JillWhelan

Well, when I did that show, it was kind of the beginning of my career, and I was still living in Northern California, going to the school I'd always gone to, and there was one kid in school who wanted to challenge me to a fight so she could tell her kids (one day) that she "beat up a movie star."

So I went out to the field where the fight was supposed to take place, and I faked a heart attack, and ran home.

That alone is the reason why I should be an actor. That kind of drama!

I wasn't the brightest bulb on the tree - faking a heart attack and then running home afterwards. But it worked for me at the time.

Awesome! Thank you for asking! Leslie Nielsen was so funny in real life. I think he's pretty much known for walking around with a little hand-held whoopi cushion that made farting noises, and I remember one time, we were doing press for the movie AIRPLANE!, and Leslie and I got into an elevator that was loaded with Japanese tourists, and he used the fart machine, and they all got off on the next floor! And he was famous for that. But he was super-nice. And a great man.

Fantasy Island was so much fun - I got to play 4 different episodes on that show. I guess my favorite one was when I got to be the drummer in a band and my brother was Scott Baio. We looked so much alike.

But it was a really fun show, and the cast was lovely. Ricardo Montalban was just an elegant man.

You know, my meetings with her were really short. There were a lot of people below her that I got to work with. But she was very nice to me. President Reagan was super-sweet. The most touching experience I ever had with a First Lady was with Barbara Bush. I was at the White House for a dinner, and it was just after the assassination attempt on President Reagan. And James Brady (who actually took one of the bullets in the head - the guy whom the Brady Bill was named after, for gun control) - his wife wheeled him through the grand ballroom, and she was coming towards me with him, and I froze, because it's the first time I'd ever seen somebody that I saw on television who worked in our government in person after such a world event. It was history, in front of me, and i froze, I didn't know what to do - here's a man in a wheelchair who used to be so vital, and now he's recovering from a bullet wound to his head. I started to well up with tears, and it would have been very embarrassing for me, and for him and his wife, and all of a sudden, I felt an arm around my shoulder, and it was Barbara Bush, and she said "Why don't we go get some punch?"

So she rescued me from that awkward situation. Which was pretty cool.

Great question!

The laughter on that set was after every scene. It was so fun and playful and it just seemed like going to work was not work at all. It was one of the first times I ever got to experience the luxury of really just playing comedically on the set. And our barometer was the crew. If they thought it was funny, then the bit was in.

There weren't any mishaps that I saw - however, that doesn't necessarily mean there weren't any, and they probably ended up in the film as happy accidents.

We were laughing ALL the time. It was such a fun place to be.

I wasn't on the set as long as I think some of the leads were, since I had a small role. We knew it was either going to be a huge hit, or a huge failure.

It was really the first film of its kind, other than KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE. So it was - everybody felt a bit like mavericks. This is not the way movies were done. It was the first time Leslie Nielsen played a comedic role onscreen like that. Everybody knew him as always playing a "heavy" or a bad guy.

So it was a bit like trailblazing!

Hahahah! Well, obviously wine would be involved. But let me think.

I think if somebody were to make me dinner, good or bad, and it was somebody I was into... as long as there was not a ton of garlic & onions, I'd be good. And no tripe.

Do not make tripe. It's disgusting and it should never be a food.