Q&A with Deborah M. Pratt |
Article by
Louis Theb  26 /
angel 30 /
Published 01 Apr 2002, 14:40
Last updated 07 Jun 2002, 17:51
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Deborah M. Pratt played Marella on Airwolf; Archangel's chief aide. Beautiful, skilled and incredibly devoted; Marella handles most of the details for Archangel's missions as well as being his pilot, computer operator, and general girl friday. Fiercly protective of Archangel, she only loses her poise when Archangel does something foolish, such as flying with Hawke in Airwolf into a trap, or bucking the system to help Hawke.
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I knew that I wanted to make movies and tell stories and that I had something very specific to say as an entertainer. I loved being in front of cameraīs and in front of a live audience, because of the immediate gratification of the actorīs performance. I then realised to truly communicate to people, sometimes you have to do more and I noticed that the letters that I got from fans that there was a real keen intrest in my philosophies and thoughts and beliefs of who I was as a person so I believe I evolved into a writer producter director because I thought is was a more susinct and definitive way to communicate with people to entertainment.
From 1984 you played Marella in the tv series "Airwolf". Were you the only actress intended to play the role? If not were there others?
Originally...oh I donīt know who was up against me when the role was created, I think it was just, you know, actors of my calibur. At that time were brought in and I won the role.
Lucky you!
I think it was one of those funny sceneīs that in the opening pilot I remember saying to Don Bellisario because I gave that whole speech about Airwolf and what it could do and how fast it was, defining it, and Don Bellisario said to me: "How the hell do you remember all that?" I didnīt write it, I donīt ever have to say it back and i said: "itīs like Shakespeare" in the scene that itīs not as much the facts and information that communicates itīs the passion of what a performer believes.
Marella was Archangelīs main assistant but also pilot. Can you actually fly a plane or a helicopter?
Actually I did learn how to a fly helicopter based on the show.
Oh great!
How did you like your character?
Did I like her? Oh I loved her, She was strong and smart and beautiful and she, she had a way of not being impressed by any of them, she loved the fact that she could do all the things that she could do and enjoy the fact she was smarter than most people. I think she had an I.Q. of 200.
Do you think you have something in common with her?
Ummm... I think the noncalance attitude towards life and beauty and intelligence and that they are gifts that I am gratefull to have but I donīt..Iīm not impressed by them, I just feel that they are a part of who I am, if that makes sence.
Did you wish you had more screen lines?
Well I was an actor... of course! (both laugh)
What can you tell us about life on the "Airwolf" set?
It was a very well run set. I think it was hard because Jan was having problems. Ernest Borgnine was the constament proffesional, you know he had been in the business for a long time, he had had success as a filmactor and he was making the transition to television. He was always there. He knew his lines. He just was a professional.
Is he anything like Dominic in real life? Just as nice?
Oh yes absolutely!
Because on the airwolf.org forums he is considered to be just like THE teddybear.
Absolutely!
Ok, the forum users will love that!
Donīt get me wrong. He can be tough!
Yeah, I think everybody can be. We always wondered if he is like that in real life...
Yes, very much.
When you wrote the 2nd season episode "Fallen Angel", were you in charge of the whole script including the combat sequences?
Yes, I am an actionwriter at heart so this is really my opportunity to and I think it really opened some eyes to the fact that woman can write action.
Normally itīs just only men.
Yeah exactly!
When filming the episode, were there a lot of script changes made?
I think that script changes were primarily because it was my first writing assignment to the show. There were some things that I originally written that we just couldnīt afford to do. What else can I say... yes there were script changes. Some of them were based on budget some of them just on the logic of the show and how it worked.
Why did you leave the show after the second season and what do you think about how the series turned afterwards?
I think there were 2-fold reasons, the network... The network wanted the show to have more of a James Bond feel so they wanted different women in the role and they opened up to that, feel that look more than anything. I felt that they made a mistake. I felt that they took away from the core power of the show. I felt that Jan and Alex and myself and Dominic were a great team that played off each other very well.
Many on the Airwolf forum think that the first 2 seasons were the best, afterwards it all went down.
I like to say it did. You know once I left the show it lost itīs heart but (laughs) I will cut that part.
Well till so far season 4 is the least popular one.
I donīt know what happened. After the third season Universal felt it was too expensive of a show and wanted to shoot it up in Canada and revamp the whole show and in truth what happened on tv is they own the rights and they can do pretty much anything they want.
Yeah, which meant the end of the show!
Exactly. They killed it.
In 1989, you started to work on Bellisarioīs new project "Quantum Leap". What can you tell us about you work as a producter and writer?
Oh I had written by then a couple of episodes of Magnum, I have written the Airwolf, I have written the pilot and I started to make a name for myself.
By that point Don and I, who met when I shot Airwolf, had gotten married and had become a really interesting team. He wanted to do an anthology that told different stories but everybody felt that that was a mistake. Anthologies had so much trouble getting off the ground. Steven Spielbergīs "Amazing stories", is a perfect example. I went to him and said "what if you do a show that had the same characters in every show?". I knew he wanted to do a timetravel show and so Iīve been reading a book called "a short history in time" and said "there is a way; īcause time and space is limited - that a person if they were to leap backward or forward in time would have to bump another person out". Don said: "wow thatīs a really cool idea!", and we started putting together Quantum Leap.
The laws of time travel which changed everyones theory was kind of Steven Hawkings that inspired us to go in that direction that time and space is limited and that to displace someone thatīs why they were kicked back to the chamber to wait so that there was room for them to be there, then I said: "the trick will be to make people understand that we, the audiences at home, the television viewers sees the same character, but the people in the world that they leaped into and the time they leaped into, see the actual person".
It was a tough shell, but Don was able to convince Brandon at that time that is was fresh and new and different and it certainly was.
You played the leading role in the episode "A portrait for Troian February 7, 1971", as Troian Giovanni Claridge. Did you choose your first name after your daughter? (Troian Avery Bellisario)
Yes, absolutely, and she was furious!! She was, because she got to see the dailies and she heard the ghost like saying (whispers) Troian... Troian... and she went: I donīt like this, donīt ever do that again. I think she was the age of 3.
Is she still blaming you for that?
Yes (laughs)
Ok, so if I write something I never name it after my daughter if I ever have one.
Well you have an unusual name as well! And as writers you like unusual names and I can up with a name like Deborah, which I actually changed a little bit to add the M to get Deborah M., because there are so many Deborahīs in the world! I wanted to make sure my daughter had a very unique name that distinguished her.
In the same Quantum Leap episode, when Sam looks into the mirror we see Donald P. Bellisario. What can you tell us about the show behind th scenes and about Bellisarioīs willing to appear or to be mentioned in his tv-series?
Oh well everybody was very nervous because Don and I were married and the fact that I was on screen with Scott Bakula and we, well you know, were supposed to have a kiss scene and everybody was like very uncomfortable (laughs). So i said "well then Don can be the face in the mirror so then in reality Iīm with Don". Everybody thought that was very funny and so thatīs how it happened!
You also were the narrator of the opening credits introduction as well as the voice of Ziggy. Did you like doing so much different things for a single tv-series?
Well itīs... (laughs) ...you know, I guess itīs one of those things I was blessed with because I have a background as an actor and we needed a voice and I have an unusual voice and so um... the network kept saying "people arenīt getting the show... people arenīt getting the show, we need a sagasell" itīs what they are called; a sagasell. So I sat down and wrote one and read it for Don. He went "great thatīs it", picked up the phone and "Iīm sending Deborah down, she is going to record this... letīs use it."
What do you think about the whole "Quantum Leap" universe?
I think the Leapers are great. I mean the fact that they are still on going, they have conventions every year. Theyīre great people. They care about the show... just like you guys. You know loyal fans, supportive of whatīs out there and coming and looking forward to the next evening. They are just good people. I feel very lucky that that theyīre out there and then again supportive. I remembered when I realised how many there were and went to Don and said: "I think we should have a convention", and he went: "oh come on, nobody is gonna come", and i said: "no, no, no, they are calling themselves leapers, like trekkies, we should have this convention, and he went: "pffffffff, well if you wanna do it, go ahead". So I went and hired the same company that did all the Star Trek conventions and we put this convention together and sure enough we turned people away at the door, it was incredibly exciting!! So ever since then, last year was the 10th annual Quantum Leap convention.
So when will there be an Airwolf convention?! (anxious voice)
You know thatīs a real good question, my guess is not only because they killed the show the way they did, if there were to be an Airwolf movie.
Which weīre still waiting for and hoping for!
Then the possibility for an Airwolf convention is a very real one.
Do you think it will ever happen, an Airwolf film? A new one, just a whole new cast?
I donīt know if the studio knows that you guys are out there. What i think the studio would need to know is that there is that strong of a following that if there were to be a movie youīd show up!
Oh, we would!
Well you know I believe that, but theyīd have to know that there are thousands of fans out there banging down the doors to wanna participate. One of the things that I considered doing because my new company V Global makes online interactive games is to create an Airwolf action adventure game and then based on that game would in turn be able to do a movie if indeed it was succesfull so you see the progression of what they looked for and how that works.
Well, they should go to airwolf.org. They are showing Airwolf again here in the Netherlands. Everyday more and more people come and join the site, also people I talk to go "oh yeah, I loved that series" and have no idea the whole Internet site exist, so just the idea of how many people would register if they knew a site like that is here.
Well you know the way to do that if I can recommend, go to the network that is airing the show and say to them, would you put at the end of the show "join Airwolf fanclub, come to www.." or however itīs set up in the Netherlands and you start to amass what are called eyeballs and then you get that information to Universal and you build from there.
Oh yeah it could work.
Oh yeah! I mean stay in touch with me, keep me apraised of how itīs building and I can do a little research and find out who out here would be intrested in benefit from that.
Itīs just everybody from the whole world is on that site and thatīs how I met Louis, who first contacted you by email, well he is from France and I am from the Netherlands and that is just... everybody is just so... we donīt see eachother as a fanclub. We see eachother as really friends, everybody is welcomed with open arms, itīs just really unique, unlike every other site I ever saw, itīs just.. they are wonderful!
(Deborah laughs)
If you were given to work again on a new Airwolf or Quantum leap tv-series or on a tv movie, would you accept?
Oh yes, absolutely, I would reprise that role, it was a fun role and there were good people and I think it would be a fun thing to do!
So weīll keep in touch! Youīll never know.
There you go! And you know, you guys find a producer who says: "Iīll put up 20 million dollars, Iīll make you guys a movie."
Are you still in touch with some people from Airwolf and Quantum Leap? If so could you tell us how we can contact them?
Ummm... well... oh my goodness. Well youīd have to talk to my assistant. I have not talked to Jan in years and years, he has gone through a lot of health problems.
Yeah, we all know about that.
And I and I am trying to think. I mean I see Scott, you know heīs got a new series I donīt know if you guys have it yet, itīs the new Star Trek. And then Don Bellisario is in the office, you should call.
Looking back at your whole career, what do you think about it?
I think I have had a wonderful career, I have done so many of the things I wanted to do, I came out here to sing and dance and I danced with the best. I danced with Gené Kelly and Debby Renolds and sang with Dene Martin and as a very very young performer really got to live old Hollywood and then in present I worked with George Clooney and Laurence Fishburn, the type of televison that I have done as a performer. You know going all the way back to Gary Marchall and Ron Howard and Don Bellisario and Jan Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine and Scott Bakula. I think I have had a succesfull career, not as succesfull as I think I would have imagined it (laughs) but I have a big imagination!
So people would go screaming to you on the street "Deborah"
You know, thatīs funny. I did a role on Happy days. I did a character called Kat Mandu and ītill this day at the most bizarre places around the world someone will come up to me and go: Oh my god, you are Kat Mandu. So I even had that trill only not quite. You know, to the level of Leonardo Di Caprio, but I believe my work have laid the foundation for where I am going. This is a life choice for me and in my mind that this is only the beginning of what i hope to give back trough my writting and the contence that I am creating at V Global Media. The vision quest I think is a combination of my love of science fiction, my love of education, my love of action adventure and the elements that I have put together over the next few years well could re-define entertainment and take it to a new level.
I have a last question for you; what advice would you give to a young person who would like to start a career in cinema or television?
Passion, talent and reletless perseverance. This is a hard industry. Your heart is on the line. Every day that you are out there people are judging you and itīs not about what they think, itīs about what you believe and as long as you put your passion first and you never give up - you have to win! ...And be fearless!! Donīt be afraid to walk up to somebody, donīt be afraid to ask for what you want.
Well you gave us some very good advice. Well these were my questions. One thing I have to say from everybody on airwolf.org is on the 25th of May we have a-get-together in London. We just wanted to tell you youīre invited.
So why donīt you send me the specifics?
Oh yeah I can do that. Oh they will freak out. Itīs just not like a convention. Itīs just the people who want to come are going to London and we are just making London crazy with our Airwolf things, being all fans of the show.
Well, maybe there is a way you guys can get me there.
Maybe! Thank you so much for your time.
It was a pleasure. You are a great interviewer.
Oh thank you, maybe a new career for me.
Continued success!
Thank you so much Deborah, well maybe in the near future weīll meet.
I hope so.
Have a nice day.
Thank you, you too!
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| Interview done by Tia "angel" for airwolf.org, March 2002.
With a very big thank you to Louis for making this interview possible and setting up the questions, Danny who helped check for spelling mistakes and my boyfriend René for recording the phone interview. |
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