Ann Walker Interview by Alan Mercer

photo: Alan Mercer

Ann Walker Interview

I am convinced that I knew Ann Walker in a past life. I fell in love with her character LaVonda from Sordid Lives and always hoped that one day I would have the chance to work with her. As it turns out the lovely, talented, and charming Ms. Walker is 100% delightful in every way. I am proud to call her my friend.


AM: Hello Ann. Will you tell me how you almost did not get to play your character LaVonda in the movie version of Sordid Lives?

AW: It’s a real Hollywood story. We had done the play in 1996, then four years later it was decided there would be a movie. Del Shores had the very unfortunate job of calling me to say I would not be playing LaVonda which just destroyed me. I could not believe it. Then he said I have written you another part of a character named Juanita, who is a drunk at the bar. The last thing that I should ever play is that part because there is only one woman, Sarah Hunley, who can actually pull that off. Nobody else can play that part. There’s just something in the way her rhythm is. I said I would play the part because I wanted to be in the movie but I knew that was not my part.

AM: Who was going to play your part?

AW: Beverly DeAngelo. She is a lovely woman but she isn’t LaVonda. Nobody is LaVonda. I’m LaVonda. I was going to be so disappointed to have to watch that movie with me not in my part. I was very, very not nice.

AM: So what happened that you ultimately got to play your part?

AW: I was licking my wounds one day about three weeks before we started shooting. Del called me on the phone and said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I said yes and he told me Beverly had gotten a TV pilot and can’t do our movie. I said, ‘Well who are you going to get?’ He said, ‘We’ve gone through every name the producers have given us and none of them are right.’ They were looking at some really wonderful actresses. Del was able to talk the producers into letting me film my part.

AM: So do you believe in destiny?

AW: Absolutely I do. This part has brought me a lot of joy and allowed me to meet really great people like you.

AM: I have known you in a past life.

AW: I think so because we hit it off so fast.

AM: So LaVonda is you and you are LaVonda.

AW: I think Del knows how I feel about my priorities in life. I would never hurt anybody. I always champion for the underdog. It just seems like the underdog right now happens to be the gay community and it’s really pissing me off.

AM: LaVonda is the most supportive of the characters.

AW: He tailored that part to who I was. He wanted that voice and acceptance from one of the characters. For the clothes and the way I look in character I actually used my Mom as inspiration. No matter what would happen she would always go to the Beauty shop and get a beehive or the big curls. She always wore tight pants and the gold lame’ house shoes that had the turned up toes, very, very Southern.


AM: You all ended up being gay icons.

AW: Yes and I didn’t know how much fun it would be. I just love interacting with people who like me. We get to do things like go to the Gay Rodeo. I’m one of the people they invite. The Palm Springs Gay Pride Rodeo has asked me to do fund raisers in the past. Jason Dottley and I were asked to pants a goat. Do you know what pantsing a goat is?

AM: No I don’t.

AW: They give you some men’s underwear and one person puts them on their hands through the top and the legs. The other person gets the goat and you have to put the pants on the goat.

AM: Do you think you will ever do the play again?

AW: I would hope so. I don’t know where we would do it but if anyone wanted me to do it I would go anywhere. I enjoy doing it. I just love that character. There are no plans for us to do it again at this time.

Ann Walker photos by Alan Mercer

Priscilla Presley

The fabulous Priscilla Presley photographed in December 2008 in North Hollywood. I wanted these photos to look delicious like sweet candy.

New Sally Kellerman CD

photo: Alan Mercer

One of the most recognizable voices in the world of film, television and voice-over, Sally maintains her signature sound in the recording studio and the result is a richly layered album, mixing jazzy blues and adult standards with a touch of soulful rock.

Kellerman has never sounded better than now, being produced by Grammy Award-winner Val Garay, whose illustrious list of credits includes recordings with Kim Carnes, Linda Ronstadt, the Motels, Neil Diamond, Jackson Browne, Marvin Gaye, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Jennifer Warnes, among others.

“Sally’s distinctive voice connects the songs on this album,” says Garay. “Having worked with many of the greatest female vocalists over the last few decades, Sally falls in with the best of them.”

The album also features a stellar lineup of musicians including Russ Kunkel (drums), Leland Sklar (bass), Dean Parks (guitar), Jerry Peterson (Saxophone) and Andrew Gold (percussion/guitar).

Sally’s music director, Chris Caswell, who just received a Grammy nomination for Jazz Album of the Year (Karrin Allyson) played keyboards on “Sally” and contributed three songs on the album: “Nobody’s Perfect,” which opens the CD, “Somebody Call the Cops” and the beautiful ballad, “By Heart.” These are already classic songs that Kellerman has been singing at her shows for a couple of years now.

Another standout song on the album is “Say It Isn’t So,” written by five-time Grammy Award-winner and Take 6 artist, Mervin Warrens. This may very well be the emotional centerpiece of the whole CD. Kellerman’s vocals are soft, tender, and plaintive with a quiet, yearning, depth.

Other cuts include the blues classic, “I Put a Spell on You” (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins), where the seductive qualities of her voice are apparent, “Sugar in My Bowl” (Nina Simone) where that famous Kellerman sexiness comes through, and a smoky rendition of the Leiber and Stoller hit, “Love Potion #9” that rivals any version out there.

Sally has kept good company with some of the most prestigious names in the music industry, having done various singing projects with both Hal David and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers, Leiber and Stoller, among others.

Sally has come full circle with the release of this long awaited album. The seductive combination of words and music shine through on “Sally,” and fans will undeniably agree that what makes the album even more special is the unmistakable presence of the voice.

“Sally” is available in stores nationwide on the Music Force label.


Things you may not know about Sally Kellerman:

1. In the 70s, while working with Robert Altman on her Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated role as Hot Lips Houlihan in M*A*S*H, Sally also teamed up with Lou Adler (Mamas and Papas, Carole King, Sam Cook). This led to her debut album, “Roll With the Feeling” on Decca Records, produced by world-class arranger/producer Gene Page (Barry White, Lionel Richie) and his brother, songwriter Billy Page.

2. Throughout her film and television career, Sally has had the opportunity to sing in numerous film and television productions. She has sung at Carnegie Hall and the Los Angeles Music Center and has appeared regularly on the concert club circuit, performing at such popular venues as The Roxy and Catalina Bar & Grill in Los Angeles and The Metropolitan Room in New York.



For more information, please visit http://www.sallykellerman.com/

Sally Kellerman CD release performance 02/10/09

photo: Alan Mercer

Sally Kellerman celebrated the release of her new CD "Sally" with a performance at Genghis Cohen. The sold out audience was enthralled as Sally sang many songs from the CD and a few new and unfamiliar ones too.

on stage at Genghis Cohen

with producer Val Garay

with Eric Venturo

Newell & Rosemary Alexander Interview

photo: Alan Mercer

Newel and Rosemary Alexander appear to have it all and what makes that even better is they appear to deserve it all. We had the opportunity to visit after our shoot.


AM: Most people know you from your characters on Sordid Lives. What else would you like people to know about you?

RA: Well I think being married to Newell Alexander is probably the most wonderful and amazing thing about my life. I love what Noleta says in Sordid Lives, “I’m just a mama and a wife.” If I am one thing it would be a homemaker. I take care of the grandkids and I take care of all the dinners. I am the hostess for the family.

AM: When do you have a chance to work on your music?

RA: Newell and I work on music in the kitchen while I am cooking. He brings his guitar in and sits at the table. The challenge for me is to learn a harmony and the words while I am making cornbread. That’s why we called our CD “The Cornbread Society” and other than that when we came here from Texas my goal was to be a career actress.

AM: Can you explain what you mean by that?

RA: I wanted to make my living as an actress. Three years ago I retired from the Screen Actors Guild with a pension. That is my mark of achievement. I raised my children and lived my life as a professional actress.

NA: I am just amazed by how Rosemary and I have gotten together. Rosemary is from the hills of Kentucky. Her Dad was a farmer and he would go to Detroit during the hard times and work in the auto factories. They were real hillbillies. She moved to Detroit when she was nine and ended up growing up there.

AM: Where are you from Newell?

NA: I’m from a little town in West Texas called Borger, which is by Amarillo. I moved to Albuquerque when I was twelve or thirteen. These places were totally devoid of creativity. So I am amazed that two little kids like us who weren’t around any art, other than Rosemary having music in her family, actually got into the arts.

AM: Did your family encourage you to be creative?

NA: In my family musicians were considered trash, and actors too. It’s amazing to me that two small town people can come to Hollywood and have a tiny bit of success. We are actually working actors. If there is a middle class of actors, we are it.

AM: So you were unprepared for this success?

NA: Getting a TV show at this late date in both of our careers is like having tenure as a professor. I’m retired from SAG too. We are thrilled to be associated with a show like that and we have worked very hard to get that together.

AM: What do you mean by that?

NA: I doubt it would have ever happened if it weren’t for us. We knew Del very early on. We are just people in the Valley trying to live good clean lives.

AM: What else are you known for?

RA: Besides Sordid Lives which is certainly the crown in my career as an actress, Newell and I fell into producing a radio show for the Autry Museum in 1989 and did one show as a special event. At the time we thought who’s going to care anything about radio drama. We wrote a script and produced a show and it was a huge success for the museum. So they asked us if we would come back and do four shows a year. We, not having real good sense said, yes.

AM: How long did you do that?

RA: For twelve years we produced four original live radio dramas with an orchestra and live sound effects and sixteen actors. After we did a couple of shows and we saw that we could do a show that people liked we decided to give it a mission, to tell all of the stories of the West.

AM: Did you incorporate any young talent?

RA: We found a young African American writer and trained her in writing radio drama because it’s not a known form generally. She was successful at it and went on to get into the Disney writing fellowship program and ultimately ended up as a career writer. Then we found a young Latina who was really unproven but she wrote a poem for us that was so clever and so funny that I said you can do this. We convinced her to write a radio drama and she went on to become the story editor on the George Lopez show. She is now in a program called Show Runners so she is a superstar writer. We also developed a young Jewish writer and a young American Indian as well as a Chinese writer.

AM: What made you stop doing them?

RA: After twelve years I realized we had achieved our goal so we retired and the show went on for a while. The achievement in those shows and the impact that it had on the different cultural communities in the city was extremely rewarding.

NA: And through that we were able to promote the LA Mad Dogs as voice over artists.

AM: Tell me how that got started.

NA: We worked for a woman in the voice over business and then we formed our own company and because we had the radio show we were able to promote within the Hollywood community that we did have the “real deal” voices to tell the truth. So that’s what we became known as, the real solid voice over group, that could do realistic background voices, not just cartoon stuff. So 1989 was the beginning of the LA Mad Dogs.

AM: Tell me a little bit more about your music?

NA: Well as far as music goes we are just pretenders. We have known a lot of wonderful musicians. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash were dear friends of ours. We worked with them early on in the 1970’s and remained friends with them.

AM: I think that qualifies you as authentic musicians.

RA: We are living room singers. We started off with a chili cooking team. We started winning the amateur contests they have. We would do a little act with some songs and get the rest of the team to back us up. We took all of our kids and we have a son who is a really good guitar player. We would entertain and that was our training in music.

NA: It’s more of a hobby really, the music end of it.

RM: When we first met Newell had just got a guitar so he learned how to play and I’m from the Kentucky hill country so when everybody got together we sang. I was always an alto and couldn’t hit a high note so I quickly learned to sing harmony and I hear harmony now. We did it for fun in the living room.

AM: So you started booking music gigs?

RM: The first job we booked in California was the Kellogg’s leggo of my Eggo campaign. We got it because we were authentic. They interviewed a lot of real country western singers and scared us to death. We said we are never going to get this but they told us they loved us because we were real authentic. While we consider our music humble the people who back us up kick ass.

AM: Do you believe in destiny?

RM: Well I do. I can’t think of any other way that Newell and I could have ended up together. There was just no way we could have or should have met, much less come together as a couple unless you say it was destiny.

NA: Well I think it was destiny. I was at my advertising office one day with an assistant who’s name is Peter Gent, he wrote the novel North Dallas Forty. Well Pete and I checked out the Pearl Beer booth at the Texas State Fair since they were a client. We decided to go to the automobile building to see all the new cars and cool looking girls. Well I saw the most gorgeous girl in a silver lame’ outfit and a silver turban and it was Rosemary. She was getting ready to go on a break so we went and had a root beer and a corny dog. I had her bring her book up to the agency and hired her several times for commercials.

AM: Was it love at first sight?

NA: We were just good friends for five years. I thought she was happily married and she thought I was, but neither one of us were. In the end we finally got together against all odds. So yes I do believe in destiny. We were destined.

RA: I also believe in destiny because of our relationship with Del Shores.

AM: Can you explain?

RA: Del came out here from Texas very young, trying to be an actor. He had a roommate who was an actor and worked with us. Del came to see him perform and saw us. Later on when he was doing his first play he remembered Newell and called him to be an actor.

AM: Was it a big production?

RA: Del will you this himself. They had no money and scraped together what they could. I came in and did all the press shots and Newell did all the sets. We invested financially that way to keep the show going and get it happening.

AM: Did you believe in Del Shores that much?

RA: Del met our daughter Kelly and they got married and had two gorgeous children. Then Del came out, so they separated.

AM: What did that do to your family?

RA: Nothing changed within the family except they didn’t live together anymore. Del was still writing for us and we were still shooting the pictures and designing the sets. I looked at it later and I said, ‘You know Del came out here and he chose the kind of family that he wanted to be a part of that would love and support him. I think that was fate that we all came together.

AM: That must have been a difficult time for all of you.

NA: Yes it was a difficult time. It was very challenging. At my seventieth birthday Del said, ‘I told Newell the situation, that I was gay’ and Newell said, ‘well shit happens so let’s move forward.’ That’s exactly what I told him.

RA: He also said not many people can claim to have made there ex father-in-law a gay icon.

AM: How have you managed to be successful in your marriage? What is a key phrase that would sum it up?

NA: Both of us are tough. We are both tough people. Career wise we were tough. We hung in there and plowed the money we were making back into our careers. We have never skimped on our careers at all. We have both been able to be honest with each other. We tell the truth. We don’t yell or argue. I think we have just hung tough. Rosemary actually runs everything. I’m basically in charge of security.

RA: I just think we were meant to be together. We are totally different. We have very different abilities and inabilities. I always say together we make one whole person. I always loved him the way I loved my kids. No matter what happened I could not, not love him.

Learn more about Newell and Rosemary at their web site http://www.prankproductions.com/

Rosemary Alexander photographed by Alan Mercer

Mamie Van Doren Interview

photos: Alan Mercer

Mamie Van Doren is not only a living legend but one of my best friends. We talk all the time and it is always a thrill to hang out with her. We got together recently to talk about her latest ventures.


AM: Mamie, I know you are going to be writing a column for HUSTLER magazine starting very soon. Do you have a name for the column?

MVD: It’s called “Dangerous Thoughts”. Do you like that title?

AM: Yes, I like it. Didn’t they approach you before this?

MVD: They approached me a year ago but at that moment I didn’t feel like I wanted to do it. Julie Strain told me I should let HUSTLER do a feature on me but I was kind of “Uhhh…” But then I realized people should look at HUSTLER instead of buying Viagra. It’s a lot healthier for you. You aren’t taking all those drugs. You just have to look! So I decided to do it.

AM: Did you think there was a stigma attached to HUSTLER?

MVD: I think I did.

AM: What has changed?

MVD: Me. There is no stigma anymore (laughing). This is the 21st century. It’s here, get with it. I’m looking forward to the 22nd Century.

AM: Is HUSTLER going to do a feature on you as well as a column?

MVD: Yes. It should be out in June. My column starts in July. Your photos are going to be displayed in the magazine with your credit of course. I’m feeling very happy. I don’t know what they are going to say, but it will be OK.

AM: You are looking forward to it I’d say.

MVD: I am looking forward to writing my column. My first one is about war versus soldiers. You can hate the war but you love the soldiers. People think that because I hate the war I hate everything and it’s not true. I did spend a lot of time in Vietnam so I feel like I have the right to talk about it.

AM: Do you think you will do anymore writing?

MVD: Well I like to let things come as they come. I’m getting ready to record again. I’ve got a couple of things happening. I recorded a dance track called “A Real Man”
And one called “Slave To The Beat”. They are hot songs.

AM: Do you consider this a comeback?

MVD: I think other people would but I think I never left. I’ve just been down in Newport Beach. I never really left Hollywood. I’ve always been participating in openings and keeping up on all the gossip, doing little parts in movies, and my website keeps me in touch with everybody.

AM: Anything else you want to mention?

MVD: I forgot to mention that the March Playboy is going to have an illustration of me by the very famous artist, Olivia. She did a painting of me from when I was twenty years old. It’s a nude. She sold it already and I got the study. It’s beautiful. I can’t believe I ever looked like that. Hugh Hefner is writing a special caption for it and Olivia is putting my name on it so everyone will know it’s me. Most of her paintings don’t have the name. I like it because it will be international.

Palm Springs and Newport Beach

Larry Ferguson, Alan Mercer, Mamie Van Doren, & David Blackstock

I have had a very busy weekend and week so far. I went to Palm Springs on Saturday with David Blackstock from Fort Worth and Larry Ferguson from Nashville. We went on a mission to photograph Show Business Legend and Star Carol Channing who turned 88 the day before. What an experience that was. I will share the photos once they are ready. On Monday we went to Newport Beach to have lunch with the always Legendary Mamie Van Doren. I interviewed her about a couple of new things coming up for her. I have a lot of work to do now.