May 27, 2024 • 47 mins
In a special mother daughter episode of Let's Be Clear, Shannen remembers her early years as a child actor with the help of her guiding light, Mama Rosa.Together they laugh about the ups and downs of child stardom, and the rigorous studying that happened behind the scenes.Shannen also reveals the project that basically shaped her career and approach to acting.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty. Hi everyone,
welcome to an episode of Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty.
And I have Mama Rosa on. Hi, Mama Rosa, Hi,
Hi everybody. So I wanted my mom to be on
because well, she's only been on one other time and
it was for like a quick Christmas sort of hello
(00:25):
to all of you. But I wanted her on because Mom,
I want to talk early early, early years, right, Like
I want to talk about how I got into the business,
sort of like my first job and then really my
first meaningful job that sort of started my career the
way that it did. So how did I get started?
(00:49):
How did I even get in the business? Mom?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, your first foray into acting was in elementary school
when you played Alice and Alice in Wonderland, and you
really got into that. Wanted the dress and everything, so
we had to go to Disneyland and get you the dress,
and you did that. But then you went with a
friend to a children's theater at a church in Redondo
(01:12):
Beach and you just went to watch her audition and
then we were going to all go out and get
Hamburgers afterwards, and you ended up auditioning, as did your brother,
and you got the role of Sneezy in the Seven
Dwarfs and he got the role of Grumpy, and you
(01:32):
guys just enjoyed it so much. It's like you didn't
want to all you have an audition, but then you
got into it. And the wonderful thing about children's theater
was it allowed you to participate in everything, not just
in the roles that you were doing, but in painting
the sets and helping build the sets. And so from there,
(01:52):
somebody just happened to see you and your brother and
suggested it, and you really wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It, suggested that I do acting.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
That's usually an agent in everything, and your dad and
I discussed it and we were really like we were
basically still new to California and the whole thing kind
of like we weren't sure about it. And you looked
at us one day and you said, I have to
do this, mom, because I have to work with Michael Landon.
(02:24):
And at the time you had this rag doll named Drusilla,
and it was amazing because eventually that led to coming
to life. You played a role of Drusilla in Father Murphy,
which Michael created and brought you into and that really
started a lot. But before that, you had gone to
(02:49):
an agency which was actually an older lady in a
modeling agency, and she sent you to a children's agent
and they put you in Variety magazine and she started
getting all these phone calls and that led to you
doing the animated film The Secret of Nim with Don
(03:10):
de Lauis and the wonderful producer Don Bluth, and it
just kind of roll alone from there. You were with
wonderful people. It was a wonderful experience. You We did
what we needed to do and went there and came home.
Your dad would always drive us the night before to
(03:31):
wherever we had to be the next morning or the
next day for an audition, because I was not familiar
with Los Angeles at all, So how what do you
mean drive the night before? Like the auditions were in
Los Angeles? So then like, would we spend the night
in a hotel or something?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
No, we would just like, oh, we would just go.
We were driving to.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
A location and he'd say, Okay, this is where you
have to go, and I would see it. Then I
would know, so the next morning or then you know
how to get that, I would know how to get there,
that's funny. So it was a lot going on, and
it was a lot not just for you to learn
and your brother to learn, but it was a lot
for me to learn. And I learned how to get
around Los Angeles. I learned how to be more confident
(04:10):
myself and what I needed to do in order to
get to places and get things done. And it was
just a whole learning experience for the whole family, I think,
and we were very cautious about it, and I think
rightly so I think parents need to be cautious about it,
just like you would be cautious about putting your children
in sports or any activities. It all takes not just
(04:32):
a lot from the child, but it takes the family
to be behind it and to be willing to put
in the time work.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Because ultimately, you know, I mean, we had obviously you
and Dad, so you I remember you going to set
with me all the time, which left Sean my brother,
but Dad took him to whatever sports activities everything else.
(05:00):
But essentially, some people would assume that at least one
sibling is left out, like somebody in the family is
perhaps less attention paid to them or whatever, because one
is requiring auditions, and then when they finally book a
job a series, they're going to work five days a week.
(05:20):
And as a child actor, I don't remember back then
what the rules were. How long could we work? Oh,
it's been a while. Was it twelve hours or less?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but I know you
had to. There were definite three hours of school every day, which,
by the way, you guys, doesn't intense. Yeah, it doesn't
seem like a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
But when you're talking about three hours of school, when
you're in a classroom with only maybe either a by
yourself or perhaps five ten kids, that's it's very, very,
very intensive. And I remember my parents and always sort
of fighting for really really good set teachers, which I
(06:04):
did with Helen and Lillian and maryon Fife. I always
had really good set teachers that were heavily focused on
me getting an education, and they actually would not I
remember that there was a chunk of time that they
had to leave you in school. They couldn't take you
out after just ten minutes of being in school. It
(06:25):
was like thirty minute blocks. Yeah, I think it was
something like that. So in those thirty minutes, it's been
many years. I know right for me too, it was
highly focused, intense work. Well, part of that, like when
you're doing commercials, it's a whole different thing because you're
not really familiar with the teacher. Generally, after a while
(06:47):
when you're doing it, you'll run into the same teachers
off and on, and that's always nice. But when you
actually are doing a series or a movie, then you
have the same teacher all the time. And fortunately, once
you started working with Michael Lindon and his crew, the
teachers were excellent. And he told me from the beginning,
(07:08):
he said to me, you as a parent have to
be satisfied with your child's education, because he knew how
important education was for us, and you can't if you
see something, are you there something that troubles you or
you think she needs something different, ative teacher says you
as a parent have the right to go to the
producer and say we need this. Ironically, that was Michael.
(07:32):
He was the producer.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And he was just really wonderful and the teachers that
he had, like Helen Menir, had been with him for years,
I guess since Little House on the Prairie started, and
she was wonderful teacher. And then he brought in Marion Fife,
who was another fabulous teacher that he hit, so we
always knew who was teaching you and what was going on.
(07:57):
And then as you got to older. When you got older,
and I remember one particular series you were on Our House.
It was you and two others, and the other two
children were younger than you, and you were already you
were studying from the least the International School of France,
so we needed teachers that were really there for you
(08:21):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
So eventually you also could speak French, because that was
the whole thing of the school is And eventually you
would want to transfer to the school in Los Angeles,
lily Sae Francais, which is in fact the public school
of France. They had two It was all in the
same campus, but you could either take all your classes
except for French class in English, or you could transfer
(08:44):
to the French side, where every class is taught in French.
And obviously that was always the goal.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And because on that particular show, on the show Our House,
the three of you were in such different age groups
that they required to have separate teachers for and then
you were required to have three teachers because of the
intensive study that you had.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I just remember Lillian being my teacher. Lillian was one
of your teachers. I don't I don't remember other teachers.
There were two other teachers. Maybe it's because I bonded
with Lina and Lynn was the base for you. She
also spoke fluent French, so she said on French test.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And then someone came in for geometry I believe it was,
and then there was another teacher for something else for calculus.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
You got a good education, and it wasn't It wasn't
easy because your dad would go to the school really say,
and they would have all the lesson plans and everything
waiting for him. Once a week he would do that
and it was sealed and it had to be presented
to the teachers sealed. And the test, all the tests,
(09:52):
anytime you took tests, any of your homework, anything, the
teachers put in an envelope and it was sealed and
then it was taken back to the school. So it
was not like you're going to a set and going
into a classroom where they just haven't.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
An a and fixed your work for you and do
all of that. So you got a really good education
which led you to be in the Who's Who among
American high school students, all American high schools, among American
high school students. And that was not for who I was.
It was for my grades. It was for your grades.
(10:26):
It was like the top five percent. I forgot I
was in that. I was in it for two years
in a row, right, an excellent student.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
And going back to what it's like for a family
and for your brother, this is another tribute to Michael.
Michael allowed the crew and anybody working on the series
that if you had children who wanted to come and
be on the show, he would put them in background
or whatever. And Sean loved that, and Sean was really excited.
(10:58):
One time when somebody really wrecked nice. He had a
scene like we was recognized in a base, small thing
that was going on in the background, and it was
in the series, but it was background. But he got
a really good shot and he was like really happy.
But he also loved theater more, and he took acting
class more for theater, and after a while it just
(11:19):
wasn't his thing. He played football, which is.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Why I got into politics. Basically acting anyway, right, essentially
most of our politicians it's all acting, so Okay, that
was That was a lot and very fast. And no,
we like you know you you took a what's supposed
to be a forty five minute podcast, you narrawed it
(11:43):
down to ten minutes. So no, there's a lot more.
We can't cover it all in one because then I'll
have nothing else to talk about, mom. So I'm going
to go back because I I remember my first job
being a pack bell commercial. You're right, and it was
(12:07):
for the Latin American market. Yes, the Spanish Hispanic. And
the woman who played my grandma.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I think it was Carmen Zapata, right, veryst Hispanic actress.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
She was fabulous and all I had to do was sleep.
All I had to do was lay in bed sleep,
which was quite easy. I actually think I fell asleep
on set in the bed because she did like this
is amazing. I'm coming to work and I'm working with
this cool lady and I get to actually sleep and
(12:49):
it was like you were with a grandmother. Yeah, she
was so nice. She was so nice, and I did
I remember I did a shouted out commercial. You did
a lot of commercial.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yes, do you remember what drew you to horses?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yes? Robert Kennedy in his time, no way before that.
What does the story I've been telling everyone.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Because that's true. Here's here's what happened. You went and
you auditioned for a surgery over commercials. Yes, and it
was you had to be on a horse, and we
were in Bell Canyon, which at that time was very secluded,
and I was so nervous about getting there that we
got there I think like five or six in the morning,
(13:42):
and we weren't didn't need to be there till eight
or something, and suddenly we heard all this thundering coming
through and it was this whole big motorcycle gang or whatever,
and I was like, Okay, let's lay down and be
very quiet, and we were just like and then come
to find out, well, they were shooting a commercial there
as well. Another was another commercial.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
But yeah, I do remember Sergio Valentte, it wasn't so
I think I'm still correct that Robert Kennedy and his
times got me into horses. Really yeah, because Sergio, you
were on and off the horse pretty quickly, and I
loved my horse. But there was something that felt a
(14:28):
little like wild about that particular commercial shoot. For me
as a kid, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed everybody who
was in the commercial with me, and but it was
it was weird. It was the area was a little rough.
I mean the land. I mean, now, it's amazing. But
(14:49):
here's what was weird for me is that I remember
they had us sort of climb on the horse one leg.
My right leg would be in the stirrup, and then
you had to hoist your left leg and they would
see whose bottom looked the best in jeans. But we
were kids, we were young, and Sydney Penny did it
(15:12):
with me and her bottom looked the best, so she
had the butt shot, which made her Yes, But a
little now that you think about it, it's a little inappropriate. Now.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
When I said it was great, I just mess you. You didn't, right.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I didn't have to do it, and that part was great,
but I didn't even realize it. I just seated at
the time though that I didn't get the butt shot,
only because the butt shot person then got the big
close up and they were considered sort of the star
of the commercial. But you're right, it's great because I
(15:55):
don't know any commercial that would do that nowadays, at
least in the United States of America. I don't think
that you're doing an ass shot of how old was
I ten? Eleven? Ten? Yeah, I don't think that's happening,
and I.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Think there's it's probably still certain done. Maybe they didn't
even they were thinking. Maybe they were just thinking genes.
I really think they were just thinking where the insignia
was was on the back they were doing a close
up of that. I don't think it was about because
I would not have allowed to do a commercial with adults,
(16:34):
not with kids. You got to be a little bit
more aware. I know you were.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I know you were very protective, not saying you weren't
so sergiov Linte. Was there any other commercials I did? Yeah?
You did.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Do you remember doing Mattel? You did Mattel, I don't. Yeah,
you did various things, and you you joyed it for
the most part. And the Matail commercial you were the
You got to dress up in the long fully dressed
and your hair was all curly, and that was something
(17:11):
that was really especially to have a girl, a little
girl doing commercials.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
It was a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And what I finally figured out was to take the
trunk of my car and I would put a box
for Sean in a box for you and things in it,
and I would have different changes of clothes because we
might think that we're going for one commercial audition and
suddenly we would get you know, we would check in
before we headed home because you didn't have cell phones then,
and it would say, no, we need you to do
(17:39):
and we would go to another commercial. You might have
your hair and braids in the next minute. You might
need to have like curls.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Right. I liked my braids, and I liked my oshkosh
be gosh. You were more a.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Little tomboyish, which was great. And I think that also
because of that, I think it just kept you on
a real level plane and having a brother and just
being a to You weren't slow into like you know,
I have to have this. I have to And then
if you did have to have something special, fine, But
(18:11):
otherwise it was you generally just went in your ashkush.
That's how you got I think that's how secret of nim.
You went in your your I think it was your peach,
your orange colored ashkoush walls. And you always like to
have we called it dog ears. They call it two
ponytails now. But and you always wanted ribbons, so you
(18:34):
always had ribbons in your hair. You love ribbons, but
you were a top little tomboy basically.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Well the ribbons just for me was decorative and gave
a little just to my outfit, but it was it
was cute. So when you did the Secret of Nim
they actually put a big bow in your character's hair
because you always wore ribbons. That was a nod to you.
As I ran into Don Bluth at a convention, and
(19:05):
I can't believe how talented he is. He drew me.
I brought it home and I showed you right, he
drew he he drew Teresa all over again and signed
it and we talked about what that experience was and
the big bow in my hair and all of it.
What a wonderful that was with Don de Luise. Yeah,
(19:28):
but Don Bluth was amazingly talented and so kind, so kind,
And you know the interesting thing about voiceovers is that
you don't you're in a booth by yourself, recording your lines,
with people staring through recording studio through a glass telling you,
(19:50):
you know, do it this way or do it that way,
or give me five readings in a row, and you
don't get to hang out with the cast that much
because you're all on different time schedule. But I did
meet Dom DeLuise.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I think also by doing an animated movie while you
were so young and doing that voiceover later, you have
always been so good doing this in the sound booth
when they have to go back and.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Oh you mean looping. Yeah, and that's just that's little
That's that's Father Murphy and little House. That's Michael Landon
one hundred percent. That taught me how to. But I
think you were so deep into it because you felt
comfortable because you'd part of Yeah. I mean I I
don't particularly love it now because I think when you're
so guys, what looping is is if there's when you're
(20:43):
filming and there's a noise over your line but you
don't have time to take it over, or the sound
cuts out, there's something weird. When they're done editing, you
go into a booth and you re record, but you
have to match the movement of your mouth perfectly. Sometimes
they don't do it perfectly, which is when all of
(21:05):
us watch a show and we're like, ooh, what's that.
That's that's what's called bad looping. And I I don't
love it because I think when you're in the moment
on the sound stage and you're filming with your fellow actors,
there's a different chemistry. There's all the emotion is coming up,
(21:27):
you're fully in character. But I'm also not deeply opposed
to it. When I have to loop, I'm okay with
it because of Michael's with it. Yeah, I so back
then when I when I started, because I'm old, you
(21:48):
didn't have the the the playback, so you couldn't watch
your lips, you couldn't do anything. There was no patience,
all by sound and so they would beep you in
so it would be three beep, beep, beep. You could
hear what you recorded most of the time, but you
(22:08):
had to be perfectly in sync with that. And that
is the hardest way to loop humanly possible, in my opinion.
But that's how I learned, and I think that's why
I'm really good at it is because and Michael taught
me how. And by the way, his sound engineers were fantastic,
(22:32):
his whole crew.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
There was nobody in his crew that wasn't just and
they were just. They were kind, they were polite, they
were respectful. I mean, they were fun. I mean, they
were just it was I think it's probably one of
the best crews evers e were in the business ever.
But you've always been a crew person. You've always since
(22:56):
you were little. You would like both talk to the crew.
You always have just been interested it's and they would help.
They would show you things, they taught you things.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
And then once Michael taught me how to play Liar's Poker,
I would always hang out with them so I could
make extra money, which is hysterical. So Father Murphy the
audition came around, and like my mom said earlier, I
had this sort of cloth doll that I had named Drusilla.
So we get the sides for Father Murphy for the audition,
(23:29):
and the character.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Didn't get the sides. Did you get them before? I
thought you didn't get them to you walked into the
into the room.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I don't know. Do you think I did a cold read?
I'm pretty sure I can't remember. Okay, I trust your memory.
Let's say I did a cold read, walked in and
the part was named Drusilla, which was so cool. I
also thought, well, I'm getting this job because you walked
into a room full of this is your first series.
(24:01):
But it wasn't a series. I was only a two
part episode. Yeah, but I mean you know it led
to but you walked into a room. I walked in
with you, you know, to check you in.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
And then there were a room full of children, some
parents sitting in and I'm like, are you okay? Yep,
I'm okay, mom I said you want me to They
handed you the sides. I'm like, you want me to
go over anything? Nope, I got.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
It, mommy.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I'm like okay, I'm like, I'll be right out in
the hall. And you sat there and you wait and
they called you in. And you always knew when you
got something, you would always come out and say I
got this, mommy.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I'm like, oh, I did not say that. When I
auditioned for the Haves The's commercial, I came out have
The's commercial. Do you remember that Cereal have The's that
I auditioned for and I knew I didn't have it.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Oh, you would come out and say, I don't I
don't have.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I also told them I didn't know the cereal that
I didn't care. I was far too honest as a kid,
which continued throughout my adult life, which caused a lot
of problems, but I don't regret it sort of. So yeah,
so I knew I had that. I walked out and
I was so excited because it was a Michael Landon
(25:13):
produced TV show and it was with Merlin Olsen and
then the man who played my father, Eli was Jack Elam.
What a wonderful a character actor back then, very well known,
and he was so awesome to work with, and so
(25:37):
was Merlin. And there was Timothy and Scottie like Catherine, Catherine,
everybody else on the set. It was such a cool experience.
I wore buckskins for half of it. We shot it
in Arizona, and it was one hundred and ten, one
hundred and twenty degrees.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Tucson out in the old movie own some old movie
outside of Tucson.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It was so hot. I have pictures of me in
the trailer with bandanas wrapped around my neck on my
forehead because people were passing out from the heat. And again,
when you wear buckskins, that's and a coonskin can and
a coonskin hat. So you would wrap bandanas, you would
(26:23):
dunk them in sea breeze. Ice. Yeah, so ice and
sea breeze, and then dunk your bandanas in and that
would keep you time around your neck cooler. But that
was a wild, fun experience. It was, well, that's the
first time we ever went anywhere by ourselves. You and
(26:45):
I boarded a plane.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Dad and Sean took us to the airport and we
got on the plane to Tucson. You had you had
a cowboy hat, you had a stroke cowboy hat because
you were going to cowboy country and we're so cute,
and you had Drew.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Sillhow with you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
And when we got there, this big, heavy set man
was like so jolly and I we didn't know who
he was, but he was like he was taking care
of us and everything else. It ended up to be
an exec producer, Kim McCrae, who was wonderful and his
his later he married Susan McCray. It suckman at the time.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
He married her, who was the head casting director for
Michael's shows.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
But it was it was such a beautiful experience. And
on your lunch break, you would come in and we
had everybody was in honeywagon. There were no special trailers
and you would take you would sleep during your lunch
and then you would it was so damn hot. Yeah,
you just needed like to recoup and then you could
always get you know, you always had food there. But
it was like, yeah, you slept, it was way too hot.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah, but it was fun, very fun, cool, different experience.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I loved everyone, But remember what you got special every day.
I think Jack brought it to you what it was
because it's this old western town and they're open sometimes
for tourist type of root beer floats.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Oh my gosh, that's right, that's right, that's I think
it was Jack that brought me to what a nice
man he was.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
And then you met his daughter who was doing a
little into the same age, but she was working at
times at the Zoo and Santa Barbara, and we went
up there. It's beautiful, it was. It was a beautiful
show to be on and beautiful people to work with.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
So how did Father Murphy lead to Little House Father Murphy?
Your particular episode on Father Murphy. It was a two
part episode. It pulled such high numbers from what I
was told that NBC was really interested and NBC was
really wanting to do something with you, and Michael was
holding back because Michael they wanted and all the director
(29:02):
and the producers on Father Murphy wanted him to put
you on Father Murphy. They wanted you on Father Murphy
and NBC. I think too that everybody wanted you to
come on Father Murphy and hold those ratings that you
were pulling from the two part episode. It wasn't really
about me, honestly, it was probably more about Jacqueline. But
it was also the writing. It was the episode, so
(29:22):
it was our director Bill. I remember how fantastic he was.
It was. It was just I mean, first off, the
show was really good, but those particular two episodes, I
think we're just so well written and struck a chord
with people, and your character left a lot.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
It left a lot to work with and you were
I don't you would have did. The boys were pretty much.
I can't remember what girl was on there. If there
was a I don't remember there was, yeah, and I
remember she was really pretty. And it was the first
time I'd ever sort of formed a crush, which really
paralleled my character because there was Scotty and there was Timothy,
(30:08):
and my character has the crush on the older boy Timothy,
but the younger boy has the crush on me and
their brothers. So the older one was all about his age.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Beautiful stunning girl as opposed to me with my buck teeth,
and it's sort of paralleled real life. And I remember
it was it was my first kiss ever because Scotty
had to kiss me on the cheek. That's right, that's right.
He did. He did like a quick kiss on my
(30:44):
cheek for the show in the show, and I just
remember being a little embarrassed and being like, oh, why
can it be Timothy because you yeah, it's just and
that was that's nice.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
That was nice that you were a little in embarrass
I would have been a little concern.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, I mean it was You're in front of a
whole crew and you're young, and it was just an
innocent like it was literally like a quick peck on
the cheek. But for me it was still sort of like, oh,
this is this is crazy. What's happening right now? I
can't believe people are watching this. Okay, So how did
(31:26):
that lead to Little House? Mom? I'll tell you how,
I'll tell you. Here's what I happened. Is Michael Little
House on the Prairie was ending, but he was starting
a continuation of it called Little House in the New Beginning.
(31:46):
That was you know, Laura Ingalls and Almonzo and Victor
French was going to continue his role on it, better
known to me as Stinky, and Catherine McGregor was going
to stay. It was basically that Michael Karen Grassel, that
whole group Melissa Dina Anderson was leading was leaving, and
(32:14):
so it was all about Laura Ingles for the most part.
And yeah, yeah, and he brought me in to do
Little House in New Beginning, which I'm not sure how
many seasons it lasted, but I recall it being a
total four years of my life if I'm correct. If
I'm not, please a view er look it up and
tell me or a listener, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
It's when Laura Ingles meets Almonzo and she married. She's
married to Almonzo Almonzo, but now she's moved on and
she's has a baby. Yes, and her niece, who is you?
I was not her niece. I was Almonzo's niece.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Somonzo's brother comes to visit with his daughter, which was
me Jenny Wilder, and he suffers a massive heart attack.
He knew he was sick, that's why he brought me there.
He dies and they essentially take me in and treat
(33:12):
me as their own sort of. I mean, I did
they ever do an official.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Adoption and that they did, I don't know, but basically,
they adopted you into their family.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
This is turning into like a trivia episode, you guys.
So anything that we say we don't know or we're
not sure about, feel free to let me know what
it is. Did they have adoption official adoption back then?
I don't know. So right, So he brought me in
(33:45):
and I just remember being seriously overjoyed that I got
to work with Michael again because he was so kind
and so funny and so witty and so smart. So
(34:16):
little house actually getting the job? Did I do remember?
Did I have to audition for it? I don't believe
you auditioned.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
I just believe you went in and you just you
met with them, and they just wanted to see because
you'd grown. It was a couple of years or whatever
you had, you had grown. You weren't that little girl
you were like now you were taller you were, you
had grown, and they just I think, you're just just
meeting with you again. That's all, just seeing you saying hi,
(34:44):
and that was it.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
And I got the job, which was thrilling and exciting.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Very exciting, and to be on the lot when we
were on a lot, to be on the MGM lot
because it was MGM back then. Yes, And in the
old MGM all, the kids would go to the cafeteria.
I mean it was people who had been there for years,
and the security guards. You would drive in every morning
(35:12):
and they would hello, and they would say our names.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Even my name. They were really nice. We were just like,
it was a beautiful lot to be on. And then
sometimes we would shoot at Disney Ranch yep, the outdoor stuff.
And then other times we would shoot what Tapenga do
you remember? Oh?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
It was Seemi Valley, Tepo Canyon. That's where else I saw, right,
they sent wranglers out in the mornings before everybody came
to Yeah, check everything.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah. I never had a problem with Rattlesnake's I still
don't you do though, But well that's a whole other episode. Mom,
you and nature. She's like, I'll never be a lot
of nature. I just don't like to be, you know,
sometimes it rebels against you. But again that's a different episode.
(36:03):
So all right, so I've gone on Little House. I
think it was a four year time period. And one
of my favorite episodes I did was with Ralph Bellamy. Well,
that's something else that Michael did. He brought in, like
via Miles, he brought in wonderful people and wrote wonderful
(36:27):
episodes that gave you such a beautiful experience, and it
was just it was really exciting to see that part
of what the experience of being in the business. Yeah.
I can't remember what that episode was called, but it
was Michael wrote it, Michael directed it, and it was
(36:52):
Ralph Bellamy played country doctor that was losing his eyesight,
and oh it makes me cry. He was so good
and he basically wasn't really able to take on patience
anymore because it was losing, as I say, and my
character lost. I was with my friends and the lockett
(37:19):
that my father was pretty much the only thing I
had from my dad that he gave me had somehow
fallen off in the pond slash lake, and I dove
down to get it, and my character got stuck under
like trees and brush and I was down there for
far too long. And so when they finally found me
(37:45):
and brought me up, I couldn't speak properly. I stuttered.
I couldn't spit out words. I couldn't formulate the words.
I had a limp. And I remember the big, huge
water tank on the sound stage. A human aquarium is
what I was big. And again Michael was directing, so
(38:06):
he was very concerned about my safety and he made
me feel good.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
He talked to me about He took me aside and
explained everything.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
I mean, he just he did have to tell me
a couple of times to stop holding my breath with
my cheeks puffed out, because supposedly, like I'm I've now
drowned and I'm no longer breathing, but my cheeks. I
would I would. I would hold my breath so it
would seem like I was no longer conscious, but I
(38:36):
would puff out my cheeks with all the air that
I had sucked in before I went down to get
in position. So I don't know, there might be I
would have to look that episode up and see if
I ever actually did that right. I might not have.
I somehow recalled that I saw it a long time ago,
(38:57):
and I was like, oh my gosh, look at my
cheeks puffed out. There was another stump woman doing that.
You did the whole thing. But he was, Oh, I'm
gonna have to find the photo. There's a photo of
me wrapped up in a bathrobe with Michael and he's
talking to me and directing me, and I'm looking at
him with such adoration because I did. I adored him.
(39:22):
He was a mentor. He very much can't appreciate, but
he appreciated your interest because you would like, instead of
going off to play, you would come and you would
sit behind camera and Teddy Boitlander, Teddy Boightlander, one of
the best dps of all times photographers.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You were interested, You had such an interest, and you
nobody ever had to tell you your mark anything. You just
you were so totally wrapped in it. You just you
couldn't get enough of it.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
It was like, Yeah, Teddy taught me all about different lenses,
and he would have me sit behind the camera and
learn how to operate and then teach me about the lenses.
And he gave me a list of books on lighting
that I still have, like the Face on Her Light.
There are just some extraordinary books that I still pick
(40:15):
up today and I certainly use them. When I was
directing Charmed and the web thing, I did music videos.
I still sort of look at those books that show
Little House shaved me in so many ways, and it
still is the best experience of my entire career, and
(40:36):
as a parent, because you hear so many negative things
about children working in the industry and everything. But as
a parent, and you know, I had questions in the beginning,
and I wanted to be sure, but you were with
the right person. You were with the right people.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
And it's a parent watching this and watching them taking
note of your interests and you're intelligent to see it
and to grasp it. And they just they were thrilled
with you as you were with them about wanting to learn.
They were as still about teaching you. Yeah, and so
it was just really and I was just it was
(41:14):
a very comfortable thing as a parent to see that
they didn't just treat you as some kid that like,
you know, oh, just you did this, now, go go
your room or whatever.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
They just always was were there for you and the Okay,
So going back to the Ralph Fellamy in the episode,
So I drowned a little bit and and I lose
my speech and I have a limp, and I am
the last patient of this country doctor essentially, because everybody
(41:47):
else is saying they can't do anything for me, if
I recall correctly. And Ra Fellamy again one of the
most prolific character actors. He was in Trading Spaces. He's
just phenomenal. He lived in New York, very old school,
and he had this little licorice candy stillies. I think
(42:10):
that always came. Which, by the way, you have them,
you always have them. I always have them, have stillies, hastillies, yes,
And so he would. He would always bring me a
ten and he got me hooked on those. But we
just bonded, and I remember he would write me letters afterwards.
(42:33):
We would we were like pin pals for a little bit.
He would sit by you.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
I mean you could either one of you could have
gone and done anything, and while they're setting up for
another scene or something, but he the two of you
would sit there in your chairs and you would have
these conversations. You would talk to you and you would
each have a little licorice once in a while. And
it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
And I always tried to like give space. I didn't
want to hover. I wasn't gonna whether it was whatever
it was.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
I was not the mother that was going to leave
my children or put them with somebody else to take
care of. It's like if I can't, if I can't
watch over my kids especially, this was like really nothing
we had ever been familiar with. I was going to
be there. If not, then you weren't. But it just
to sit back, and I always try to sit, and
(43:24):
of course you would always at some point come and
sit on my lap, and you even did that my
own Charmed and all the others. You would always come
sit on my lap at some point. But it was
amazing just sit and watch you and Rap Blamey sit
there and have this relationship.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Nowadays, I don't sit on your lap, but my legs do. Yeah,
watch TV while I watched TV. So this is just
it's it's kind of amazing because when I think about
the long span of my career, but also how rough
(44:02):
some jobs were and unenjoyable to be a part of
a little bit toxic. It was really the experience on
Little House that spurred that passion on for being an actor.
(44:24):
And it was having a mentor like Michael Landon. And
I don't care what anybody else's experience was, Like I
know the truth about that man, and he was just
unbelievable so so so talented, so kind, so considerate, and
(44:48):
it really helped shape me. And he was incredibly caring
for my entire family, not just you and me. He
was caring for Dad and for Sean. And he actually
sent your dad to a doctor at UCLA that was
Red duel Stein. I clink that was very hard to
(45:08):
get into it. He he knew that because he had
took the time to talk to your dad and know him,
and that's how he knew that, and in order to
give your dad that opportunity. So yeah, I know, he
was very he was. He was very interesting man. All Right,
you guys, there is going to be a part two
(45:31):
of this because a we have more to talk about
Little House, but also what came after Little House. We
haven't even Cliffwood Avenue kids. What's Cliffwood Avenue kids? Like,
we see we skipped right over an we'll make notes.
We didn't one of the best casting directors. Yes, so
(45:55):
we'll talk all about that. We'll talk about the transition
into our House Wilfred Brimley, which.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
I'm watching now on some network. I know, I like
last night you were watching it and you walked in
and I always like, what like this is so weird.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
I walked right out. I say, yeah, you can't. I can't,
but yeah, listen, Let's be clear. Is a diary, it's
a memoir. It's also about the present. It's also about
the future. Right now with my mom, we're going to
do a little bit of the past. So please, I
hope you enjoy this episode. It's so special for my
(46:34):
mom and I to be able to do this and
memory share our memories with all of you because there's
so many positive ones, so many beautiful ones that that
that will have forever, like just moments between mother and daughter.
That's incredibly incredibly special. Don't cry, mama. And then obviously
(46:57):
there'll be a part two. So thank you so much
for listening to be Clear with Shannon Doherty. And let's
think my mama, Mama Rosa. She's already tearing up. So
bye you guys, Thank you so much. Bye guys,
This is Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty. Hi everyone,
welcome to an episode of Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty.
And I have Mama Rosa on. Hi, Mama Rosa, Hi,
Hi everybody. So I wanted my mom to be on
because well, she's only been on one other time and
it was for like a quick Christmas sort of hello
(00:25):
to all of you. But I wanted her on because Mom,
I want to talk early early, early years, right, Like
I want to talk about how I got into the business,
sort of like my first job and then really my
first meaningful job that sort of started my career the
way that it did. So how did I get started?
(00:49):
How did I even get in the business? Mom?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, your first foray into acting was in elementary school
when you played Alice and Alice in Wonderland, and you
really got into that. Wanted the dress and everything, so
we had to go to Disneyland and get you the dress,
and you did that. But then you went with a
friend to a children's theater at a church in Redondo
(01:12):
Beach and you just went to watch her audition and
then we were going to all go out and get
Hamburgers afterwards, and you ended up auditioning, as did your brother,
and you got the role of Sneezy in the Seven
Dwarfs and he got the role of Grumpy, and you
(01:32):
guys just enjoyed it so much. It's like you didn't
want to all you have an audition, but then you
got into it. And the wonderful thing about children's theater
was it allowed you to participate in everything, not just
in the roles that you were doing, but in painting
the sets and helping build the sets. And so from there,
(01:52):
somebody just happened to see you and your brother and
suggested it, and you really wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It, suggested that I do acting.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
That's usually an agent in everything, and your dad and
I discussed it and we were really like we were
basically still new to California and the whole thing kind
of like we weren't sure about it. And you looked
at us one day and you said, I have to
do this, mom, because I have to work with Michael Landon.
(02:24):
And at the time you had this rag doll named Drusilla,
and it was amazing because eventually that led to coming
to life. You played a role of Drusilla in Father Murphy,
which Michael created and brought you into and that really
started a lot. But before that, you had gone to
(02:49):
an agency which was actually an older lady in a
modeling agency, and she sent you to a children's agent
and they put you in Variety magazine and she started
getting all these phone calls and that led to you
doing the animated film The Secret of Nim with Don
(03:10):
de Lauis and the wonderful producer Don Bluth, and it
just kind of roll alone from there. You were with
wonderful people. It was a wonderful experience. You We did
what we needed to do and went there and came home.
Your dad would always drive us the night before to
(03:31):
wherever we had to be the next morning or the
next day for an audition, because I was not familiar
with Los Angeles at all, So how what do you
mean drive the night before? Like the auditions were in
Los Angeles? So then like, would we spend the night
in a hotel or something?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
No, we would just like, oh, we would just go.
We were driving to.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
A location and he'd say, Okay, this is where you
have to go, and I would see it. Then I
would know, so the next morning or then you know
how to get that, I would know how to get there,
that's funny. So it was a lot going on, and
it was a lot not just for you to learn
and your brother to learn, but it was a lot
for me to learn. And I learned how to get
around Los Angeles. I learned how to be more confident
(04:10):
myself and what I needed to do in order to
get to places and get things done. And it was
just a whole learning experience for the whole family, I think,
and we were very cautious about it, and I think
rightly so I think parents need to be cautious about it,
just like you would be cautious about putting your children
in sports or any activities. It all takes not just
(04:32):
a lot from the child, but it takes the family
to be behind it and to be willing to put
in the time work.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Because ultimately, you know, I mean, we had obviously you
and Dad, so you I remember you going to set
with me all the time, which left Sean my brother,
but Dad took him to whatever sports activities everything else.
(05:00):
But essentially, some people would assume that at least one
sibling is left out, like somebody in the family is
perhaps less attention paid to them or whatever, because one
is requiring auditions, and then when they finally book a
job a series, they're going to work five days a week.
(05:20):
And as a child actor, I don't remember back then
what the rules were. How long could we work? Oh,
it's been a while. Was it twelve hours or less?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but I know you
had to. There were definite three hours of school every day, which,
by the way, you guys, doesn't intense. Yeah, it doesn't
seem like a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
But when you're talking about three hours of school, when
you're in a classroom with only maybe either a by
yourself or perhaps five ten kids, that's it's very, very,
very intensive. And I remember my parents and always sort
of fighting for really really good set teachers, which I
(06:04):
did with Helen and Lillian and maryon Fife. I always
had really good set teachers that were heavily focused on
me getting an education, and they actually would not I
remember that there was a chunk of time that they
had to leave you in school. They couldn't take you
out after just ten minutes of being in school. It
(06:25):
was like thirty minute blocks. Yeah, I think it was
something like that. So in those thirty minutes, it's been
many years. I know right for me too, it was
highly focused, intense work. Well, part of that, like when
you're doing commercials, it's a whole different thing because you're
not really familiar with the teacher. Generally, after a while
(06:47):
when you're doing it, you'll run into the same teachers
off and on, and that's always nice. But when you
actually are doing a series or a movie, then you
have the same teacher all the time. And fortunately, once
you started working with Michael Lindon and his crew, the
teachers were excellent. And he told me from the beginning,
(07:08):
he said to me, you as a parent have to
be satisfied with your child's education, because he knew how
important education was for us, and you can't if you
see something, are you there something that troubles you or
you think she needs something different, ative teacher says you
as a parent have the right to go to the
producer and say we need this. Ironically, that was Michael.
(07:32):
He was the producer.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And he was just really wonderful and the teachers that
he had, like Helen Menir, had been with him for years,
I guess since Little House on the Prairie started, and
she was wonderful teacher. And then he brought in Marion Fife,
who was another fabulous teacher that he hit, so we
always knew who was teaching you and what was going on.
(07:57):
And then as you got to older. When you got older,
and I remember one particular series you were on Our House.
It was you and two others, and the other two
children were younger than you, and you were already you
were studying from the least the International School of France,
so we needed teachers that were really there for you
(08:21):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
So eventually you also could speak French, because that was
the whole thing of the school is And eventually you
would want to transfer to the school in Los Angeles,
lily Sae Francais, which is in fact the public school
of France. They had two It was all in the
same campus, but you could either take all your classes
except for French class in English, or you could transfer
(08:44):
to the French side, where every class is taught in French.
And obviously that was always the goal.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And because on that particular show, on the show Our House,
the three of you were in such different age groups
that they required to have separate teachers for and then
you were required to have three teachers because of the
intensive study that you had.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I just remember Lillian being my teacher. Lillian was one
of your teachers. I don't I don't remember other teachers.
There were two other teachers. Maybe it's because I bonded
with Lina and Lynn was the base for you. She
also spoke fluent French, so she said on French test.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And then someone came in for geometry I believe it was,
and then there was another teacher for something else for calculus.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
You got a good education, and it wasn't It wasn't
easy because your dad would go to the school really say,
and they would have all the lesson plans and everything
waiting for him. Once a week he would do that
and it was sealed and it had to be presented
to the teachers sealed. And the test, all the tests,
(09:52):
anytime you took tests, any of your homework, anything, the
teachers put in an envelope and it was sealed and
then it was taken back to the school. So it
was not like you're going to a set and going
into a classroom where they just haven't.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
An a and fixed your work for you and do
all of that. So you got a really good education
which led you to be in the Who's Who among
American high school students, all American high schools, among American
high school students. And that was not for who I was.
It was for my grades. It was for your grades.
(10:26):
It was like the top five percent. I forgot I
was in that. I was in it for two years
in a row, right, an excellent student.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
And going back to what it's like for a family
and for your brother, this is another tribute to Michael.
Michael allowed the crew and anybody working on the series
that if you had children who wanted to come and
be on the show, he would put them in background
or whatever. And Sean loved that, and Sean was really excited.
(10:58):
One time when somebody really wrecked nice. He had a
scene like we was recognized in a base, small thing
that was going on in the background, and it was
in the series, but it was background. But he got
a really good shot and he was like really happy.
But he also loved theater more, and he took acting
class more for theater, and after a while it just
(11:19):
wasn't his thing. He played football, which is.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Why I got into politics. Basically acting anyway, right, essentially
most of our politicians it's all acting, so Okay, that
was That was a lot and very fast. And no,
we like you know you you took a what's supposed
to be a forty five minute podcast, you narrawed it
(11:43):
down to ten minutes. So no, there's a lot more.
We can't cover it all in one because then I'll
have nothing else to talk about, mom. So I'm going
to go back because I I remember my first job
being a pack bell commercial. You're right, and it was
(12:07):
for the Latin American market. Yes, the Spanish Hispanic. And
the woman who played my grandma.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I think it was Carmen Zapata, right, veryst Hispanic actress.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
She was fabulous and all I had to do was sleep.
All I had to do was lay in bed sleep,
which was quite easy. I actually think I fell asleep
on set in the bed because she did like this
is amazing. I'm coming to work and I'm working with
this cool lady and I get to actually sleep and
(12:49):
it was like you were with a grandmother. Yeah, she
was so nice. She was so nice, and I did
I remember I did a shouted out commercial. You did
a lot of commercial.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yes, do you remember what drew you to horses?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yes? Robert Kennedy in his time, no way before that.
What does the story I've been telling everyone.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Because that's true. Here's here's what happened. You went and
you auditioned for a surgery over commercials. Yes, and it
was you had to be on a horse, and we
were in Bell Canyon, which at that time was very secluded,
and I was so nervous about getting there that we
got there I think like five or six in the morning,
(13:42):
and we weren't didn't need to be there till eight
or something, and suddenly we heard all this thundering coming
through and it was this whole big motorcycle gang or whatever,
and I was like, Okay, let's lay down and be
very quiet, and we were just like and then come
to find out, well, they were shooting a commercial there
as well. Another was another commercial.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
But yeah, I do remember Sergio Valentte, it wasn't so
I think I'm still correct that Robert Kennedy and his
times got me into horses. Really yeah, because Sergio, you
were on and off the horse pretty quickly, and I
loved my horse. But there was something that felt a
(14:28):
little like wild about that particular commercial shoot. For me
as a kid, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed everybody who
was in the commercial with me, and but it was
it was weird. It was the area was a little rough.
I mean the land. I mean, now, it's amazing. But
(14:49):
here's what was weird for me is that I remember
they had us sort of climb on the horse one leg.
My right leg would be in the stirrup, and then
you had to hoist your left leg and they would
see whose bottom looked the best in jeans. But we
were kids, we were young, and Sydney Penny did it
(15:12):
with me and her bottom looked the best, so she
had the butt shot, which made her Yes, But a
little now that you think about it, it's a little inappropriate. Now.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
When I said it was great, I just mess you. You didn't, right.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I didn't have to do it, and that part was great,
but I didn't even realize it. I just seated at
the time though that I didn't get the butt shot,
only because the butt shot person then got the big
close up and they were considered sort of the star
of the commercial. But you're right, it's great because I
(15:55):
don't know any commercial that would do that nowadays, at
least in the United States of America. I don't think
that you're doing an ass shot of how old was
I ten? Eleven? Ten? Yeah, I don't think that's happening,
and I.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Think there's it's probably still certain done. Maybe they didn't
even they were thinking. Maybe they were just thinking genes.
I really think they were just thinking where the insignia
was was on the back they were doing a close
up of that. I don't think it was about because
I would not have allowed to do a commercial with adults,
(16:34):
not with kids. You got to be a little bit
more aware. I know you were.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I know you were very protective, not saying you weren't
so sergiov Linte. Was there any other commercials I did? Yeah?
You did.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Do you remember doing Mattel? You did Mattel, I don't. Yeah,
you did various things, and you you joyed it for
the most part. And the Matail commercial you were the
You got to dress up in the long fully dressed
and your hair was all curly, and that was something
(17:11):
that was really especially to have a girl, a little
girl doing commercials.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
It was a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And what I finally figured out was to take the
trunk of my car and I would put a box
for Sean in a box for you and things in it,
and I would have different changes of clothes because we
might think that we're going for one commercial audition and
suddenly we would get you know, we would check in
before we headed home because you didn't have cell phones then,
and it would say, no, we need you to do
(17:39):
and we would go to another commercial. You might have
your hair and braids in the next minute. You might
need to have like curls.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Right. I liked my braids, and I liked my oshkosh
be gosh. You were more a.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Little tomboyish, which was great. And I think that also
because of that, I think it just kept you on
a real level plane and having a brother and just
being a to You weren't slow into like you know,
I have to have this. I have to And then
if you did have to have something special, fine, But
(18:11):
otherwise it was you generally just went in your ashkush.
That's how you got I think that's how secret of nim.
You went in your your I think it was your peach,
your orange colored ashkoush walls. And you always like to
have we called it dog ears. They call it two
ponytails now. But and you always wanted ribbons, so you
(18:34):
always had ribbons in your hair. You love ribbons, but
you were a top little tomboy basically.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Well the ribbons just for me was decorative and gave
a little just to my outfit, but it was it
was cute. So when you did the Secret of Nim
they actually put a big bow in your character's hair
because you always wore ribbons. That was a nod to you.
As I ran into Don Bluth at a convention, and
(19:05):
I can't believe how talented he is. He drew me.
I brought it home and I showed you right, he
drew he he drew Teresa all over again and signed
it and we talked about what that experience was and
the big bow in my hair and all of it.
What a wonderful that was with Don de Luise. Yeah,
(19:28):
but Don Bluth was amazingly talented and so kind, so kind,
And you know the interesting thing about voiceovers is that
you don't you're in a booth by yourself, recording your lines,
with people staring through recording studio through a glass telling you,
(19:50):
you know, do it this way or do it that way,
or give me five readings in a row, and you
don't get to hang out with the cast that much
because you're all on different time schedule. But I did
meet Dom DeLuise.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I think also by doing an animated movie while you
were so young and doing that voiceover later, you have
always been so good doing this in the sound booth
when they have to go back and.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Oh you mean looping. Yeah, and that's just that's little
That's that's Father Murphy and little House. That's Michael Landon
one hundred percent. That taught me how to. But I
think you were so deep into it because you felt
comfortable because you'd part of Yeah. I mean I I
don't particularly love it now because I think when you're
so guys, what looping is is if there's when you're
(20:43):
filming and there's a noise over your line but you
don't have time to take it over, or the sound
cuts out, there's something weird. When they're done editing, you
go into a booth and you re record, but you
have to match the movement of your mouth perfectly. Sometimes
they don't do it perfectly, which is when all of
(21:05):
us watch a show and we're like, ooh, what's that.
That's that's what's called bad looping. And I I don't
love it because I think when you're in the moment
on the sound stage and you're filming with your fellow actors,
there's a different chemistry. There's all the emotion is coming up,
(21:27):
you're fully in character. But I'm also not deeply opposed
to it. When I have to loop, I'm okay with
it because of Michael's with it. Yeah, I so back
then when I when I started, because I'm old, you
(21:48):
didn't have the the the playback, so you couldn't watch
your lips, you couldn't do anything. There was no patience,
all by sound and so they would beep you in
so it would be three beep, beep, beep. You could
hear what you recorded most of the time, but you
(22:08):
had to be perfectly in sync with that. And that
is the hardest way to loop humanly possible, in my opinion.
But that's how I learned, and I think that's why
I'm really good at it is because and Michael taught
me how. And by the way, his sound engineers were fantastic,
(22:32):
his whole crew.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
There was nobody in his crew that wasn't just and
they were just. They were kind, they were polite, they
were respectful. I mean, they were fun. I mean, they
were just it was I think it's probably one of
the best crews evers e were in the business ever.
But you've always been a crew person. You've always since
(22:56):
you were little. You would like both talk to the crew.
You always have just been interested it's and they would help.
They would show you things, they taught you things.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
And then once Michael taught me how to play Liar's Poker,
I would always hang out with them so I could
make extra money, which is hysterical. So Father Murphy the
audition came around, and like my mom said earlier, I
had this sort of cloth doll that I had named Drusilla.
So we get the sides for Father Murphy for the audition,
(23:29):
and the character.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Didn't get the sides. Did you get them before? I
thought you didn't get them to you walked into the
into the room.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I don't know. Do you think I did a cold read?
I'm pretty sure I can't remember. Okay, I trust your memory.
Let's say I did a cold read, walked in and
the part was named Drusilla, which was so cool. I
also thought, well, I'm getting this job because you walked
into a room full of this is your first series.
(24:01):
But it wasn't a series. I was only a two
part episode. Yeah, but I mean you know it led
to but you walked into a room. I walked in
with you, you know, to check you in.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
And then there were a room full of children, some
parents sitting in and I'm like, are you okay? Yep,
I'm okay, mom I said you want me to They
handed you the sides. I'm like, you want me to
go over anything? Nope, I got.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
It, mommy.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I'm like okay, I'm like, I'll be right out in
the hall. And you sat there and you wait and
they called you in. And you always knew when you
got something, you would always come out and say I
got this, mommy.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I'm like, oh, I did not say that. When I
auditioned for the Haves The's commercial, I came out have
The's commercial. Do you remember that Cereal have The's that
I auditioned for and I knew I didn't have it.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Oh, you would come out and say, I don't I
don't have.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I also told them I didn't know the cereal that
I didn't care. I was far too honest as a kid,
which continued throughout my adult life, which caused a lot
of problems, but I don't regret it sort of. So yeah,
so I knew I had that. I walked out and
I was so excited because it was a Michael Landon
(25:13):
produced TV show and it was with Merlin Olsen and
then the man who played my father, Eli was Jack Elam.
What a wonderful a character actor back then, very well known,
and he was so awesome to work with, and so
(25:37):
was Merlin. And there was Timothy and Scottie like Catherine, Catherine,
everybody else on the set. It was such a cool experience.
I wore buckskins for half of it. We shot it
in Arizona, and it was one hundred and ten, one
hundred and twenty degrees.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Tucson out in the old movie own some old movie
outside of Tucson.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It was so hot. I have pictures of me in
the trailer with bandanas wrapped around my neck on my
forehead because people were passing out from the heat. And again,
when you wear buckskins, that's and a coonskin can and
a coonskin hat. So you would wrap bandanas, you would
(26:23):
dunk them in sea breeze. Ice. Yeah, so ice and
sea breeze, and then dunk your bandanas in and that
would keep you time around your neck cooler. But that
was a wild, fun experience. It was, well, that's the
first time we ever went anywhere by ourselves. You and
(26:45):
I boarded a plane.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Dad and Sean took us to the airport and we
got on the plane to Tucson. You had you had
a cowboy hat, you had a stroke cowboy hat because
you were going to cowboy country and we're so cute,
and you had Drew.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Sillhow with you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
And when we got there, this big, heavy set man
was like so jolly and I we didn't know who
he was, but he was like he was taking care
of us and everything else. It ended up to be
an exec producer, Kim McCrae, who was wonderful and his
his later he married Susan McCray. It suckman at the time.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
He married her, who was the head casting director for
Michael's shows.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
But it was it was such a beautiful experience. And
on your lunch break, you would come in and we
had everybody was in honeywagon. There were no special trailers
and you would take you would sleep during your lunch
and then you would it was so damn hot. Yeah,
you just needed like to recoup and then you could
always get you know, you always had food there. But
it was like, yeah, you slept, it was way too hot.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah, but it was fun, very fun, cool, different experience.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I loved everyone, But remember what you got special every day.
I think Jack brought it to you what it was
because it's this old western town and they're open sometimes
for tourist type of root beer floats.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Oh my gosh, that's right, that's right, that's I think
it was Jack that brought me to what a nice
man he was.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
And then you met his daughter who was doing a
little into the same age, but she was working at
times at the Zoo and Santa Barbara, and we went
up there. It's beautiful, it was. It was a beautiful
show to be on and beautiful people to work with.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
So how did Father Murphy lead to Little House Father Murphy?
Your particular episode on Father Murphy. It was a two
part episode. It pulled such high numbers from what I
was told that NBC was really interested and NBC was
really wanting to do something with you, and Michael was
holding back because Michael they wanted and all the director
(29:02):
and the producers on Father Murphy wanted him to put
you on Father Murphy. They wanted you on Father Murphy
and NBC. I think too that everybody wanted you to
come on Father Murphy and hold those ratings that you
were pulling from the two part episode. It wasn't really
about me, honestly, it was probably more about Jacqueline. But
it was also the writing. It was the episode, so
(29:22):
it was our director Bill. I remember how fantastic he was.
It was. It was just I mean, first off, the
show was really good, but those particular two episodes, I
think we're just so well written and struck a chord
with people, and your character left a lot.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
It left a lot to work with and you were
I don't you would have did. The boys were pretty much.
I can't remember what girl was on there. If there
was a I don't remember there was, yeah, and I
remember she was really pretty. And it was the first
time I'd ever sort of formed a crush, which really
paralleled my character because there was Scotty and there was Timothy,
(30:08):
and my character has the crush on the older boy Timothy,
but the younger boy has the crush on me and
their brothers. So the older one was all about his age.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Beautiful stunning girl as opposed to me with my buck teeth,
and it's sort of paralleled real life. And I remember
it was it was my first kiss ever because Scotty
had to kiss me on the cheek. That's right, that's right.
He did. He did like a quick kiss on my
(30:44):
cheek for the show in the show, and I just
remember being a little embarrassed and being like, oh, why
can it be Timothy because you yeah, it's just and
that was that's nice.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
That was nice that you were a little in embarrass
I would have been a little concern.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, I mean it was You're in front of a
whole crew and you're young, and it was just an
innocent like it was literally like a quick peck on
the cheek. But for me it was still sort of like, oh,
this is this is crazy. What's happening right now? I
can't believe people are watching this. Okay, So how did
(31:26):
that lead to Little House? Mom? I'll tell you how,
I'll tell you. Here's what I happened. Is Michael Little
House on the Prairie was ending, but he was starting
a continuation of it called Little House in the New Beginning.
(31:46):
That was you know, Laura Ingalls and Almonzo and Victor
French was going to continue his role on it, better
known to me as Stinky, and Catherine McGregor was going
to stay. It was basically that Michael Karen Grassel, that
whole group Melissa Dina Anderson was leading was leaving, and
(32:14):
so it was all about Laura Ingles for the most part.
And yeah, yeah, and he brought me in to do
Little House in New Beginning, which I'm not sure how
many seasons it lasted, but I recall it being a
total four years of my life if I'm correct. If
I'm not, please a view er look it up and
tell me or a listener, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
It's when Laura Ingles meets Almonzo and she married. She's
married to Almonzo Almonzo, but now she's moved on and
she's has a baby. Yes, and her niece, who is you?
I was not her niece. I was Almonzo's niece.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Somonzo's brother comes to visit with his daughter, which was
me Jenny Wilder, and he suffers a massive heart attack.
He knew he was sick, that's why he brought me there.
He dies and they essentially take me in and treat
(33:12):
me as their own sort of. I mean, I did
they ever do an official.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Adoption and that they did, I don't know, but basically,
they adopted you into their family.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
This is turning into like a trivia episode, you guys.
So anything that we say we don't know or we're
not sure about, feel free to let me know what
it is. Did they have adoption official adoption back then?
I don't know. So right, So he brought me in
(33:45):
and I just remember being seriously overjoyed that I got
to work with Michael again because he was so kind
and so funny and so witty and so smart. So
(34:16):
little house actually getting the job? Did I do remember?
Did I have to audition for it? I don't believe
you auditioned.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
I just believe you went in and you just you
met with them, and they just wanted to see because
you'd grown. It was a couple of years or whatever
you had, you had grown. You weren't that little girl
you were like now you were taller you were, you
had grown, and they just I think, you're just just
meeting with you again. That's all, just seeing you saying hi,
(34:44):
and that was it.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
And I got the job, which was thrilling and exciting.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Very exciting, and to be on the lot when we
were on a lot, to be on the MGM lot
because it was MGM back then. Yes, And in the
old MGM all, the kids would go to the cafeteria.
I mean it was people who had been there for years,
and the security guards. You would drive in every morning
(35:12):
and they would hello, and they would say our names.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Even my name. They were really nice. We were just like,
it was a beautiful lot to be on. And then
sometimes we would shoot at Disney Ranch yep, the outdoor stuff.
And then other times we would shoot what Tapenga do
you remember? Oh?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
It was Seemi Valley, Tepo Canyon. That's where else I saw, right,
they sent wranglers out in the mornings before everybody came
to Yeah, check everything.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah. I never had a problem with Rattlesnake's I still
don't you do though, But well that's a whole other episode. Mom,
you and nature. She's like, I'll never be a lot
of nature. I just don't like to be, you know,
sometimes it rebels against you. But again that's a different episode.
(36:03):
So all right, so I've gone on Little House. I
think it was a four year time period. And one
of my favorite episodes I did was with Ralph Bellamy. Well,
that's something else that Michael did. He brought in, like
via Miles, he brought in wonderful people and wrote wonderful
(36:27):
episodes that gave you such a beautiful experience, and it
was just it was really exciting to see that part
of what the experience of being in the business. Yeah.
I can't remember what that episode was called, but it
was Michael wrote it, Michael directed it, and it was
(36:52):
Ralph Bellamy played country doctor that was losing his eyesight,
and oh it makes me cry. He was so good
and he basically wasn't really able to take on patience
anymore because it was losing, as I say, and my
character lost. I was with my friends and the lockett
(37:19):
that my father was pretty much the only thing I
had from my dad that he gave me had somehow
fallen off in the pond slash lake, and I dove
down to get it, and my character got stuck under
like trees and brush and I was down there for
far too long. And so when they finally found me
(37:45):
and brought me up, I couldn't speak properly. I stuttered.
I couldn't spit out words. I couldn't formulate the words.
I had a limp. And I remember the big, huge
water tank on the sound stage. A human aquarium is
what I was big. And again Michael was directing, so
(38:06):
he was very concerned about my safety and he made
me feel good.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
He talked to me about He took me aside and
explained everything.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
I mean, he just he did have to tell me
a couple of times to stop holding my breath with
my cheeks puffed out, because supposedly, like I'm I've now
drowned and I'm no longer breathing, but my cheeks. I
would I would. I would hold my breath so it
would seem like I was no longer conscious, but I
(38:36):
would puff out my cheeks with all the air that
I had sucked in before I went down to get
in position. So I don't know, there might be I
would have to look that episode up and see if
I ever actually did that right. I might not have.
I somehow recalled that I saw it a long time ago,
(38:57):
and I was like, oh my gosh, look at my
cheeks puffed out. There was another stump woman doing that.
You did the whole thing. But he was, Oh, I'm
gonna have to find the photo. There's a photo of
me wrapped up in a bathrobe with Michael and he's
talking to me and directing me, and I'm looking at
him with such adoration because I did. I adored him.
(39:22):
He was a mentor. He very much can't appreciate, but
he appreciated your interest because you would like, instead of
going off to play, you would come and you would
sit behind camera and Teddy Boitlander, Teddy Boightlander, one of
the best dps of all times photographers.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You were interested, You had such an interest, and you
nobody ever had to tell you your mark anything. You just
you were so totally wrapped in it. You just you
couldn't get enough of it.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
It was like, Yeah, Teddy taught me all about different lenses,
and he would have me sit behind the camera and
learn how to operate and then teach me about the lenses.
And he gave me a list of books on lighting
that I still have, like the Face on Her Light.
There are just some extraordinary books that I still pick
(40:15):
up today and I certainly use them. When I was
directing Charmed and the web thing, I did music videos.
I still sort of look at those books that show
Little House shaved me in so many ways, and it
still is the best experience of my entire career, and
(40:36):
as a parent, because you hear so many negative things
about children working in the industry and everything. But as
a parent, and you know, I had questions in the beginning,
and I wanted to be sure, but you were with
the right person. You were with the right people.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
And it's a parent watching this and watching them taking
note of your interests and you're intelligent to see it
and to grasp it. And they just they were thrilled
with you as you were with them about wanting to learn.
They were as still about teaching you. Yeah, and so
it was just really and I was just it was
(41:14):
a very comfortable thing as a parent to see that
they didn't just treat you as some kid that like,
you know, oh, just you did this, now, go go
your room or whatever.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
They just always was were there for you and the Okay,
So going back to the Ralph Fellamy in the episode,
So I drowned a little bit and and I lose
my speech and I have a limp, and I am
the last patient of this country doctor essentially, because everybody
(41:47):
else is saying they can't do anything for me, if
I recall correctly. And Ra Fellamy again one of the
most prolific character actors. He was in Trading Spaces. He's
just phenomenal. He lived in New York, very old school,
and he had this little licorice candy stillies. I think
(42:10):
that always came. Which, by the way, you have them,
you always have them. I always have them, have stillies, hastillies, yes,
And so he would. He would always bring me a
ten and he got me hooked on those. But we
just bonded, and I remember he would write me letters afterwards.
(42:33):
We would we were like pin pals for a little bit.
He would sit by you.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
I mean you could either one of you could have
gone and done anything, and while they're setting up for
another scene or something, but he the two of you
would sit there in your chairs and you would have
these conversations. You would talk to you and you would
each have a little licorice once in a while. And
it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
And I always tried to like give space. I didn't
want to hover. I wasn't gonna whether it was whatever
it was.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
I was not the mother that was going to leave
my children or put them with somebody else to take
care of. It's like if I can't, if I can't
watch over my kids especially, this was like really nothing
we had ever been familiar with. I was going to
be there. If not, then you weren't. But it just
to sit back, and I always try to sit, and
(43:24):
of course you would always at some point come and
sit on my lap, and you even did that my
own Charmed and all the others. You would always come
sit on my lap at some point. But it was
amazing just sit and watch you and Rap Blamey sit
there and have this relationship.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Nowadays, I don't sit on your lap, but my legs do. Yeah,
watch TV while I watched TV. So this is just
it's it's kind of amazing because when I think about
the long span of my career, but also how rough
(44:02):
some jobs were and unenjoyable to be a part of
a little bit toxic. It was really the experience on
Little House that spurred that passion on for being an actor.
(44:24):
And it was having a mentor like Michael Landon. And
I don't care what anybody else's experience was, Like I
know the truth about that man, and he was just
unbelievable so so so talented, so kind, so considerate, and
(44:48):
it really helped shape me. And he was incredibly caring
for my entire family, not just you and me. He
was caring for Dad and for Sean. And he actually
sent your dad to a doctor at UCLA that was
Red duel Stein. I clink that was very hard to
(45:08):
get into it. He he knew that because he had
took the time to talk to your dad and know him,
and that's how he knew that, and in order to
give your dad that opportunity. So yeah, I know, he
was very he was. He was very interesting man. All Right,
you guys, there is going to be a part two
(45:31):
of this because a we have more to talk about
Little House, but also what came after Little House. We
haven't even Cliffwood Avenue kids. What's Cliffwood Avenue kids? Like,
we see we skipped right over an we'll make notes.
We didn't one of the best casting directors. Yes, so
(45:55):
we'll talk all about that. We'll talk about the transition
into our House Wilfred Brimley, which.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
I'm watching now on some network. I know, I like
last night you were watching it and you walked in
and I always like, what like this is so weird.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
I walked right out. I say, yeah, you can't. I can't,
but yeah, listen, Let's be clear. Is a diary, it's
a memoir. It's also about the present. It's also about
the future. Right now with my mom, we're going to
do a little bit of the past. So please, I
hope you enjoy this episode. It's so special for my
(46:34):
mom and I to be able to do this and
memory share our memories with all of you because there's
so many positive ones, so many beautiful ones that that
that will have forever, like just moments between mother and daughter.
That's incredibly incredibly special. Don't cry, mama. And then obviously
(46:57):
there'll be a part two. So thank you so much
for listening to be Clear with Shannon Doherty. And let's
think my mama, Mama Rosa. She's already tearing up. So
bye you guys, Thank you so much. Bye guys,
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