eannie Wilson, who costars in the CBS series "Simon and Simon," may not be as well known as other actresses on television, but she can lay claim to many distinctions the others cannot. How many of them can claim they were once Miss Nacogdoches? More than that, how many actresses can claim they worked their way through college by winning beauty pageants and applying the prize toward tuition? How many of them were the Dodge Girl for five years and yearly made personal appearances in 28 states? If by any chance even one actress could claim to have duplicated Wilson's unusual trip to becoming a professional performer, it is still highly unlikely that any other Hollywood female ever became a crack hunter of rattlesnakes, or had a black panther and a mountain lion for housepets. Fascinated by her idea of house pets, I asked her during a recent interview how she managed to train the cats not to molest her household goods, not to mention her personal goods, such as her body. "They weren't really all that much trouble," she said. "We had them from the time they were cubs so they were used to our smells and we got to know their many moods.
Cats are interesting. Their personalities can vary from day to day, unlike, say, a dog's. There is always a bit of the kitten in every cat no matter how large it grows. "On the other hand, when a cat gets to be four feet long and weighs 90 pounds, it is nothing to trifle with or approach without a good working knowledge of cats. Most of the time, however, they would just purr and want to be petted.
We had to cage them when they were in heat because then they are terribly short-tempered and tend to become dangerous." Where, pray tell, did she live to be able to have a black panther and a mountain lion as house pets and to become a rattlesnake hunter? "In Texas, where else," she said. Her husband got the mountain lion and black panther By William Hickey TELEVISION CRITIC "My husband and I lived on a brought back to life. None of us ranch outside Dallas, so we had dreamed we'd be doing a second no near neighbors. As for the year. rattlesnakes, they were all over "We refer to the show as The the place, frontyard, backyard; Miracle, for it was a miracle that everywhere.
I just learned not to we ever got a second chance. We be afraid of them, but to club were cancelled outright, but then them or stomp them to death. a funny thing happened. The netCatching rattlers is a big sport in work threw the remaining epiTexas, as big as football." sodes on the air during the sumI take it you did not bring the mer and the show took off. CBS cats to Hollywood, I said.
looked at the ratings and hurriedly "No, I didn't and couldn't have reassembled the cast and crew. even if I wanted to," she said. "One beautiful and very husband and I divorced and tive thing resulted from all that he got custody of the cats. Actu- chaos and that is that the cast ally, I was happy he did because and crew became very close. I I was coming out here to start a know it's a cliche, but we did career.
But I really missed them become family. Now we are trying the first year or so." other projects, such as feature So, how does one start a career films, together. In fact, we are as an actress, even if she has doing one, and it's going to be been Miss Nacogdoches, Miss shot in, of all places, Texas. My Dallas, Miss Texas and the Dodge present husband that's a terriGirl? ble way to put it my husband, Jack Lucarelli, is heavily involved "I came here in 1976 and just started pounding she said. in the production." "I did have some good credits in Noting that her part had been dinner theaters in Texas.
I was upgraded this season, I asked how in any number of musicals, such that had come about. She smiled as 'Guys and Dolls' and 'Gypsy' wickedly and said: and all those standards, and I also "I bitched a lot. The first year, did a stint in Las Vegas as a if you'll recall, I was simply a dancer. So I knew a little about secretary and spent most of my the business. time watering the plants in the "Norman Lear gave me my office.
I felt I could contribute a first break by casting me in great deal more than that and even though it was a let everyone within earshot know non-speaking role. That led to my about it. being cast in another of his "So this year I have earned my comedies 'A Year at the law degree and spend most of Then I began to get roles in my time getting the Simon weekly series. I was in brothers out of scrapes. You know 'Fantasy 'Dukes of Haz- those two are always landing in zard'; quite a few of them.
one jail or another. Anyway, I "Then I auditioned for and won feel much more like I'm part of the role of Janet Fowler in 'Simon the team and the creative and Simon' and here I am talking process." to you. Needless to say, I couldn't Continued on Page 12 be happier, even though the early going was particularly rough. We Cover photo of Jeannie Wilson were actually cancelled, then by CBS. 2 THE PLAIN DEALER TV WEEK DECEMBER 10, 1982.
