Ask American Profile

Miguel Ferrer, Laura Hall, Charlie Rich

NBC’s Crossing Jordan is one of my favorite shows. Can you tell me something about Miguel Ferrer? Is he Rosemary Clooney’s son?
—A.J., Texas

You’re right. The late Rosemary Clooney is Miguel Ferrer’s mother. His father is Jose Ferrer. But despite his parentage, Ferrer didn’t set out to become an actor. The Santa Monica, Calif., native began show business as a studio musician. His credits include playing drums on Keith Moon’s Two Sides of the Moon. In fact, he had to be talked into doing his first acting role, which was on the television series Sunshine. Bandmate Billy Mumy, who played Will Robinson on Lost in Space, cast him in the role of a drummer. Since then, he’s added numerous movie and television credits to his list of works. His movie credits include the Oscar-winning Traffic. He met his wife, actress Leilani Sarrelle, while making the thriller, Harvest. Ferrer, 48, hasn’t forgotten his musical side, though. He and Mumy still play in clubs, and their band, the Jenerators, has released a couple of CDs. When time allows, Ferrer likes to play golf, and every year he helps organize a golf tournament fundraiser for the UCLA Children’s Hospital. He lives in Los Angeles and has two sons.

I’m a big fan of Laura Hall, the piano player who co-stars on ABC’s Whose Line is it Anyway? Tell me more about her.
—Rich C., Montana

This talented woman has played with almost every improv group in Chicago and Los Angeles. Hall started in improv as a musical director at the famous Second City in Chicago. On Whose Line, she’s the bandleader and keyboard player. “My part is when we do song improv,” Hall says about her role on the show. “One of the actors has to make up a song on the spot, about a subject given to him. I make up the music with him, along with our guitar player, Linda Taylor.” Hall wasn’t interested in improv while growing up in Chicago. But she knew she wanted to be a musician. She wrote songs, played in bands and piano bars. She found her way into a waitressing job at Second City and wound up as musical director with the touring company. Hall also has composed some original musicals, co-produced Dan Castellaneta’s (the voice of Homer Simpson) Beatles tribute album titled Two Lips, and has written and produced two albums of children’s music—I See a Tiger and Come Join the Parade. She’s even in a band called The Trinkets. Hall has a 4-year-old daughter.

Charlie Rich (The Silver Fox) was one of the greatest country music singers ever. Can you tell me about his career and what happened to him?
—John O., New Jersey

The man who’s probably best known for the hit song Behind Closed Doors was born in Forest City, Ark., in 1932 to a family of missionaries. He grew up listening to gospel and country music, and discovered the blues as a teenager. At the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, he studied piano and tenor saxaphone, as well as music theory, and was a member of the school’s marching band. After graduating, he enlisted in the Air Force, but kept up his interest in all types of music, playing jazz at clubs around the base in Oklahoma where he was stationed. When his military duties were finished, Rich worked days on the family farm, and nights playing piano at local clubs. His wife Margaret Ann, knowing that Elvis Presley got his break at Sun Records, brought a tape of her husband’s music over to the famed Memphis label. He started his career as a rock ’n’ roller, but found his greatest success when he started making country records. In 1973, Behind Closed Doors topped the country charts (and was nearly as big a hit on the pop charts), starting a streak of hits for the smooth-singing piano player that lasted for the rest of the decade. Though his domination of radio lessened in the following years, he continued to make music through the 90s, until he passed away in 1995 at age 63.

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