Hello!
My poem “My Prayer” was recently published online in Our Voices Magazine, the publication created to “touch, inspire and enlighten in a way that assists us in discovering and living our life purpose.”
On March 6, 2013, Udana Power spoke to The Only Love Project, an organization committed to inter-faith, inter-spiritual bridge building.
The Only Love Project is based on the premise that “only love dispels hate,” and it is open to all who desire to change the world for the better, one community at a time.
Bill Murphy (BM): Could you tell us, briefly, a little bit about your background?
Udana Power (UP): Well, I’ve always wanted to know God. I don’t know where it came from, but I had to know. And I wanted to know. I mean, I was journaling about it when I was 11 and 12 years old. Sometimes I would just journal all night. I wanted to be also an actress. I was compelled to be, don’t know why. And I would write Love and God and Art and Nature and Sex – all those words started with capital letters. Because somehow all that was part of my searching.
I don’t know what it was. It was core. Now I call it the Law of Blooming, being connected to our source. But at that time, I didn’t know what it was. I was just vaguely trying to find it.
So, my desire to be an actress was for many reasons. I had a gift for it, but I had to know the Source. When I was acting, or when I ultimately started singing, I would reconnect to the Source place within me, and let that flow of energy sing through me. I would line it all up, and it would take over and flow. I remember when I was flown to New York by Alan Jay Lerner and auditioned in front of the producers of Coco, starring Katharine Hepburn. It was in her only stage 
musical. Alan and I walked into the big lobby of the Mark Hellenger Theater one afternoon. It was empty. It felt like I was walking into my own dream. I remember Alan was holding my hand. I was very young and very naïve at the time, and I felt like I was walking into a cathedral. As we crossed the lobby and walked I into the great, big, empty theatre, there were a few men in suits there. One of them was Andre Previn. Everyone introduced themselves and then they asked me to go up on stage and sing.
It was a long walk. All I knew was this is where life was created. All I could think of was that and my personal relationship with God. I walked up to the big empty stage and sang “Greensleeves” in French and “God Bless The Child.” Alan said later that it was like they were watching a young Judy Garland.
And whenever I’ve been to a theatrical performance that’s truly wonderful there is something of the spiritual in it. So, that’s been my life, and that’s where I came from. I was an actress in theatre for many years, I was on television and film, I did a one-woman show for five years. And when I did my work, I called it a Yahweh. That’s a word for God. I couldn’t quite articulate what it was, but if I could fling myself out into that experience, and channel that. Then I was doing what I was put here to do.
And I did that many times over and over. People would come backstage just sobbing because the performance had such a profound effect on them. It wasn’t me – it was something that I flung myself into that came through me. For me it was interesting, and it was easy.
I remember the producer for Applause at the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera. Larry Kasha had produced it on Broadway and was directing it here. I played Eve opposite Yvonne De Carlo. The producer was a woman who Continue reading
NOTE: This interview with Udana Power was conducted by publicist Bill Murphy in late 2012. This is Part 2 of what’s likely to be a 3-4 part series of interviews with Udana about her appearances on TV and in movies. We hope you enjoy it!
BM: I believe we left off last time with Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1975). You know what the next one is in your career? Barbary Coast (1976).
UP: Oh my gosh!
BM: Tell me about Barbary Coast and your role as Sara.
UP: Sara. Did I send you a picture of it? I sent you a picture of it, didn’t I?
BM: Yes. It was you and Bill Shatner.
UP: Yeah, it was me and Bill Shatner, and I know I have some pictures of it, but it was old-fashioned setting. And I played this innocent little girl, young woman, in old-time San Francisco. It was a take off on the old movie, Barbary Coast. I don’t remember what I did so much. I just remember wearing this beautiful little high neck, and my hair being done up. I felt so pretty. It was just something unusual that I hadn’t done before. I was very 1800s. It was very Barbary Coast. And as I remember, he [Bill Shatner] would wear disguises. Doug McClure was in the show, too.
[NOTE: This episode of Barbara Coast that someone posted on YouTube doesn’t feature Udana. It’s just an interesting clip to watch because Barbary Coast has been off the air and unavailable for decades.]
I was a fan of Bill Shatner. Bill had amazing energy, pizzazz. I really liked him. He and I got along and we started talking, and I ended up a lot in his trailer. [laughs] And that started a relationship with Bill that went on for several years. And I just adored him. The show didn’t last for long. I don’t even know where we could find it on DVD. But I just thought [Bill] was Continue reading
NOTE: So many people have asked me about my career that I decided to spend time with my publicist, Bill Murphy, who interviewed me about my first few appearances on TV. Our conversation took place in September of 2012. This is Part 1 of what’s likely to be a 3-4 part series. I hope you enjoy it!
Bill: Let’s talk about your first TV appearance, which was Ironside in 1971. The episode was called “In the Line of Duty.” How did you get the gig on Ironside? What had you been doing? You were in your mid-twenties. So this must have been one of your first jobs.
Udana: That was literally my first job. I was going on auditions, and I had a manager who was helping me go on auditions, and I went to Universal Studios, and somehow I got chosen. I think [producer] Cy Chermak had something to do with that.
B: Let me check IMDB. Yep, Cy Chermak.
U: Got it. That’s so long ago. I had no idea who I was. I had no idea that I was pretty, all I knew was that I just wanted to act. Cy Chermak hired me for this, and I got my SAG card. That’s how I got my Screen Actors Guild card, and it cost me $280 to get my SAG card then. Now it’s $1000, $2000 or something like that. But at that point it was a whopping $280. [laughs]
B: [laughs]
U: And I got my Screen Actors Guild card. I kind of knew who Gary Mason was and Raymond Burr was, and I had, I remember I had a scene that I had to be very emotional in. I had to be crying. And there were four people in the scene. I think we were Continue reading
I was lucky enough to go see Allee’s show in North Hollywood. It was history!! A full band, 20 dancers, back up singers and Boogie Wonderland Sandwiches from her pal, chef Greg, from Detroit (her home town. WOW. What an evening. !!
Allee wrote lots of hit songs and has won Grammys and Emmys and Tony Awards… you’ll remember “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire and Boogie Wonderland and The musical of The Color Purple. Neutron Dance… some goofy powerful stuff. Check out her website here: http://www.alleewillis.com/
Ahhh Allee… you gotta know how fabulous you are!!
Boy, do I love living here in LA. !! I get to do EVERYthing!! It’s soooo much FUN!
I would put in videos of the event… however I don’t know how to do that… and the songs are all copyrighted… so that could be a problem. 🙂
Life is GOOD.
This is one of ME in this made crush of people on their feet dancing and shouting to “September” and “Boogie Wonderland” in this mad party that Allee created with a bunch of her wild and crazy friends. 
It’s really exciting to be out here finally building a blog and a Facebook page… and for those of you who have been patient with me not doing anything… well, here goes.
I feel like creating a life out here on-line is like being suspended in Space. Kind of like being alive. Like we are all suspended here in space connected through a deep inner connection to Source… and kind of pretending that we’re not. We seem to forget about our connection to Source at every sound. Somehow I feel that many of us keep thinking that life is all just us bumping into each other down here on planet earth. Then sometimes we re-member that there’s more to life than that.
So… what I choose to do with this page is to share my Truth with you. People ask me about my life all the time… and as I look back I can see that it has been adventurous (to say the least), fun, harrowing, deeply moving, sometimes overwhelmingly scary, disappointing and tremendously rich. Just like a good movie. Yeeehawww!
The days go by… they are very busy and I literally forget to share with anyone what’s going on, wondering why in the world anyone would find it interesting.
I promise I won’t photograph plates of food and tell you what I’m eating each day… however… lots of interesting things are going on and it will be fun to share the fun of it all… as well as some of my insights as we go along.
So… this last weekend was HUGE. Two 14-hour days taking a training seminar with Joel Bauer. It was pretty spectacular. When I got back on Sunday night I was led to take screenshots of my very first EVER job in TV – Ironsides! with Raymond Burr. It was 1971. It got me my SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card. That cost me $280 (it’s thousands now), and I got paid a whopping $250 for my SAG contract.
I’m enclosing a photo of the screen that I took with my iPhone — as I couldn’t figure out how to snap a screenshot.
Raymond Burr was amazing, kind, thoughtful. I really liked him. I had only 2 scenes and a line or two in each. I marveled at how thin and beautiful Vera Miles was. And I remembered my lines… had to do my close up with a script girl who was completely devoid of emotion. Whew! It was exciting and scary and done at Universal Studios in Hollywood.
I did a number of shows at Universal Studios and went on plenty of auditions there. I also hung out at the Commissary having lunch and meeting people — that was when a person could actually walk on the lot, wave to the guard and have him nod and wave you through.
This was about the time that Steven Spielberg was walking onto the Universal lot with a briefcase filled with a sandwich and a candy bar and planting himself in an empty trailer on the backlot. He was a kid. He wasn’t “Steven Spielberg” yet. I saw him all the time.
I would also see Lew Wasserman (head of Universal at the time) eating lunch at a nearby table in the commissary putting together this crazy thing he called Universal Studios Theme Park. What was he doing… trying to build a theme park in the middle of Los Angeles? I was young and just wanting a job as an actress. I couldn’t see the vision that Lew Wasserman saw. !! That was before Universal City Walk was even a glimmer in the Theme Park’s eye.
Amazing thing… I’d be walking around the lot and the open buses filled with people on the tour would stop and a guy on a megaphone would be pointing out which soundstage was shooting which series… and which star or famous costume designer resided in which bungalow. It was all in a normal days work.
One day I actually went on the Theme Park ride… just for the fun of it. In the theme park there were a bunch of actors dressed up as cowboys doing a “shoot-out” on a movie set for a group of people on bleachers. I knew one of the “cowboys.” It was just “business as usual” … Really fun, a good job for some fellow actors… but just a stop-gap on the way to getting a starring role in a movie or a series (the actor’s dream.) When I took the tram around the studio listening to the guy with the megaphone… they stopped at all the soundstages that I traversed in and out of all the time. I never went on the tram again, because at that time it was easy to get onto a sound stage, meet the crew and the actors. What a different world it was than now. To get onto a studio lot today you have to be on a hoity-toity list, go through metal detectors, make sure you don’t have a camera, give them the deed to your house… (just kidding)… it’s difficult. Like going through an airport.
I had no vision of what Universal Studios Theme Park was to become. And nobody knew what Steven Spielberg was to become. He was a great guy who came to work with his Cocker Spaniel. I remember going into his office one day (after he had done a few movies and started to make his mark) and I met his dog. I thought, “How cool!” … this guy is down to earth… he brings his dog to work.
More memories, photos and insights are coming. Even though life is still as exciting as ever… or even more so… this time I’ve been asked to start writing it down. It will be fun.