Brushes with Stardom #396

How's this for One Degree of Separation?

Watching much of "The Way We Were," the 1973 Streisand-Redford hit of 1973, I suddenly realized that I had played in a TV episode with Patrick O'Neal, one of the supporting cast of "The Way We Were."

O'Neal, who was personally chosen by Tennessee Willams to play the original role of Reverend Shannon in "Night of the Iguana" when it first appeared on Broadway, played a high powered and corrupt real estate salesman in an episode of the "J.J. Starbuck," a short lived detective series starring the former movie cowboy, Dale Robertson.

I play a very wealthy client who discovers O'Neal's shenanigans. Not a good move. O'Neal shoots and kills me.

Our scenes were filmed in an extraordinarily flashy mansion in West Vancouver and a fabulous gun cabinet filled with gun treasures was brought in from a private collector in Langley just for the murder scene.

It was great fun.

For the record, when the Streisand-Redford movie first came out, I hated it.

Now, over the years, I confess it has seeped into my bones and I love watching it. Corny, glossy entertainment beautifully done.