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Catherine Bell, Rod Roddy, Morningtown Ride

I’ve enjoyed watching lead actress Catherine Bell on the TV show JAG. Can you tell me something about her off-screen life?
—David C., Florida

Contrary to her conservative character on JAG, Bell, 35, is a real risk-taker who loves to skydive, bungee jump, snowboard and water ski. “I’d meet people and they’d go, ‘I thought you were much older and much more conservative,’” she says, “And I’d say, ‘Hang on, there’s this whole other side of me!’” Surprisingly, she got interested in acting as a way to overcome her shyness. Born in London, her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 3. A science and math whiz, she entered college with plans to become a doctor, but fate led her to a modeling career in Japan. After a few years, feeling that the job was damaging her self-esteem, she returned to Los Angeles and started her path toward acting. Bell and her husband had their first child, a daughter, in April.

Can you tell us anything about Rod Roddy, who was on The Price is Right? It sounds like his voice, but it never shows him like it used to.
—Janie S. (via e-mail)

Rod Roddy, born Robert Ray Roddy, died on Oct. 27 from colon and breast cancer at age 66. He had been ill for more than two years and hospitalized for the last two months, but worked on the game show as long as he possibly could. “The courage he showed during those difficult times was an inspiration to us all,” says The Price Is Right host Bob Barker. The Texas native was in his 16th year as Barker’s sidekick and announcer on the top-rated game show. Roddy was well enough to tape the first show of the new season, which marked the show’s 32nd year on CBS. Roddy, who was single, launched his television career when he became the narrator of ABC’s comedy Soap. He had a long history with game shows. He worked on Whew! and Press Your Luck on CBS and Battle of the Stars on NBC. Roddy also worked on Love Connection before joining The Price Is Right.

My question is about a song called Morningtown Ride by a group called The Seekers. It sounds like a lullaby for little kids. What inspired the song and is it available on CD?
—Mary M., Michigan

The late songwriter Malvina Reynolds is the woman behind Morningtown Ride. Reynolds wrote many songs for children, and in a radio interview explained the inspiration behind the song that became such a huge hit for The Seekers. “I know youngsters hate to go to bed at night because it seems like, as far as they’re concerned, it is the end of the world,” she says. “Going to sleep means that you are going to be cut off from everything, and I wanted to help them understand that they were heading somewhere, when they got into bed, that they were heading for morning. And strangely enough, this song became a grown-up hit all over the world.” The song has proved to be a perennial favorite, included on albums by children’s singer Raffi, Sesame Street, and sung by numerous parents to their children at bedtime. You can find The Seekers’ original version on The Very Best of The Seekers. In 2001, the Australian group got together to record a Christmas version of the song for an album called Morningtown Ride (To Christmas).

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