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| Restaurant scene with Jessica and Seth |
| I'm passing by their table |
I worked five times on "Murder, She Wrote", four times in the studio at Universal Studios and the other time on location in Burbank, not far from the studio. Angela Lansbury was the executive producer and the star of the show. Angela Lansbury set the tone for the atmosphere on the set. I am told that she insisted that everybody be treated equally from the lowest extra to the biggest star. This made working on the show a real pleasure. They were all business, however, and were strict at insisting that people keep quiet. Angela herself was also all business, and although she was a classy and considerate lady with a good heart, she was not particularly outgoing.
Two of the top regular actors on the show, however, were among the friendliest actors that I've worked with. They are Ron Masak, who played the sheriff and William Windom, who played the town doctor. Angela Lansbury's son, Anthony Shaw, directed many if not most of the episodes of "Murder, She Wrote". He was the friendliest and most considerate of the directors I've worked with. An example of how considerate Anthony Shaw was is reflected in an incident I witnessed. Mr. Shaw needed to use the telephone on the sound stage, but an extra was using it. Generally, extras are not supposed to use the phones on the sound stage, but this guy was calling in to get work for the next day. So Mr. Shaw asked the extra to get off the phone so he could use it, but then later told the extra if he couldn't find work for the next day, he could come back and work again on "Murder, She Wrote". I can't imagine another director being so considerate, especially to one who was bending the rules.
Another manifestation of the pleasant atmosphere on the set was mentioned in Chapter 6, when I discussed the craft service table. The craft service guy took great pride in keeping good food available throughout the day. As an aside, he also had a dog he brought to work every day. The dog was well behaved and merely lied around all day. The entire cast knew the dog and would acknowledge him.
The first time I worked on "Murder, She Wrote" was the most memorable as far as some of the things that occurred off camera. Ron Masak, who played the sheriff brought two of his daughters in to work as extras on the episode. At one point I asked Ron Masak if his daughters were twins. He laughed and said that one of them would have been flattered to be considered a twin of the other. This is because one was 28 years old and the other about 19. The girls were friendly and seemed to prefer hanging out with the other extras to their father's trailer when they weren't working. They were also quite attractive.
There were several guest stars on this episode, but I happen to remember three of them because of brief conversations I had with each of them. Larry Wilcox was one of them and he had been a regular on "Chips". I had to push by him to get to the set and said, "excuse me, Larry". He said, "sure" and seemed a little surprised that I knew his name. At about the same time, I was being put on the set and pulled off like a ping pong ball for a couple of minutes while they decided how to arrange the extras. Another guest star, Corinne Bohrer, laughed and said to me something about that's the way it goes, they can't make up their minds. I recognized her from a guest role she had played on another show, but didn't remember what her part had been. She refreshed my memory that she had been a hooker working her way through law school. I later wished that I had asked her if she was the daughter of Bob Bohrer, for whom I had worked in the 1960's. I still don't know, but it's a possibility.
Diane Baker had been in a movie in the mid 1960's called "Straightjacket", that costarred Joan Crawford. I didn't remember the name of the movie, so I asked her the name of the movie in which she starred with Joan Crawford, and she replied "Straightjacket". "Straightjacket" was a horror movie in which Joan Crawford's character was thought to be an insane murderer, but the real murderer turned out to be Diane Baker's character. So I told her I enjoyed her performance in that movie. She replied that after all the roles she had in her long and varied career, it was strange to be remembered for "Straightjacket".
In that episode I was seen a couple of times in the background of scenes at a party in a living room. That would prove to be pretty much the case in subsequent episodes of "Murder, She Wrote". In a later episode I was seen in a restaurant scene, first checking in with the host, and later walking across the dining room. During a break in one of the episodes I saw one of the guest stars that I recognized but could not place. Her name was Kate McNeill, and I couldn't remember where I had seen her, but remembered that she was a regular on a TV series. I asked her what series she had been on and she named two, one of which was "Bodies of Evidence", which was the one I remembered. She had costarred on that with Lee Horsley. The TV series "Bodies of Evidence" should not be confused with the feature film "Body of Evidence".
The one episode of "Murder, She Wrote" in which scenes that I worked on were shot on location turned out to be the longest day on that show. It was the only time that I was ever late for a call, because I mistakenly went to the studio at Universal Studios instead of catching a van in the parking lot. Several of us made the same mistake, but eventually were driven to the location. The day ended after midnight, and we had a meal, meal penalties, and late night pizza. Again, I was seen in a couple of crossing scenes in the background. During the day Angela Lansbury walked from the set to the motorhome which served as her dressing room and encountered a boy about 10 years old on a bicycle. He recognized her from the show, and she gave him an autograph. She actually was finished about 4PM or 5PM, and the late night scenes we had to wait around for did not include her.
The final time I worked on "Murder, She Wrote" was once again at the studio, in a Hawaii setting. Scenes were shot in a newspaper office, and, as usual, I was seen in the background walking from one place to another or sitting at a desk. Off camera the day was uneventful. This episode was shot in May for airing the following autumn. A few episodes were "put in the can", so to speak, because Angela Lansbury was going to undergo surgery and wouldn't return in time for the normal filming of early autumn episodes. The Hawaii episode finally aired in October. Though working on "Murder, She Wrote" was not the most rewarding for me on camera, it was one of the most pleasant off camera due to the pleasant atmosphere.
This page was last updated on September 14, 2003
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