Actors/Actresses: November 2006 Archives

I'm really enjoying the addition of Dixie Carter to the cast of "Desperate Housewives." Gloria Hodges is no Julia Sugarbaker that is for sure. Anyway, when I wrote up a story on Dixie's guest stint for the Daily News a few weeks ago, i was a bit miffed when ABC could not deliver series creator Marc Cherry for a quick chat. Marc had worked for Dixie as her personal assistant during part of her run on "Designing Women" and had always wanted to get her on the show in some way. I knew they were delivering an exclusive to TV Guide together (Marc and Dixie). So, because I'm wild about both of them, I'll try and be big about it and share some of the conversation with TV Guide's Mary Murphywith the readers of "Out in Hollywood."

It all began when Marc moved to Los Angeles in 1988 to be a writer. "Designing Women" was in its third season and and a friend of the unemployed Cherry said an actress and her husband needed help moving from Bel Air to Hancock Park. The actress was Dixie Carter and the husband was the great Hal Holbrook. Cherry became Carter's assistant and says working for her was funnier than any project he has ever been associated with.

Cherry: "Every morning Dixie would sweep out of her bedroom and make an entrance. I'd say, 'Dixie, I'm the only one HERE.' It didn't matter. That was when I knew she was a star...I remember one day I counted and there were two maids, a yoga instructor, a voice teacher, a chauffer and a cook in the house and I thought I was in the middle of 'Upstairs, Downstairs.'"

On working with his old boss again: "I got very emotional when I introduced Dixie to the cast. I said, 'This was my start in show business.' And I had a momentary feeling like, 'I guess i have come a long way.' Ever since I started 'Desperate Housewives,' I have thought about her a secret weapon.

Carter says she is surprised at the level of Cherry's success: "I knew Marc was talented but I never knew his trajectory was going to be like this. And I never knew he would turn out to give me the best job in show business." She adds that as her personal assistant, Cherry "never got out of sorts with me. He just had a kind of wry, amised look at everything. He used to say my house was like a sitcom because I'm so disorganized."

Cherry says "Mrs. Holbrook" is still the boss: "When I am working with Dixie, the kid gloves are on. I just want to make sure she is happy."

Lance Bass, gay. T.R. Knight, gay. Neil Patrick Harris, not gay.
The website Canada.com reported that Harris, who plays a relentless womanizer on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," had landed a guest gig on the sitcom for his "longtime sweetheart" actor David Burtka. According to the web site Towleroad, Burtka is aBroadway performer ("Gypsy") who has done several television guest spots and was part of a recent stage performance (pictured) with Harris and several other actors.
Harris, who played a gay men in the Los Angeles production of "Rent" as well as on an episode of "Will & Grace," has not commented but his puiblicist reportedly stated that the actor "is not of that persuasion." We may be hearing more about this in the coming days if Harris chooses to make any clarifications.
Pity. He'd be such a great gay man. Harris is an intelligent, well-spoken performer who navigated the often turbulent waters of child stardom by turning to the stage (Broadway runs in "Cabaret" and "Assassins") after his first series, ABC's "Doogie Howser M.D." I heard him guest on Terry Gross' radio show on NPR earlier this year and was blown away by his knowledge of the theater and his dedication to his craft. Got to tell him so a few months later at a big party for the DVD release of "9 to 5" as we waited for Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton to appear.
With his Barney really being a break-out character on "Mother," now in its second season, I can understand why this kind of story might not come at the best time for Harris but it's going to be tough judging from the backlash I've been seeing on the web about his publicist "inning" him.
Anway, Harris told the CBS Morning Show last month that he was tapped for Barney after his hilarious appearance in the movie "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle."
Although Harris has been a hit on the show, he said he wasn't what the creators originally had in mind to play
"They initially wanted a John Belushi, Jack Black — a big, portly cigar-smoking kind of guy," he said. "And I had just done this movie where I play this extraordinarily extreme version of myself, and the creators had seen it and thought it would be funny. I went in with no expectations at all. In pilot season we do lots of auditions and you rarely get anything. I went in and kind of made an ass of myself. And that's what they wanted. I did a dive roll, actually."
Harris is scheduled to host the 2006 LA Starte Alliance Awards ceremony Nov. 13 at the Orpheum Theater.