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Show Page 40 - Sunday, November THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 15, 1987 Eva ftiane Saint stars on TV in Rockwell cov er co me to lire h By JERRY BUCK AP Television Writer The LOS ANGELES (AP) cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Sept. 25, 1954, showed a father and son sitting on the runningboard of an old truck waiting for a train to take the boy off to college. The cover was painted by Norman Rockwell and it was called "Breaking Home Ties." Thirty-thre- e years later, it has inspired a movie that will be ABC's special Thanksgiving presentation Thursday. The movie, "Norman Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties," stars Jason Robards and Eva Marie Saint as the parents, Doug McKeon as the boy, Claire Trevor as an influential teacher, and Erin Gray as an older woman in his life. The holiday movie is set in the 1950s in the Southwest. It's the story of a family in transition and a boy coming of age. In college, the naive youth finds he is learning as much about life, friendship, enmity, romance and seduction as he is from his studies. "John Wilder got the idea - for the movie about seven years ago," said Saint. "He said his first choice for the parents, then and now, was Jason and me. The story, really, is the painting coming to Life," now a weekly series on 's played Richard NBC. She "It truly is breaking home ties. I think it's a story people of different ages can become involved with. It's a story of relationships." who's also currently Saint, playing Cybill in 1978. roles. I think we got one used the same house as 'Places in the Heart.' 'Tender Mercies' was done around there. "When you're on location you don't make any decisions except about your work. They tell you when to get up, what to wear, what to do and what to say. It's hard to get back to reality." Last year she starred in the miniseries "A Year in the rrj i ) let- ter." Saint will appear in six episodes of "Moonlighting." She did one episode last year. Robert Webber plays her husband. They are part of this season's plot device that gave Cybill Shepherd an excuse to be absent from filming when she was pregnant. "We live in Chicago, and Maddie comes back home and moves in with us," Saint said. "We're happy to see her but we begin to wonder why she's staying so long. It's funny and we have some good mother-daughtscenes, Cybill gave me a blue 'Moonlighting' jacket with my name on it. I wore it, to a restaurant and it caused a stir. People finally recognized me. "It was fun to work with younger people and be a part of that scene. I said if I was going to play her mother I wanted to dress like Maddie. I'm her mother and she got her good taste from me. That's nice. In the movie, I spent a month in an apron." long-runni- "We filmed in Texas, in a place called Waxahachie, south of Dallas," said Saint. "We , several months we switched a series." Early in her career, however, she starred with Tony Randall and a large cast in "One Man's Family." The show, the first prime-tim- e soap opera, was an adaptation of the radio serial created by Carlton E. Morse. She played Claudia from 1950 to 1952. "We did it live after rehearsing all week," she recalled. "It was steady work and it paid the rent. But when it was over I was so excited to be free. We Shepherd's mother in a recurring role on "Moonlighting," is no stranger to holiday films or to working with Robards. They starred in "A Christmas To Remember" ' ' V- - m dark, played Claudia. After Kil-ey- wife, who died. She also starred in "The Macahans" in 1976, which became the series "How the West Was Won." "I prefer to do things, then come home and not know what the next thing is going to be," she said. "I've been fortunate enough to keep working and not have to tie myself down to life. H er all used to complain about being in a series. Then when it went off we all got together and complained that it was going off the air. "I originally began as one of Claudia's girlfriends. Nancy Franklin, who was short and Eva Marie Saint, shown in Los Angeles during recent interview, stars in ABC's special Thanksgiving presentation, "Norman Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties." The movie was inspired by the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Sept. 25, 1954, showing a father and son sitting on the running board of an old truck waiting for a train to take the boy off to college. Burr is still Mr. Mason to his fans thft good. S1UTT By KATHRYN BAKER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) Raymond Burr, leaning on a cane, made his way across the loading dock in the basement of - NBC. (70 Throughout the recently ended strike against the network, NBC brought stars to the stu- OUR NEW dio this way to avoid picket lines. The loading dock was crowded with workers, many of them black, Hispanic blue-coll- ar and Oriental. "Look, Perry Mason!" they said, nudging each other. "Hi, Mr. Mason!" They all waved at each other the workers and the actor as if they were old friends. Then, waiting for the freight elevator, he turned to a reporter and said, "Remember what I was saying earlier, about the minorities? There's your proof." Earlier, in an interview at his hotel, Burr was explaining why "Perry Mason" is still so popular three decades after it premiered on Sept. 21, 1957. The show, featuring the brilliant defense attorney created by author Erie Stanley Gardner, ran on CBS until 1966. Since 1986, NBC has found the subsequent "Perry Mason" made-for-T- movies so V iner Beds Made Anywhere Reg. $1259 Reg. $269 Reg. $889 GENUINE L includes headboard, foot- - board H9 BRASS includes-Daybed, Dreshermatic & Link Sorinas & Pod- up unit Frame. -- y 1 includes headboard, footboard & Dreshermatic Frame 1 : r2 DR8SH8 I III S'. I ! $299 JmV includes Link Daybed. Springs & unit Pop-u- "sweeps," the four months a year when ratings determine advertising rates. This November sweeps, there's "Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel," airing Sun- includes headboard, foot- ooara & uresnermatic Frame I A n I Pop-u- ... . 0 Link w unit Til ' A ! at ii H Daybed, apnngs said. "Then, we enjoy something that our audiences didn't know much about until the 'Perry Mason' stories came along, and that is our system of justice. ... When I started as Perry Mason, most of the minorities in this country didn't know what they had. ... They didn't realize our court system covered everybody." It was not just Perry Mason and Burr's other popular character, Ironside, who became popular, but the system of justice they represented, Burr said. "Around the world, 'Perry Mason' and 'Ironside' both have been the two most popular American dramatic hours, especially in the countries with the Napoleonic code, guilty until proven (innocent) Spain. 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