In the spirit of the season of giving, to you Neo, a quick spotlight on an interesting bit player in Season 2's "Down Shadow Street," a tale of Victoria witnessing the murder of a saloon girl by her own godson, and then running into the efforts of the boy's judge father to try and keep her from testifying.
While looking for evidence in the murdered saloon girl's dwelling, Jarrod is interrupted by one of her colleagues "Ruthie."
This was only the second professional credit for Jo Ann Pflug, who four years later would achieve bigger fame for her role in the original "MASH" movie as "Lieutenant Dish". In a 2002 interview, she recalled her experience on the show.
"My first part was on The Big Valley, I think it was the last season [Wrong-the second season]. I had a little part ... and I got on set, and I was doing it with Richard Long who was the sweetest, most wonderful man. I was so nervous and so scared, and he said, "Would you like to run lines," and I said, "yes." And he and I blocked that whole scene that we had. So the scene was blocked before the director got there, and I was so comfortable, and that was thanks to Richard Long. And I sat, the rest of the day, and talked with Barbara Stanwyck. She was this tiny, tiny, tiny, little lady. A bit foreboding, when you first sat down with her, but she was very nice."
After her fame rocketed with "MASH", Jo Ann said she later got many offers she had to turn down because she simply refused to do nudity of any kind. This forced her to become a TV personality, where she made the guest star circuit rounds and also became quite popular as a game show player, especially on "Match Game".
And she also did many appearances on the celebrity couple game show "Tattletales" with her then (and only) husband, game show host Chuck Woolery (whom she dismissively referred to as "The late Mr. Woolery" in the same 2002 interview)
In the late 70s, she was also co-hosting "Candid Camera" with Allen Funt and in 1981-82 was a regular on "The Fall Guy" (replaced for the second season by Markie Post).
Retired from acting since the late 90s, she has her own interview show down in Florida.
Jo Ann Pflug was also the voice of Sue Richards in Hanna-Barbera's version of "The Fantastic Four" and played Big Mike in the first season of "The Fall Guy".
Happy Almost Fabulous Fifth Anniversary, HooRaq San Department:
Granted, Mme. Dewhurst doesn't quite conventionally qualify for the more linear appreciation you've been visually actualizing in all their Yum-ified splendor, but she bears inclusion any ol' way as one of the rare few to equal and match La Stanwyck".
Twas the first tyme we'd ever encountered her when we saw that BV ep and we wondered "who the hell is THAT?!"
Always not succumbing to easy superficial 'answers', we followed Needleman's Law by Deepening the Question and arrived at this:
An actress made of pure gold, absolutely nooooo pretentious iron pyrite whatsoever - kinda like the Star of the show herself ...
Certainly an outstanding actress in her own right, even if indeed, Neo, the Yum thread is not instinctively the place for her.
We appreciate the birthday notice for this and in general all the major Yum threads of this place have been turning five at about this time! (Man From UNCLE, Wild Wild West, Burke's Law/Honey West and Hawaii Five-O). I hope I'll be able to find time to update some of them in the near future (though with this one, I sure wish it could be with some new pristine looking prints from a resumed official release on DVD; this show has the dubious distinction of being the ONLY one on DVD to be stalled in the middle of a season)
If Fox would just release the second half of S2, the episodes would include "The Lady From Mesa."
From Timeless Video, on the sixth anniversary of this thread, we finally have the second half of S2 so out goes the old boots for that and in come some revised caps to note the difference!
Old boot cap of Reagan Wilson
New DVD release.
Old boot caps of Lee Grant (looking a decade younger than her 42 years of age at the time):
Caps from new DVD release.
Thank you Timeless! (here's hoping they unstall another Four Star title that had its own thread at this board, "Burke's Law")
