Cameos

CURTIS ARMSTRONG	Born in Detroit, Curtis Armstrong studied acting at the Academy of Dramatic Art at Oakland University in Michigan. He was a co-founder of the Attic Theater in Detroit. The first ten years of his professional career were spent on the stage in New York, on tour and in regional theatre productions. His first film role was as Tom Cruise's best friend in "Risky Business". Roles followed in "Revenge of the Nerds", "B In 1987 he joined Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd in the cast of "Moonlighting". Since that show's end in 1989 he has guest starred in many shows, including "Murphy Brown", "Suddenly Susan", "Ellen", "Cybill", "Lois and Clark", and "Dream On". For the last five years, Curtis has been writing original scripts in Hollywood, and rewriting others, with his partner John Doolittle. They have worked on projects with Christopher Guest, Robert Altman, Rob Reiner and others. Curtis is a passionate book collector whose collection includes authors P.G. Wodehouse, Washington Irving, Thomas Hardy, Christopher Morley, and Vincent Starrett. He is a Sherlockian in good standing. He is married to writer-producer Elaine Aronson and is the proud father of a two year old daughter.

ABRAHAM BENRUBI	Have you watched any television in the last five years? If you have, chances are you've seen a show that has had Abraham Benrubi on it. Abraham Benrubi has had a number of starring roles, as well as heaps of cameo performances in major network sitcoms, stage performances, the odd commercial, and a few movies. Remember 'Kubiac' from Parker Lewis Can't Lose, or have you seen 'Jerry' working at the desk in E.R.? Then you've seen Abraham Benrubi at work. His TV credits include X-FILES, ER, SLEEPWALKERS, ROSEANNE, GRACE UNDER FIRE, MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, GROWING PAINS, BLOSSOM and WINGS. His film credits include TWISTER, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, U-TURN, TOUCH OF HOPE and TEMPTED.

BRION JAMES	Big, bad, and mean with a malevolent smile, Brion James has played a variety of heavies and lowlifes. And while he is a regular in genre science fiction and horror, he was also once a stand-up comic. Born February 20, 1945 in Redlands, Ca, the family lived in Beaumont, CA where his parents "Jimmy" and Ida Mae James built and operated a movie theater, where stars such as Gene Autry would stop by. Graduating from Beaumont High School in 1962, he then majored in Theater Arts, graduating from San Diego State University. Upon graduation from college, Brion relocated to New York to study acting, working a variety of jobs to support himself in the early years. He also did a stint in the National Guard (years unknown). Fellow actor and friend since childhood, Tim Thomerson and he served in the Armed Forces together and have made several films together. A veteran of over 100 television and 120+ movie roles, Brion is best remembered for roles such as the replicant Leon in "Bladerunner", General Munro in "The Fifth Element", Big Teddy in "Cabin Boy", Max Jenke in his personal favorite, "The Horror Show", as well as countless other parts in films like "Southern Comfort", "The Player", "Tango And Cash", "48 Hours", "Another 48 Hours", "Enemy Mine" and "Silverado". Brion is survived by two brothers, Craig James of Scottsdale, Arizona, Chester James of Beaumont, CA and their families. James enjoys a huge cult following around the world.

MARLA GIBBS	A Chicago native, it was a job transfer as a United Airlines reservation clerk that led an adult Marla Gibbs and three children from Detroit to Los Angeles. Marla soon joined PASLA (Performing Arts Society of Los Angeles) with her daughter, Angela, and studied at the Mafundi Institute and Watts Writers Workshop (both in Watts). Ms. Gibbs soon performed in several well-received productions including Medea, Amen Corner and The Gingerbread Lady at the Zodiac Theatre. After a few bit parts, Ms. Gibbs landed the plum role of “Florence” in The Jeffersons where she gained international notoriety. After The Jeffersons 9th successful season, Ms. Gibbs landed a spin-off series Checking-In which was interrupted by a writer’s strike and never recovered and she returned to The Jeffersons. Soon after, daughter Angela produced the award winning Christine Houston play 227 in which Ms. Gibbs was cast as the lead by noted Director Ed Cambridge. The play was such a smashing success that Ms. Gibbs purchased the TV rights and along with Norman Lear’s Embassy TV sold and helped produce the series for NBC where it became a five-year hit series now in syndication. Marla is a seven time NAACP Image Award winner, four time Emmy Nominee, eight time Family TV award winner, Essence Woman of the Year, Frances William’s Women in Theatre West Award winner, Special Black Emmy Nominee honoree, Winner of two CEBA Awards and a host of National and Local honors. In 2000, Marla received a Best Supporting Actress award from The Southern California Method Fest. Her other credits include TV’s Dawson’s Creek, Martin, Dream On, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Xmas Dreams, You Can’t Take it With You, The Money Changers, Murder at the P.T.A. and several voice-overs for HBO’s Happily Ever After Animated Series for Children and Disney’s 1,001 Dalmatians. Her most recent series work is a recurring role on ABC’s The Hughleys, playing the mother of D.L. Hughley and was Arsenio Hall’s mother on Martial Law. Marla has just completed starring in the feature films Stanley’s Gig and The Visit. Other recent film credits include Brothaz, Foolish, Lost and Found, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Border to Border, and Up Against the Wall. Marla currently owns and runs Marla’s Jazz Supper Club.

RUE McCLANAHAN	Rue got her start on the stage, acting in plays such as Fathers Day throughout the 1960's. Norman Lear noticed her soonafter. With that luck, she was soon cast as Vivian Harmon, in the 70's TV show Maude, where she starred with her future Golden Girls co-star, Bea Arthur. She was then given a part in "Mama's Family", playing the mousy Aunt Fran, who, ironically, turned out to be a complete foil of her future Golden girls character. Her most prominent role came when she was cast as Blanche Devereaux, the hypersexual, man obsessing southern widow, who nicknamed herself "Waterlily". She has been called everything from the "walking playground" to the "human mattress" to "slutpuppy". The role earned her her first Emmy Award in 1987, followed by 3 more nominations. Rue was originally cast as Rose, the dim-witted, naive St. Olafian, but Rue wanted Blanche, eventually getting her way, as Blanche is known to do. "The part of Rose was ninety percent mine. But I'd played that role before, I wanted to be Blanche. I knew immediately how to play her, the attitude, body language, her mannerisms and accent. I connected with her straight away. I wanted it so badly." Rue, Betty, Estelle, and Bea immediately bonded, and it was easy to tell why the show won "Best Comedy Series" after it's first season. Rue has starred in and toured with "Nunsense" and "Nunsense 2", and is deeply involved with PETA.

GARY OWENS	"Direct from beautiful downtown Burbank," Gary Owens is one of the most recognizable voices in the industry today. Famous for his trademark hand-over-the-ear delivery on "Rowan and Martin’s laugh-In," Gary has been in radio for 40+ years. Once described as the "Babe Ruth of Broadcasting," broadcaster/actor Gary Owens has enjoyed a legendary career spanning decades and media, from radio to television to film. Owens has lent his compelling baritone vocal skills to the Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy Awards telecasts, TV's WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY, COMIC RELIEF, and AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS, and promos for HOME IMPROVEMENT, ROSEANNE, HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, and ROSIE O'DONNELL. He was a longtime radio personality at KMPC in Los Angeles and at KEWB in San Francisco. His extensive work as a broadcaster and radio disc jockey earned him respected places in the National Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. His voice has also been heard in nearly 3,000 animated TV shows, including FELIX THE CAT, THE MASK, SPACE GHOST, SCOOBY DOO'S ALL-STARS, REN AND STIMPY, THE BANANA SPLITS, CASPER THE GHOST, BATMAN, and many more. He may be best known by face as a regular on Rowan and Martin's LAUGH-IN, but he has also appeared on camera in more than 1,000 network shows, including MAD ABOUT YOU, SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH, ROSEANNE, THAT'S 70s SHOW, THE GONG SHOW, and THE MUNSTERS, to name a just a few. He as also appeared on numerous specials with Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, and Johnny Carson. His many movies include MUPPETS IN OUTER SPACE, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S EUROPEAN VACATION, THE LOVE BOAT, and I'M GOING TO GET YOU SUCKA. Gary's son, Christopher Dane Owens, is one of the producer of BORDER TO BORDER

JONATHAN SILVERMAN	Actor. (b. Aug. 5, 1966, Los Angeles.) Genial young lead who came to prominence playing Neil Simon's alter ego, Eugene Jerome, in Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986). Silverman had played the part on Broadway and subsequently appeared in Simon's followup plays, "Biloxi Blues" and "Broadway Bound," recreating his part in the TV-movie adaptation of the latter. Silverman debuted onscreen in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985) and has appeared in Caddyshack II, Stealing Home (both 1988), Class Action (1991), Breaking the Rules, Death Becomes Her and the telefilm For Richer, For Poorer (all 1992), although he is probably best known as the hapless insurance executive whoalong with Andrew McCarthy-must contend with a corpse in Weekend at Bernie's (1989) and the inevitable Weekend at Bernie's II (1993). Silverman was a regular on the TV sitcom "Gimme a Break!" from 1984 to 1986. Copyright ©1994 Leonard Maltin, courtesy Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.

TIM THOMERSON	Tim is an actor, best known for his role as Jack Deth in the Trancers films, but unless you've refrained from watching movies or TV of any sort, you've probably seen Tim in something. In fact, Tim has been in so many films (most of them of the budget variety) with so many different roles that Greg Bulmash (of the IMDb) proclaimed him the undisputed king of b-movies. I couldn't agree more. Some of the more memorable Tim Thomerson roles include John Reynolds in Volunteers, Brick Bardo in Dollman, Lester in Cherry 2000, and Jack LeBeau in The Incredible Hulk Returns. This last one is my favorite, because Lou Ferigno got to wrap a steel pipe around Tim's arms while that goofy guy who played Thor laughed it up. What an unforgettable movie moment. His latest movie is Last Chance, and true Thomerson fans know that Tim played The Blur in some candy bar commercials (Baby Ruth, incidentally).

K CALLAN	K is a talented and distinguished actress, whose acting career includes work in feature films such as Joe, A Touch of Class, American Gigolo, and The Onion Field; television movies and miniseries, including Mr. Murder, starring Stephen Baldwin (ABC-TV, Fall 1998); television series -- Ms. Callan played the role of Superman's mom on the highly popular ABC Television series Lois & Clark -- and theater.

MURRAY LANGSTON	Murray is best known for his UNKNOWN COMIC routine from the GONG SHOW. Murray has appeared in several films and currently performs at Casinos in Las Vegas.

RON JEREMY	YES! The porn star!!! We thought it would be fun to have Ron be the person who got shot in a Whore House