Ask American Profile

Jimmy Dean, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Lorenzo Music, Tori Spelling

What is singer Jimmy Dean doing these days?
—Angela M., California

Jimmy Dean, the 76-year-old country singer, actor and sausage king from Plainview, Texas (pop. 22,336), is enjoying a high profile: His CD, The Best of Jimmy Dean, was released last summer, and his new autobiography, Thirty Years of Sausage . . . Fifty Years of Ham, which he co-wrote with wife Donna, came out in October. The book details his career, which included a network TV show, hit songs such as Big Bad John, Dear Ivan, Bummin’ Around and Cajun Queen in the 1950s and ’60s, and founding the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. in 1968. "I hope some younger people from the other side of the tracks like me will read it and say, ‘Well, if he did it, I can,’" says Dean, who lives near Richmond, Va. "My granddaddy never made $10,000 a year in his life, but he was the best farmer in Swisher County, Texas. His fences were straighter, his barn was redder, he raised nine great kids, and had a marvelous relationship with the Man upstairs—thereby, peace of mind. You want to talk about success and wealth, that’s it."

I would like to know more about country music artist Carolyn Dawn Johnson. What can you tell me about her?
—Mark I., Georgia

Canadian singer-songwriter Johnson, 33, is the quintessential new country star. Her albums show an appreciation of rural life, while her hits such as Complicated reflect a definite pop influence. "I’d like to be around for a long time, so I am just trying to continue to write songs that mean something to me," says Johnson, whose trophies include one for Favorite New Artist from the 2003 American Music Awards. Johnson started as a back-up singer and guitarist for Martina McBride in the 1990s. She also wrote the No. 1 hit Single White Female for Chely Wright before becoming a star in her own right. Her husband, Nashville, Tenn., businessman Matt Fisher, played a policeman in the video for her song, Simple Life.

Whatever happened to Lorenzo Music, the doorman on Rhoda?
—Gene P., Wyoming

The writer/actor/producer whose distinctive voice came over the intercom on Rhoda, and who went on to do the voice of Garfield the cat, died at age 64 in 2001. Born in New York City and raised in Duluth, Minn., Music worked in a comedy team with his wife, Henrietta, for eight years. He went on to write for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, winning an Emmy for his work, serve as a story editor on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and create Rhoda with his partner David Davis. Though he never was seen, his voice became a regular character, Carlton the doorman. Music died at his Los Angeles home and was survived by his wife and their four children.

Tori Spelling’s Family Plan Goes Awry

Actress Tori Spelling, 31, who is best known for her role on Beverly Hills, 90210, tackles comedy in Family Plan, which airs at 9 p.m. ET Feb. 12 on the Hallmark Channel. "It’s like an old-fashioned 1950s movie plot with Doris Day and Rock Hudson," she says. Spelling stars as an ambitious woman who pretends to be a devoted wife and mother to impress her family-oriented boss. The sham works until her boss moves next door, causing her to "borrow" a friend’s child and "hire" a husband. Spelling says she relished the opportunity to do comedy after playing Donna Martin on 90210. "I was always the goofball off camera," she says. "I always tried to make Donna kind of funny, because that’s my sensibility, but you can only do so much in a drama. And when I was done with the series, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m sticking with comedy now.’ That’s what I love." Her greatest love is husband Charlie Shanian, an actor/writer whom she married in July.

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