Ask American Profile 2/18/2007

Ask American Profile 2/18/2007

Q Can you tell me where Kim Darby is and what she is doing today? She was great in the movie True Grit with John Wayne.
—Joe Rowan, The Villages, Fla.

Darby, now 59, was barely in her 20s when she made the now-classic Western in 1969. She had just had her baby daughter and turned down the major role of spunky Mattie Ross several times before the producer won her over. After the movie, she continued to act in a number of movie and TV projects and taught classes on acting at the University of California-Los Angeles. Last year, she portrayed an alcoholic mail carrier in an independent film called Cold One. “I had never played a drunk,” she says. “It was a great experience.” On the personal side, Darby recently ended a romantic relationship with former Rifleman TV star Johnny Crawford.

Q Whatever happened to singer-actress Susan Anton?
—Gloria Baker, Oklahoma City, Okla.

“If you’re not on television or films, people don’t think you’re still around,” says Anton, 57, who for the last several years has toured steadily with her band or performed onstage in the Las Vegas production of Hairspray and the road show of All Shook Up, a musical based on the songs of Elvis Presley. The statuesque former Miss California, who stands a little over 5 feet, 11 inches tall, lives in Las Vegas with her husband of 14 years, Jeff Lester. The couple recently launched their own film and TV production company.

Q Why can’t people view the second floor at Graceland? Is Elvis up there?
—Phylllis Schweitzer, Grand Forks, N.D.

The King was indeed laid to rest at Graceland, but not on the second floor. A spokesperson for Presley’s famous tourist-attraction home explains why it’s off limits: “The part of Graceland we show on our tour is the part that Elvis showed anyone who visited him. The upstairs was his private area.” When the estate was opened to the public after he died, his former wife, Priscilla, and daughter, Lisa Marie, decided the upstairs should remain private.

Q I think Sam Elliott is one of the all-time great cowboy actors. Does he plan on making any more Westerns in the near future?
—Bonnie Dailey, Greenville, Pa.

If Elliott had his druthers, he would happily make more cowboy movies. “I think it’s one of the most important genres we have going for us,” he says. “But Hollywood is convinced there’s no market for it.” Still, Elliott, 62, continues to work. He recently starred in the TNT series Avenger, played the Marlboro Man in the movie Thank You for Smoking, voiced Ben the Cow in the animated Barnyard and soon will appear in the film Ghost Rider alongside Nicolas Cage.

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