A conversation with Christopher Rich
Christopher Rich plays Brock Hart, a dentist whose love life has confused everyone except himself, on the WB’s hit series “Reba.”
“It’s funny how things turn out in this business,” Christopher Rich says. “Reba and I had done the film ‘The Gambler Returns’ together.” (Note: Besides acting in the film, he was also a producer.) “We enjoyed working together and said we looked forward to doing it again at some point. And here we are.”
Asked if he agrees with a columnist’s description of Brock Hart as selfish and maybe even mean, considering that he left a loving wife for another woman, Rich agreed that Hart was a flawed man, but not “mean.”
“He doesn’t see that he’s done anything really wrong,” Rich said. “As a matter of fact, he sees that he’s pretty much done the right thing. True, he had an affair with his dental hygienist. True, she got pregnant. But did he abandon her? No. He decided to marry her. Of course, he already had a wife, Reba. But he and Reba worked things out and got a divorce. And the rest, as they say, has been one funny, warm and wonderful ride.”
Rich has played a lot of humorous characters, which was also not part of his planned agenda as an actor.
“I always loved the villains,” he said. “And I still do. I love the way their minds work. As a matter of fact, I played (a villain) in ‘The Gambler Returns,’ and had a great time with my character. But I keep getting these great comic roles offered to me, and, honestly, when they’re as well written as Miller was on ‘Murphy Brown’ or as Brock is on ‘Reba,’ I could never turn them down.”
Finally, it’s nice to note that this Christmas will be a very special one for Rich. He and his wife, Elena Halina (she was a gymnast at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow), became the parents of twin girls, Lily Hanna and Daisy Grace, this March.
And, everything else aside, Christopher Rich says being a father is the best role he could have hoped for.
In Focus
Nearly 20 years after they first appeared on television’s “The Golden Girls,” stars Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Betty White were reunited recently at The Museum of Television & Radio to celebrate the DVD release of “The Golden Girls: The Complete First Season.”
“We’re just like sorority sisters who haven’t seen each other since college,” said McClanahan. “We just pick right up.”
The DVD release serves up each episode from the 1985-86 season, “When we were all oh-so-young and beautiful and fresh,” noted McClanahan. “Well, two out of three ain’t bad,” joked White, 82.
Dial Tones
Annie Parisse, co-star of the hit movie “National Treasure,” is joining the cast of NBC’s “Law & Order.” She will play the new assistant district attorney. Parisse, the sixth actor to play the role of the ADA on the long-running crime drama, succeeds Elisabeth Rohm, who said in June that she would depart the series after the first 13 episodes this season. Parisse’s character, who will work alongside executive ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), will be introduced in Episode 14. Parisse co-starred in the feature “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
She also co-stars in two upcoming films: opposite Jennifer Lopez in “Monster-in-Law” and opposite Uma Thurman in “Prime.”Popeye returns this holiday season for a 3-D, CGI-animated special, “Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest For Pappy,” on Friday, Dec. 17, on FOX.
Co-written and executive-produced by actor, comedian and lifelong Popeye fan Paul Reiser (“Mad About You”), this installment finds the world’s favorite spinach-slinging sailor taking to the high seas in a daring trip to rescue the father who abandoned him as a child.
The original special features a score and updated version of the classic “Popeye the Sailor Man” theme song created by film and television composer Mark Mothersbaugh, front man of the legendary new-wave band Devo.