1976 interview with Devon Scott (Roberta)!!!!

[catlover79]

I found an old book via Amazon, published in mid-1976, called TV Talk 2, by Peggy Herz. It was published by Scholastic, so I think it was aimed towards younger readers. But it is still a fun read, and interesting to see what these sitcom stars of the time had to say. Here's all who was interviewed:

1. Lindsay Wagner (Bionic Woman)
2. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley)
3. Gregory Sierra and Hal Linden (Barney Miller)
4. Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time)
5. Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul (Starsky & Hutch)
6. Gabe Kaplan, John Travolta, Ron Palillo and Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs (Welcome Back, Kotter)
7. Devon Scott (The Tony Randall Show)
8. John Schuck (Holmes & Yoyo)

I will transcribe each interview and paste it on the respective show pages - hope everyone enjoys!!

[Retro4Life]

Wow, what a coincidence that Gregory Sierra was in this magazine! I mean, seriously, WHAT are the odds?

(thanks, looks like a neat little nostaglia item)

[catlover79]

Heh heh heh...got it from Amazon for a grand total of 50 cents (not counting the $4 for shipping...). But there really are some great interviews with all the people listed here. I think most of the guys are looking forward to the interview with Val Bertinelli.

[catlover79]

As you might have guessed, I have already transcribed the Hal Linden/Gregory Sierra interviews from this book onto the Barney Miller page:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...d.php?t=281357

I hope to have the Devon Scott interview up on this page either today or tomorrow. Right now I am working on the Mackenzie Phillips/Valerie Bertinelli interviews for the One Day at a Time page.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by catlover79

Heh heh heh...got it from Amazon for a grand total of 50 cents (not counting the $4 for shipping...). But there really are some great interviews with all the people listed here. I think most of the guys are looking forward to the interview with Val Bertinelli.

You must be saving that for last. :

Edit. I see you just posted it.

[catlover79]

Actually, I'm saving the WBK chapter for last because it's so long.

[catlover79]

At 18, Devon Scott is a recent high school graduate, the daughter of a famous actor, and a regular performer on ABC's The Tony Randall Show. She has traveled a great deal, with and without her parents, and is spending this year "working and playing" before going to Vassar next fall.

I met Devon shortly after her graduation from Concord Academy in Massachusetts. She was delighted to be out of school. "It's great," she exclaimed. "I never felt freer!"

Devon's father is the actor George C. Scott. He and Devon's mother separated before Devon was born. "I grew up in New York City," Devon said. "I lived with my mother and my brother Matthew, who is 18 months older than I. My father has not affected my life that much because I didn't live with him," Devon explained. "My mother was the authority figure. She was an actress and a jazz singer, but then she quit. Now she works for the mayor's office on the aging. She just produced a film on aging called Getting On."

Devon was looking forward to being in The Tony Randall Show. She plays Roberta (Bobbie), the strong-willed daughter of Walter Franklin (Randall), a judge of the Superior Court of Philadelphia. Franklin is a recent widower. Bobbie, who is studying to be a lawyer, does her best to get her father to go out on dates and have a good time.

About the character of Bobbie, Devon said, "She's a lot smarter than I am - and a little bit quieter, or at least less excitable. She has a lot of energy and is pretty wordly. I don't have trouble relating to her," Devon added. "It just took a little orientation. Her lifestyle is different from my own. She has a father and not a mother, for example. And they are kind of a 'good old family.' My own family hasn't been around that long!" Devon laughed. "Also, I don't know that much about Philadelphia."

Devon described her own family as being "upper middle class. I had a nurse when I was little, but only because my mother was off singing. The nurse left when I was 6. She was Irish and kind of crazy! At that point, she was really the authoritarian of the house."

Devon and her brother went to Rome with their father in the summer of 1964 for the filming of The Bible and The Yellow Rolls Royce. Later they went to Spain with him for the filming of Patton and to the Bahamas during shooting for The Day of the Dolphin.

When Devon was 12, she and a group of students accepted an invitation to a Russian Summer Camp on the Black Sea. The following summer, she lived with a French family in Tours and took classes at a French school.

Devon had never acted professionally until she was signed for the part of Andrea Platt in the short-lived CBS series We'll Get By by the series' co-producer Alan Alda (of M*A*S*H fame). "My mother's former agent met me at a party," Devon said. "She got me an interview with Alan Alda. He took a video tape of me and then hired me." Devon laughed. "I was supposed to go out to his house in New Jersey to do the tape. Did I have a time! First I went to the wrong bus terminal. Then I got to the right terminal and it was filled with all kinds of creepy people. But I finally got there - and doing that show was such fun!"

Devon decided she wanted to be an actress when she was 13. "I was in a play at school and really liked it. My mother was all for it. She just wanted to be sure ir was what I wanted to do. She's been very supportive."

And her father? Devon smiled. "At first, he didn't like the idea of my acting," she replied. "He said I would be on my own. He didn't open any doors. He didn't want to and didn't believe he should. That's good for him and good for me. People can't say he did this or that."

Devon attended the United Nations International School in Manhattan before transferring to the Concord Academy. "I didn't want to live in the city year-round," she said. "I went to Concord Academy for the my last three years of high school. As a whole," Devon admitted, "I didn't like high school very much. The best thing there was the people - the other kids and certain members of the faculty. I'm not really organized enough to be able to work academically. I learned a lot, but I have a long way to go. I've been accepted to Vassar, but I want to take a year off first to work and play. I ended up with a B or B+ average in high school. I don't know how I did that! I lived in a dorm. I had several roommates, including Caroline Kennedy (daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy) at one point. We changed roommates every three months."

Devon appeared in a number of school plays, beginning in the 4th grade when she was in The Tempest. "In high school they have a senior play every year," she said. "I directed the play my senior year. It was written by 5 people in the class. We had a really good time doing it. It was hard work, but it was fun! The main purpose of putting it on was to have a good time. I appeared in several school plays every year.

"I didn't date much in school," Devon noted. "It was a tiny school of only 300 people or so. It was a very tight-knit community. Everybody knew everybody. That part of it was a little tedious. I have a boyfriend now, though," Devon added. "He graduated a year ahead of me."

When she was in junior high, Devon said, "I was really rowdy. LOUD describes it best, in fact. I was still pretty loud in high school. I knew a lot of people. I had some close friends and ran around in a lot of groups."

Devon is not overly concerned with fashion, beauty, or looking glamourous. "I've never paid that much attention to fashion," she acknowledged. "I basically like being comfortable. I want to look good and feel comfortable. When I'm on TV, I feel I must keep my hair out of my face, but I'm trying to get it long enough so I can sit on it.

"I love to eat," she exclaimed. "I eat anything! I eat steak, salad...I try to stay away from pizza, so I eat a lot of meat, tomatoes, raw vegetables, tuna fish sandwiches...Everything! My weight goes up and down. It drives me crazy! I have no willpower! I try to stop thinking about food. I'm not one for those strict diets, though, or for giving up lunch or dinner. I love sweets, breads, ice cream...Especially in the summer. Bread is really my downfall." The more she talked, the hungrier we both became!

Devon enjoys reading, she said. "I read a great deal. I read biographies, history, a lot of fiction, a lot of trash. I like long novels. I try to ski and try to ride horses," she added. "I'm not terribly athletically inclined. I try sometimes to write, but that doesn't really work. I watch quite a bit of TV. I like old movies, Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, and Masterpiece Theater.

Devon doesn't find acting to be difficult. "I can learn my lines easily," she said. "The thing I have trouble with is keeping my energy up. I tend to slack off a bit. I get tired fairly easily. I think that's my nature. I'm pretty lazy. At the end of the day I sack out.

"I like to sing as a hobby," she revealed. "But when I sing in front of people, I get nervous. It's funny, I don't get nervous when I'm acting. Acting has never bothered me. I haven't taken any acting lessons and I don't think I will. I think it's better to learn by experience. At least that's worked for me."

While the TV show is in production, Devon will live with her brother and a friend in a rented house in Pacific Palisades. "The three of us will take care of ourselves," she said with a smile. "I'm the worst cook anyone has ever seen, but my brother cooks pretty well. And my mother will be out some of the time. I don't know many people in California. When I'm not working, the three of us will do things together."

"I'll have to get a driver's license," she said. "I'm a pretty bad driver, though," she joked. "I tend to run into trees. We may drive across the country on our way out. I haven't seen much of the United States. Of the places I have seen in this country, New England is my favorite spot. I also really like Switzerland, though that sounds trite, and the chateau district of France."

Devon has not been acting professionally for long, but she has done very well to get parts in two network series. "I've been incredibly lucky," she said. "I've worked with so many nice people. I've been lucky to get jobs and to work with sane people. Someday I'd love to do films and I'd love to do a play on the stage. It will take me quite a while to learn how to do that well. The stage is by far the hardest."

Devon has two talented parents - and she herself hasn't wasted any time getting her career going.

[catlover79]

I couldn't find much about Devon Scott's life now, except that she lives in England with her husband, Mark, and their son, Phillip. Her last acting credit (per imdb) was a 2005 guest spot on the BBC series Sensitive Skin.

[Marvo301]

I had no idea Devon Scott was the daughter of George C. Scott! I guess you learn something new every day!

[Mr. Television]

I wonder why she left The Tony Randall Show? She was replaced by Penny Peyser for season 2. This was a good show that should have lasted longer. I haven't seen it since it left the air though. I think WGN aired reruns of it in the early morning hours in the early 80's but I didn't watch it then. I just remember the show was funny. I loved Tony's relationship with Hans Conried who played his father.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

I had no idea Devon Scott was the daughter of George C. Scott! I guess you learn something new every day!

I didn't either.

[Marvo301]

Originally Posted by Stuck In The '70's

I wonder why she left The Tony Randall Show? She was replaced by Penny Peyser for season 2. This was a good show that should have lasted longer. I haven't seen it since it left the air though. I think WGN aired reruns of it in the early morning hours in the early 80's but I didn't watch it then. I just remember the show was funny. I loved Tony's relationship with Hans Conried who played his father.

According to the article she was only planning to be an actress for one year before enrolling in Vassar. So assume she left the show to go to college.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

According to the article she was only planning to be an actress for one year before enrolling in Vassar. So assume she left the show to go to college.

Yea I suppose that could be it. It's a little strange though to accept a role on a tv show where if you're lucky, the show could run for years. lol

[catlover79]

I had no idea that George C. Scott even HAD any other children besides the two sons he had with Colleen Dewhurst. Apparently, he had 6 altogether (3 boys and 3 girls).

[Coffeecup]

Yes I seemed to remember Devon was George's daughter but as the years passed I have forgotten about it. Son Campbell was in the lime light more.