Ask American Profile 6/8/2008
—Dana Wright, Brandon, Miss.
Sheffield, now 77, was picked from auditions to become the jungle king’s son in 1939, going on to make eight movies alongside Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller. The character of “Boy” was rescued from a plane crash and adopted by Tarzan, because the Legion of Decency, a religious-based group with considerable clout in Hollywood at the time, frowned on Tarzan and his unmarried mate, Jane, having an out-of-wedlock child. Sheffield appeared in several other films, including a series of big-screen adventures as “Bomba, the Jungle Boy,” before retiring in 1955 and investing his earnings in real estate.
Q What can you tell me about Graham Greene, who starred in Pathfinder and other movies about American Indians?
—Mary K. Byars, Mount Hope, Ala.
Greene is perhaps best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in the 1990 movie Dances With Wolves. He’s also appeared in more than 100 other films and television shows, often in roles that call on the authenticity he brings as an Oneida Indian who grew up on a Canadian reserve. Before his acting career took off, he worked at a carpet warehouse, in a factory making railway cars, as a high-rise steelworker, landscape gardener, carpenter and bartender, and as a roadie and soundman for Toronto-based rock bands. Greene, 56, lives two hours north of Ontario with his wife and has a child from his first marriage.
Q Who played “good witch” Glinda in the episode of Ugly Betty where Betty and her boss go to see Wicked? She was perfect!
—Linda Rohrlich, Acton, Calif.
Actress Megan Hilty, who starred in the Los Angeles production of the hit Broadway musical loosely based on The Wizard of Oz, reprised her role as the benevolent Glinda when TV’s Ugly Betty came calling. Next, Hilty takes over the starring role of Doralee Rhodes that Dolly Parton made famous in the movie 9 to 5, when that production opens as a new musical in Los Angeles this fall. Hilty, 27, says of working with Parton, who wrote the new production’s music and lyrics: “It was daunting at first, but she is so super cool, she puts everybody at ease.”
Q Would you know the name of the theme song for the movie Duel at Diablo, starring James Garner and Sidney Poitier? I believe it was composed by the same person who did the theme from TV’s Batman.
—Jeff Smith, Grand Island, Neb.
The theme song—titled simply “Duel at Diablo Theme”—for the 1966 Western was composed by the musically prolific Neal Hefti, who was born just up the road from you in Hastings, Neb. Hefti did indeed also create the groovy signature tune for Batman, as well as the theme to TV’s The Odd Couple and soundtracks for the movies Barefoot in the Park, A New Leaf and Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood.
Q I’ve long enjoyed Tom Petty’s music. Anything new on the horizon?
—Diane Koren, Hampstead, Md.
After performing the televised halftime show at February’s Super Bowl, the durable rocker, 57, headed into the recording studio with the reunited members of one of his earliest bands, Mudcrutch, with whom he played back in Gainesville, Fla., in the early 1980s. Then he hit the road for a summer tour with his “full-time” group, The Heartbreakers, and their arsenal of rock hits, including “Free Fallin’,” “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and “I Won’t Back Down.” If you’ve been following the race to the White House, you’ve probably heard Petty’s FM-radio classic “American Girl” used as political campaign music for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Petty is married and lives in Los Angeles.
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