Speaker 1: This is Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty. Hi everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome to an episode of Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty.
Speaker 1: And I have Mama Rosa on. Hi, Mama Rosa, Hi,
Speaker 1: Hi everybody. So I wanted my mom to be on
Speaker 1: because well, she's only been on one other time and
Speaker 1: it was for like a quick Christmas sort of hello
Speaker 1: to all of you. But I wanted her on because Mom,
Speaker 1: I want to talk early early, early years, right, Like
Speaker 1: I want to talk about how I got into the business,
Speaker 1: sort of like my first job and then really my
Speaker 1: first meaningful job that sort of started my career the
Speaker 1: way that it did. So how did I get started?
Speaker 1: How did I even get in the business? Mom?
Speaker 2: Well, your first foray into acting was in elementary school
Speaker 2: when you played Alice and Alice in Wonderland, and you
Speaker 2: really got into that. Wanted the dress and everything, so
Speaker 2: we had to go to Disneyland and get you the dress,
Speaker 2: and you did that. But then you went with a
Speaker 2: friend to a children's theater at a church in Redondo
Speaker 2: Beach and you just went to watch her audition and
Speaker 2: then we were going to all go out and get
Speaker 2: Hamburgers afterwards, and you ended up auditioning, as did your brother,
Speaker 2: and you got the role of Sneezy in the Seven
Speaker 2: Dwarfs and he got the role of Grumpy, and you
Speaker 2: guys just enjoyed it so much. It's like you didn't
Speaker 2: want to all you have an audition, but then you
Speaker 2: got into it. And the wonderful thing about children's theater
Speaker 2: was it allowed you to participate in everything, not just
Speaker 2: in the roles that you were doing, but in painting
Speaker 2: the sets and helping build the sets. And so from there,
Speaker 2: somebody just happened to see you and your brother and
Speaker 2: suggested it, and you really wanted to do.
Speaker 1: It, suggested that I do acting.
Speaker 2: That's usually an agent in everything, and your dad and
Speaker 2: I discussed it and we were really like we were
Speaker 2: basically still new to California and the whole thing kind
Speaker 2: of like we weren't sure about it. And you looked
Speaker 2: at us one day and you said, I have to
Speaker 2: do this, mom, because I have to work with Michael Landon.
Speaker 2: And at the time you had this rag doll named Drusilla,
Speaker 2: and it was amazing because eventually that led to coming
Speaker 2: to life. You played a role of Drusilla in Father Murphy,
Speaker 2: which Michael created and brought you into and that really
Speaker 2: started a lot. But before that, you had gone to
Speaker 2: an agency which was actually an older lady in a
Speaker 2: modeling agency, and she sent you to a children's agent
Speaker 2: and they put you in Variety magazine and she started
Speaker 2: getting all these phone calls and that led to you
Speaker 2: doing the animated film The Secret of Nim with Don
Speaker 2: de Lauis and the wonderful producer Don Bluth, and it
Speaker 2: just kind of roll alone from there. You were with
Speaker 2: wonderful people. It was a wonderful experience. You We did
Speaker 2: what we needed to do and went there and came home.
Speaker 2: Your dad would always drive us the night before to
Speaker 2: wherever we had to be the next morning or the
Speaker 2: next day for an audition, because I was not familiar
Speaker 2: with Los Angeles at all, So how what do you
Speaker 2: mean drive the night before? Like the auditions were in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles? So then like, would we spend the night
Speaker 2: in a hotel or something?
Speaker 1: No, we would just like, oh, we would just go.
Speaker 1: We were driving to.
Speaker 2: A location and he'd say, Okay, this is where you
Speaker 2: have to go, and I would see it. Then I
Speaker 2: would know, so the next morning or then you know
Speaker 2: how to get that, I would know how to get there,
Speaker 2: that's funny. So it was a lot going on, and
Speaker 2: it was a lot not just for you to learn
Speaker 2: and your brother to learn, but it was a lot
Speaker 2: for me to learn. And I learned how to get
Speaker 2: around Los Angeles. I learned how to be more confident
Speaker 2: myself and what I needed to do in order to
Speaker 2: get to places and get things done. And it was
Speaker 2: just a whole learning experience for the whole family, I think,
Speaker 2: and we were very cautious about it, and I think
Speaker 2: rightly so I think parents need to be cautious about it,
Speaker 2: just like you would be cautious about putting your children
Speaker 2: in sports or any activities. It all takes not just
Speaker 2: a lot from the child, but it takes the family
Speaker 2: to be behind it and to be willing to put
Speaker 2: in the time work.
Speaker 1: Because ultimately, you know, I mean, we had obviously you
Speaker 1: and Dad, so you I remember you going to set
Speaker 1: with me all the time, which left Sean my brother,
Speaker 1: but Dad took him to whatever sports activities everything else.
Speaker 1: But essentially, some people would assume that at least one
Speaker 1: sibling is left out, like somebody in the family is
Speaker 1: perhaps less attention paid to them or whatever, because one
Speaker 1: is requiring auditions, and then when they finally book a
Speaker 1: job a series, they're going to work five days a week.
Speaker 1: And as a child actor, I don't remember back then
Speaker 1: what the rules were. How long could we work? Oh,
Speaker 1: it's been a while. Was it twelve hours or less?
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but I know you
Speaker 2: had to. There were definite three hours of school every day, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, you guys, doesn't intense. Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 2: seem like a lot.
Speaker 1: But when you're talking about three hours of school, when
Speaker 1: you're in a classroom with only maybe either a by
Speaker 1: yourself or perhaps five ten kids, that's it's very, very,
Speaker 1: very intensive. And I remember my parents and always sort
Speaker 1: of fighting for really really good set teachers, which I
Speaker 1: did with Helen and Lillian and maryon Fife. I always
Speaker 1: had really good set teachers that were heavily focused on
Speaker 1: me getting an education, and they actually would not I
Speaker 1: remember that there was a chunk of time that they
Speaker 1: had to leave you in school. They couldn't take you
Speaker 1: out after just ten minutes of being in school. It
Speaker 1: was like thirty minute blocks. Yeah, I think it was
Speaker 1: something like that. So in those thirty minutes, it's been
Speaker 1: many years. I know right for me too, it was
Speaker 1: highly focused, intense work. Well, part of that, like when
Speaker 1: you're doing commercials, it's a whole different thing because you're
Speaker 1: not really familiar with the teacher. Generally, after a while
Speaker 1: when you're doing it, you'll run into the same teachers
Speaker 1: off and on, and that's always nice. But when you
Speaker 1: actually are doing a series or a movie, then you
Speaker 1: have the same teacher all the time. And fortunately, once
Speaker 1: you started working with Michael Lindon and his crew, the
Speaker 1: teachers were excellent. And he told me from the beginning,
Speaker 1: he said to me, you as a parent have to
Speaker 1: be satisfied with your child's education, because he knew how
Speaker 1: important education was for us, and you can't if you
Speaker 1: see something, are you there something that troubles you or
Speaker 1: you think she needs something different, ative teacher says you
Speaker 1: as a parent have the right to go to the
Speaker 1: producer and say we need this. Ironically, that was Michael.
Speaker 1: He was the producer.
Speaker 2: And he was just really wonderful and the teachers that
Speaker 2: he had, like Helen Menir, had been with him for years,
Speaker 2: I guess since Little House on the Prairie started, and
Speaker 2: she was wonderful teacher. And then he brought in Marion Fife,
Speaker 2: who was another fabulous teacher that he hit, so we
Speaker 2: always knew who was teaching you and what was going on.
Speaker 2: And then as you got to older. When you got older,
Speaker 2: and I remember one particular series you were on Our House.
Speaker 2: It was you and two others, and the other two
Speaker 2: children were younger than you, and you were already you
Speaker 2: were studying from the least the International School of France,
Speaker 2: so we needed teachers that were really there for you
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 1: So eventually you also could speak French, because that was
Speaker 1: the whole thing of the school is And eventually you
Speaker 1: would want to transfer to the school in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: lily Sae Francais, which is in fact the public school
Speaker 1: of France. They had two It was all in the
Speaker 1: same campus, but you could either take all your classes
Speaker 1: except for French class in English, or you could transfer
Speaker 1: to the French side, where every class is taught in French.
Speaker 1: And obviously that was always the goal.
Speaker 2: And because on that particular show, on the show Our House,
Speaker 2: the three of you were in such different age groups
Speaker 2: that they required to have separate teachers for and then
Speaker 2: you were required to have three teachers because of the
Speaker 2: intensive study that you had.
Speaker 1: I just remember Lillian being my teacher. Lillian was one
Speaker 1: of your teachers. I don't I don't remember other teachers.
Speaker 1: There were two other teachers. Maybe it's because I bonded
Speaker 1: with Lina and Lynn was the base for you. She
Speaker 1: also spoke fluent French, so she said on French test.
Speaker 2: And then someone came in for geometry I believe it was,
Speaker 2: and then there was another teacher for something else for calculus.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: You got a good education, and it wasn't It wasn't
Speaker 2: easy because your dad would go to the school really say,
Speaker 2: and they would have all the lesson plans and everything
Speaker 2: waiting for him. Once a week he would do that
Speaker 2: and it was sealed and it had to be presented
Speaker 2: to the teachers sealed. And the test, all the tests,
Speaker 2: anytime you took tests, any of your homework, anything, the
Speaker 2: teachers put in an envelope and it was sealed and
Speaker 2: then it was taken back to the school. So it
Speaker 2: was not like you're going to a set and going
Speaker 2: into a classroom where they just haven't.
Speaker 1: An a and fixed your work for you and do
Speaker 1: all of that. So you got a really good education
Speaker 1: which led you to be in the Who's Who among
Speaker 1: American high school students, all American high schools, among American
Speaker 1: high school students. And that was not for who I was.
Speaker 1: It was for my grades. It was for your grades.
Speaker 1: It was like the top five percent. I forgot I
Speaker 1: was in that. I was in it for two years
Speaker 1: in a row, right, an excellent student.
Speaker 2: And going back to what it's like for a family
Speaker 2: and for your brother, this is another tribute to Michael.
Speaker 2: Michael allowed the crew and anybody working on the series
Speaker 2: that if you had children who wanted to come and
Speaker 2: be on the show, he would put them in background
Speaker 2: or whatever. And Sean loved that, and Sean was really excited.
Speaker 2: One time when somebody really wrecked nice. He had a
Speaker 2: scene like we was recognized in a base, small thing
Speaker 2: that was going on in the background, and it was
Speaker 2: in the series, but it was background. But he got
Speaker 2: a really good shot and he was like really happy.
Speaker 2: But he also loved theater more, and he took acting
Speaker 2: class more for theater, and after a while it just
Speaker 2: wasn't his thing. He played football, which is.
Speaker 1: Why I got into politics. Basically acting anyway, right, essentially
Speaker 1: most of our politicians it's all acting, so Okay, that
Speaker 1: was That was a lot and very fast. And no,
Speaker 1: we like you know you you took a what's supposed
Speaker 1: to be a forty five minute podcast, you narrawed it
Speaker 1: down to ten minutes. So no, there's a lot more.
Speaker 1: We can't cover it all in one because then I'll
Speaker 1: have nothing else to talk about, mom. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to go back because I I remember my first job
Speaker 1: being a pack bell commercial. You're right, and it was
Speaker 1: for the Latin American market. Yes, the Spanish Hispanic. And
Speaker 1: the woman who played my grandma.
Speaker 2: I think it was Carmen Zapata, right, veryst Hispanic actress.
Speaker 1: She was fabulous and all I had to do was sleep.
Speaker 1: All I had to do was lay in bed sleep,
Speaker 1: which was quite easy. I actually think I fell asleep
Speaker 1: on set in the bed because she did like this
Speaker 1: is amazing. I'm coming to work and I'm working with
Speaker 1: this cool lady and I get to actually sleep and
Speaker 1: it was like you were with a grandmother. Yeah, she
Speaker 1: was so nice. She was so nice, and I did
Speaker 1: I remember I did a shouted out commercial. You did
Speaker 1: a lot of commercial.
Speaker 2: Yes, do you remember what drew you to horses?
Speaker 1: Yes? Robert Kennedy in his time, no way before that.
Speaker 1: What does the story I've been telling everyone.
Speaker 2: Because that's true. Here's here's what happened. You went and
Speaker 2: you auditioned for a surgery over commercials. Yes, and it
Speaker 2: was you had to be on a horse, and we
Speaker 2: were in Bell Canyon, which at that time was very secluded,
Speaker 2: and I was so nervous about getting there that we
Speaker 2: got there I think like five or six in the morning,
Speaker 2: and we weren't didn't need to be there till eight
Speaker 2: or something, and suddenly we heard all this thundering coming
Speaker 2: through and it was this whole big motorcycle gang or whatever,
Speaker 2: and I was like, Okay, let's lay down and be
Speaker 2: very quiet, and we were just like and then come
Speaker 2: to find out, well, they were shooting a commercial there
Speaker 2: as well. Another was another commercial.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I do remember Sergio Valentte, it wasn't so
Speaker 1: I think I'm still correct that Robert Kennedy and his
Speaker 1: times got me into horses. Really yeah, because Sergio, you
Speaker 1: were on and off the horse pretty quickly, and I
Speaker 1: loved my horse. But there was something that felt a
Speaker 1: little like wild about that particular commercial shoot. For me
Speaker 1: as a kid, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed everybody who
Speaker 1: was in the commercial with me, and but it was
Speaker 1: it was weird. It was the area was a little rough.
Speaker 1: I mean the land. I mean, now, it's amazing. But
Speaker 1: here's what was weird for me is that I remember
Speaker 1: they had us sort of climb on the horse one leg.
Speaker 1: My right leg would be in the stirrup, and then
Speaker 1: you had to hoist your left leg and they would
Speaker 1: see whose bottom looked the best in jeans. But we
Speaker 1: were kids, we were young, and Sydney Penny did it
Speaker 1: with me and her bottom looked the best, so she
Speaker 1: had the butt shot, which made her Yes, But a
Speaker 1: little now that you think about it, it's a little inappropriate. Now.
Speaker 2: When I said it was great, I just mess you. You didn't, right.
Speaker 1: I didn't have to do it, and that part was great,
Speaker 1: but I didn't even realize it. I just seated at
Speaker 1: the time though that I didn't get the butt shot,
Speaker 1: only because the butt shot person then got the big
Speaker 1: close up and they were considered sort of the star
Speaker 1: of the commercial. But you're right, it's great because I
Speaker 1: don't know any commercial that would do that nowadays, at
Speaker 1: least in the United States of America. I don't think
Speaker 1: that you're doing an ass shot of how old was
Speaker 1: I ten? Eleven? Ten? Yeah, I don't think that's happening,
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 2: Think there's it's probably still certain done. Maybe they didn't
Speaker 2: even they were thinking. Maybe they were just thinking genes.
Speaker 2: I really think they were just thinking where the insignia
Speaker 2: was was on the back they were doing a close
Speaker 2: up of that. I don't think it was about because
Speaker 2: I would not have allowed to do a commercial with adults,
Speaker 2: not with kids. You got to be a little bit
Speaker 2: more aware. I know you were.
Speaker 1: I know you were very protective, not saying you weren't
Speaker 1: so sergiov Linte. Was there any other commercials I did? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You did.
Speaker 2: Do you remember doing Mattel? You did Mattel, I don't. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you did various things, and you you joyed it for
Speaker 2: the most part. And the Matail commercial you were the
Speaker 2: You got to dress up in the long fully dressed
Speaker 2: and your hair was all curly, and that was something
Speaker 2: that was really especially to have a girl, a little
Speaker 2: girl doing commercials.
Speaker 1: It was a lot.
Speaker 2: And what I finally figured out was to take the
Speaker 2: trunk of my car and I would put a box
Speaker 2: for Sean in a box for you and things in it,
Speaker 2: and I would have different changes of clothes because we
Speaker 2: might think that we're going for one commercial audition and
Speaker 2: suddenly we would get you know, we would check in
Speaker 2: before we headed home because you didn't have cell phones then,
Speaker 2: and it would say, no, we need you to do
Speaker 2: and we would go to another commercial. You might have
Speaker 2: your hair and braids in the next minute. You might
Speaker 2: need to have like curls.
Speaker 1: Right. I liked my braids, and I liked my oshkosh
Speaker 1: be gosh. You were more a.
Speaker 2: Little tomboyish, which was great. And I think that also
Speaker 2: because of that, I think it just kept you on
Speaker 2: a real level plane and having a brother and just
Speaker 2: being a to You weren't slow into like you know,
Speaker 2: I have to have this. I have to And then
Speaker 2: if you did have to have something special, fine, But
Speaker 2: otherwise it was you generally just went in your ashkush.
Speaker 2: That's how you got I think that's how secret of nim.
Speaker 2: You went in your your I think it was your peach,
Speaker 2: your orange colored ashkoush walls. And you always like to
Speaker 2: have we called it dog ears. They call it two
Speaker 2: ponytails now. But and you always wanted ribbons, so you
Speaker 2: always had ribbons in your hair. You love ribbons, but
Speaker 2: you were a top little tomboy basically.
Speaker 1: Well the ribbons just for me was decorative and gave
Speaker 1: a little just to my outfit, but it was it
Speaker 1: was cute. So when you did the Secret of Nim
Speaker 1: they actually put a big bow in your character's hair
Speaker 1: because you always wore ribbons. That was a nod to you.
Speaker 1: As I ran into Don Bluth at a convention, and
Speaker 1: I can't believe how talented he is. He drew me.
Speaker 1: I brought it home and I showed you right, he
Speaker 1: drew he he drew Teresa all over again and signed
Speaker 1: it and we talked about what that experience was and
Speaker 1: the big bow in my hair and all of it.
Speaker 1: What a wonderful that was with Don de Luise. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but Don Bluth was amazingly talented and so kind, so kind,
Speaker 1: And you know the interesting thing about voiceovers is that
Speaker 1: you don't you're in a booth by yourself, recording your lines,
Speaker 1: with people staring through recording studio through a glass telling you,
Speaker 1: you know, do it this way or do it that way,
Speaker 1: or give me five readings in a row, and you
Speaker 1: don't get to hang out with the cast that much
Speaker 1: because you're all on different time schedule. But I did
Speaker 1: meet Dom DeLuise.
Speaker 2: I think also by doing an animated movie while you
Speaker 2: were so young and doing that voiceover later, you have
Speaker 2: always been so good doing this in the sound booth
Speaker 2: when they have to go back and.
Speaker 1: Oh you mean looping. Yeah, and that's just that's little
Speaker 1: That's that's Father Murphy and little House. That's Michael Landon
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. That taught me how to. But I
Speaker 1: think you were so deep into it because you felt
Speaker 1: comfortable because you'd part of Yeah. I mean I I
Speaker 1: don't particularly love it now because I think when you're
Speaker 1: so guys, what looping is is if there's when you're
Speaker 1: filming and there's a noise over your line but you
Speaker 1: don't have time to take it over, or the sound
Speaker 1: cuts out, there's something weird. When they're done editing, you
Speaker 1: go into a booth and you re record, but you
Speaker 1: have to match the movement of your mouth perfectly. Sometimes
Speaker 1: they don't do it perfectly, which is when all of
Speaker 1: us watch a show and we're like, ooh, what's that.
Speaker 1: That's that's what's called bad looping. And I I don't
Speaker 1: love it because I think when you're in the moment
Speaker 1: on the sound stage and you're filming with your fellow actors,
Speaker 1: there's a different chemistry. There's all the emotion is coming up,
Speaker 1: you're fully in character. But I'm also not deeply opposed
Speaker 1: to it. When I have to loop, I'm okay with
Speaker 1: it because of Michael's with it. Yeah, I so back
Speaker 1: then when I when I started, because I'm old, you
Speaker 1: didn't have the the the playback, so you couldn't watch
Speaker 1: your lips, you couldn't do anything. There was no patience,
Speaker 1: all by sound and so they would beep you in
Speaker 1: so it would be three beep, beep, beep. You could
Speaker 1: hear what you recorded most of the time, but you
Speaker 1: had to be perfectly in sync with that. And that
Speaker 1: is the hardest way to loop humanly possible, in my opinion.
Speaker 1: But that's how I learned, and I think that's why
Speaker 1: I'm really good at it is because and Michael taught
Speaker 1: me how. And by the way, his sound engineers were fantastic,
Speaker 1: his whole crew.
Speaker 2: There was nobody in his crew that wasn't just and
Speaker 2: they were just. They were kind, they were polite, they
Speaker 2: were respectful. I mean, they were fun. I mean, they
Speaker 2: were just it was I think it's probably one of
Speaker 2: the best crews evers e were in the business ever.
Speaker 2: But you've always been a crew person. You've always since
Speaker 2: you were little. You would like both talk to the crew.
Speaker 2: You always have just been interested it's and they would help.
Speaker 2: They would show you things, they taught you things.
Speaker 1: And then once Michael taught me how to play Liar's Poker,
Speaker 1: I would always hang out with them so I could
Speaker 1: make extra money, which is hysterical. So Father Murphy the
Speaker 1: audition came around, and like my mom said earlier, I
Speaker 1: had this sort of cloth doll that I had named Drusilla.
Speaker 1: So we get the sides for Father Murphy for the audition,
Speaker 1: and the character.
Speaker 2: Didn't get the sides. Did you get them before? I
Speaker 2: thought you didn't get them to you walked into the
Speaker 2: into the room.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Do you think I did a cold read?
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I can't remember. Okay, I trust your memory.
Speaker 1: Let's say I did a cold read, walked in and
Speaker 1: the part was named Drusilla, which was so cool. I
Speaker 1: also thought, well, I'm getting this job because you walked
Speaker 1: into a room full of this is your first series.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't a series. I was only a two
Speaker 1: part episode. Yeah, but I mean you know it led
Speaker 1: to but you walked into a room. I walked in
Speaker 1: with you, you know, to check you in.
Speaker 2: And then there were a room full of children, some
Speaker 2: parents sitting in and I'm like, are you okay? Yep,
Speaker 2: I'm okay, mom I said you want me to They
Speaker 2: handed you the sides. I'm like, you want me to
Speaker 2: go over anything? Nope, I got.
Speaker 1: It, mommy.
Speaker 2: I'm like okay, I'm like, I'll be right out in
Speaker 2: the hall. And you sat there and you wait and
Speaker 2: they called you in. And you always knew when you
Speaker 2: got something, you would always come out and say I
Speaker 2: got this, mommy.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I did not say that. When I
Speaker 1: auditioned for the Haves The's commercial, I came out have
Speaker 1: The's commercial. Do you remember that Cereal have The's that
Speaker 1: I auditioned for and I knew I didn't have it.
Speaker 2: Oh, you would come out and say, I don't I
Speaker 2: don't have.
Speaker 1: I also told them I didn't know the cereal that
Speaker 1: I didn't care. I was far too honest as a kid,
Speaker 1: which continued throughout my adult life, which caused a lot
Speaker 1: of problems, but I don't regret it sort of. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so I knew I had that. I walked out and
Speaker 1: I was so excited because it was a Michael Landon
Speaker 1: produced TV show and it was with Merlin Olsen and
Speaker 1: then the man who played my father, Eli was Jack Elam.
Speaker 1: What a wonderful a character actor back then, very well known,
Speaker 1: and he was so awesome to work with, and so
Speaker 1: was Merlin. And there was Timothy and Scottie like Catherine, Catherine,
Speaker 1: everybody else on the set. It was such a cool experience.
Speaker 1: I wore buckskins for half of it. We shot it
Speaker 1: in Arizona, and it was one hundred and ten, one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty degrees.
Speaker 2: Tucson out in the old movie own some old movie
Speaker 2: outside of Tucson.
Speaker 1: It was so hot. I have pictures of me in
Speaker 1: the trailer with bandanas wrapped around my neck on my
Speaker 1: forehead because people were passing out from the heat. And again,
Speaker 1: when you wear buckskins, that's and a coonskin can and
Speaker 1: a coonskin hat. So you would wrap bandanas, you would
Speaker 1: dunk them in sea breeze. Ice. Yeah, so ice and
Speaker 1: sea breeze, and then dunk your bandanas in and that
Speaker 1: would keep you time around your neck cooler. But that
Speaker 1: was a wild, fun experience. It was, well, that's the
Speaker 1: first time we ever went anywhere by ourselves. You and
Speaker 1: I boarded a plane.
Speaker 2: Dad and Sean took us to the airport and we
Speaker 2: got on the plane to Tucson. You had you had
Speaker 2: a cowboy hat, you had a stroke cowboy hat because
Speaker 2: you were going to cowboy country and we're so cute,
Speaker 2: and you had Drew.
Speaker 1: Sillhow with you.
Speaker 2: And when we got there, this big, heavy set man
Speaker 2: was like so jolly and I we didn't know who
Speaker 2: he was, but he was like he was taking care
Speaker 2: of us and everything else. It ended up to be
Speaker 2: an exec producer, Kim McCrae, who was wonderful and his
Speaker 2: his later he married Susan McCray. It suckman at the time.
Speaker 1: He married her, who was the head casting director for
Speaker 1: Michael's shows.
Speaker 2: But it was it was such a beautiful experience. And
Speaker 2: on your lunch break, you would come in and we
Speaker 2: had everybody was in honeywagon. There were no special trailers
Speaker 2: and you would take you would sleep during your lunch
Speaker 2: and then you would it was so damn hot. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you just needed like to recoup and then you could
Speaker 2: always get you know, you always had food there. But
Speaker 2: it was like, yeah, you slept, it was way too hot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it was fun, very fun, cool, different experience.
Speaker 2: I loved everyone, But remember what you got special every day.
Speaker 2: I think Jack brought it to you what it was
Speaker 2: because it's this old western town and they're open sometimes
Speaker 2: for tourist type of root beer floats.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's right, that's right, that's I think
Speaker 1: it was Jack that brought me to what a nice
Speaker 1: man he was.
Speaker 2: And then you met his daughter who was doing a
Speaker 2: little into the same age, but she was working at
Speaker 2: times at the Zoo and Santa Barbara, and we went
Speaker 2: up there. It's beautiful, it was. It was a beautiful
Speaker 2: show to be on and beautiful people to work with.
Speaker 1: So how did Father Murphy lead to Little House Father Murphy?
Speaker 1: Your particular episode on Father Murphy. It was a two
Speaker 1: part episode. It pulled such high numbers from what I
Speaker 1: was told that NBC was really interested and NBC was
Speaker 1: really wanting to do something with you, and Michael was
Speaker 1: holding back because Michael they wanted and all the director
Speaker 1: and the producers on Father Murphy wanted him to put
Speaker 1: you on Father Murphy. They wanted you on Father Murphy
Speaker 1: and NBC. I think too that everybody wanted you to
Speaker 1: come on Father Murphy and hold those ratings that you
Speaker 1: were pulling from the two part episode. It wasn't really
Speaker 1: about me, honestly, it was probably more about Jacqueline. But
Speaker 1: it was also the writing. It was the episode, so
Speaker 1: it was our director Bill. I remember how fantastic he was.
Speaker 1: It was. It was just I mean, first off, the
Speaker 1: show was really good, but those particular two episodes, I
Speaker 1: think we're just so well written and struck a chord
Speaker 1: with people, and your character left a lot.
Speaker 2: It left a lot to work with and you were
Speaker 2: I don't you would have did. The boys were pretty much.
Speaker 2: I can't remember what girl was on there. If there
Speaker 2: was a I don't remember there was, yeah, and I
Speaker 2: remember she was really pretty. And it was the first
Speaker 2: time I'd ever sort of formed a crush, which really
Speaker 2: paralleled my character because there was Scotty and there was Timothy,
Speaker 2: and my character has the crush on the older boy Timothy,
Speaker 2: but the younger boy has the crush on me and
Speaker 2: their brothers. So the older one was all about his age.
Speaker 1: Beautiful stunning girl as opposed to me with my buck teeth,
Speaker 1: and it's sort of paralleled real life. And I remember
Speaker 1: it was it was my first kiss ever because Scotty
Speaker 1: had to kiss me on the cheek. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: He did. He did like a quick kiss on my
Speaker 1: cheek for the show in the show, and I just
Speaker 1: remember being a little embarrassed and being like, oh, why
Speaker 1: can it be Timothy because you yeah, it's just and
Speaker 1: that was that's nice.
Speaker 2: That was nice that you were a little in embarrass
Speaker 2: I would have been a little concern.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was You're in front of a
Speaker 1: whole crew and you're young, and it was just an
Speaker 1: innocent like it was literally like a quick peck on
Speaker 1: the cheek. But for me it was still sort of like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is this is crazy. What's happening right now? I
Speaker 1: can't believe people are watching this. Okay, So how did
Speaker 1: that lead to Little House? Mom? I'll tell you how,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you. Here's what I happened. Is Michael Little
Speaker 1: House on the Prairie was ending, but he was starting
Speaker 1: a continuation of it called Little House in the New Beginning.
Speaker 1: That was you know, Laura Ingalls and Almonzo and Victor
Speaker 1: French was going to continue his role on it, better
Speaker 1: known to me as Stinky, and Catherine McGregor was going
Speaker 1: to stay. It was basically that Michael Karen Grassel, that
Speaker 1: whole group Melissa Dina Anderson was leading was leaving, and
Speaker 1: so it was all about Laura Ingles for the most part.
Speaker 1: And yeah, yeah, and he brought me in to do
Speaker 1: Little House in New Beginning, which I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: many seasons it lasted, but I recall it being a
Speaker 1: total four years of my life if I'm correct. If
Speaker 1: I'm not, please a view er look it up and
Speaker 1: tell me or a listener, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: It's when Laura Ingles meets Almonzo and she married. She's
Speaker 2: married to Almonzo Almonzo, but now she's moved on and
Speaker 2: she's has a baby. Yes, and her niece, who is you?
Speaker 2: I was not her niece. I was Almonzo's niece.
Speaker 1: Somonzo's brother comes to visit with his daughter, which was
Speaker 1: me Jenny Wilder, and he suffers a massive heart attack.
Speaker 1: He knew he was sick, that's why he brought me there.
Speaker 1: He dies and they essentially take me in and treat
Speaker 1: me as their own sort of. I mean, I did
Speaker 1: they ever do an official.
Speaker 2: Adoption and that they did, I don't know, but basically,
Speaker 2: they adopted you into their family.
Speaker 1: This is turning into like a trivia episode, you guys.
Speaker 1: So anything that we say we don't know or we're
Speaker 1: not sure about, feel free to let me know what
Speaker 1: it is. Did they have adoption official adoption back then?
Speaker 1: I don't know. So right, So he brought me in
Speaker 1: and I just remember being seriously overjoyed that I got
Speaker 1: to work with Michael again because he was so kind
Speaker 1: and so funny and so witty and so smart. So
Speaker 1: little house actually getting the job? Did I do remember?
Speaker 1: Did I have to audition for it? I don't believe
Speaker 1: you auditioned.
Speaker 2: I just believe you went in and you just you
Speaker 2: met with them, and they just wanted to see because
Speaker 2: you'd grown. It was a couple of years or whatever
Speaker 2: you had, you had grown. You weren't that little girl
Speaker 2: you were like now you were taller you were, you
Speaker 2: had grown, and they just I think, you're just just
Speaker 2: meeting with you again. That's all, just seeing you saying hi,
Speaker 2: and that was it.
Speaker 1: And I got the job, which was thrilling and exciting.
Speaker 2: Very exciting, and to be on the lot when we
Speaker 2: were on a lot, to be on the MGM lot
Speaker 2: because it was MGM back then. Yes, And in the
Speaker 2: old MGM all, the kids would go to the cafeteria.
Speaker 2: I mean it was people who had been there for years,
Speaker 2: and the security guards. You would drive in every morning
Speaker 2: and they would hello, and they would say our names.
Speaker 1: Even my name. They were really nice. We were just like,
Speaker 1: it was a beautiful lot to be on. And then
Speaker 1: sometimes we would shoot at Disney Ranch yep, the outdoor stuff.
Speaker 1: And then other times we would shoot what Tapenga do
Speaker 1: you remember? Oh?
Speaker 2: It was Seemi Valley, Tepo Canyon. That's where else I saw, right,
Speaker 2: they sent wranglers out in the mornings before everybody came
Speaker 2: to Yeah, check everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I never had a problem with Rattlesnake's I still
Speaker 1: don't you do though, But well that's a whole other episode. Mom,
Speaker 1: you and nature. She's like, I'll never be a lot
Speaker 1: of nature. I just don't like to be, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes it rebels against you. But again that's a different episode.
Speaker 1: So all right, so I've gone on Little House. I
Speaker 1: think it was a four year time period. And one
Speaker 1: of my favorite episodes I did was with Ralph Bellamy. Well,
Speaker 1: that's something else that Michael did. He brought in, like
Speaker 1: via Miles, he brought in wonderful people and wrote wonderful
Speaker 1: episodes that gave you such a beautiful experience, and it
Speaker 1: was just it was really exciting to see that part
Speaker 1: of what the experience of being in the business. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I can't remember what that episode was called, but it
Speaker 1: was Michael wrote it, Michael directed it, and it was
Speaker 1: Ralph Bellamy played country doctor that was losing his eyesight,
Speaker 1: and oh it makes me cry. He was so good
Speaker 1: and he basically wasn't really able to take on patience
Speaker 1: anymore because it was losing, as I say, and my
Speaker 1: character lost. I was with my friends and the lockett
Speaker 1: that my father was pretty much the only thing I
Speaker 1: had from my dad that he gave me had somehow
Speaker 1: fallen off in the pond slash lake, and I dove
Speaker 1: down to get it, and my character got stuck under
Speaker 1: like trees and brush and I was down there for
Speaker 1: far too long. And so when they finally found me
Speaker 1: and brought me up, I couldn't speak properly. I stuttered.
Speaker 1: I couldn't spit out words. I couldn't formulate the words.
Speaker 1: I had a limp. And I remember the big, huge
Speaker 1: water tank on the sound stage. A human aquarium is
Speaker 1: what I was big. And again Michael was directing, so
Speaker 1: he was very concerned about my safety and he made
Speaker 1: me feel good.
Speaker 2: He talked to me about He took me aside and
Speaker 2: explained everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, he just he did have to tell me
Speaker 1: a couple of times to stop holding my breath with
Speaker 1: my cheeks puffed out, because supposedly, like I'm I've now
Speaker 1: drowned and I'm no longer breathing, but my cheeks. I
Speaker 1: would I would. I would hold my breath so it
Speaker 1: would seem like I was no longer conscious, but I
Speaker 1: would puff out my cheeks with all the air that
Speaker 1: I had sucked in before I went down to get
Speaker 1: in position. So I don't know, there might be I
Speaker 1: would have to look that episode up and see if
Speaker 1: I ever actually did that right. I might not have.
Speaker 1: I somehow recalled that I saw it a long time ago,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh my gosh, look at my
Speaker 1: cheeks puffed out. There was another stump woman doing that.
Speaker 1: You did the whole thing. But he was, Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to find the photo. There's a photo of
Speaker 1: me wrapped up in a bathrobe with Michael and he's
Speaker 1: talking to me and directing me, and I'm looking at
Speaker 1: him with such adoration because I did. I adored him.
Speaker 1: He was a mentor. He very much can't appreciate, but
Speaker 1: he appreciated your interest because you would like, instead of
Speaker 1: going off to play, you would come and you would
Speaker 1: sit behind camera and Teddy Boitlander, Teddy Boightlander, one of
Speaker 1: the best dps of all times photographers.
Speaker 2: You were interested, You had such an interest, and you
Speaker 2: nobody ever had to tell you your mark anything. You just
Speaker 2: you were so totally wrapped in it. You just you
Speaker 2: couldn't get enough of it.
Speaker 1: It was like, Yeah, Teddy taught me all about different lenses,
Speaker 1: and he would have me sit behind the camera and
Speaker 1: learn how to operate and then teach me about the lenses.
Speaker 1: And he gave me a list of books on lighting
Speaker 1: that I still have, like the Face on Her Light.
Speaker 1: There are just some extraordinary books that I still pick
Speaker 1: up today and I certainly use them. When I was
Speaker 1: directing Charmed and the web thing, I did music videos.
Speaker 1: I still sort of look at those books that show
Speaker 1: Little House shaved me in so many ways, and it
Speaker 1: still is the best experience of my entire career, and
Speaker 1: as a parent, because you hear so many negative things
Speaker 1: about children working in the industry and everything. But as
Speaker 1: a parent, and you know, I had questions in the beginning,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to be sure, but you were with
Speaker 1: the right person. You were with the right people.
Speaker 2: And it's a parent watching this and watching them taking
Speaker 2: note of your interests and you're intelligent to see it
Speaker 2: and to grasp it. And they just they were thrilled
Speaker 2: with you as you were with them about wanting to learn.
Speaker 2: They were as still about teaching you. Yeah, and so
Speaker 2: it was just really and I was just it was
Speaker 2: a very comfortable thing as a parent to see that
Speaker 2: they didn't just treat you as some kid that like,
Speaker 2: you know, oh, just you did this, now, go go
Speaker 2: your room or whatever.
Speaker 1: They just always was were there for you and the Okay,
Speaker 1: So going back to the Ralph Fellamy in the episode,
Speaker 1: So I drowned a little bit and and I lose
Speaker 1: my speech and I have a limp, and I am
Speaker 1: the last patient of this country doctor essentially, because everybody
Speaker 1: else is saying they can't do anything for me, if
Speaker 1: I recall correctly. And Ra Fellamy again one of the
Speaker 1: most prolific character actors. He was in Trading Spaces. He's
Speaker 1: just phenomenal. He lived in New York, very old school,
Speaker 1: and he had this little licorice candy stillies. I think
Speaker 1: that always came. Which, by the way, you have them,
Speaker 1: you always have them. I always have them, have stillies, hastillies, yes,
Speaker 1: And so he would. He would always bring me a
Speaker 1: ten and he got me hooked on those. But we
Speaker 1: just bonded, and I remember he would write me letters afterwards.
Speaker 1: We would we were like pin pals for a little bit.
Speaker 1: He would sit by you.
Speaker 2: I mean you could either one of you could have
Speaker 2: gone and done anything, and while they're setting up for
Speaker 2: another scene or something, but he the two of you
Speaker 2: would sit there in your chairs and you would have
Speaker 2: these conversations. You would talk to you and you would
Speaker 2: each have a little licorice once in a while. And
Speaker 2: it was amazing.
Speaker 1: And I always tried to like give space. I didn't
Speaker 1: want to hover. I wasn't gonna whether it was whatever
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 2: I was not the mother that was going to leave
Speaker 2: my children or put them with somebody else to take
Speaker 2: care of. It's like if I can't, if I can't
Speaker 2: watch over my kids especially, this was like really nothing
Speaker 2: we had ever been familiar with. I was going to
Speaker 2: be there. If not, then you weren't. But it just
Speaker 2: to sit back, and I always try to sit, and
Speaker 2: of course you would always at some point come and
Speaker 2: sit on my lap, and you even did that my
Speaker 2: own Charmed and all the others. You would always come
Speaker 2: sit on my lap at some point. But it was
Speaker 2: amazing just sit and watch you and Rap Blamey sit
Speaker 2: there and have this relationship.
Speaker 1: Nowadays, I don't sit on your lap, but my legs do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: watch TV while I watched TV. So this is just
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of amazing because when I think about
Speaker 1: the long span of my career, but also how rough
Speaker 1: some jobs were and unenjoyable to be a part of
Speaker 1: a little bit toxic. It was really the experience on
Speaker 1: Little House that spurred that passion on for being an actor.
Speaker 1: And it was having a mentor like Michael Landon. And
Speaker 1: I don't care what anybody else's experience was, Like I
Speaker 1: know the truth about that man, and he was just
Speaker 1: unbelievable so so so talented, so kind, so considerate, and
Speaker 1: it really helped shape me. And he was incredibly caring
Speaker 1: for my entire family, not just you and me. He
Speaker 1: was caring for Dad and for Sean. And he actually
Speaker 1: sent your dad to a doctor at UCLA that was
Speaker 1: Red duel Stein. I clink that was very hard to
Speaker 1: get into it. He he knew that because he had
Speaker 1: took the time to talk to your dad and know him,
Speaker 1: and that's how he knew that, and in order to
Speaker 1: give your dad that opportunity. So yeah, I know, he
Speaker 1: was very he was. He was very interesting man. All Right,
Speaker 1: you guys, there is going to be a part two
Speaker 1: of this because a we have more to talk about
Speaker 1: Little House, but also what came after Little House. We
Speaker 1: haven't even Cliffwood Avenue kids. What's Cliffwood Avenue kids? Like,
Speaker 1: we see we skipped right over an we'll make notes.
Speaker 1: We didn't one of the best casting directors. Yes, so
Speaker 1: we'll talk all about that. We'll talk about the transition
Speaker 1: into our House Wilfred Brimley, which.
Speaker 3: I'm watching now on some network. I know, I like
Speaker 3: last night you were watching it and you walked in
Speaker 3: and I always like, what like this is so weird.
Speaker 1: I walked right out. I say, yeah, you can't. I can't,
Speaker 1: but yeah, listen, Let's be clear. Is a diary, it's
Speaker 1: a memoir. It's also about the present. It's also about
Speaker 1: the future. Right now with my mom, we're going to
Speaker 1: do a little bit of the past. So please, I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy this episode. It's so special for my
Speaker 1: mom and I to be able to do this and
Speaker 1: memory share our memories with all of you because there's
Speaker 1: so many positive ones, so many beautiful ones that that
Speaker 1: that will have forever, like just moments between mother and daughter.
Speaker 1: That's incredibly incredibly special. Don't cry, mama. And then obviously
Speaker 1: there'll be a part two. So thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening to be Clear with Shannon Doherty. And let's
Speaker 1: think my mama, Mama Rosa. She's already tearing up. So
Speaker 1: bye you guys, Thank you so much. Bye guys,