Interview with Actor Roger Rose By Jesse Striewski

Roger Rose is one of those celebrities you’ve just got to love; although he may not be as big of a “name” as such leading stars as say, Steven Segal or even the late John Ritter, he’s got his fair share of stories with the likes of both of them (and many more) from more than four decades of crossing paths and working in the “biz” with them. During a recent phone conversation with Roger, I was able to hear firsthand accounts from many of his encounters over the years, often resulting in uncontrollable, side-splitting laughter (did I mention he’s also extremely quick-witted?), making for one of the most hilarious – yet still enlightening – professional interviews I’ve ever conducted.

Right off the bat, Rose helped give some insight on both how he got started, and what he’s up to now; “I got real lucky! My parents were both broadcasters; my mom was on NPR, and my dad was a radio talk show host in L.A. and San Francisco. So I grew up around voice over, and I’m the voice of a bunch of TV stations around the country (Rose himself has lent his voice to everything from Scooby-Doo to Tiny Toon Adventures). I’m lucky enough to do some work for CBS network and things of that sort. And then I’m also producing a couple of things right now. There’s a couple of movies I’m actually working on too with the guy who made Police Academy and Ski Patrol, Paul Maslansky. He’s 87, and has so many stories about all these movies he’s done over the years. He’s just the best!”

Rose’s first on-screen role came in a 1981 episode of the Sci-Fi show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Regarding the experience he told me; “That was my very first SAG job, and I auditioned for the role and got booked, then had to run and give them my membership money because I lied that I was a even member! (Laughs). But the best part about that whole experience was, we shot during Christmas week. I had to cry in my ‘big scene,’ and there were special effects and all that, and they saved everything for the last day of shooting, which was December 24. And on a set, there’s a crew of maybe 150 to 200 people, and they all want to go home because it’s Christmas Eve, and it all comes down to me. My first professional television experience, and everybody is hating me. I could’ve basically not even said my lines and they probably would’ve said, ‘Great, print it, let’s go!’ (Laughs).”

Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Rose appeared on a number of other notable TV shows, including Knight Rider, Mr. Belvedere, Married…with Children, and Seinfeld. I asked if he would briefly shed some light on what it was like to be a part of all these shows as well, and he explained; “You know, it’s funny. CNN recently did that show, History of the Sitcom, and now I know I’m old because I’ve been on half of those shows (laughs). The one that you don’t know that I’m on that’s probably more historical though is Three’s Company. They were shooting the intro for it, and someone came up to me and said, ‘Hey kid, want to make a grand?!’ And then I’m suddenly in the opening credits. I was the guy dressed as a woman when Richard Kline jumps on the bumper car, not realizing I was actually a guy! I was lucky enough to be on a couple of huge shows, but I have to say that John Ritter, far and away, was the nicest, most professional and wonderful guy I’ve ever worked with in the business, period.”

He continued; “When I guested on Mr. Belvedere, he (the late Christopher Hewett) actually gave me a Saint Christopher’s medal, which was really nice and I was very honored, and still have it to this day. And Bob Uecker was of course great. I also did an episode of Too Close for Comfort with Ted Knight, and the thing about Uecker and Knight was, by that time I was already doing stand up, and someone told them I did impressions of them. And they both basically said the same thing along the lines of, ‘I hear you do impressions of me,’ and then they would each try to do their own impressions. I remember Knight doing Clint Eastwood, and you just had to laugh! Both very nice guys though!” Going back to Married…with Children, he stated; “I was really lucky on that. I did two episodes, and then the last two seasons I did most of the voice work on that show, too. But those people on that show knew they had it good, and they could not be nicer and more excited about being there. Ted McGinley (who played Jefferson) and I were hanging out on the set maybe the year before its final season, and said to me, ‘I’m the luckiest guy in show business!,’ and then they cancelled the show (Laughs).”

He digressed again; “And Seinfeld? Everything you’ve heard or read is true. I was lucky enough to have already met Jerry through my VH1 show, and then a couple of other times after that. I played the George character initially, and they cut a lot of my stuff out because I ad-libbed like crazy at the audition. Anyway, when they hired me they basically said, ‘Just do what you did at the audition.’ And then I realized, what makes these people so great is they actually hire you for you. And it was so great to do, just so much fun. Oh, and Knight Rider I don’t really have a great story about doing it, but I have come across Hoff (David Hasseloff) a couple of times since over the years, and he is exactly what you think he is; just a very nice guy! I actually tested for Baywatch after it went from NBC to syndication, which no shows did at the time! I tested for the role of like, Joey the stand up comedian lifeguard, and Hoff was there at my final audition. One of the things I had to do was a scene from the TV movie Norma Jean, which was about Marilyn Monroe. During my last line – and this was to show I could do drama, mind you – Hoff stands up and just starts signing (the lyrics to the Elton John song), “Goodbye Norma Jean!” And the producers are looking around like, ‘Just let him go with it!’ (Laughs). So then they offered me the job, and my manager at the time convinced me to turn it down, which I did. And the rest is history (Laughs).”

He then offered some unexpected insight on another show; “But I’ll tell you one that was terrible, which was Gimme a Break! with Nell Carter. They hired me, and told me they were probably going to fire me by the end of the week, because they fired everyone on that show! But I was trying to talk to other people on the show, and they wouldn’t talk to me because they were all terrified. She (Carter) was nice to me, but we were in the middle of camera blocking rehearsal, and the assistant director suddenly screams, ‘hit the deck!,’ and everybody, cast and crew, just hit the floor, and she starts throwing props and screaming! And then she walks off, and some guy goes, ‘Okay, lunch!’ (Laughs). And I didn’t make it to they end of the week, just like they told me. That one was actually devastating, and really upset me.”

Another role Rose will forever be remembered for was Steven in 1986’s Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. As previously discussed in our recent retrospective piece on the film, Roger recalled some of his experiences on the set; “The movie had already been shot, and the phone rings and it’s Paramount calling (Director) Tom McLoughlin, saying there weren’t enough deaths in the film and they needed more, so they were going to go back and kill two more people. Tommy hangs up the phone and says, ‘I always wanted to do this…kid, I want you in my movie!’ And that weekend we shot my scenes. I said to Tommy, “Man I’d love to die brutally on film, that’s something I’ve always wanted to do (Laughs)!”

He then filled me in on how his time as a VH1 VJ came about; “I had a screen test to be a VJ at either MTV or VH1, and I told a much more elaborate story of my audition for Friday the 13th, and that’s what got me the job. About a year after I got the gig, the guy running MTV and VH1 at the time came up to me and said, ‘You know, you were going to be on MTV, but I’m the one who said ‘No.’ And when I asked him why, he said, ‘You wore a sports coat, and no one’s gonna want to eff a guy in a sports coat.’ (Laughs). It was one of the best experiences of my career though.”

Working on VH1 for over two years in the ’80s no doubt awarded Roger with many stories of celebrity encounters, including a three-parter with action superstar Steven Segal. He told me; “He came on my show with his then-wife Kelly LeBrock, and I told her how she was my “free pass” from my wife, and she loved that! So then we took all of these suggestive Polaroids, which Segal loved too – they were both characters! But needless to say, my wife was not pleased (Laughs).”

He continued his story; “So then I’m on some back lot of Warner Bros., having just gotten Ski Patrol – and I hadn’t seen Segal in a couple of years since he was on my show – and I hear him calling my name. He brings me over to some table and he’s with all these women and says to them, ‘You know what I like about this guy?’ And then he looks at me and goes, ‘You popped a chick and had a stain on your pants right before you interviewed me, and I respect that about you.’ My response was of course, ‘Listen dude, I know me, and that was probably just cream cheese from a bagel I was eating at the time!’ (Laughs). And another year or two after that, I did another thing with all these cameos with major movie stars in it, and one of them was Segal. He’s standing there next to the food table, and I say to him, ‘Look man, I don’t know if you remember me,’ and he interrupts me and says, ‘You know, it’s funny, people think I have a really bad memory…but I remember you all the way down to the stain on your pants.’ (Laughs).”

While the previous story might have been enough to end things on, I had to dig a little deeper about his most well-known leading role in the previously mentioned Ski Patrol. He said, “It was three months filming in Alta Park City, and I got to work with the likes of George Lopez (in his first film role) and Leslie Jordan, so how bad could it be? (Laughs). But what’s the weirdest thing that’s happened – and I never thought it really had any hold on anybody (except maybe my mom), because it had been around for awhile – but I was doing the NHL awards a couple of years back, and Anders Holm from Workaholics (another show Rose has guested on) was there, and when he saw me he said, ‘Ski Patrol! You altered my life.'” With praise as high as that, it’s hard to argue with a legacy as vast and influential as Rose’s.

And as far as those ‘projects’ he alluded to co-producing with Paul Maslansky earlier on? He did let me in on one of them; “I can tell you that one of those films will be a remake of Ski Patrol, which I’m very excited about, because I’ll be producing it with Paul!”

Interview with Actress Julie Piekarski By Jesse Striewski

For the rest of my days, I will most likely always associate the girls from The Facts of Life with the ones in my own life at the time. Growing up in the ’80s with three older sisters and countless cousins – all around the same age as the girls on the show – it was impossible for me not to make some sort of connection whenever the show was on in our household.

Recently, I was able to chat with one of the original stars of the show, Julie Piekarski, who, after a successful first season, found her role of Sue Ann Weaver (among others) drastically cut down by the following season, before ultimately exiting the show all together. Piekarski continued acting through out much of the ’80s, appearing on such popular shows at the time as Quincy, M.E. and Three’s Company before finally stepping away from acting by the end of the decade to focus on motherhood. But in recent years, Piekarski has stepped back into acting again, and I was able to discuss both her past and present career highlights over the course of our conversation.

Before she was even on The Facts of Life, Piekarski first made her mark as a member of The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1977. One of the first things I wanted to know was just how a girl from St. Louis made it to Disneyland exactly. She explained; “Well, you have to remember, this was back long before we had American Idol, and Disney was going on it’s first “nationwide search” for kids to be the next group of Mouseketeers. My mentor/dance instructor, who I’m still friends with to this day, had heard about this, and sent in a resume and pictures. And they replied back and said, ‘come to Chicago’ – the closest to St. Louis they came – for an audition. So we went, and honestly we were just hoping for a guest spot at best. We came back home, and two weeks later got a call saying they had a couple of things they’d like to film me doing. And they filmed me in front of like a green screen pretending to talk to Mickey. And two weeks after that, I got a call that pretty much changed my life. Working with Disney at thirteen years old was an incredible childhood, and a dream come true.”

In between The New Mickey Mouse Club and The Facts of Life, Piekarski appeared on an episode of the hit sitcom Diff’rent Strokes in 1979 with her future Facts… co-stars. I was curious how much she knew at the time that the appearance was going to lead to it’s own spin-off, and she informed me; “We had already been picked to be on The Facts of Life, and they made that sort of ‘transitional’ episode to kind of get Mrs. Garret (the late Charlotte Rae) off Diff’rent Strokes and segue her onto the new show, which is something I think they still do to this day. But they did that to ‘introduce’ us, and get us to crossover to The Facts of Life, and that was so fun because it was great to work with all the girls for the first time, and I had also known Kim (Fields) before that as well.”

I also wanted to know what it was like working with the likes of the late Gary Coleman and Dana Plato on the set of Diff’rent Strokes, to which she replied; “Dana Plato I didn’t really know that well personally, but on the show, she was really sweet, and it was kind of like just being with any one of the girls since we were all together. And Gary Coleman…well here’s the thing, you did kind of forget how old he was because of his size, and he could be a bit of a, what’s the word I’m looking for…stinker? (Laughs). I remember us girls were in like little runner shorts on the set, and every once in awhile you’d feel the slightest tickle right above the back of your knee, and you’d say, ‘Was that you Gary?!’ And he’d just look up at you and say that famous line, ‘What you talking bout?'” (Laughs).

Regarding her time on The Facts of Life (which also began in late 1979), Piekarki noted; “I loved being on the show, and Charlotte Rae was just like our mother hen who looked out for all of us, and wanted the show to mean something. We also got to do outside things like charity work, where we’d all show up for baseball games and events like that. And although it may have been PR work, when we got to go out and do things with the public, I thoroughly enjoyed that, because I felt like I was using this great gift that I was given to help others. It was just such a wonderful experience.”

But after just one full season on the show, the writers removed or reduced several characters from the show, with Piekarski’s being one of them. When asked how she dealt with this and if she harbored any resentment at the time, she stated; “When they went to cut the cast, it wasn’t like a major, devastating shock, because life does go on. But it was a bit of a surprise, considering in a lot of those early episodes, Sue Ann did have a lot of, if not major, at least secondary parts in there. But I guess the writers just felt they only wanted to develop certain characters, which is interesting considering when you look at a show like, say Friends, and how many characters that had. I’m sure that I was upset, but in the meantime, I had done other things, like a pilot for a show that didn’t get picked up called The Best of Times, which also had Crispin Clover and Nicolas Cage in it before they were known! But it was never like, ‘oh, I’ll never watch The Facts of Life again!’ I’m sure I watched it from time to time. But at the same time, I was still living my life and moving on.”

Piekarski and many of her former co-stars did return to the show from time to time in guest roles, including the 1986 ‘reunion’ episode, “The Little Chill.” But notably missing from any of these shows is the presence of Molly Ringwald, who after appearing in the first season of The Facts of Life, went on to star in such blockbusters as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. Regarding Ringwald’s absence, she said; “It’s interesting, and this would only be based on and what I’ve heard and speculation over the years, but I would imagine it’s because she was pursing that path of movies, and I think at that time TV was considered a little less-than. But now a days, it’d be no big deal, and all of that has changed!” With the late Cloris Leachman also passing away earlier this year, I was also curious what it was like spending time with her during that reunion episode. She informed me; “I can’t really say that we got to send too much time together during our downtime. But when we were together, she was always kind, friendly, and encouraging.”

Another standout moment on her resume was her appearance on a 1983 episode of Three’s Company, where she worked with the late John Ritter. Regarding the experience, she explained; “I was so excited that I actually got to work with John and Joyce (Dewitt)! John was such a sweet and kind gentleman, and so humble about giving suggestions. In a way, I was bummed that we did our scene so well and it was done in just a couple of takes…it was almost like I wished I had messed up more so that I would’ve been able to stay longer on the set! (Laughs). From what I could tell by just briefly stepping into it, they had created such a great ‘family,’ which is what you end up doing when you’re on a series with a long run. But John had such a great positive energy to him, and it was just a sheer gem working with him. I will always feel blessed for that.”

In more recent times, Piekarski has begun slowly but surely acting again after nearly three decades away to focus on her family. She informed me; “When I moved back to St. Louis to raise my family, I always knew in my heart that I would not step completely away from acting. And even when I was in St. Louis, I did different industrial film work and things like that. But once I had my kids, I wanted to be a full time mom, which I was blessed to be able to do. It just so happened that I went through some different things in my life, one of them being a divorce, which I never really imagined myself going through after thirty one years of marriage. But unfortunately it did happen, and my kids really convinced me to go pursue what I wanted to do. And I really felt this strong calling telling me to go back and see what’s out there for me, and things kind of slowly fell into place for me. I’ve actually had some scripts fall into my lap, and it looks like I may even be getting into the aspect of movie producing, which, I wasn’t really looking into doing. But again, doors keep opening, and I’m learning to kind of keeping my options open.”

For example, she was recently involved in a new series titled Pilot Season, which she explained; “They approached me and said they were trying something new. It was almost like doing that ‘cold’ reading with a group of people, but instead, they shot it, and made it like a pre-pilot. The episode was called “The Nuclear Option,” and it was crazy because I had never met any of these people, and they filmed us all by Zoom. So we were all on our own laptops, and then the way they edited it was really creative, editing in different backgrounds and scenes. It was a really unique experience.”

She continued; “Things have changed a lot since the way we did things back in my day. I still keep in touch with Kim, Lisa (Whelchel), and Mindy (Cohn) from The Facts of Life, and I was talking to one of them recently about how much things had changed since then. If you did TV, theater, movies, whatever it may have been, you never crossed over back then. But now that’s changed, and there are no boundaries. And now with things slowly kind of opening back up, I also have a new project coming up that I can’t share too much about right now, but I’m going to start filming it soon. I can say that it’s an eight episode show, and I know I’m involved with at least two episodes right now. I’m really excited about that!”

Reflecting on her career as a whole, Piekarski spoke candidly to me; “Now that I’m older and I’ve lived my life, I’m actually coming back into the industry, with a fresh perspective. I might get asked sometimes why I went down this path or that path. But there were a couple of times I turned down different roles because maybe they contained nudity. And what if say, my father, or my priest went to see it? I just couldn’t do it. You have to stay true to yourself. Education was always important to me, my values were always important to me, and I was always very grounded, with my faith being a huge factor. I think that’s really important for any young person no matter what industry, to just have a good identity of who they are and to not surround themselves with ‘yes people.’ But my favorite quote that I’ll never forget – my nun actually told me when I first came out to Hollywood – she said, ‘What you are is God’s gift to you, and what you make of yourself, is your gift to God.'” I couldn’t come up with a better way to end our conversation than that if I tried.