Ask American Profile 12/16/2007

Q My wife and I watch White Christmas nearly every year. Whatever happened to Vera-Ellen? Is she still with us?
—Vic Pelan, Lady Lake, Fla.

Born Vera-Ellen Westmeyer Rohe in Norwood, Ohio, the dancing prodigy became one of the youngest-ever Radio City Music Hall Rockettes while still a teenager. She was signed to a movie contract in her mid-20s and appeared in many productions in the “golden age” of movie musicals during the 1940s and ’50s. Retiring in the late ’50s, she died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 60. You may notice that, in many of her later roles, including White Christmas in 1954, she wore costumes that covered as much of her neck as possible; it was aged beyond her years due to the eating disorder only later known as anorexia.

Q I used to love hearing Jose Feliciano. Is he still making music?
—A. Bobbitt, Berea, Ky.

Yes. The Puerto Rico-born guitarist and singer, blind since birth, recently returned from a world tour and released a new CD, Soundtrax of My Life, in October. The first Latin artist to cross over into the American mainstream as a pop superstar in the 1960s, he’s most famous for his recordings of “Light My Fire” and “Feliz Navidad.” He’s been awarded nearly 50 gold and platinum records, appeared in the TV shows Kung Fu, MacMillan and Wife and Chico and the Man, made a cameo in the movie Fargo, had his hands immortalized in Madame Tussauds wax museum in London and in 1968 became the first performer to make the national anthem a pop radio hit. Feliciano, 62, and wife Susan are the parents of three children and live in Connecticut.

Q Who played the sheriff in the original Walking Tall, and what was the real sheriff’s name?
—Fran Cockensham, Seymour, Ind.

Joe Don Baker starred in Walking Tall, the 1973 movie based on the true story of crime-busting Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser. A veteran of dozens of movies, Baker made his debut as an uncredited extra in Cool Hand Luke in 1967.

Q I’m assuming Philippe Cousteau on the Animal Planet network is related to undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau. Is that correct?
—Janet P., Jumbo, Okla.

Philippe Cousteau II, 27, is the grandson of the late, great French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, scientist, photographer and researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau. As host of various programs on cable-TV’s Animal Planet channel, including the popular Ocean’s Deadliest, plus a series of radio adventures for Public Radio International’s weekly Living on Earth program, he’s carrying on his family’s name and mission to preserve the planet’s natural treasures. “Water and nature will always be here,” he says. “But we won’t.”

Q I have been a big fan of the beautiful and talented Dana Delany since I first saw her on China Beach. What’s she been doing and does she have anything in the works?
—Roger Reaves, Helendale, Calif.

Dana Delany is back on television as of this fall as the newest neighbor on Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives. She joined the cast after turning down executive producer Marc Cherry’s request that she play Bree, one of the female leads (later filled by Marcia Cross) in the 2004 pilot. “I had other things going on at the time that I wanted to do,” she explains. Delaney, 51, also has a few upcoming movies, including A Beautiful Life, Camp Hope, Multiple Sarcasms and Drunkboat.

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