Illinois News Index

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 22 May 1981, p. 44

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Profile Judy Landers keeps fit for her role in "BJ" by Fred Branson Judy Landers was a New York state champion high school gymnast--but she gave up the athletic world for show business after she won a role in a milk commercial that her sister sug­ gested she try out for.. Judy stars as Stacks, one of BJ McKay's seven female truckers, in NBC-TV's "BJ and the Bear:" Judy's sister is Audrey Landers, who plays Afton Cooper in "Dallas." Audrey is two years older, but many people mistake the sisters for twins. "Audrey has always been my 'big sister,' and she's my best friend too. She's always protected me and made the decisions for the two of us. Our relationship is the same today as it was when we were little girls." Audrey was a professional actress by the time she was 13, whHe Judy was content to excel in gymnastics. That all changed when Audrey suggested to a reluctant Judy that she try out for a milk commercial. Judy agreed after she made certain she wouldn't have to recite any jines. The milk commercial was fun, so Judy admitted to herself that she really did want to be an actress. "My mom introduced me to Audrey's agent, and he said I was perfect for a guest role in a series, so he sent me to see the producers of "Whatever Happened to the Class of '65?' and they cast me as 'Wanda the Bod.'" Other guest starring roles soon followed, including a run­ ning role in the "VegaS" series. She's only acted once with sister Audrey, in a pilot for a comedy series, but she would like to work with her sister again soon. "She's much better at drama and I'm better at comedy," explains Judy. "When 'we did the episode of 'BJ and the Bear" where I was kidnapped, she coached me. And if she has to do something funny I try to help her." The former gymnast fines time in her busy scnedule to work oyt in a gymnasium in her apartment building. "Gymnastics and acting both require a sense of discipline," says Judy, "and my mother always stressed discipline when my sister Audrey and I were growing up." TV C0MMM.00 MHVtCtt. MIC. TV BACKSTAGE: Charlene Tilton credits the Bible, her mother and her "Dallas" family with helping her over­ come the heartbreak that has shadowed her ever since she was born. "Life hasn't been easy at all," she says. "You could go so far as to say I've had it rough, very rough. And, you know, it's been that way from the begin­ ning." Her father abandoned the family before Charlene even had a chance to know him. "I never knew him, that's true," she says. "He dumped us only a couple of months after I was born." Life without a father left Charlene with deep emotional scars, especially when it came to relating to other men. "I had to face all sorts of personal difficulties, and had so much to overcome in my life. I grew up with the notion that men couldn't be trusted." . .. Industry sources report Alan Alda of "M'A'S'H" gets $5.6 million a year for his acting, direc­ ting and writing skills. CarroN O'Connor of "Archie Bunker's Place" gets a reported $5.3 million yearly for his starring role and job as script consultant. TV CLOSEUP: Just when it looked like men's tennis might continue to be dominated by just a handful of big name stars, out of the pack have come a significant number of young new faces to threaten the leaders on the Volvo Grand Prix circuit. The number four player on the Volvo Grand Prix tour is 20-year-old Yannick Noah of France, who won his first tournament in Richmond, Virginia, earlier this year. Joining Noah in the Volvo top 15 are two American newcomers--18-year-old Sammy Giammalva of Houston, Texas, and 21-year-old Mel Pureed of Mur­ ray, Kentucky. Other rising stars among the top 30 players on the Volvo Grand Prix circuit are Thierry Tulasne, 17 of France; 21-year-old Fritz Buehning of Short Hills, New Jersey; and 24-year-old Gianni Odeppo of Italy. The 1981 Volvo Grand Prix circuit features more than 90 tournaments in some 30 countries around the world. The top eight point finishers at the end of the season qualify for the $400,000 Volvo Masters in Madison Square Garden next January. by Joey Sasso CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: BeverlM Dean, the psychic, claims she was secretly paid for two years to pick hit shows for ABC-TV. But, she adds, the man who gave her the job, network president Fred Pierce, refused to renew her contract when rumors about her work began to spread. "I'm hearing there's big trouble over this," Dean told me from Las Vegas, where she's 'hiding out' after revealing her story. "I never wanted that in a million years. Pierce told me that they couldn't have any more consultants. But I think in my heart that they had always seen me as a psychic instead of a creative consultant, and the story was getting out." Dean says Pierce offered her the job at $24,000 a year--up to $30,000 the second year--after she did psychic readings for him and ABC ex­ ecutive Tony Thomopoirios in 1977. "At the time I'd been doing everybody at ABC from secretaries to vice presidents," says Dean, a former Chicago newspaper reporter who came to California in 1974 hoping to break into TV. "But I didn't want to do any more readings."

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