Ask American Profile 10/7/2007

Q Who did the voice of Mister Ed?
—Joe Rck, Bryan, Texas

Actor Allan Lane did the talking for TV’s most famous talking horse in the popular 1960s series. Long before he saddled up the Mister Ed microphone, however, Lane enjoyed a long and durable career in movies, appearing in nearly 120 of them from 1929 until the late ’50s. For a 10-year string of back-to-back B-movie Westerns, studio execs must have thought it would be a real chore to come up with a different character name for him in each. So he played a gun-slinging do-gooder conveniently named “Allan ‘Rocky’ Lane” in some 40 consecutive shoot-’em-ups.

Q Who does the narration for Meerkat Manor? I love the show, and the voice is perfect.
—Allison Spencer, Hastings, Neb.

Actor Sean Astin, 36, provides the voice for the popular Animal Planet series that chronicles the life of a family of meerkats in Africa. The son of John Astin, who played Gomez on TV’s The Addams Family in the 1960s, and actress Patty Duke, he’s been in a steady stream of movies and television shows since childhood. He played Mikey in The Goonies, Rudy in Rudy, and loyal hobbit Sam in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As for his off-camera role on Meerkat Manor, Astin says it’s a perfect fit. “I think I look like a meerkat and feel like a meerkat,” he says. “It’s easy to identify with them.”

Q My daughter is a big fan of a girl named Ashley Tisdale. What can you tell me about her?
—Julie Christianson, New York, N.Y.

Tisdale, 22, the candy-counter clerk Maddie on the Disney Channel’s hit series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, also starred in the hit Disney TV movies High School Musical and High School Musical 2. Born in West Deal, N.J., she was discovered at the age of 3 in her hometown shopping mall by a talent manager and went on to appear in more than 100 national TV commercials. At age 8, she landed the leading role in a touring production of Les Miserables, after which she also toured with Annie. Also a singer, she released her first solo album, Headstrong, last year.

Q Megan Mullally always made me laugh on Will & Grace. Is it true she sings in a band?
—Hannah F., Gitano, Miss.

Mullally sings with the band Supreme Music Program, which has recorded two CDs. Her success on Will & Grace didn’t transfer to her 2006 daytime talk show, which was canceled in January for low ratings. The award-winning actress has appeared on Broadway in Grease (with Rosie O’Donnell) and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (alongside Matthew Broderick), hosted Saturday Night Live and was picked to fill in for late-night TV host David Letterman when he was sidelined by shingles in 2003.

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