Six Degrees of….nothing really
I was watching Sex and the City the other night, and I was remembering the first time I saw Kristin Davis, aka Charlotte York…which would be on Melrose Place, where she played the ill-fated and psychotic Brooke, who married Billy, who was played by Andrew Shue, who was the brother of Elizabeth Shue, who was pretty darned good in Adventures in Babysitting and Leaving Las Vegas, which are two movies that are about as different as they could possibly be. But I first saw her in one of the lamest movies EVER, Cocktail, in which she played Tom Cruise’s idiot girlfriend/wife. Idiot because she loves Tom Cruise, really, who I first saw in Taps, but really noticed in Risky Business, and didn’t start to really dislike until Top Gun.
Where is all of this going? Nowhere really…I was just thinking about the first time I saw, or at least NOTICED certain actors, and how they maybe became big deals since then. For example, we used to watch Thirtysomething, which I thought was a pretty great show. Gary’s wife, Susannah, was played by Patricia Kalember, who went on to play Georgie on the show, Sisters.  Georgie’s sister, Teddy, was played by Sela Ward, who for awhile dated (married?) a detective who was played by none other than George Clooney, who died on Sisters so he could be reborn on ER. Sisters also included Heather McAdam, who played Teddy’s daughter, Cat, (who also played Surf Betty on the first season of 90210), and Ashley Judd, who went on to be in plenty of films…also the first time in awhile that I had seen Swoozie Kurtz, who I remember from Against All Odds. Against All Odds also had Rachel Ward, who everyone remembers from The Thorn Birds.  Rachel Ward is married to Bryan Brown, who was also in The Thorn Birds AND Cocktail. Are you crazy bored yet? WISHING for a ‘wordless Wednesday’, especially since last Saturday we went to a bbq at the home of an actual academy award winner (for sound on King Kong and Lord of the Rings), and you COULD have seen a photo of any one of us holding one or two oscars and pretending to make our acceptence speach, but sadly, we forgot our camera…so instead of a little wordless Wednesday like that, you’re getting a virtual blogarreah of meaningless drivel about when I first saw actors, and really, who the heck cares about that? Not even me.
Ahem. The Sisters site on IMDb claims that Kirsten Dunst played a character named Kitten, who has the same last name as Cat’s, and what the heck is that about? I have no idea. I don’t remember any character by that name.Â
I do remember the first thing I saw Sarah Jessica Parker in was Footloose, which was one of my favorite movies at the time. She was in that with Kevin Bacon, who of course is famous for being in so much, there’s the whole Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game (play here!). First thing I saw him in was also Footloose, and I thought he was just dreamy…seen him lately? Not aging so well, is he? I mean, he’s not nearly so hot as his wife, Kyra Sedgwick (who played with Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July). Â
Where does this go from here? Nowhere. I could go on forever with absolute stupidness, but I quit. :) You’re welcome.
UPDATE: Just saw on TVGuide.com that Zac Efron is going to be involved in a remake of Footloose. Hmmm.
13 Comments
Ml
Funny post! And yes, I do wonder about all that. I’m also was baffled by the name Swoozie…
Py Korry
Funny stuff…and it’s like I’m at a party with a bunch of film geeks! 🙂
Autumn's Mom
ok, were you reading my mind? I loved the show sisters. I always check to see if it’s going to be on netflix. No such luck yet. I was going to do a post today about the remake of Footloose. SAY IT ISN’T SO!!! I’m sure it will suck. I’m sure adults thought our Footloose sucked as well. Even tho it didn’t.
One of my favorite episodes of Will & Grace was where Kevin Bacon played himself and he was hiring a personal assistant..he was really trying to flush out his stalker (Jack) because he wanted to be friends with him. hahaha And he had the song from footloose available to him at the clap (the clapper) of his hands. He and Will danced in the livingroom. Made me love him all over again.
J
AM, I never really got into Will and Grace, but I need to see if they have that clip on YouTube! And I JUST THIS MINUTE saw that Footloose is going to be remade for the kids over on TVGuide.com.
Since you also watched Sisters, do you remember a character named ‘Kitten’?
kookiejar
Hold the phone, J. You had dinner with the person who won the Oscar for sound for both ‘King Kong’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’? You could play six degrees of separation with just that. My mind is reeling…Ian McKellan was in LOTR and he was in ‘X-Men’ with Hugh Jackman. You are connected to Hugh Jackman by only 4 degrees! (I’m connected by 3.)
J
Sadly enough, the guest of honor, the oscar winner, wasn’t even at his own party, because he had to work at the last minute (he was VERY unhappy about it, but was finishing off one film to start on another one two days later…Kite Runner…I hadn’t heard they were making that into a film…). So there were 20 or so people, but not him. Does having bbq with his wife count? She was nice. And she was there. 🙂
Cherry
I recently saw “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” with Sarah Jessica Parker on TV while I was home watching endless and bad daytime television programming. I’m always shocked to see her in old shows because I never REALLY knew who she was until SITC. Of course I don’t generally pay attention to actors and such.
Very nice stream of consciences.
dew
I came to answer your question where hopefully it won’t be a spoiler for anyone else! No! They failed and broke up and went their separate ways.
Joan
This post sounds like the conversations I have with my husband. It interests me and he has no idea what I’m talking about. I first remember Sarah Jessica Parker on the tv show Square Pegs.
ally bean
I loved Sisters, but don’t remember any Kitten. G.C.’s character was Falconer (?) I think. I first remember Ashley Judd on StarTrek The Next Generation as a love interest for Wesley Crusher.
This is a good post. It has me thinking about all sorts of people. Very fun.
Gina
I first remember Sarah Jessica Parker from one of my favorite shows at the time, “Square Pegs.” I also liked “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.”
I wonder how many people even remember either of those shows.
J
I think a lot of people remember square pegs, but since I never watched it, I didn’t remember SJP from there.
I also remember Ashley Judd being on Star Trek. Once I was goofing off, and I found a website that showed all of the actors who had been on both Star Trek and Thirtysomething. Funny, huh?
Karen MEG
What a great post! I’m reading it while I’m drinking wine, so I’ve totally lost my train of thought, but I’m most impressed by the winding connections you’ve made. I also loved Thirtysomething, of course when I was in my twenties, wanting to grow up. The cast have done pretty well since then, I think most are behind the scenes although I’ve caught the occasional Without a trace with Timothy Busfield and Brothers and Sisters with Patricia Wettig.
I’ve always really liked Kevin Bacon, more for his acting than his looks though. Yeah, he’s getting a bit scary looking as he gets older, but he’s still got amazing hair.
My family call me Ms. Entertainment Tonight, but after reading your post, I think I have to pass that honor over to you!