– Please help me remember the name of an actor and a lovely family show he used to appear on. He played a father with a family in a camper, I believe. I saw him on a “JAG” episode recently. I believe he married Delta Burke from “Designing Women.” -Opal M. Wade in Freeport, Ill.
Actor Gerald McRaney starred as recently laid-off factory worker Russell Greene in the wholesome 1996-99 CBS drama series “Promised Land,” a spinoff of “Touched By an Angel.” Russell began a cross-country trailer trip with his family at the behest of angels Tess and Monica, who urged him to redefine what it meant to be a good neighbor and recapture the American dream.
– On a recent “Ed,” the character Mark, the teenager who is grossly overweight, agreed to have gastric bypass surgery. Is the actor portraying him actually going to undergo the procedure? -Joy Baird, Montrose, Colo.
He already has, and you can expect to see quite a transformation in Mark Vanacore and his off-screen alter ego, Michael Genadry, the 24-year-old native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who plays him.
“Michael had the surgery in September, and since then he has lost more than 100 pounds,” reports Joanna Giddon, NBC’s publicist on the critically acclaimed Wednesday series.
– Can you please tell us who the surgeon was who operated on Niles in a November episode of “Frasier,” as well as what series he used to be in? -Cathy Murphy, Columbus, Ohio.
“Frasier” viewers got two Nileses for the price of one in that Nov. 19 episode, which guest-starred Daniel Davis as Dr. Shafer. Fans of “The Nanny” will remember Davis for his hilarious performance on that CBS sitcom as the mischievous butler, Niles.
– Is the guy who does the voice of “Garfield” the cat the same guy who did the voice of Carlton the doorman on “Rhoda”? -Karen Lish, Layton, Utah.
Yes, the colorful Lorenzo Music, who died of cancer in 2001, was a man of many talents. He provided voices for many other characters in addition to the two you mention, and was a highly regarded writer and/or producer on such shows as “Rhoda,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Bob Newhart Show.” He and his wife, Henrietta, also co-wrote the theme song to the Newhart sitcom mentioned above.
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