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Udana Talks About Her TV and Movie Career, Pt. 5

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NOTE: This interview with Udana was conducted January, 2015. In this installment, publicist Bill Murphy (BM) and multi-talented Udana Power (UP), discuss Udana’s career from 1981 up through 1989, stopping just short of her appearance on Knot’s Landing.

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BM: Let’s pick up where we left off last time. In our last interview we covered your stage work with Katharine Hepburn and your work with soaps, General Hospital and all of your commercial work.

UP: Yes, okay.

HighRiskBM: And that takes us up to – I know some of this stuff was going on at the same time, but as far as your movies and TV work go, 1981 was something called High Risk. Do you remember what that is? You are actually uncredited as Gail. How did you get uncredited for that?

UP: Oh, yes, that was a movie. What do you mean? How did I get uncredited?

BM: According to IMDB your name is Gail in it, but then in parenthesis it says uncredited right beside it.

UP: Hmmm…I have no idea.

BM: What is High Risk? I can see it’s four –

UP: High Risk is a movie. It’s on DVD. Bruce Davison was in it and James Brolin.

BM: James Brolin, Anthony Quinn, Lindsay Wagner, James Coburn. It’s a huge cast.

UP: Yes. They flew us down to Mexico. I was playing Bruce Davison’s wife. We shot in Mexico City. I had a day off and went to the pyramids of Teotihuacan and ran up to the top. I still have a little, marble frog I bought at a concession stand there. I am blown away that the production company flew me down there because all I had was one or two scenes. Bruce Davison was my husband and I was giving him a birthday party in our back yard. I didn’t go into the jungle and do all the adventure stuff with them.

It was a small role and, as you know, in the film business the slogan is “Hurry up and wait.” At one point I was stir crazy. Bruce is an amazing guy with a wonderful sense of humor. I knew him in Los Angeles. I think he’s Continue reading →

Udana Talks About Her TV and Movie Career, Pt. 3

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NOTE: This interview with Udana Power was conducted by publicist Bill Murphy in late Spring, 2013. This is Part 3 (covering the years 1976-1979) of what’s likely to be a 4-5 part series of interviews with Udana about her appearances on TV and in movies. We hope you enjoy it!

Udana-1976Bill Murphy (BM): Let’s start with Hawaii Five-0, 1976. You did this episode (“Tour De Force, Killer Aboard”) just after LaVerne & Shirley. The show was filmed in Hawaii, so they must have flown you out there, right?

Udana Power (UP): Yes.

BM: What was that experience like?

UP: It was the first time I’d been to Hawaii. It was into the unknown. Exciting. Cliff Gorman [who played the bad guy in the episode] was there. I called him as I got in just to connect with him as an actor. But he didn’t want to. I think he thought I was asking for a date. I wasn’t. The episode was really fun. I didn’t get to see much of Jack Lord. I mean, when you’re working on something like that you’re only there doing your scenes and connecting with the director and the people you’re doing the scenes with as well as the full crew. I remember being in the station wagon [in her first scene]. Remember station wagons?

BM: Oh, yeah. [laughs]

UP: They don’t have station wagons any more. And it was a woody [wood paneled sides] station wagon. The sides were metal, painted to look like wood. (laughter) So 70s and 80s. Here’s another thing I noticed, and I noticed this in the episode of Soap: many women had dark hair, and there were no highlights in the hair. It was pre highlights. [Laughs]

BM: [laughs]

UP: I was killed off in the first few scenes. [Laughs]

BM: Yeah. I think you lasted about 10 minutes into the episode.

UP: Yep. But I threw myself into it like it was a leading role. I was interested in making sure that the scenes were good. I felt like I was up to speed. I knew my lines and, as Spencer Tracy advised a young actor, I knew my lines and didn’t bump into the furniture.

BM: Cliff Gorman. What was he like to work with?

UP: Terrific. He was an excellent actor. Very professional. Intense. I really appreciated Continue reading →