Ask American Profile 2/3/2008

Q What can you tell me about the actress who plays the teenage daughter on the TV series The Riches? I think I’ve seen her somewhere before.
—Will Denton, Ada, Okla.

Shannon Marie Woodward, 23, portrays headstrong 16-year-old Deliah “Di Di” Malloy on the hit FX network series, about a clan of crooks and con artists masquerading as an upper-middle-class suburban family, which was recently released on DVD. You may have spotted her previously in small parts on TV’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Cold Case, Boston Public, Without a Trace, Crossing Jordan or The Drew Carey Show, or in the movies The Comebacks, Man of the House and The Quiet. The Phoenix native got her start at age 7 on the Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All.

Q Whatever happened to the two actors who starred in the 1970s TV series Alias Smith and Jones?
—Elise Payton, Canton, Ohio

Pete Duel and Ben Murphy were the reformed outlaws Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry on Alias Smith and Jones, which aired from 1971 to 1973. During the show’s successful first year, Duel died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31; foul play was initially suspected, but alcoholism and depression were factors in the subsequent ruling of suicide. He was replaced by Roger Davis, who had previously provided the series’ narration. Co-star Murphy, now 65, went on to appear in dozens of other TV shows over the years, including episodes of Navy NCIS, JAG, Judging Amy and Cold Case.

Q The Scorpions were great. What happened to them?
—Bruce Wright, Crestview, Fla.

The durable German rock band, one of that nation’s most successful international music exports, released a new album last summer, Humanity Hour 1, which hit the stores 35 years after their first. Best known for the 1983 arena-rock anthem “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” the band has sold more than 75 million albums, and—contrary to the way they’re usually mentioned—their name actually is just “Scorpions,” with no “The.”

Q What is actor Dennis Haysbert doing these days? I loved him as the evil Blue Duck on the second Lonesome Dove TV movie.
—Nell Mock, Sylvania, Ga.

Haysbert, 53, currently can be seen in the role of Jonas Blane on the CBS drama The Unit. The former high school football star has been working in films and television since 1979, but became well known in 2001 as U.S. President David Palmer in the hit series 24. His films include Major League, Far From Heaven, Waiting to Exhale and Love Field, and he also has been a commercial spokesman for the Allstate Insurance Co. and voiced TV spots for the Military Channel.

Q Please tell me about the woman who plays the mother of the brothers on Two and a Half Men. She looks familiar.
—James Hicks, El Centro, Calif.

That’s Holland Taylor, and she should look familiar—she has appeared in nearly 100 movies and TV shows, plus numerous Broadway productions, since beginning her acting career in 1969. The Philadelphia native, 64, has brought her talents to movie roles in Legally Blonde, The Truman Show and Romancing the Stone, and you also may remember seeing her on the small screen in Bosom Buddies, The L Word, Monk, The Practice and Saved by the Bell: The College Years. You probably didn’t see her in the 1983 Broadway comedy flop Moose Murders, which lasted for only one down-in-flames performance.

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