| Show " 4 Never count auditions until they hatch body of a huge grizzly HE HAD A similar role as Tom by Jerry Buck Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES — Reginald Vel- johnson has a knack for getting acting roles he thought he had no chance to land His current series ABC's "Family Matters" a new comedy spinoff from "Perfect Strangers" is a case in point as was his acclaimed role as the sympathetic policeman in the movie "Die Hard" "I always look at an audition as just another audition" he says "I never count my chickens before they hatch I never thought I'd get 'Die Hard' At the auditions I heard the other actors yelling and screaming I thought I'd go soft I thought it might work "A LOT OF people read for this n role I was up against four actors I said 'Hmmm I won't get this" But he did and now he expects to be in the sequel tentatively called "Die Harder" In "Family Matters" (seen Fridays at 7:30 pm on KTVX) Veljohnson plays a policeman who is the husband of Harriette Winslow who had (Jo Marie Payton-France- ) been the elevator operator and is now head of security at the newspaper on "Perfect Strangers" The show focuses on her family THEIR CHICAGO home gets a little crowded at times There's Harriette her husband Carl her sister Wilma (Thelma Hopkins) her baby and Carl's domineering mother (Rosetta Lenoire) In addition the Wins lows have three children "People compare us to Show' I guess because we're a black family" Veljohnson says "But there are so many differences between the Huxtables and the Wins lows Cosby's wife is an attorney My wife runs the elevator He's a doctor I'm a cop It makes a big difference as to what goes on the dinner table" VELJOHNSON made one appearance on "Perfect Strangers" "I think they'd already decided to spin Harriette off" he says "They were just looking for the right chemistry for the husband" As in "Family Matters" and "Die Hard" Veljohnson is frequently cast as a lovable teddy bear in the well-know- 'The-Cosb- Hanks' policeman partner in "Turner and Hooch" and as Gus the chauffeur in "'Crocodile' Dun- ra11""16 4' ''' dee" But he's also played the bad guy On NBC's "227" he was a Santa Claus who stole all the gifts He was on "The Equalizer" twice once as a disc jockey who owed money to the d mob and once as a school official VELJOHNSON was born Reginald WI Johnson in New York but changed the spelling of his name "because I wanted a name people would remember" "I grew up in Queens and I can't think of anything else besides acting that I wanted to do" he says "Nothing else ever occurred to me At 6 I made puppets out of socks and put on shows I was in my first play 'The Toy Shop' in the second-grad- e I was a teddy bear who rolled across the stage I wouldn't roll My mother and grandmother in the audience called 'Roll Reggie roll' I finally rolled and when the audience applauded I was hooked "IN JUNIOR high school they didn't know what to make of me They sent me to a psychologist and he said there was nothing wrong I just wanted to act" Veljohnson is a graduate of New York University and began acting professionally his first year in college He was a spear carrier in Joseph Papp's production of "Hamlet" starring Sam Waterston and Jane Alexander AFTER GETTING his degree in theater he plunged into stage work "I wrote plays I acted" he says "I had two lines on the soap opera 'Another World' I was a truck driver I did a pilot for Alan King called 'Cool Breeze' about a cab company in Brooklyn But ABC came up with 'Taxi' and that was the end of that 'Crocodile Dundee' was my first j mean-spirite- film" Although Veljohnson regularly plays a policeman it didn't do him much good when his car was recently stolen "I DIDN'T know what to do" he says "I didn't want to call the cops The first thing I wanted to do was call my mother" ' l "' ' k '' k : I '' -1 ' ''''''114:- : 111 01 ' ' tV 1 1:7164 f ' ' li ''' 0 ' t !e ' te'''''f': ' ' ' '' - '' ' : ' "' ' IN AJL '' '' r -— 1 : :'' ' :0: r411": 1 '- x0ti 41 ' t 1 ' :: 10 ' ''' ' a ::: i i 't ' r4 ' ! i 1 I't 0 4 I t t 0 ' 1 ' -- 0 '' i :: - - ' 0 -f ' ' i 3 ''i ' 1 a '" ' '' '''" 4 ' toodo ' ' ' ' t :i" '9 t -- h 4 ' 111 A ' - - lt ''' : -' "::''-' '''' ' ' lk '' 1:4:y 4D ' : ''‘ tit - ''''4-:'''- e' '''''' - :‘-- 0 — r k 014 - " Ck e ''-4 '- ' ' 2 1 4 '4 ' " - '''''k--4-":"- ' '''' - e- - ' :1 "' "- - ' Associated Press Newsfeatures Photo in persevering He has a knack for landing roles he Reginald no he had at chance And that's because he never considers auditions a sure thought thing That's how he got the a part in "Family Matters" the ABC comedy spinoff from "Perfect Strangers" Veljohnson believes Joan Rivers is on the rebound with new talk show By Ray Richmond Orange County Register Joan Rivers doesn't make fun of her body anymore She also doesn't wear garish in-studded gowns or burn the midnight oil with celebrities on the tube And she's still not back on Johnny Carson's Christmas card list nor will she probably ever be But Joan Rivers nonetheless is on the rebound And she can still talk — not that we ever expected her to lose that particular ability years after Edgar Rosenberg her husband of 23 years took his life and nearly three years since Fox Broadcasting Cs "The Late' Vgave het short-110esequ- lf d Show" the boot Rivers is back on television and in the news Her new daytime talk program "The Joan Rivers Show" (KUTV 11 am) features a calmer more earthy (if that's possible) Rivers who has been remade into a housewife-friendly issues-awar- e person- business" New York before boarding a plane bound for Hollywood to tape five segments of her show "The GQ thing is a victory for me sure I'm pleased with the way things turned out But part of the settlement is (that) I can't comment on it Placing a gag order on me is the meanest thing a judge could do to me" But Rivers isn't complaining Not hardly She's so happy with the way her life is turning around that she's even dating "I hate it" She says "I mean at my age? Oh God! I ask the guy to tell me a little about himself and he's 56 years old — that's three ality She still does schtick but it's less biting And there's no monologue Rivers is also fresh from a triumph on the legal front A libel lawsuit she filed over a 1988 Gentleman's Quarterly story questioning her character was settled out of court earlier this month with writer Ben Stein required to pay an undisclosed sum to charity nights" The men Rivers is spending her "I can't comment on it" says Riv ers'in teleplioht lAtentiew 'frOm ' tim'with thesd tidyearett't in' "thy real-estat- ' Th relegated Rivers from the headlines to the back pages She was suddenly old news Only her appearances as a regud lar on the "Hollywood Squares" kept Rivers in any kind of spotlight at all "My God even the (National) Enquire? stopped writing about me" says Rivers incredulously "That's what makes our business so wonderful You're up you're down you're up you're down and then — just maybe — you're up again "Now I'm back Let me tell you the parties are better" She also had a recent show segment in which personal protection with handguns was discussed inspiring Rivers to apply a couple of weeks ago for a yolice permit to carry a weapon in New York show "I like that" says Rivers "You'd be surprised how many investment bankers have never heard of me These guys aren't so full of themselves They make me laugh They like me because I'm me not because of who or what I am" Rivers was recently linked romantically in the gossip sheets with e a certain tycoon which she says was true "But he was a cheap one he wouldn't give up an acre so I had to dump him" It's been a long rough road for Rivers on the way to being able to laugh at herself and date again she admits Rosenberg's death tossed Rivers into a year-lon- g funk and the un tertflionfotfi bilhg of het FOX talk at L& Fiiun bold-typ- e Maga1ie since-cancele- Sundaovemb'er 219'89 13 |
