Category Archives: Television

When Canadian actress Alberta Watson was just Susan

Posted on March 6, 2025 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – I knew Canadian actress Alberta Watson, whose birthday was today, a long time ago when she went by her first name, Susan. To meet Susan Watson in 1977 was to fall in love. She was … Continue reading →

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The time I asked Robert Wagner about mortality

Posted on February 10, 2025 by admin

By Ray Bennett “What the hell kind of question is that?” It’s 1985 and I’m sitting with Robert Wagner, who turns 95 today, in his luxury trailer on the Warner Bros. lot where he was making the shortlived TV series … Continue reading →

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Stuart Margolin and James Garner: ‘a perfect friendship’

Posted on January 31, 2025 by admin

By Ray Bennett Stuart Margolin, born on this day in 1940, was one of the great screen sidekicks working regularly with James Garner. Traditionally, in film and on TV, there have been two kinds of heroes – loners and those … Continue reading →

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Martin Shaw hasn’t always been a TV copper

Posted on January 21, 2025 by admin

By Ray Bennett Martin Shaw, who turns 80 today, is known best for playing TV coppers in “The Professionals” and “Inspector George Gently” but he also has had a long stage career in roles from Stanley Kowalski to Lord Goring … Continue reading →

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Larry King on his love of smoking and ‘lucky’ heart attack

Posted on November 19, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett Longtime TV interviewer Larry King, who was born  90 years ago today, almost didn’t make it to 60. He told me: “I got a lucky break. I had a heart attack.” One dark February morning in 1987, … Continue reading →

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How a love of sports made Garry Marshall a comedy legend

Posted on November 13, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Garry Marshall, who was born 90 years ago today, said one of the reasons he became one of the most prolific and successful producers of TV sitcoms was because he was a sports nut. “I’m … Continue reading →

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When Maggie Smith called me a horrible man

Posted on September 27, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett To meet a movie actor you admire can sometimes be a disappointment but Maggie Smith, who has died aged 89, was exactly how I hoped she would be. She told me off and swept away. It was … Continue reading →

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Songwriter Steve Dorff in praise of Clint Eastwood

Posted on April 21, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett American songwriter and composer Steve Dorff, who turns 75 today, has a huge number of screen credits including TV series such as ‘Murphy Brown’, Spenser for Hire’ and ‘Major Dad’. In a Q&A for The Hollywood Reporter, … Continue reading →

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The sad fate of Carolyn Jones, the original Morticia Addams

Posted on April 10, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett The Ringwood Music and Dramatic Society production of the hit Broadway musical ‘The Addams Family’ this week is the latest in a long run of versions of the original one-panel cartoon series created by cartoonist Charles Addams … Continue reading →

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Lesley-Anne Down on filming with Patrick Swayze

Posted on March 17, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Lesley-Anne Down, who turns 70 today, was a stark contrast to Patrick Swayze, her co-star in the hit 1985 U.S. Civil War miniseries ‘North and South’. In interviews for Canadian TV Guide, the enormously likeable … Continue reading →

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