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| The Hardy Boys & Nancy
Drew Meet Dracula |
| Guest Star Info |
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Paul
Williams |
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Born in September of 1940, Paul Williams is probably
best know as a songwriter who is known for timeless classics
such as "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy
Days and Mondays," "Evergreen," "Just An Old Fashioned Love
Song" and "Rainbow Connection," Paul Williams is responsible
for what will remain part of our pop culture for many years
to come. His music has been recorded by some of the biggest
names in the entertainment industry. Three Dog Night's
versions of "Just An Old Fashioned Love Song,"
"Out in the Country" and "Family of
Man" have sold millions of copies worldwide. Karen Carpenter's
rich vocals made "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays"
"Let Me Be the One and "I Won't Last a Day Without You," a part
of our lives. Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald,
Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Kermit the Frog and Luther
Vandross are among the hundreds of artists who've recorded Paul's
songs. Paul would become the Music Supervisor for the
Streisand remake of A Star is Born, bringing with
it the challenge of working with three different composers to
produce its award winning score. Williams and Ken Ascher won
a Golden Globe Award for "Best Motion Picture Score." "Evergreen,"
co-written with Barbra Streisand won the 1976 Oscar for "Best
Song of the Year." In 1980, Paul was once again nominated by
the Academy for the score from the box office smash hit The
Muppet Movie for "Best Original Score" as well as the
song "Rainbow Connection" being nominated for "Best Song." The
Muppet Movie
soundtrack went on to win two Grammy
Awards and became the biggest soundtrack album of the year,
exceeding sales of one million units. Paul reunited with Henson
Productions in 1992 for the Disney feature film The Muppet
Christmas Carol. He wrote and produced the songs for
the soundtrack which brought with it yet another Grammy
Award nomination for "Best Musical Album for Children." Paul's
other film credits include the songs and score for many films
including Bugsy Malone, The Secret of Nimh,
The End, Rocky IV, and The
Sum of All Fears. Williams began his career as an actor
in 1965 with his portrayal of a 12 year old prodigy in The
Loved One. He is probably best known for his roles as
Little Enos in the Smokey and the Bandit as well
as the orangutan Virgil in Battle for the Planet of the
Apes. Paul is also remembered for his roles in Oliver
Stone's The Doors and
is no stranger to the small screen. He has appeared on Picket
Fences, Dream On, Honey I Shrunk the Kids,
Boston Common, Walker, Texas Ranger, The Bold
and the Beautiful, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island,
and People Like Us (the NBC miniseries based on the Dominick
Dunne bestseller). Williams had also provided voice-overs for
countless animated series some of which include his role as
Penguin in Batman, the Animated Series, and his recurring
appearances in Phantom 2040. Having obtained his certification
from UCLA as a drug and alcohol counselor, Williams is very
active on the speaker's circuit across the country. Speaking
from his personal experiences with his own addiction and the
knowledge that he gained through his education and his experience
as a counselor. Recently he has returned to the big screen appearing
in The Rules of Attraction and in the Disney film
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. In
a note of interest, Williams was also the singer of the theme
song to the 1973 made-for-television movie The Girls of Huntington
House, which starred Pamela Sue Martin. |
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Lorne
Greene |
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Born in February 1915 in Ontario, Canada,
Lorne Greene attended Queen's University in pursuit of a chemical
engineering degree. Amateur college theatricals whetted his
appetite for the stage, and upon graduation he decided upon
a performing career. He started out on radio, eventually emerging
as Canada's top newscaster, designated "the voice of the CBC."
Moving to New York in 1950, Greene started out on stage, co-starring
on Broadway with Katherine Cornell in Prescott Proposals.
Greene would quickly leap into film roles appearing in the films
Peyton Place, Autumn Leaves, The
Last of the Fast Guns, The Buccaneer,
and The Gift of Love. In 1959, Greene was cast
as Ben Cartwright, owner of the Ponderosa ranch and father of
three headstrong sons, in the TV series Bonanza. He would
hold down this job until 1972; during the series' run, Greene
unexpectedly became a top-ten recording artist with his hit
single "Ringo." Upon the cancellation of Bonanza, Greene
vowed he'd retire, but within one year he was playing a private
detective on the brief TV weekly Griff. He would guest
star in several television series such as The Sonny and Cher
Comedy Hour, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Happy
Days, Vega$, The Love Boat and Alfred Hitchcock
Presents. In 1978, he starred on the network sci-fier Battlestar
Gallactica. Active as chairman of the National Wildlife
Foundation, Greene put forth the organization's doctrine in
his popular syndicated TV series Lorne Greene's Last of the
Wild. His final weekly television appearance was on the
1980 adventure series Code Red. In 1987, Lorne Greene
was all set to recreate Ben Cartwright for the 2-hour TV movie
Bonanza: The Next Generation, but he died before shooting
started and was replaced by John Ireland. |
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Fritz
Feld |
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German actor Fritz Feld was born in
Berlin in October of 1900. He first gained prominence as an
assistant to Austrian impresario Max Reinhardt. Feld came to
the U.S. in 1923 in the touring company of Reinhardt's The
Miracle. Once he reached California, Feld formed the
Hollywood Playhouse in partnership with Joseph Schildkraut.
He would go on to appear in over 400 films starting regularly
around 1936. By appearing in such films as Bringing Up
Baby, The Affairs of Annabel, Millionaire
Playboy, and Knickerbocker Holiday, by
the 1960s and 1970s, Feld was a favorite of moviemakers who'd
grown up watching his vintage screen appearances. Feld was virtually
a regular at the Disney studios appearing in The Computer
Wore Tennis Shoes, Herbie Rides Again,
Herbie Goes Bananas, and Freaky Friday.
He was given fourth billing in Gene Wilder's The World's
Greatest Lover, and was seen in Mel Brooks' Silent
Movie and The History of the World, Part One.
He would also appear with Barbra Streisand in Hello Dolly,
Bette Davis in Pocketful of Miracles, and Jane
Fonda and Robert Redford in Barefoot in the Park.
Besides appearing in over 1000 radio programs, Feld would make
more than 700 TV guest star stints in shows like; I Love
Lucy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Beverly Hillbillies,
Bewitched, Love, American Style, and Magnum,
P.I. One of Feld's last performances was a poignant cameo
as the alcoholic who offers down-and-out Faye Dunaway a match
in Barfly. He died in November of 1993. |
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John van Dreelen |
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John van Dreelen was born on May 5, 1922
to the celebrated Dutch actor Louis Gimberg and the French baroness
deLabouchere. Although his mother wanted him to join her family's
well-established porcelain business, van Dreelen would chose
his father's profession and become an actor. van Dreelen struggled
through small stage productions until the Nazis occupied Holland
and he was interned at Papanburg concentration camp. Assigned
to grueling street construction, he took a chance to instead
join a performers' troupe, and after one fateful performance
he grabbed a uniform from the audience coat-check room and escaped
in the disguise he would later wear so often on both the big
and small screen. After the war, one of his first starring roles
was in Rote Rosen, Rote Lippen, Roter Weind. Made
in 1952, Rote Rosen, featured traditional German costuming,
music, and scenery in an attempt to show the country in a positive,
pre-Nazi light. He would appear in several other German films
over the next couple of years such as, Moselfahrt aus
Liebeskummer and In Hamburg sind die Nächte lang
. In 1958 van Dreelen played a small part in Douglas Sirk's
A Time to Love and a Time to Die, which was filmed
in Europe. This was his American film debut, and he was memorable
enough in the role to secure Sirk's help in emigrating to America.
Once in Hollywood, van Dreelen would start a successful career
as a television guest star appearing in over 120 series episodes,
mini-series, and TV-movies. Some of his guest starring roles
included such shows as 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye,
Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone,
Green Acres, Wonder Woman, Hart to Hart
and Dynasty (He guest starred in two 1985 episodes of
Dynasty as the minister who proform the vows at the wedding
of Amanda Carrington and Prince Michael of Moldavia. By this
time Pamela Sue Martin had already left Dynasty).
He would appear in several teatherical films such as The
Money Pit and Becoming Colette before
his death in September of 1992. |
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