I found this old chat transcipt from Crystal Bernard from around 1999 or 2000. I've posted some of the interesting stuff she said about Wings.

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Q: How was woking on "Wings"?

A: What an experience! What a joy! First of all, the two guys were and ARE incredible human beings. As well as intelligent, sensitive and they're kind and compassionate. It was good to have friends to talk to everyday. By the way, David Schramm who played "Roy Biggins" is extraordinary! He's so funny and such an intellectual ... a far cry from the bigot he plays. So, what was it like? Very validating.

Q: What if any is your favorite episode of "Wings"? My
personal favorite was the episode where Helen drives her Jeep through Joe's office, not once, but twice.

A: Actually, three times! And, guess who did the stunt work? Oh yeah ... ME! What a blast! What a way to get out your frustrations! Probably my favorite ... I think some of the funniest
moments really in TV for the cast was the show where I had my wisdom teeth pulled. I was in bed the whole show, so that was fabulous! But, it seemed like every character came alive during that episode.

Q: Crystal, do you think the cast of Wings will ever get back together?

A: We're asked that often. And, we always refer to the "Leave it to Beaver" reunion and the "Brady Bunch" reunion and how depressing those shows are. It's like, "Is that what they became?" So, we decided maybe we'll quit while we're ahead and leave while we're on top. You know, the cliche's.

Q: How much of your own personality traits did we see in your character on wings

A: A lot!! The part was originally written for a New York cellist ..
no, a New York snobby cellist, that sort of was the older sister role to the two brothers. The older sister type role to the two brothers. And, they tried to cast this role for 8 months. Then, I read the script and I thought, "Oh, what if they did it this way?"
And, I went in and said, "I know this is a different take on this part, but let me give it a shot." And, I did and got the role.
I think good comedy writers always write to their actor's strengths. So, physical comedy and running an emotional gamut seem to be my strengths. So they wrote to them. What a blast!!

Q: do you miss being on wings?

A: I miss the people. I miss the routine. I miss the writers. The producers. It goes two ways ... I'm glad that we ended while we were on top. And, now that I have the chance to do other things, ... but I do miss the show.


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I've read that Peri Gilphen (Roz) on Fraiser, was originally going to play the Helen part. I think she's great on Frasier, but I can't imagine anyone but Crsystal playing Helen. It turned out to be perfect casting all the way around for Wings as far as I was concerned.

Very interesting interview. I love reading what these "Wings" cast members have to say about the show and each other in these post-series interviews....and the REALLY nice thing about these interviews is that in every one that I've read, ALL of the comments about the series and the fellow cast members have been POSITIVE....None of this "Oh, what an obnoxious pain HE was to work with!" kind of stuff.

Thanks for the interview!

Great interview. Thanks.

I love reading that stuff too. I'm so glad we won't ever be seeing a scandalous "True Hollywood Story: Wings" :lol:

Love,

Wing<><

Another thing about the real-life Crystal.....

She must be one GUTSY lady! Imagine walking into an audition where you don't have the part yet and actually CHANGING the take on the character that you're up for? Imagine saying to the producer, director, or whoever was in charge of the audition: "I know that this isn't how you envision the character, but let's try THIS take on her?". That shows real confidence, imagination...and yes, GUTS!

I think that it was a drastic move to change the character of Helen from a "snobbish, big sister" character to a "down home, little sister" character...but it was a change that obviously WORKED!

I know that I've already posted about this topic, but I just can't BELIEVE that the original concept of Helen was as a snobbish classical cellist....The LAST thing that "Wings" needed was another DIANE CHAMBERS behind the lunch counter! :rolleyes:

THANK YOU, Crystal! ;)

Thanks for posting this! Ienjoyed reading it!
I think it's great that all the cast members got along so well, and that they always have good things to say about each other.
I was just thinking about this the other day- sometimes it's better to watch a show in reruns years after it finished airing, becase you don't hear all the dumb rumors about the actors, and about the scandals that go on on the set, if there were any. it makes the show more enjoyable without hearing about that crap. But with Wings, it seems like there wasn't even any of that stuff to begin with! I love hearing about how well they all got along during the show's run, and how some of them still keep in touch with each other now.

and that's awesome that Crystal had the guts to go in and suggest a change to the Helen character, and that the writetrs agreed with her. That's so cool!

~Krista
:cow:

WHEN She talks about going in and changing the character of helen.......i read in gary marshall's book about his life in comedy and how he got the actors in "happy days" to do something with their lives. he felt that if they went back to their trailers, thats when the drugs would start because they all had money.....he told all of them to learn other jobs in acting because happy days is not going to be there for them forever.

they also started a baseball team and a basketball team with everyone involved even gary.

matter of fact, when ron howard won his oscar one of the people he thanked later was gary marshall for being a mentor to him. so it doesn't surprise me about crystal coming up with the new character of helen.

Imagine how much different the show would have been had Peri Gilphen been cast as Helen. Since the writers do customize their scripts around the character's strengths I think we would have seen quite a large variation in how things played out overall. And I'm sure I wouldn't have like it nearly as with Crystal Bernard. No offense to Peri Gilphen fans, but Roz always seemed kind of whiney when things don't go her way. Helen doesn't whine, she gets ultra sassy and sometimes violent. Geeez I love that little blonde spitfire!

Originally posted by Ice Cream Man
Helen doesn't whine, she gets ultra sassy and sometimes violent. Geeez I love that little blonde spitfire!

My 11-year old daughter had a couple of her friends over the other day, and she BEGGED me to show them a few episodes of "Wings" that I had on videotape....carefully selected episodes, of course!

You'd think that those girls would have been giggling over how "cute" the Hackett brothers are, but they were all RIVETED to Helen. They laughed the loudest at Helen's lines and her overall fiestiness, and they all said, "That Helen is so COOL!".

Helen certainly is a character that young girls can relate to and enjoy!