Ask American Profile

George Clooney, All in the Family, Judith Light, Donovan, Harlem Globetrotters

In the early episodes of the Roseanne TV show, there is a foreman at the factory where Roseanne worked named Booker. Was that role played by George Clooney?
—J. Burt, N. Tonawanda, N.Y.

Yes, that was a young George Clooney on Roseanne from 1989 to 1991. His very first recurring TV series role was on the emergency room comedy E\R in 1984—not to be confused with the dramatic series ER, during which Clooney became a household name as Dr. Doug Ross 10 years later. Another of his early roles was on the sitcom The Facts of Life from 1985 to 1986.

In the theme song to All in the Family, what's the line between "Everybody pulled his weight" and "those were the days"?
—Lou S., Jonesboro, Ark.

You're not the only TV viewer who's had trouble with the last lines of the show's theme song: "Everybody pulled his weight/Didn't need no welfare state/Gee, our old Lasalle ran great/Those were the days."

I'm a fan of Judith Light from Who's the Boss? and have seen most of her movies. I was wondering what she is doing now and if she has any plans for a new show or movies.
—Steve Ringenberg, Oral, S.D.

New Jersey-born Light recently did an off-Broadway play in New York called Colder Than Here, has a role in the upcoming film Ira and Abby, is working on another called Save Me and enjoys a recurring part as Judge Elizabeth Donnelly on TV's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. One of her earliest acting roles, on the soap opera One Life to Live from 1977 to 1983, earned her a spot in the Soap Opera Hall of Fame.

Whatever happened to Donovan, the 1960s folk-pop singer?
—Susan P., Benson, Ariz.

Born Donovan Leitch in 1946 in Scotland, the "Mellow Yellow" singer has been busy. Beat Café, his 2004 CD tribute to the Beat Generation poets of the 1950s, received sterling reviews. "I was exploring the loss of bohemia to huge celebrity," he says. Donovan was John Mellencamp's special guest on a tour last spring, and Try for the Sun, a three-CD/DVD collection of his music spanning 1964 to 2004, was released last fall, shortly before the publication of The Autobiography of Donovan: The Hurdy Gurdy Man. A documentary film about his life is scheduled for release later this year.

Whatever happened to the great Harlem Globetrotters?
—Patricia Barry, Monmouth, Ill.

The Globetrotters, who played their first basketball game in 1927, are up to all their old tricks—and some new ones—on a 41-state tour celebrating 80 years of unique entertainment (with a lineup that has, of course, changed numerous times over the decades). Since 1993, the big-hearted Globetrotters have donated more than $11 million to charity.

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