Dana Delany on How "Moonlighting" Led Her to "China Beach"

[JamesG]

Dana Delany on How "Moonlighting" Led Her to "China Beach"
by Matt Webb Mitovich
March 25, 2018


My "Bull" role came about because Michael Weatherly is an old friend of mine, and we have been wanting to do something for a long time. I had sushi with him the last time we were in New York and Glenn Gordon Caron had just taken over the show [for Season 2].

Michael, being irrepressible, immediately got Glenn on the phone and said, “We’ve got to get Dana on the show.” Glenn was like, “Hi, Dana.”



I wanted to do it because Glenn, who created "Moonlighting", had given me a break a long time ago when I did one of the early episodes of that show. It was a huge thing in that it really put me on a path in my career.

I got a series out of it, I got to be Magnum P.I.’s fiancée out of it, and I got to date a rock star out of it.





Which series did you get out of it?

John Young, the creator of "China Beach", had seen that [Moonlighting] episode and wrote my name down on a Post-It and stuck it on a lampshade.

[As First Lieutenant/Captain Colleen McMurphy, Delany went on to amass four Emmy nominations, grabbing gold twice.]





That’s a great example of how there are no small roles. You never know what someone’s going to take notice, jot your name down on a cocktail napkin and then cast you on a great drama series.

Very true. So I felt like, “I’ve got to do that with Glenn again.”

http://tvline.com/2018/03/25/dana-de...body-of-proof/