Ask American Profile 8/23/2009

John Malkovich, John Wayne, Sara Gilbert, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Peter Reckell

Q What's up with John Malkovich these days? What was his first movie role?
—Jason Wilson, Wichita, Kan.

Malkovich, 55, worked as an extra in Robert Altman's film A Wedding in 1978. But 1984's Places in the Heart gave him his first true role, as a blind boarder helping out a widow (Sally Field) on her Depression-era farm. Recently, he served as executive producer on Which Way Home, a documentary about children migrating from Mexico and other Latin American countries to the U.S. via freight train. It airs Aug. 24 on HBO. "Rarely is the plight of immigrants, especially child immigrants, seen by Americans," Malkovich says. "Which Way Home is an honest and heartbreaking documentation of the risks thousands of people take every day to follow an elusive dream."


Q Is it true that John Wayne made more films than any other actor?
—Robert Dolin, Suisun City, Calif.

Wayne played more leading roles—142—than any other Hollywood star. But Tom London, a native of Louisville, Ky., is cited in the Guinness Book of Movie Records for appearing in more movies—2,000 between 1915 and 1961—than anyone else.


Q Is Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene on the TV sitcom Roseanne, a sister of Melissa Gilbert of Little House on the Prairie?
—Marty Sanders, Englewood, Fla.

Sara, 34, and Melissa, 45, are adoptive half siblings. Melissa was adopted by Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert the day after she was born in 1964. (They also adopted a son, Jonathan, now 41, who also went on to appear on Little House on the Prairie.) After Barbara and Paul divorced, Barbara married Harold Abeles, and they had Sara in 1975. When Sara saw her adopted half sister and brother's success as actors, she decided to pursue that career path, too, changing her last name to Gilbert.


Q After Gary Lewis & The Playboys had a string of hits in the 1960s, it seems Lewis went underground. He has been popping up lately on YouTube. What was he doing all of those missing years?
—Clint Freeman, Ridgecrest, Calif.

The singer of "This Diamond Ring" and "Count Me In" hasn't stopped making music at all. But he did take a break in the '60s during his stint in the U.S. Army, and all his original Playboys went on to find other jobs. "Music has been my whole life since 1964," says Lewis, 64, who estimates that today he plays about 60 dates a year. The son of comedian Jerry Lewis lives near Rochester, N.Y., with his wife, Donna. They share a combined family of four children and six grandchildren.


Q Peter Reckell from Days of Our Lives is my favorite soap star. What is new with him?
—Bev Sawyer, Staunton, Va.

After 26 years of playing Bo Brady, Reckell, 54, finally received a Daytime Emmy nomination for lead actor in a dramatic series. He says of his time on the soap, "Every step along the way has been an adventure. We are still having fun and the audience is still there. It has been rather astounding." Tune into the 36th annual Daytime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Aug. 30, on the CW Television Network to find out if Reckell takes home the trophy.

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