Q&A Hollywood
Q: Is the guy who does theTV commercials for Persil laundry detergent the same guy who plays Bridget Moynahan’s ex-husband on “Blue Bloods”? A: Peter Hermann is a lot of things to a lot of people. That includes, as you say, being both Jack Boyle on “Blue Bloods” and the face of Persil laundry detergent. He’s also Trevor Lanigan on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” he was referred to affectionately as “The Hair” on an episode of “30 Rock,” and to celebritynews watchers, he’s Mr. Mariska Hargitay, one half of a crime-TV power couple with his “SVU” co-star. For a certain type of TV fan, he’s Dr. Michael Burke from the long-running but now-canceled soap opera “Guiding Light.” That was his first screen gig, which he landed in 1997. Five years later, he landed his “Special Victims Unit” role, which may be his biggest. It’s certainly been his longestrunning — he recurred as the high-priced defense attorney for a whopping 17 years, from 2002 until his most recent appearance in 2019. (He and Hargitay, who, of course, has been on the show since the beginning as Det. Olivia Benson, struck up a romance on set, and they were married in 2004.) Indeed, 2002 was a big year for Hermann. It was also the year he had his first film appearance, in the high school thriller “Swimfan.” He’s had roles in a number of very high-profile films, including 2006’s “United 93,” dramatizing the Sept. 11 attacks, and the 2010 Mel Gibson action flick “Edge of Darkness.” The ever-busy journeyman actor hasn’t even limited himself to one high-profile ad campaign. Apart from the Persil spots, he also featured in the anti-tobacco “Fair Enough” ads. Q: Settle an argument for me: Is it “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” or “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”? A: The correct, original title is “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” because the variant spelling “dwarves” didn’t really become part of the English language until later, and because the dwarfs in the film are the happy-go-lucky working kind, not the killing-orcswith-axes kind. The preferred, original plural of “dwarf” is in fact “dwarfs.” “Dwarves” wasn’t commonly used until it was popularized by author J.R.R. Tolkien in his landmark fantasy novel “The Hobbit,” published in September 1937. Indeed, Tolkien admits outright in the foreword to the book that he used an incorrect spelling to give an air of romance to the also made-up race in his book. “In English, the only correct plural of ‘dwarf’ is ‘dwarfs’ and the adjective is ‘dwarfish’. In this story, ‘dwarves’ and ‘dwarvish’ are used, but only when speaking of the ancient people to whom Thorin Oakenshield and his companions belonged.” But when he said “only,” he wasn’t accounting for the fact that language is always changing, nor for how popular his book would one day become. Today, both spellings are in use. The venerable Merriam-Webster dictionary lists “dwarfs” as the primary spelling, but says “dwarves” is also correct. Disney didn’t really have the luxury of the choice, though. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was released just five months after “The Hobbit,” well before the latter book achieved languagealtering levels of success. However, it’s important to note that Tolkien may not have actually invented the variant spelling. Word-nerd website Grammarist.com did a deep dive and found a few uses of “dwarves” that predate “The Hobbit” by at least a few years. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided.