Ask American Profile

Richard Simmons, Ritz Brothers, Vivian Brown

What is Richard Simmons doing now?
—Katie D., Virginia

Simmons, 56, is doing what he has been doing for the past 35 years, dedicating his life to helping people be healthy in mind and body. He spends his mornings answering letters and making calls to "people who had the stomach surgery and it’s not working out, people who have gotten divorced and gained 100 pounds, what I’ve done all my life," says New Orleans-born Simmons, who’s had his own TV show and made 25 infomercials and 53 videos. He still teaches at Slimmons, his Beverly Hills, Calif., workout studio, when he’s not traveling to schools and colleges, "trying to see how we can get America to work out. We’re all so freaked about the diets, whether it’s low carb, high carb, the beach, the Mediterranean, up on the roof, down in the basement," he teases. "What it all boils down to is the calories, the fat and if you’re working out." He’s currently working on his first children’s video, another adult video and two walking tapes. "I never ask people to do weird things," he says. "I ask them to like themselves, to eat healthy, watch their portions and move their body. The problem in America is that people don’t have a lot of self worth."

What happened to the Ritz Brothers?
—Cecilia H., Missouri

The vaudeville team of Al, Jimmy and Harry Ritz are all deceased. Al, the oldest of the three died in 1965 of a heart attack, leaving Jimmy and Harry to carry on without him. Jimmy died of heart failure and Harry died of cancer, both within a year of each other in the mid-1980s. They were born in Newark, N.J.—Al in 1901, Jimmy two years later, and Harry in 1906—and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. After Harry graduated from high school, the brothers took their vaudeville act on the road. Unfortunately, the slapstick trio always lived in the shadows of the Marx Brothers, but they made a mark of their own and broke into films with Hotel Anchovy in 1934.

What can you tell me about The Weather Channel’s meteorologist Vivian Brown?
—Alex T., Mississippi

Even as a little girl in Greenville, Miss. (pop. 41,633), Vivian Brown was interested in weather and spent her high school summers attending programs that offered internships in meteorology. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Jackson State University, she joined The Weather Channel in 1986. "The most satisfying thing about my job is knowing that I am able to provide very important information to people, so they can protect themselves, their loved ones and their property from the dangers of violent weather," says Brown, a married mother of three. She recently opened a store in Atlanta, where she lives, called The Warm Front, which sells maternity clothes designed for working women.

Cybill Shepherd leads Amazing Woman Campaign

Actress and singer Cybill Shepherd is taking time from her entertainment career to lead the Amazing Women Campaign, an educational initiative of the National Women’s Health Resource Center (NWHRC) about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). April is National IBS Month, and Shepherd, who was diagnosed with IBS after 20 years of suffering, is encouraging women to seek proper diagnosis and treatment if they think they have IBS symptoms, which include constipation and bloating. The divorced mother of three recently finished a movie called Open Window and released her 12th CD, At Home with Cybill. The Los Angeles resident spent last fall in London, where she completed a sold-out concert run. "I’m planning on doing some theaters around the country and hopefully bring it to New York in the fall," she says. For more information about IBS, visit www.Zwomen.org.

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