Interview: Erin Gray, Actress

This article first appeared at bellaonline.com in October 2011.

At Chicago Comic-Con this past August, we were fortunate enough to pin actress Erin Gray down for a quick interview on our way to the kids’ costume contest. The actress, who is best known for her roles in “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” from 1979-1981 and the situation comedy “Silver Spoons” from 1982-1986, remains busy. Among other things, she runs the company Heroes for Hire, which books celebrities for personal appearances, teaches Tai Chi and speaks on domestic violence issues.

Q. What do you get out of coming to conventions like this?

Gray: What I get out of coming to events like this are two things. One, obviously it’s wonderful to hear people share their memories and their stories with me, whether it be, “My brother and I used to run home every day from school to watch it,” or “My mom and dad, my whole family, used to sit down and watch ‘Buck Rogers’ together. And that’s nice, just to be able to share those memories with people–but also I find I really love people. I find people fascinating. Like this woman right here, she’s from China. I wouldn’t normally get to meet her. I like to find out people’s stories and I also like to share stories with people.

An Interview with Louise Jameson

This interview was first published at bellaonline.com in three separate parts on January 9, 2011; January 20, 2011 and January 27, 2011.

We interviewed actress Louise Jameson at the Chicago Tardis convention on Thanksgiving weekend 2010 to discuss her “Doctor Who” role as warrior of the Sevateem Leela, who accompanied the Fourth Doctor Tom Baker on some of his most memorable adventures. Louise Jameson’s non-“Doctor Who” credits list is formidable, and includes stints in “Eastenders” and eight other BBC series, including “The Omega Factor” and “Tenko”–not to mention guest-starring roles and series for other companies, such as Disney, Sky and YTV. She’s been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and worked with the Royal National Theatre as well. Her classical training came from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and she’s currently touring her own one-woman show, “Pulling Faces,” about her own struggle deciding whether or not to go under the plastic surgeon’s knife.

Q. I’ve heard you talk about working with Tom Baker and the directors as not necessarily a good time, and I was wondering if you’d say your actual experience on the set was negative or positive overall?

Louise Jameson: It’s very difficult to be black and white about it. It was an extraordinary experience and the techies were all really, really lovely, and Tom was very difficult to work with. We’re very very good friends now and he’s mellowed with age so I don’t want to sit here and list everything he did wrong. He’s been very generous with his apologies and they’re fully accepted, so I draw a line under it. I would say that I would have stayed in it longer had we got on better.