You Were the Gal From “American Graffiti”??
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
If only I had read further..if only I had been paying better attention. There was a gal named Lynne Marie Stewart scheduled to appear at the Hollywood Show on Saturday, April 24, 2010. I saw her name and her photo and read the first few sentences of her bio. Many might be interested in her because she was Ms. Yvonne on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. Yeah, that’s something cool, I reckon. She also has a long list of sitcoms to her credit appearing in five episodes of M*A*S*H as one of the nurses, as well as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Night Court, Alice, and Laverne & Shirley. Read the rest of this entry »
Which do you remember him best for? The single episode of Star Trek: Voyager in 2000, or his role as Mike Teevee in the mega-cult classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? If you’re like me, once you’ve seen Willy Wonka, you’ll never forget it. Even if Paris Themmen, the actor portraying young, obnoxious, TV-loving Mike Teevee, has become largely forgotten. Perhaps his endearing lisp didn’t translate all that well once he grew older than eleven. So he ventured into computer retail, film production, and even worked for a while as a Disney Imagineer. No matter what he’s done, when I met him at the Hollywood Show on Saturday, April 24, 2010, he was a pretty nice guy. 
You may not know that he had roles in Sesame Street. You may not recall his recurring part in E.R. You may not know that he was the voice of Ling in Disney’s animated classic Mulan (and the direct-t0-video sequel Mulan II). In fact you probably don’t even know that his name is Gedde Watanabe. But I’m sure everybody in reading readius of the website will know that this was the dude who played Long Duk Dong in the 80’s mega-classic Sixteen Candles. 
On the morning of Saturday, April 24, 2010, my friend Bob and I rode the elevator down to the lobby of the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center with a very friendly gentleman, who we later realized was Spider-Man in disguise – and we all know what a sucker I am for superheroes. Nicholas Hammond was one of those actors who was on my list because of the iconic nature of his accomplishments, but whom I wouldn’t recognize on the street if he came up and bit me…or flung a web around me. And his work on The Amazing Spider-Man television series for 14 hour-long episodes from 1977-79 was just part of his legacy. 
I may not have been so inclined to purchase one of Elisabeth Röhm’s signed photos at the Hollywood Show in Burbank on Saturday, April 24, 2010, has she not been so captivatingly charming. She was on my list as a ‘possibly maybe,’ but once I saw her and made contact with those alluring eyes, she became a ‘probably so’. For me, it was her portrayal of Detective Kate Lockley in 15 episodes of Angel, the popular spin-off to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.