Three years ago, after his father died, Tork moved to Connecticut to take over the family home, in which he grew up. “I wouldn’t have gone to any lengths to keep the house, except it’s pre-Revolutionary War, genuine Colonial,” says Tork, 56, who continues making music with his post-Monkees band, Peter Tork and Shoe Suede Blues. If you’re like most Monkees fans, you probably want to know if the ’60s pop group has any plans to reunite. “The chances are fairly slim,” says Tork, who is currently single and has two adult children from one relationship and a younger daughter from another.
Q In the 1960s, my favorite program was The Invaders with Roy Thinnes. Did he do any movies or TV after that show, and are there any plans to release it on DVD?
—Steve Lambott, Longmont, Colo.
Thinnes, 70, has worked continuously since the classic TV sci-fi drama—the first season of which was released on DVD in May—went off the air in 1968. You may have seen the Chicago native through the years on Falcon Crest, General Hospital and the 1991 remake of Dark Shadows, or cropping up briefly in The Sopranos, The X Files, Touched by an Angel or dozens of other prime-time favorites. More recently, he appeared in Law & Order and its spin-offs, Criminal Intent and Special Victims Unit, and the Russell Crowe movie A Beautiful Mind.
Q I saw a very funny movie about a bunch of Elvis impersonators who jumped out of an airplane in Las Vegas. Any idea on what the title might be?
—Charlsie Stirton, Donie, Texas
That was Honeymoon in Vegas, a 1992 romantic comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker, James Caan and Nicolas Cage—or, as the film’s tagline put it, “one bride, two grooms and 34 flying Elvises.” The group of professional skydivers, who perform in full Elvis regalia, actually is called The Flying Elvi, and is known for “dropping in” on concerts, and sporting and promotional events around the country.
Q I know Kim Novak made many movies after Vertigo, but what is she doing today?
—Londa F. Azevedo, Pollock Pines, Calif.
Novak’s last acting work was in the 1991 film Liebestraum. Now 75, she has little interest in Hollywood and is enjoying life far from the spotlight on several hundred acres along a scenic river in a small Oregon town that she prefers not to divulge. Art remains one of her lifelong passions, and some of her paintings have been exhibited around the world. She was working on her autobiography when a fire in her home destroyed many of her Hollywood mementoes—including her original Vertigo script—in 2000 and sidetracked that project. She recently celebrated her 32nd wedding anniversary to Dr. Robert Malloy, a veterinarian.
Q I’ve noticed shooting stars in at least three movies directed by Steven Spielberg—Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Saving Private Ryan. Coincidence?
—Alison Rendosa, Cumming, Ga.
Actually, almost every Spielberg movie features a scene with a shooting star streaking quietly across the night sky. Many movie buffs consider the blink-or-you’ll-miss-it meteorite moments one of his cinematic signatures, and they examine his movies shot-by-shot to find them. In his 1996 biography of the Oscar-winning director, John Baxter says Spielberg’s lifetime fascination with shooting stars began when he witnessed a spectacular meteor shower as a child.
Q My wife and I would like some information on William Fichtner, whom we first saw in Invasion and now enjoy on Prison Break.
—Ken and Sandra Peek, Ammona, Texas
Born in Long Island, N.Y., Fichtner, 50, began his career on TV’s As the World Turns and quickly moved to films, landing roles in Malcolm X, Contact, Black Hawk Down, The Perfect Storm and the Oscar-winning Crash. A father of two, he’s been married to actress Kymberly Kalil since 1998. An avid hockey fan, he was asked by the National Hockey League to present one of its season’s-end awards last year.
