Ask American Profile

Peter Gallagher, Petri Byrd, Kyra Phillips, Ray Milland

I would like to know if Peter Gallagher of The O.C. and David Gallagher of 7th Heaven are related.
—Shirley Bumgarner, Statesville, N.C.

No, the two Gallaghers are not related. Peter, 50, is the only member of his family who ended up in the acting business. He’s been on Broadway (Guys and Dolls) and in films (American Beauty, The Player, While You Were Sleeping and Sex, Lies and Videotape), and now plays lawyer Sandy Cohen on The O.C. "I love my role," he says. "It’s such a nice change of pace after playing so many smarmy guys." David, 21, got his start as a child model in print ads, later moving to TV commercials, movies (Look Who’s Talking Now, Angels in the Endzone, Phenomenon) and finally a breakthrough role on the WB TV series 7th Heaven.

Is Officer Byrd on Judge Judy an actor or a sworn officer?
—Don Whitehead, Sequim, Wash.

Petri Hawkins Byrd, who keeps order during the televised courtroom proceedings, is indeed a sworn officer. As a matter of fact, he was Judge Judy’s court officer for a time when she presided over family court in New York, before getting her own TV show. When he heard his old boss was going on the air, he sent her a letter inquiring if she needed a bailiff. She did, and invited him to come aboard.

My brother and I disagree on a movie character. He starred in The Thing With Two Heads with Rosie Grier, and he also was the guy in a wheelchair who got eaten by frogs in Frogs. My brother says it’s Robert Young from TV’s Marcus Welby.
—Richard Murphy Jr., Columbus, Ga.

The actor you refer to is Ray Milland, a solid, second-string Hollywood performer who never rose to superstardom, but who certainly had his memorable movie moments—as the blue-blooded Bostonian dad opposed to the romance in Love Story, as the villain in Dial M for Murder, and his Oscar-winning turn as an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend. Later in his career, he became a go-to guy for a string of low-budget horror and science-fiction drive-in fare, including the two you remember from the 1970s. Milland also had his own TV comedy series (Meet Mr. McNulty) for a few years in the ’50s. He died of lung cancer in 1986.

What can you tell me about CNN anchor Kyra Phillips, including how she met her husband, Miles O’Brien?
—R.R. Barrett Jr., Grafton, Vt.

Actually, Phillips is not married to Miles O’Brien. They were, however, anchor partners for six years until O’Brien moved to New York to head up American Morning last June, and Phillips remained in Atlanta to anchor CNN’s Live From. Phillips, 37, whose first interview was with Dr. Seuss for a school newspaper she started in the fourth grade, loves her work. "There’s never a dull moment," she says. "The most rewarding aspect is when I do an interview that empowers or helps someone." She has been married five years and loves traveling and golf.

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