Ask American Profile 7/19/2009

Buffy Sainte-Marie, Free Credit Report band, Clint Walker, Emily Deschanel

Q Could you tell me something about a beautiful singer named Buffy Sainte-Marie who made records years ago?
—E. Vela, Owatonna, Minn.

Sainte-Marie, 68, was born on the Piapot Cree Indian reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, Canada, and adopted by parents who raised her in Maine. She holds degrees in teaching, Oriental philosophy and fine arts. The singer-songwriter's tune "Until It's Time for You to Go" has been recorded by Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Barbra Streisand and Cher, and her "Universal Soldier" became an anthem of the 1960s peace movement. She won an Oscar for co-writing "Up Where We Belong" for the 1982 movie An Officer and a Gentleman and recently finished recording her 18th album, Running for the Drum, set for August release. Sainte-Marie today lives in Hawaii and has a 33-year-old son.


Q What can you tell me about the guys in the Free Credit Report band commercials? They're so cute, and the limericks are catchy.
—Norma Nab, Sterling, Colo.

Well, they're not really a band. The fellows playing at the seafood restaurant, the Renaissance fair and in at least four other commercial settings are actors. The lead "singer" is French-Canadian actor-musician Eric Violette, 28, who lip-synchs to the commercial's pre-recorded music, and the other "band members" are only pretending to play their instruments. The real singer and writer of the limericks is jingle genius Dave Mulhefeld of the Martin Agency, the advertising brains who created the Geico gecko and cavemen. "Aside from the scale of success, we're pretty tickled by all the FreeCreditReport.com spoofs and parodies on YouTube," Mulhefeld says.


Q What has happened to Clint Walker, who starred on the TV Western series Cheyenne? Was he a bodybuilder?
—Pat and David Hess, Batesville, Ind.

Walker, 82, who grew up in Alton, Ill., was an amateur bodybuilder who made his own dumbbells and barbells as a youth, and he studied the Charles Atlas course while he served in the U.S. Merchant Marine. "I never did go out to be a Mr. Universe or Mr. America, but just worked out to keep in shape," says the star of the 1955-1962 TV series. The 6-foot-6-inch actor has co-written a Western novel, Yaqui Gold, and is working on his memoirs. He and wife Susan often appear at Western nostalgia conventions.


Q I think Emily Deschanel is great as Dr. Temperance Brennan on the TV series Bones. Is she anything like her character in real life?
—Sally Schnetzer, Springfield, Ohio

Deschanel, 32, says she is the least like her character of anyone on Bones, although playing the forensic anthropologist has taught her to pay more attention to detail. "I'm certainly not as intelligent as she is. I'm a little more personable and able to have conversations with human beings, which she struggles with. I'd say that I get very focused on my work, like she does." The sister of actress-musician Zooey Deschanel is a vegan, studied theater at Boston University and appeared in the movies Cold Mountain, The Alamo, Boogeyman and Glory Road.   

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