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DFCF Meetings with the Stars
THOMAS J. PUCHER, President of DFCF, arranged for a small group of the fan club to meet with EARL HAMNER, his dear old friend for many years. At 81, the "father" of "Falcon Crest" is still in very good health and enjoys going to his office almost every day to keep on writing. His latest books include "Goodnight John-Boy" and "The Twilight Zone Scripts". EARL kindly invited his fans to lunch at the "Ca' del Sole" restaurant and spent a few hours with them telling about his work as the executive producer of "Falcon Crest" and "The Waltons". His unique and fascinating way of storytelling made the meeting an exciting experience. Group photo: THOMAS J. PUCHER, SASCHA KURZ (DFCF board members), EARL HAMNER & MARC BRADLEY (DFCF member). July 11, 2004, Santa Barbara, CA: ROBERT L. McCULLOUGH & SUZANNE HERRERA McCULLOUGH
BOB McCULLOUGH, primary writer and supervising producer of "Falcon Crest" for seasons 1 through 3, and his lovely wife, SUZANNE HERRERA McCULLOUGH, also a "Falcon Crest" writer and an actress (flower store clerk in # 012 and Lance's love interest in # 020), invited the DFCF representatives to their home to share their memories of the show — a deep and unvarnished insight into Hollywood realities. BOB and SUZANNE were involved in developing the groundwork of the series; SUZANNE's background from a Hispanic family helped BOB with ideas about familial conflict. Group photo: THOMAS J. PUCHER, MARC BRADLEY, SASCHA KURZ as well as BOB & SUZANNE McCULLOUGH with their granddaughter. July 12, 2004, Sherman Oaks, CA: DAVID SELBY
THOMAS J. PUCHER arranged a meeting with DAVID SELBY (Richard Channing) at the "Amazon Restaurant" on Ventura Boulevard. The DFCF representatives enjoyed talking to the casually dressed and easygoing star in a very informal and pleasant atmosphere. Multi-talented DAVID, who received an honorary doctorate from West Virginia University in May 2004, still performs both on TV and stage and also continues to write, especially poetry. Group photo: THOMAS J. PUCHER, SASCHA KURZ, DAVID SELBY & MARC BRADLEY. July 13, 2004, Hollywood, CA: CARL HELD
THOMAS J. PUCHER, who has known CARL HELD (Garth) personally from a previous interview, suggested a meeting to him as well. CARL retired from acting and now performs on rare occassions only. He enjoys freelancing for scientific magazines nowadays — going back to the roots of his original profession as an engineer. Group photo: THOMAS J. PUCHER, SASCHA KURZ, CARL HELD & MARC BRADLEY. July 14, 2004, Los Angeles, CA: JOHN F. PERRY
Having been in contact via letter and phone for a while, THOMAS J. PUCHER managed to arrange a meeting with JOHN F. PERRY, who produced the largest number of episodes of "Falcon Crest". JOHN welcomed the fans at his home and talked in depth about the old times of the show. He had started as a location scout for "Falcon Crest" in the Napa Valley and had been instrumental in the development of the show alongside EARL HAMNER. He then moved over to other LORIMAR shows, but returned to "Falcon Crest" in 1983 and oversaw production until 1988. In addition, he wrote two scripts for the series. Group photo: THOMAS J. PUCHER, JOHN F. PERRY, MARC BRADLEY & SASCHA KURZ. July 14, 2004, Los Angeles, CA: CHAO-LI CHI
After exercising tai chi chuan together in his class, CHAO-LI CHI invited the DFCF representatives to his home to talk about his work on the set of "Falcon Crest". At 77, CHAO-LI is still in very good health and enjoys his retirement with his wife, GANA. They are both very open and extraordinarily helpful to the fans — granting them access to CHAO-LI's collection of "Falcon Crest" materials: He stored every single shooting script including all previous drafts, for example. Group photo: THOMAS J. PUCHER, CHAO-LI & GANA CHI, MARC BRADLEY & SASCHA KURZ. July 15, 2004, Santa Monica, CA: JEFF FREILICH
Being in close contact with JEFF FREILICH, MARC BRADLEY arranged a meeting with the executive producer of seasons 6 and 7. In a very informal atmosphere of a street café, JEFF provided the fans with behind-the-scene information of the series. Even after almost 20 years, he remembers a lot of detail of the production process. He contributed his many skills to the show in those days — as a writer, director and executive producer. Group photo: MARC BRADLEY, SASCHA KURZ, JEFF FREILICH & THOMAS J. PUCHER. July 16, 2004, Los Angeles, CA: REZA BADIYI
JEFF FREILICH arranged for the DFCF representatives to meet with REZA BADIYI at the "Clafoutis", a café on Sunset Strip. The director, who — with a total of 35 episodes between 1984 and 1990 — outnumbered any other "Falcon Crest" director, shared interesting background information about his work on the set with the group. Group photo: THOMAS J. PUCHER, REZA BADIYI, SASCHA KURZ & MARC BRADLEY. July 16, 2004, Studio City, CA: ANA-ALICIA
The DFCF representatives also had the chance to get an appointment with ANA-ALICIA (Melissa Agretti & Samantha Ross). The easygoing and talkative actress enthusiastically told interesting facts about her "Falcon Crest" time — in an incomparably warm and friendly way. Highly attractive as ever, ANA-ALICIA is busy educating her children, but intends to return to the screen in the near future. Group photo: SASCHA KURZ, MARC BRADLEY, ANA-ALICIA & THOMAS J. PUCHER. The interviews are available here: special magazine "FALCON CRESTers Tell It All!" — Volume 1. |
