Hollywood Q&A
Q: Why did Kelly Clarkson move her talk show to New York? – Connie Ryan, Woodbury, N.J.
A: She has said that she needed a “fresh start,” and though she also considered relocating to Montana, she realized that wouldn’t be conducive to landing big-name in-studio guests for her syndicated weekday program. She has many familiar NBC personalities as neighbors at “30 Rock,” the new base for her show, and she was welcomed on-air by Seth Meyers and “Today’s” Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager when she started her fifth-season run in mid-October.
Q: Who was the actress who played
Rosalind Shays, the character who fell down the elevator shaft, on “L.A. Law”? – Wendy Powers, via e-mail
A: As the acclaimed drama series now gets a renewed showcase via remastered versions of the episodes, which are streaming on Hulu, that landmark scene is getting revived fame of its own. The actress in question was Diana Muldaur, who became a major villain on the show as Shays, a particularly strong-willed attorney brought into the law firm and making enemies everywhere she turned … one exception being senior partner Leland McKenzie (Richard Dysart), with whom she developed a personal relationship.
He was standing with her when she took her ultimately fatal step into what she thought was an elevator, but instead was an empty shaft that sent her plunging to her doom. The surprise moment got a huge reaction when it first aired on NBC, putting the coda on a role that earned Muldaur two Primetime Emmy nominations. The prolific performer also is widely known for her work in the “Star Trek” franchise, having played two different characters on the original 1960s series and Dr. Katherine Pulaski on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Q: Someone told me that actress Allison Williams is the daughter of newsman Brian Williams, Is that true? – Sue Connors, via e-mail
A: It is. A particularly cute on-air moment involving both of them developed in December 2014, when Brian introduced an “NBC Nightly News” segment previewing a live staging on that network of “Peter Pan” … in which Allison played the title role. Though he tried to stay objective, it was hard for him to conceal a father’s pride, which he noted to the audience.
Allison currently is appearing in the Showtime series “Fellow Travelers,” which completed production before the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike. Her next scheduled movie is a sequel to “M3GAN,” which was a horror hit for her last year; besides starring in it, she’s also a producer of the follow-up.
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