| Show Donna Poecow: fl By ’Coat' The next day Fd get to say Ticket' They had me on hold for lobeJ Silden Ckiderala really look tike a pixie ihoit tan hair and eyes that from changed green to brown depending on the air temperature? French author Charles Ptnault did not convey that Impression when he created his laky-tal- e princess back In the 17th century And Walt Disney's artists drew her blonde and beautifully languid when she stopped scrubbing Arose floors Yet here is Donna Pescow a real-lif- e who Is Cinderella of the almost-1980'- s not a striking beauty but somehow much more interesting She Is neither sad nor woebegone tike Cinderella To the unfamiliar Donna Pescow plays the title role in ABCs new scries Angie the story of a South Philadelphia Italian waitress who marries Brad (Robert Hays) a rich Main Line pediatrician She’s playing a fimny lady: the characterization comes naturally to her Donna was brought up almost literally in the projection room and backstage of a theater She explains: Tor over 50 years my pandfathcr operated the stage lights at the RKO Abec theater In Brooklyn He'd tell me all about the names who played there He told me all their Jokes: Henny Young-man'- s Milton Berle's Bums' and Allen’s When it became a movie theater Poppy stayed on and he'd take me down on Saturdays I'd stay in the booth with him or play backstage When I first saw Bums and Alan on TV I knew what they were gonna say before they said ft” She makes It sound very matter-of-faDon't al this kids sophisticated Brooklyn grow up and knowledgeable about show business? The background has served Donna well What serious CindereBa could Joust with the master comic maker of them all Garry Marshal who created her show? 4fe is also responsMe for Happy Daysl Lauerne and Shirley and Mark and Mindy The man knows what makes Americans laugh He selects his stars with care Donna's "screen test" for Angle was not exactly high comedy She played the lovelorn teen Annette rejected by John Travolta who loses her virginity In a desperately shocking scene In Satunfoy Night Fever ' My big break in show business came from a movie but I'll always consider my roots in the theater" Thafs understandable: she Is a graduate of the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts Prior to Fever she toured Hi Ah! Wikiemeu with Richard Kiley and Barbara Bel Gcddes and appeared In shows several Then her career took off: 1 was signed to a contract for a soap opera One Life k to Live I played a girl One day I'd say 'Hat' The next day I’d say another part so they kept me busy doing k I did work as a one-biegirl once for one night at some place They hired me to work after the opening of a trig Broadway show ft was a hot night and nobody wore coats They were so mobbed they even took my chair I had to stand up the entire evening The waiters frit so sorry for me they gave me tips And I got a free dinner" she remembers Donna remembers meals very well She has a weight problem but denies that she weighed 155 in Fever “Only 135 and that was a lot” She agrees that she looked Uke a meaftwl with arms She weighs considerably less these days as Angie "There are a lot of similarities in Angle’s kfo and mine We're both going through changes success some money for the first time In our lives I can buy things Did ct hat-chec- babel Silden frequently report on the for Family Weekly ty scene FAMNV WEEKLY September fast-fon- Ciftcferella! ftecJ-U- fe t 1STS celebri- hat-chec- rs - LVi h J hreal Donna ike fife is much Angie She’s warn bubbly and funny And she's taking the world by the tall f out with thinking about how much money they have unless all of a sudden one would start d taking me to Aw Aw all time" (daces She tikes the financial security she now enjoys and she also tikes Aw recognition she gets from Aw public "When Aw show first went on the air people would cal out ‘Angie’ and Fd keep on waiting I didn't know ft was me Awy were hailing Now I stop and I have the nicest encounters with people My character is human and warm she is not removed In New York lots of people gave me opinions of the show” That is how she knew she'd "arrived” Afthour Donna Pescow is not yet a household name to time A well may be It rhymes with cow Why had she never thought of changing A to something more glamorous? "Oh I did I was going to be Donna Marshal But when I was training at Aw Academy I met this gfrl whose name was Donna Marshall ‘Please don't take my name' she asked so of course I couldn’t My first agent 'r used to get cals for Donna Somebody and I did consider changing A But I never got around to A and Arose days are more or less over now" she says So are the days of singing to GO Hodges’ Bowing Alley Lounge to Brooklyn singing love songs to guys arguing about spares strikes and frames That was another af her glamorous Jobs en route to Aw big time Now Awre Is little time for anything except work Dates? A few some with actor Mark Harmon with whom she denies any romantic attachment "His family and I are al friends We went to a party together the photographers shot me wfth Mark and everybody started taking It's Robert nothing" She also sees co-stHays socially They go to dinner work on scripts together attend network functions as a pair They’re good friends too Donna is more concerned with getting to know Angie Awn her social life 1 want to work on her wardrobe bring her back to where she's been raAwr Awn where she Is going Sometimes I don't want her to look right She doesn't fit into Brad’s world and she doesn’t want to She has a very specific background” Donna enjoys exploring al facets of the character Stw Is also enjoying what success Is doing to her life Specifically? 1 am now able to make a contribution by doing benefits and telethons raAwr than sending a dollar In our business Aiere are a lot of luxuries aside from Aw tangMe ones You can make someone laughdrid that’s wonderful "Don't misumjersfand: I have no desire If I can do to be a Donna d something for tomeone and tf A's worthwhile I wiU But I don’t want to shape an Image of a halo for myself" For Aw moment Aw Fairy Godmother's magic wand wll do very rare ULi nicely thank you Donna’s big break was her rale with John Trauoka In Fever But that big te break didn't happen overnight without worrying Except what my business manager will say or If heU give me permission to spend the money” she amends "In character and humor Angie and I are a lot alike She may be a bit more Impulsive than I am I’ve learned to think before making a decision But then Angie knows how it’s going to turn out: she has the script" Donna teases "Actually I’ve never made a major decision Impulsively Fm thoughtful In my career" Home is now an apartment in the San Fernando Valley ft was not an easily determined decision "I came out here after Feyer lor four weeks to meet with people about other scripts There were more Jobs here so I stayed I went back and forth to New York for six months I kept chickening out about moving here Then Garry Marshall called me In He felt I was right for ’ the Angie concept 1 need an actress he told me "When we first tafeed I was afraid of a series contract of staying here I hadn't heard any ideas that I wanted to do And I wasn’t available to accept anything ’because I had a film deal pending with someone else "Six months later Ate whole project came back and I considered A an omen I could reafly enjoy playing Ails character I'm a fatalist in an optimistic way I believe Atere is a reason for Ate why’s and Aw wherefore's and A I feel it's right I go with A” Angle obviously felt right and Donna’s with A for at least two more seasons There is no restive pull to stray Ails early into her success T always believed in that CindereBa story and I saw Aw correlation with her and Angie right away except Angie doesn't have Aw Anee wicked stepsisters and the pumpkin’s on gtepe 32 at Para- mount” Donna Is reasonably certain that she could handle a fairy-tal- e marriage like Angie's TO get married at some point I don't know If hell be trying shoes on me but 1'd handle Aw situation I know how to Bve with having a bit of an income all of a sudden But I don't look at the men I go ar po-Goo- |
