Ask American Profile 4/26/2009

House, Hayley Mills, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson

Q  I would like to know if the illnesses on the TV show House M.D. are real or made up.
-Lee Fortin, Nokomis, Fla.
The elements of each case are based in reality but are not necessarily exactly the way the disease has happened to any one person. Dr. David Foster, a House staff writer and medical consultant, says, "The kernels for the stories come from every place we can find them. Some of them come from medical journals, some come from the experiences of doctors who work with the show, some come from families, some come from the Internet, and some come from newspapers. Then the writers begin pushing and pulling that into the twists and turns of the medical mystery we present each week."


Q  What is Hayley Mills doing now? What other movies did she make besides The Parent Trap, Pollyanna and The Trouble With Angels?
-Martha Ligman, East Bernstadt, Ky.
Born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills, the actress, 63, has been co-starring since 2007 in the British TV series Wild at Heart. Filmed on location, the show is about a veterinarian and his family running a game reserve in South Africa. Other movie credits for Mills, who has two adult sons, include Tiger Bay, Summer Magic, The Moon-Spinners, Whistle Down the Wind and That Darn Cat! She starred in the Masterpiece Theatre series The Flame Trees of Thika (set in Kenya) in 1981 and in the Disney Channel series Good Morning, Miss Bliss in 1988.


Q  I really enjoyed watching Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Grade on CMT the last three seasons. What kind of salary do they make?
-Elaine Brown, Amana, Iowa
The Cowboys organization doesn't disclose salary information about their world-famous cheering squad. "Cheerleaders are paid for game performances and promotional appearances," says Kelli Finglass, the group's director. "A bigger part of their responsibilities as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader are their community-service appearances for USO, hospitals, nursing homes and children's hospitals. For this, they receive no financial payment, but the experiences are life lessons and the memories are invaluable."


Q  What ever happened to Ricky Nelson's sons, Matthew and Gunnar? I enjoyed their music.
-Lisa Remmier, Grand Haven, Mich.
Nelson's identical twins, 41, recently reformed their band Nelson, which had the No. 1 hits "Love and Affection," "After the Rain" and "More Than Ever." Also, the duo has been performing their tribute to their late father in the Ricky Nelson Remembered tour, complete with music, video and stories of their dad and grandparents Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. "It's the show we do because we love to, not because we have to," says Matthew, who also fronts his own rock band, Red 37. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Yvette, while Gunnar, single, makes his home in Nashville, Tenn. One of Gunnar's side projects is a group called Scrap Metal, which he describes as "all the lead singers from the biggest '80s hair-metal bands."

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