Ask Ken Beck

Dear Ken: Edie Falco is great on “Nurse Jackie” and was superb as Carmela on “The Sopranos.” Has she made many movies?

Falco, 49, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., got her big break in the 1994 Woody Allen film “Bullets Over Broadway.” She has appeared in about 30 films including “Cop Land,” “A Price Above Rubies,” “Judy Berlin,” “Random Hearts,” “Sunshine State,” “Family of the Year,” “The Quiet” and “3 Backyards.” She next stars as Artemis in “Gods Behaving Badly,” about a young couple who run into a group of Greek gods living in the Big Apple.

Dear Ken: Did Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle appear in any movies? I think I remember him and Roger Maris in one back in the early 1960s.

Mantle, who died in 1995, was no actor but he appeared as himself on numerous game shows, talk shows and TV series such as “Hee Haw,” “The White Shadow,” “Remington Steele” and “Mr. Belvedere.” But he did star in one film, probably the one you recollect, 1962’s “Safe at Home,” about a boy who runs away from home to try and talk the New York Yankees into appearing at his Little League baseball team’s banquet. Maris, Whitey Ford and Yankee skipper Ralph Houk also appear (they can’t act either), while real actors William Frawley and Don Collier hold down the fort. 

Dear Ken: How old would Minnie Pearl be if she were living?

“How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E!” I’m jest so proud you asked. The country comic, who was born Sarah Ophelia Colley in Centerville, Tenn., would have notched her 100th birthday on Oct. 25. A star of the “Grand Ole Opry” for more than 50 years, Cousin Minnie was also on “Hee Haw” from 1969 until 1991. A graduate of Ward-Belmont College (today known as Belmont University), the wonderful woman debuted as Minnie Pearl in 1939 and debuted on the “Opry” in 1940. Colley married Henry R. Cannon in 1947. The couple had no children. Their home was located next door to the Tennessee Governor’s Mansion. The grand old comedienne, who battled breast cancer, died in 1996 at age 83 of complications from a stroke  The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation was founded in her memory. In 1966, she had a top-10 country hit with “Giddyup Go Answer,” a response to a hit by Red Sovine, her only chart hit.

Dear Ken: I just saw the TV movie “Stagecoach,” starring Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and John Schneider. What other country music stars were in this Western?

The 1986 remake of the 1939 John Ford classic (which made a star out of John Wayne) also included June Carter Cash, Jessi Colter, David Allan Coe, Billy Swan and John Carter Cash.

Dear Ken: How many cast members of “Gone With the Wind” are still with us?

There are four actors still living who had speaking roles in the 1939 film. They include Alicia Rhett, 97, who played India Wilkes; Olivia de Havilland, 96, who played Melanie Hamilton; Mary Anderson, 92, who played Maybelle Merriwether; and Mickey Kuhn, 80, who played Beau Wilkes as a child. As for survivors who were in the film but spoke no lines, there is Patrick Curtis, who played Beau Wilkes as a baby, and Greg Giese, 73, who was 11 days old when he played both infants Bonnie Blue Butler and Beau Wilkes.

Dear Ken: How many movies did Paul Newman and Robert Redford make together?

Two. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1969 and “The Sting” in 1973. And in case you were wondering, Newman was 11½ years older than Redford, who is now 76 and stars in the upcoming thriller “The Company You Keep.” 

If you have a trivia question about actors, singers, movies, TV shows or pop culture, e-mail your query to Ken Beck at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dear Ken: How is Scott Eastwood, who co-stars in “Trouble With the Curve,” related to Clint Eastwood?

Scott, 26, is Clint’s son. He also has been in his dad’s movies “Invictus,” “Gran Torino” and “Flags of Our Fathers.” Eastwood’s latest film, about an aging Atlanta Braves scout who is losing his eyesight and wants to make one last trip to scoop up a new top prospect, also stars Amy Adams as his daughter, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and Robert Patrick. Scott is set to play Deputy Carl Hartman in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D,” which opens in early January. Clint, by the way, is 82.

Dear Ken: How old was matinee idol Tyrone Power when he died? Did he have a son and daughter who went into acting?

The handsome leading man, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, died of a heart attack in Madrid, Spain, in 1958 while making the movie “Solomon and Sheba.” He made nearly 50 movies from the 1930s into the late 1950s including “Jesse James,”  ”The Mark of Zorro,” “Blood and Sand,” “The Razor’s Edge,” “Captain From Castille“ and “Rawhide“ and was equally adept onstage. His eldest daughter, Romina, 60, became a singer and actress with mostly Italian films to her credit. Her sister Taryn, 58, made less than 10 movies, the most famous being “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.” The girls’ half-brother Tyrone Power Jr., 53, who was born two months after his father’s death, worked in a dozen films such as “Cocoon” and “Dreamkiller” and was a guest in an episode of “Cheers.”

Dear Ken: What’s the skinny on Dax Shepard, who stars as Charles Bronson in the movie “Hit and Run”?

Actor-comedian Shepard, 37, began his career on the MTV hidden-camera practical-joke reality show “Punk’d” before getting into such films as “Employee of the Month,” “Idiocracy,” “Let’s Go to Prison,” “Baby Mama” and “When in Rome.” He now stars on the TV series “Parenthood” as Crosby Braverman. Engaged to actress Kristin Bell, he graduated magna cum laude from UCLA with a degree in anthropology and enjoys racing motorcycles. Shepard wrote and co-directed “Hit and Run,” which also stars Bell, Beau Bridges, Kristen Chenoweth, Bradley Cooper and Tom Arnold. He’s already working on his next production, “Send Lawyers, Gun and Money.”

Dear Ken: What happened to the girl who played Scout in the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird”?

That was Mary Badham, 59, who played Gregory Peck’s daughter in the 1962 movie, now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The native of Birmingham, Ala., lives with her husband on a farm near Richmond, Va. They raised a son and daughter. Over the past few years she has made appearances to talk about her experience of making the film, which was based on the novel by Harper Lee. Until his death, Peck continued to call her Scout and she called him Atticus. Badham’s other movie credits include “Let’s Kill Uncle” and “This Property Is Condemned” and 2005’s “Our Very Own,” which was filmed in Shelbyville, Tenn. She also appeared in episodes of “Dr. Kildare” and “The Twilight Zone.”

Dear Ken: Did swashbuckling cinema star Errol Flynn have any children?

He had four children. Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, the son of a biologist-professor, Flynn was married three times. By first wife actress Lili Damita he had a son, Sean, a photographer who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970 during the Vietnam War and was presumed dead. By second wife Nora Eddington he had daughters Deirdre and Rory, and with actress Patrice Wymore, he had daughter Arnella Roma, who died in 1998. Flynn died of a heart attack in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1959 at the age of 50. Daughter Rory has penned a book about her father titled “The Baron of Mulholland,” and her son, Sean Flynn, recently appeared as Johnse Hatfield in the miniseries “The Hatfields and McCoys” and co-stars in the new film “Return of the Killer Shrews.”

Dear Ken: Tell us something about actor Colin Farrell, star of the “Total Recall” remake.

Farrell, 36, was born in Dublin, Ireland, where his mum was a housewife and his dad a professional football player with the Dublin Shamrocks who also owned a company that imported and exported canned goods. Farrell studied at the Gaiety School of Acting before getting the role of Danny Byrne in the BBC series “Ballykissangel” in 1998. He got his first film lead role in 2000 in “Tigerland” and hasn’t looked back. Among his other movies are “American Outlaws,” “Daredevil,” “Phone Booth,” “S.W.A.T.,” “The Recruit,” “Minority Report,” “Intermission,” “Alexander,” “The New World,” “Miami Vice,” “In Bruges,” “Crazy Heart,” “Fright Night” and “Horrible Bosses.” Whew, is he busy or what? Later this year, he stars in “Seven Pyschopaths.” The father of two kiddos was a friend of Elizabeth Taylor and read a poem that she had pre-selected at her funeral.

Dear Ken: How many TV series did Andy Griffith star in besides “The Andy Griffith Show”?

After leaving Sheriff Taylor and Mayberry behind, Griffith starred in “Headmaster,” “The New Andy Griffith Show,” “Adams of Eagle Lake,” “Salvage 1,” “The Yeagers” and “Matlock.” He was also in the miniseries “Washington: Behind Closed Doors” and “Centennial.”

Dear Ken: What happened to the actress who played Chevy Chase’s wife in the “National Lampoon” movies?

That was Beverly D’Angelo, who played Ellen Griswold, mate to goofus Clark Griswald in four feature films. The native of Columbus, Ohio, 60, has continued to work in film and TV. She had the recurring role of Rebecca Balthus in “Law & Order: SVU” from 2003 to 2008 and most recently starred as Barbara Miller on “Entourage.” She has three movies coming down the pike: “I Heart Shakey,” “A White Trash Christmas” and “Popcorn Ceiling.”  D’Angelo was in a relationship with Al Pacino from 1996 to 2003, which produced twins in 2001.

Dear Ken: How many actors have played G-man Dick Tracy in the movies?

Since Chester Gould debuted his comic strip in 1931, only three actors have portrayed Tracy in film. Ralph Byrd portrayed the police detective in four serials starting in 1937, in two movies in the 1940s and in a 1950-1951 TV series. Ralph Conway played Tracy in two 1940s flicks, and Warren Beatty played the flatfoot in a 1990 film. There is talk a new Tracy flick may be coming in a couple of years.

Dear Ken: What has happened to Stephen Collins, who played Rev. Eric Camden on “7th Heaven”? 

Collins, 64, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, plays Dr. Dayton King on the ABC sitcom “No Ordinary Family” and earlier this year appeared in “The Three Stooges” feature film. A rock ’n’ roll musician before he became an actor, he has released a couple of albums, including “The Hits of Rick Nelson.” Among the names of the bands he played with are Tambourine Charlie & The Four Flat Tires, The Naugahyde Revolution, The Flower & Vegetable Show, The Housemen, The Mustangs and The Trolls. He also has written a suspense thriller titled “Double Exposure.”

Dear Ken: There was a blind singer and guitarist named Jose Feliciano who had a big hit with “Light My Fire” in 1968s. Does he still perform?

Yes. Feliciano, 66, who was born José Montserrate Feliciano García in Lares, Puerto Rico, continues to entertain. He moved with his parents and 11 brothers to Spanish Harlem in New York City when he was 5. After receiving a guitar as a gift, the youngster practiced as much as 14 hours a day before taking classical lessons. When he was 17, he dropped out of school and turned professional. The international star also wrote and performs the Christmas classic “Feliz Navidad.”  He and his wife live with their three children in a 275-year-old former tavern-turned-homestead on a river in Fairfield County, Conn. The multi-Grammy winner says of his success, “I used to be a dreamer in school. I never, in all my wildest days, would ever think I’d become kind of a Latin idol to the women in Latin countries or a hero to young kids. I never thought of that. My main interest really was playing music. I was always fascinated by the sound I could get out of things. I’m just, a very lucky person, that God gave me the chance to do what I'm doing.”

Dear Ken: When does the animated movie “Hotel Transylvania” open at theaters and who are some of the voice stars?

The film opens Sept. 21 and is set at a resort run be Dracula where monsters go to get away from it all. The plot involves a normal kid who flips for Drac’s daughter. The voices include Adam Sandler as Dracula, Kevin James as Frankenstein, David Spade as the Invisible Man, Jon Lovitz as Quasimodo and Cee-Lo as the Mummy. Other star voices include Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Andy Samberg and Molly Shannon. 

Dear Ken: In what town did Robert Redford direct “The Milagro Beanfield War”? I love that movie and would like to visit the location.

The 1988 film was shot in Truchas, N.M., a town halfway between Santa Fe and Taos, N.M.

Dear Ken: Where is Noomi Rapace, who plays the archaeologist in “Prometheus,” from?

Rapace, 32, was born in Sweden. Her mother is a Swedish actress and her late father was a Spanish flamenco singer. She moved to Iceland at 5 where she made her first movie at 7 before moving back to Sweden at 9. Since 2009, she starred in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” and “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.” The latter was the first film in which she speaks in English. Divorced, she has an 8-year-old son.

Dear Ken: Whatever happened to that new Hank Williams movie?

That would be “The Last Ride,” which stars Henry Thomas as Williams and co-stars Fred Dalton Thompson, Jesse James and Kaley Cuoco. It has opened in a series of historic theaters across the U.S. and will be shown in major cities from now through August. The independent film focuses on the period when Williams was getting his life back in order after drugs, alcohol, two failed marriages and a hair-trigger temper had nearly ruined his career. In late 1952, he had arranged several New Year’s shows in West Virginia and Ohio but never got there. Somewhere on that last highway, the country music legend passed away on New Year’s Day, in 1953, in the back of his Cadillac, carrying only his guitar and a notebook full of unfinished songs.

Dear Ken: What’s next up for zany Bill Murray?

The 61-year-old father of six sons plays the husband of Frances McDormand in “Moonrise Kingdom,” director Wes Anderson’s (“Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Rushmore”) new film about two 12-year-olds who fall in love and run away into the wilderness. Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, the film also features Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman. In December, Murray stars as President Franklin D. Roosevelt in “Hyde Park on Hudson.” The Chicago native loves golf, the Chicago Cubs and had his first starring role in 1979’s “Meatballs,“ far and away the best film ever about summer camp.

Dear Ken: Someone told me that there is a new movie in the works based on the life of June Carter Cash. Who will play her and when is it coming out?

The Lifetime network has announced that pop-country singer-songwriter Jewel, 37, will star in “The June Carter Cash Story,” which is based on “Anchored by Love,” the book by June and Johnny’s son John Carter Cash. It will be filmed this summer in Atlanta, and Matt Ross of the TV series “American Horror Story” will portray Johnny Cash. It should hit TV late this year. Jewel and her husband Ty Murray, 42, a nine-time World Champion rodeo cowboy and co-founder of the Professional Bull Riders, live on 2,400-acre ranch in Stephenville, Texas, with their 11-month-old son Kase Townes Murray. Among Jewel’s hit songs are “Who Will Save Your Soul,” “You Were Meant for Me,” “Foolish Games,” “Hands,” “Standing Still” and “Intuition.”

Dear Ken: With a new “Dark Shadows” film out, what can you tell us about Tennessee native Lara Parker, who starred in the original TV series?

Parker, 74, who played bewitching Angelique Collins in the 1960s gothic soap opera, was born Mary Lamar Rickey, in Knoxville and grew up in Memphis where she earned a degree in philosophy from Southwestern (now Rhodes College). After acting at the Millbrook Playhouse in Loch Haven, Pa., where she played five leads in six weeks, she tried New York and within two weeks was cast as Angelique on “Dark Shadows” in 1966. She has been a guest on such TV series as “Kung Fu,” “Six Million Dollar Man,” “Police Woman,” “The Rockford Files,” “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” “Emergency,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Baretta” and “Highway to Heaven.” Holding a master’s degree in creative writing, she has written several “Dark Shadows” novels and has a cameo appearance in the new movie. The mother of three lives with her husband in the Santa Monica Mountains of California. One bit of trivia: Parker first went to Vassar College, where her roommate was Jane Fonda. She played the wife of Peter Fonda, Jane’s brother, in the 1975 film “Race With the Devil.”

Dear Ken: What is Linda Hamilton, who starred in the TV series “Beauty and the Beast,” doing now?

The actress, 55, most recently co-starred on the TV series “Chuck,” until it came to the end of its run in January, and has completed a psychological thriller, “Right Next Door.” 

The native of Saulsbury, Maryland, who starred as Sarah Connor in “The Terminator” films, was married to writer-producer-director James Cameron from 1997 to 1999 and reportedly received $50 million in the divorce settlement. In March she put her Malibu villa up for sale with an asking price of $5.5 million. She has a 22-year-old son by her first husband and a 9-year-old daughter by Cameron, who is famed for such films as “Titanic,” “Avatar,” “Aliens” and “The Terminator.”

Dear Ken: We recently watched the movie “We Bought a Zoo.” What other movies has Scarlett Johansson, who played the zookeeper, been in?

The actress, model and singer has been making movies since she was 10. Her earlier films included “North,” “Manny & Lo,” “The Horse Whisperer” and “Ghost World.” Over the past decade or so, the 27-year-old starred in “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” “Match Point,” “The Island,” “The Prestige,” “The Nanny Diaries,” “Iron Man 2” and, most recently, “The Avengers.” She next portrays actress Janet Leigh in the flick “Making of Psycho,” while Anthony Hopkins plays Alfred Hitchcock, James D’Arcy plays Anthony Perkins and Helen Mirren is Hitchcock’s wife Alma. 

Dear Ken: Who was the host of the local pop music/dance show “Five O’Clock Hop” that was on Nashville’s Channel 4 back in the early 1960s?

That was WSM-TV’s Dave Overton, who came to Nashville in 1950 to work for WSM Radio. He also could be heard on “The Waking Crew” early morning radio show back in the day. The hostess of “Five O’Clock Hop” was Martha Sanderson.

Dear Ken: What’s the lowdown on Luke Evans, who stars as Detective Fields in “The Raven”?

The 33-year-old Welsh native came from a working-class background and labored in a shoe shop during his early teen years, using the money to pay for singing and acting lessons. It paid off well as he kept busy on London’s West End from 2000 to 2008 before making the jump to the silver screen as Apollo in “Clash of the Titans.” He’s been making movies since, including “Robin Hood,” “Tamara Drewe,” “The Three Musketeers” and “Immortals.” He stars later this year in the psychological horror film “No One Lives” and has taken the role of Bard the Bowman in director Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” As for “The Raven,” Evans partners with John Cusack, who portrays Edgar Allen Poe, as they seek a serial killer in mid-19th-century Baltimore. Filming took place in Budapest and Serbia.