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Show HERALD DAILY Sunday, September 9, 2007 C7 3rd season of 'Grey's' was a turning point for Knight Maria Elena Fernandez LOS ANGELES TIMES Less than one HOLLYWOOD hour after an interview request to an actor's manager, the telephone rang . It wasn't a publicist demanding to know the parameters of the interview, where the story would be placed or how big the photographs would be. It was the actor himself, and in his unassuming way, he agreed to meet with a reporter . This is not how it usually happens in Hollywood, but T,R. Knight doesn't seem interested in most things Hollywood. Before "Grey's Anatomy" transformed his life, he was a Minnesota native who passed up college to become a New York City theater actor . But then he signed on to what has become a TV phenomenon, and Knight's personal and professional life took some twists and turns he could have never foreseen when he was toiling in "Noises Off" or "Tartuffe" on Broadway. How could a struggling actor ever figure on landing a lead-- , ing gig on one of TV's biggest shows only to be impelled to come out as a gay man when tabloid coverage of an on-sfight made his sexuality an unexpected target? In person, Knight, 34, is polite and is a slow and cautious speaker who becomes more animated when he is not talking about himself. His decision to forgo the publicity machine followed a remarkable season for "Grey's," which undoubtedly will go down as one of the most important, if not most difficult, years in his life. "You know, when you get (to L.A.), people say you should do this, and this is what you have to do," Knight said. "And I just think that sometimes it takes a little bit for you to figure it out yourself and see where your comfort is. This is just a more low-ke- y approach. It's not like you've got hundreds of people a day trying to get at you. That's someone else. That's not me. Flying under the radar is preferable many times. I like this for now. I do." The very popular "Grey's" won the Golden Globe for best drama in January and has been nominated for five of the top Emmy categories, including best drama and best supporting actor for Knight. He has received the honor for his turn as the lovable, bumbling underdog George O'Malley, who must start over as an intern in the fourth season after failing his exam. But instead of reveling in the sweet times, the "Grey's" cast had its third season marred by the ugly controversy that began howith Isaiah Washington's on-smophobic slur in October and ignited when he repeated it at the Golden Globes in front of an international media . The end of the season should d have brought relief, but after Washington was fired in June, he embarked on a tell-apublicity tour that has yet to make its final behind-the-scen- et much-neede- ll stop. ' At whom was the demeaning word directed? Washington says that he . said it in a moment of anger during a fight with Patrick Dempsey and that Knight had nothing to do with it. But Knight, in his only public comments about the ordeal, on "The Ellen Show" in January, said that Washington directed the slur at him and that he "and everybody heard it." Nearly a year later, the d of it all seems insignificant when Knight discusses his decision to announce publicly last October that he is gay. After rumors about the on-sproblems circulated, Knight issued a statement to People magazine, against the advice of most of his handlers, in which he said, "I hope the fact that I'm gay isn't the most interesting part of me." Knight wasn't coming out of the closet; the people in his life know his sexuality. But revealing it to the world is a thorny matter for an actor on a hit TV show. Over lunch at a Venice Beach cafe last month, Knight said no one had ever used that word against him before, and he felt he needed to address it. "It wasn't the only choice I could have made, but it was the only choice I could have made and lived with myself, if that makes sense," Knight he-sai- d, he-sai- et said. Katherine Heigl, who plays Dr. Izzie Stevens on "Grey's" and is Knight's best friend, says she is proud that Knight had the conviction to follow his heart when the only advice he was getting was that he could ruin his career by proclaiming his sexual orientation. no respect at all for how Isaiah has handled this. I'm disgusted. That's probably a really strong thing to say, and I'm probably going to get yelled A: at for saying this, but I remember sitting with T.R. and saying, 'You should say this. And you should go on that show and say that. "It wasn't even me who (Wash.V... ington) was talking about, but I felt so infuriated and angry because that was the only opinion getting heard. Shouldn't T.R. have something to say? But he was right. To say nothing at all is the most dignified thing he could do and the most honorable 1 thing he could do for himself and for what really happened that day and for the whole situation. And it speaks volumes." Knight's behavior earned him a standing ovation at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles in April, a response that he calls "sweet" but still makes him cringe because, he said, "I didn't feel I warranted that. I haven't done anything." Now the actor, who dabbled in a few television show guest spots ("Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Frasier" and "CSI") and was not known to creator Shonda Rhimes when he auditioned for the "Grey's" pilot, is 11 days away from possibly winning an Emmy. Knight was nated for the two-paepisode "Six Days," in which George's father dies. The nomination means "recognition" to Knight, but, he said, it's also a "humbling reminder" of all that he AL SEIBLos Angeles Times still needs to learn. To the Emirys, "Grey's Anatomy" star T.R. Knight, 34, says this year's Emmy nomination is he is wearing a tuxedo and taking a female friend from New York as his a "humbling reminder" of all that he still needs to learn, date. He is not preparing a speech "because I'm not comfortable with on Court TV's "Star Jones" show as "T.R. wasn't going around acting that," which Heigl finds amusing and like a playboy or pretending to be Knight finished his ravioli at the C&O "hypocritical" because she says he Trattoria. something he wasn't," said Heigl, badgered her to write one for herself "I have nothing, absolutely nothwhen she was up for a Globe. who also is nominated for an Emmy, in the best supporting actress catego- ing to say about it," Knight said, his After a most trying year, Heigl believes this is her best friend's moleg tapping underneath the table, his ry. "But it's an omission of the truth by not saying anything at all, and speech slowing considerably . "With ment. all due respect, I haven't said much at "As we all know, the most painful there's a weight to that. I just sense lessons are the ones that can cause a freedom in him that wasn't there, a all, but I have said some, and I don't sense of settling into his own skin." need to say more. That's all I need to. the most growth if you face it," Over the last 11 months, especially That's all I will talk about. That's all. Knight said. "So a lot of it, I think, I'll still be thinking out for a while, but 'Cause it's, 'cause it's August of '07. since Washington's gabfest began, it's good. It's good. And who knows I'm just saying the day, it's August Heigl said, she has often wished her friend would speak up about so much of '07. And it's a beautiful sunny day. what September is going to bring?" The Emmys? In. August. Of 2007." ... more. But Knight is adamant that he has said all he will ever need to say, "Well, yes, we know that," he said, Heigl, on the other hand, has and laughed. even as Washington was appearing plenty to say: "I have absolutely 1 "A I I rt - Mel Brooks sells 'Young Frankenstein,' his big new Broadway musical Michael Kuchware : ... THE dence. "I'm just crazy about it." But then the man is bursting with enthusiasm about the whole show the cast, crew and, if he were asked, most likely the ushers, too; at the Hilton Theatre where the show officially opens Nov. 8. Brooks was in California following a summer Seattle tryout of the musical, which is based on his funny 1974 film comedy. You know the plot it's the story of Frederick Frankenstein, who inherits the Transylvania digs of his famous grandfather, the man who cre- ASSOCIATED PRESS Mel Brooks is a salesman. Right now, he's warbling direct over the telephone from Los Angeles giving a preview of a love song from "Young Frankenstein," his new Broadway musical that begins previews next month and opens in November. "Let's forget about thinking thinking's never smart," he s in a gravel-flecke- d voice that would never be mistaken for melodious. "Flush your brain right down the drain. Listen to your heart." "I think it's the best song I have ever written," Brooks says with disarming confi talk-sing- "Will & Grace") playing Elizabeth (the Madeline Kahn role in the film), Andrea Martin as Frau Blucher, Sutton Foster as Inga, Fred Applegate as Kemp, Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor and Shuler Hensley as the mon- ster. Bart is a veteran of Brooks's "The Producers," where he played not only Carmen Ghia but, later in the run, the leading role of Leo Bloom. But then Brooks has a few more "Producers" alums mega-smas- on board Susan Stroman and writer Thomas Meehan, director-choreograph- ated the monster. Roger Bart appears as the young Frankenstein, and he gets some pretty strong support: Megan Mullally (of TV's k among others. The Seattle tryout wasn't like the old days when frantic writers, frantically rewriting, were holed up in hotel rooms in $mmtm Philadelphia or Boston. "We did that in our own apartments Tom and Stro and I and Glen Kelly, our musical supervisor. We did all the work we would have done out of town by being the audience ourselves. "I gotta tell you a secret. When Tom and I write the jokes, if we don't hold our bellies and laugh, it doesn't go into the script. We never say, 'That'll be good. Or this will kill 'em. Or that works.' The acid test is: We've got to laugh ourselves." So, what did Brooks learn from the Seattle run? "Well, we learned that we were just a little long and we've addressed that by taking out a chorus or two of dancing," he Advertise your Treatment by allergy specialists for children and adults with asthma and allergies to: PLANT POLLENS FOODS " my boyfriend,' Brooks sings it. It kind of "I heard again. wrote itself. Then I thought, 'What am I going to do with this song?" "Because it was in me, I finished this song for Frau Blucher and then other songs kept coming. So I called Stro on." and Tom and said, 'Let's see the movie and see if it's funny and Brooks and Meehan have emotional enough to put on a been working on the script for "Young Frankenstein" for three Broadway stage.' We watched years. The idea for adapting the the movie and they said, 'It's movie as a stage show came to perfect.' And that's when, accordBrooks in a strange way. "I was walking down the ing to Brooks, Stroman street in New York one night added, "Why don't you write 20 about 2 a.m. and I heard this songs?" 17 of them are still He did song in my head. The song was in the show and a new Mel 'He Vas My Boyfriend.' " 'He's Brooks Broadway score was crazy as a coot, but I didn't give a hoot. He vas born. says "It's terrible. Everything is good. So sometimes you've got to throw away a real pearl. I think the law is, 'Are we telling the story? If we're not telling the story, if it's kind of an indulgence, a character indulgence or a personality or a star indulgence, then we cut and move (fe V PETS INSECT VENOM MOLDS All physicians are board certified in allergy and asthma as wen as peaiamcs or internal meaiane. Get 15 lines of text '! and a Garage Sale Kit' illlil i Ii ,r r - . 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