. His father, the Jason Robards who appears in "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," played bit roles in dozens of movies and TV shows from 1921 until the year he died, 1963. He was 70.
Question:After seeing "Flags of Our Fathers," which Clint Eastwood directed, I started wondering if he had been in the military. If so, when did he serve and in what branch?
Answer: Eastwood was in the Army during the early 1950s, during the Korean conflict, but he stayed stateside and worked as a swimming instructor. While in the service, he became friends with actors David Janssen and Martin Milner, and upon his release he was signed to a contract with Universal Pictures.
Question:Please settle this difference of opinion between me and my husband. We just watched "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," and my husband insists that the actress who plays Trish, the love interest of Steve Carell's character, is the same actress who played Isabel in "Legends of the Fall," who married Brad Pitt's character. I insist that they are two different actresses who don't really resemble one another. I know I'm right, because they even have different names in the credits.
Answer: So somehow he's gonna pay attention to me? All I can do is echo the credits: Catherine Keener played Trish in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Karina Lombard played Isabel in "Legends of the Fall." They are two totally distinct and separate people.