~SPECIAL FEATURE- RACHEL LINDSAY GREENBUSH~

 
                                                                    MY INTERVIEW WITH RACHEL GREENBUSH

Hi Rachel, thanks so much for joining us.  You are most known for portraying Carrie Ingalls on the popular “Little House on the Prairie”. Tell us what that was like?

Thank you for having me. Playing Carrie Ingalls was a lot of fun but also a lot of work

Any projects that you are working on now?

I just finished performing in the "Vagina Monologues" and I will be playing Mrs. Harper in "A Shortstop Away" which is in pre-production

What’s the most memorable guest star on LHOTP that you can recall?

 My goodness there were so many wonderfully talented Actors and Actresses. Ray Bolger would be one along with Dub Taylor, Johnny Cash, Forrest Tucker and Patricia Neal ans so many more.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

 I love to garden and Barbecue or go trail riding with my husband or ride dirt bikes in the desert. 

What advice would you give to child actors and their parents?

To the Parents protect you child, they get exposed to an adult world at a very young age.

To Children always get an education and have a multiple career possibilities outside of the entertainment industry. Learn more than just what to do in front of the camera learn the operations behind it to. There were episodes that Michael wrote, Directed, Starred in and was executive producer.

What actor or project would you like to do in the future?

I would love the opportunity to be in a play or musical production

Your twitter bio says, “sports fan”. Tell is about that?

I grew up competing in equestrian events but I also love Football and follow the Denver Broncos. I can appreciate the commitment hard work and dedication it takes to get to any professional level in sports, I don't follow them as much but I enjoy watching the Golden State warriors as well

What got you into acting?

My Father is a well known actor and a casting agent was looking for twin girls the same age that my sister and i were at the time

Thanks again for joining me. It’s been my pleasure and honor. I wish you the best!

Thank you and all the best to you as well.

~SPECIAL FEATURE-MARIANN AALDA~

            SPECIAL FEATURE-MARIANN AALDA

What are you up to now?

Well, after being based in Chicago (my hometown) for the last three years, and in New York City for several years prior to that, I’m getting ready to make a big move back to Los Angeles, where I lived and worked for more than 20 years.

Why did you leave LA…and why are you moving back?

I moved away when the television industry moved away from me!   I was in my mid-50’s when the phone stopped ringing.  And it wasn’t just that casting directors stopped calling me…most women over 50 pretty much disappeared from both the large and small screens.  But the reason I’m moving back, is because there’s been a change in the culture…and I can once again see a place for me on TV. 

Last year, AARP Studios did a profile on me for their #DisruptAging campaign, as a representative of the Positive Aging movement.

( https://www.aarp.org/disrupt-aging/stories/disruptors/info-2017/mariann-aalda-career-reinvention-video.html )

The last of the Baby Boomers – over 76 million of us in the U.S. – are now over the age of 50. And according to the 2017 U.S. Census, 90.7 million Americans aged 50 and older account for 41.6% of all consumer spending…and they watch television 63% more than do Millenniums.

What brought about doing comedy?

I actually began my career in New York as a sketch comedy writer and performer with Off-Center Theatre and later toured with the Boston-based improv troupe, The Proposition. But after I started getting recognition as one of the few African-American soap opera heroines – playing DiDi Bannister on Procter & Gamble’s EDGE OF NIGHT on ABC – people tended to forget that I had ever done comedy.

That changed, though, in 1984, when Edge (which was produced in New York) was cancelled and I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in prime-time television.

I guest-starred on a ton of sitcoms, playing a wide variety of characters, most notably – and probably the most diametrically opposite – recurring as Meshach Taylor’s yuppie-from-hell girlfriend, Lita Ford, on DESIGNING WOMEN (http://youtu.be/HnSZeyzEwbU )

and as Sherman Hemsley’s ditzy stripper girlfriend, Lois Keller, on FAMILY MATTERS.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7_Hv3u8OZw&sns=em )

I was also the wife or girlfriend to leading men Ernie Hudson, Dennis Haysbert, Clifton Davis and O.J. Simpson and played opposite comedy luminaries Mo’Nique, Kirstie Alley, John Ritter and Robert Guillaume. I was also a series regular  on the CBS sitcom, THE ROYAL FAMILY as the boomerang daughter of Redd Foxx and Della Reese.

realize that casting older actors and telling our stories – instead of just keeping us on the sidelines and incidental to the plot – is good business. It’s an exciting time…and I’m ready to get back into the game!

You’ve had quite an illustrious career, so far! Who would you like to work with that you have not? 

Donald Sutherland and Viola Davis…which probably seems like an odd pairing, but I think they’re both really interesting actors and I feel I could learn a lot from them.

What was your toughest role?

Being unemployed! And that is not a glib answer.  Actors are creative people.  When an actor isn’t working, it’s all too easy to turn all that pent up creativity into negative energy, causing depression.  That’s why I went back to my comedy writing and started creating and producing projects for myself, including standup ( www.FunnyColoredWomen.com );  a 25 episode improv comedy web series ( www.TalkToMeGinger.com ), and a 70-minute solo show

( www.OccupyYourVagina.com )...which, by the way, is available on DVD at the show’s website!

What would be your dream role?

I’d like to be a series regular, again, in an ensemble comedy. I’m actually developing something with Ted Lange (Isaac from LOVE BOAT) that is absolutely hilarious. It would be great if that got picked up!  Other than that, I’m an actor-for-hire.  I love acting – comedy OR drama – and I’ll go wherever the work takes me, including another soap. 

What advice would you give to up and coming actors or comedians?

A lot of young people came of age during the era of Reality TV and they just want to be stars.  But for those who are serious about acting – either drama or comedy – I’d say: “Learn your craft; be persistent; be patient; learn your lines; be on time; be polite; be a team player; develop your own projects instead of waiting for somebody to hire you…and most importantly, NEVER give up!”