On first meeting Sandy Duncan, you may not like her. Duncan, who replaced Valerie Harper on the TV sitcom ”Valerie`s Family,” says that when people first meet her, they usually think she`s ”snooty and aloof.” She`s not, and it`s all because of her deep-seated shyness, she says. If they don`t think she`s snooty and aloof, they`re likely to think she`s ”sassy and abrupt,”
but that`s just her way of ”compensating for the shyness.” Your best bet to get to know her-and like her-is to be with her one-on-one. ”Then we`ll get along great.”
One of the great parlor games in L.A. is ticking off who turned down what role. In the November issue of Celebrity Focus, Michael Douglas says the lead in ”One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest,” which he produced, was rejected by everyone from Gene Hackman to Marlon Brando. Even Burt Reynolds wouldn`t touch it. But in true Hollywood style, Jack Nicholson took the part-and won an Academy Award. In fact, so did Michael Douglas. The movie also won the Oscar as best movie of the year.
Make comedy, not war-even though comedy may not be too unlike war when you hear George Carlin talking about his trade in ”Comic Lives” (Simon and Schuster), by Betsy Borns. ”Standup is a socially acceptable form of aggression. You get to name the targets, you get to fire the bullets, and what you`re doing is putting people in an impossible situation where they`re forced to like it. There`s a great deal of hostility and aggression involved-and the wonderful part is, after you`ve finished, you can then say, `Hey, can`t you take a joke?` And nobody wants to be accused of not taking a joke, so it`s a double bind for them.”
