Heather Thomas became one of television's biggest stars as Jody Banks on The Fall Guy alongside Lee Majors. During the height of her fame, her posters covered bedroom walls around the world and she became one of the defining television icons of the 1980s. But behind the scenes, fame came with a darker side. In this candid conversation with Steve Kmetko, Heather opens up about the terrifying stalking incidents that ultimately pushed her away from Hollywood, her battle with substance abuse, working with Lee Majors, life as an 80s sex symbol, raising a family, activism, writing, and finding happiness beyond fame. From The Fall Guy to the recent movie reboot, Heather shares stories and perspectives you've probably never heard before. #HeatherThomas #TheFallGuy #LeeMajors #StillHereHollywood #SteveKmetko #ClassicTV #EightiesTV #HollywoodStories #TVLegends #JodyBanks Chapter Markers 00:00 Intro 00:36 How Heather Thomas Got Started In Television 01:48 Landing The Fall Guy 03:37 UCLA And Breaking Into Hollywood 05:24 Why Heather Walked Away From Fame 06:18 The Terrifying Reality Of Stalkers 08:16 Raising Chickens And Family Life 10:06 Being Typecast As A Sex Symbol 11:48 Activism And Charity Work 12:29 Keeping In Touch With Lee Majors 12:50 Writing Novels And Screenplays 16:09 Doing Her Own Stunts 16:26 Substance Abuse And Rehab 17:32 Becoming An 80s Sex Symbol 19:03 Being Sexualized In Hollywood 20:00 How Hollywood Has Changed For Women 23:47 Why She Became An Activist 25:31 Working With Ted Lange 26:19 Advice For Today's Stars 27:20 The Fall Guy Movie Cameo 27:58 Her Romantic Paris Wedding 30:25 Did Her Looks Hurt Her Career? 31:20 Family, Grandchildren And Life Today 33:21 Finding Happiness
Heather Thomas became one of television's biggest stars as Jody Banks on The Fall Guy alongside Lee Majors. During the height of her fame, her posters covered bedroom walls around the world and she became one of the defining television icons of the 1980s.
But behind the scenes, fame came with a darker side.
In this candid conversation with Steve Kmetko, Heather opens up about the terrifying stalking incidents that ultimately pushed her away from Hollywood, her battle with substance abuse, working with Lee Majors, life as an 80s sex symbol, raising a family, activism, writing, and finding happiness beyond fame.
From The Fall Guy to the recent movie reboot, Heather shares stories and perspectives you've probably never heard before.
#HeatherThomas #TheFallGuy #LeeMajors #StillHereHollywood #SteveKmetko #ClassicTV #EightiesTV #HollywoodStories #TVLegends #JodyBanks
00:00 Intro
00:36 How Heather Thomas Got Started In Television
01:48 Landing The Fall Guy
03:37 UCLA And Breaking Into Hollywood
05:24 Why Heather Walked Away From Fame
06:18 The Terrifying Reality Of Stalkers
08:16 Raising Chickens And Family Life
10:06 Being Typecast As A Sex Symbol
11:48 Activism And Charity Work
12:29 Keeping In Touch With Lee Majors
12:50 Writing Novels And Screenplays
16:09 Doing Her Own Stunts
16:26 Substance Abuse And Rehab
17:32 Becoming An 80s Sex Symbol
19:03 Being Sexualized In Hollywood
20:00 How Hollywood Has Changed For Women
23:47 Why She Became An Activist
25:31 Working With Ted Lange
26:19 Advice For Today's Stars
27:20 The Fall Guy Movie Cameo
27:58 Her Romantic Paris Wedding
30:25 Did Her Looks Hurt Her Career?
31:20 Family, Grandchildren And Life Today
33:21 Finding Happiness
Steve Kmetko
Yes, I'm Still Here. Hollywood, coming up on today's episode. 80s television was famous for big blonde hair, snug jeans, and action scenes. There were two sex symbol Heathers who perfectly fit that casting call. One was on a show with Hooker in the name, the other was on the hunt for her next stunt. This is Still Here, Hollywood. I'm Steve Kmetko. Join me with today's guest, Heather Thomas from the TV series The Fall Guy. So, let's go back to the very beginning. Let's go to the very beginning. How did you get into acting?
Heather Thomas
I got into acting well when I was in junior high. These people, these producers came to the school, and they said, 'We want your smart, loud-mouthed kids, and a bunch of teachers pointed at me because I was a troublemaker, but I was also in all the accelerated classes, and I ended up hosting, co-hosting, and writing a TV show on NBC that aired on Saturday mornings, no
Steve Kmetko
kidding.
Heather Thomas
Where we interviewed celebrities, it was called Talking with a Giant, and it went on for two years, and they censored
Steve Kmetko
us a lot.
Heather Thomas
You know that
Steve Kmetko
happens,
Heather Thomas
but it was my first taste of being on camera, and I felt very comfortable on camera, and then around that time I was starting to take drama classes, and I was in drama in, you know, high school, and and I was going to be Lena Werk Mueller, I was going to enter, I was thinking I was going to be a filmmaker, but I just by the time I got to college, I started getting work, and you know, one thing led to another.
Steve Kmetko
Lena was the first woman who was nominated for an Oscar.
Heather Thomas
Yes.
Steve Kmetko
How did the Fall Guy come about? Heather Thomas co-starred with Lee Majors on the Fall Guy TV series from 1981 to 1986 Her popularity also catapulted her into a pin girl whose posters graced the walls of teen boys' rooms all over the world.
Heather Thomas
The fall guy came about like any acting job I had done, you know, one series under my belt, and then co-ed fever, and before that I got an agent because I was in a show at UCLA, and and I was starting to go out, I was, I worked in a lot of commercials before that, it was great, commercials paid for my film school, I wasn't a film major till I was a junior, because they only had a two year program at UCLA in those days, and then I ended up, and I used to lie at doing all these commercials, I would, I would say I could do anything. I remember I did a milk does a body good. Do you remember that game? Oh
Steve Kmetko
yeah,
Heather Thomas
I did one where I said I could ice skate, I could not ice, I could, you know, get around, but they had to spin me. Director hated me, and or I had to do bull riding, eating Triscuits. That was a horrible experience, but, but I ended up getting the fog. I just like going out for any other audition.
Steve Kmetko
I'll share a secret with you, I lied to, to get into the business. Do you have a degree? Yes, but they didn't find out until when they did find out, they finally said that's okay, you have enough experience. Okay, thanks. How much do you think you went to UCLA?
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
how much do you think that impacted your career here in Southern California,
Heather Thomas
I think it did, because I was in a pipeline, UCLA actors were getting agents, and, and you used to have to have to audition if you were a theater major, and if you didn't get cast, you were part of the crew, you know, you worked on every production, major production they did, and I got in one called In the Boom Boom Room by Dave Rabe, and I was a dancer, so that got me an agent, and then what I learned in film school I applied to writing and acting, because I took a lot of writing classes. I took a lot of production classes too, but in my day I got into the directors assistant directors program. I had worked as an actress by that time. I, they treated women assistant directors horrible in those days, horrible. If you did your job, everybody hated you. If you, if you were, did see everybody kind of set out, she's awful. It was there. It was a dead end street, and it wasn't until the. Later in the 90s, that women started breaking through directing, but in the 80s, the early 80s, it was rough. So I said, you know, I'm making, I was making so much money, I just went with the flow of the least resistance, basically
Steve Kmetko
no fault in that.
Heather Thomas
Yeah, and I love acting, it's part of storytelling,
Steve Kmetko
and then you left the Fall Guy, correct?
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
you cut your career short, ostensibly.
Heather Thomas
I actually did some work after The Fall Guy. I did, I did a lot of movies, and then I was just getting so many stalkers, really. Yeah, really bad, really bad least two a week. I had tons of restraining orders at a guy, I had two little girls and a guy jumping our gate with a giant buck knife, and yeah, that in those days I don't know if this is true now, but people would fixate, you could be in a soap commercial and they would fixate on you, and there weren't a lot of stalker laws, and I just needed to be home anyway. There was one year where I was home two months, and that's not going to raise kids.
Steve Kmetko
No,
Heather Thomas
mine was scary. Mine was really scary. There was.. I got.. I remember someone sent me a box of bullets, you know, and people would send me like funeral wreaths they stole from a graveyard. There was a lot of psychos. I always had a bodyguard in the house, because that's where I didn't want to come home to a dark house, and I know I had one guy one night cut my screen in my bedroom and got in, and I shot him, and yeah, with rock salt and bird shot. Did
Steve Kmetko
he go to jail?
Heather Thomas
I have no idea. I don't remember.
Steve Kmetko
Did the stalking stop when you left the limelight?
Heather Thomas
No, not for a couple years.
Steve Kmetko
Are you ever asked to speak about it anywhere?
Heather Thomas
Not really. I
Steve Kmetko
know
Heather Thomas
it's not really my MO, you know, I don't want it to be. I'm the lady that was stalked, but you know, I maybe discussed it in one or two interviews, that's about it.
Steve Kmetko
And you just, because of stalkers, decided to get off the air and go for a while,
Heather Thomas
and every now and then I'll do like a Sundance film, or every now and then. I was in two movies last year.
Steve Kmetko
Did stalking affect your children at the time?
Heather Thomas
They didn't know much about it. They, when we got married in Paris, there were a lot of paparazzi, and they were very pushy, and so that was kind of the first time they got a lot of awareness. I mean, they'd been on the red carpet with me, but it was the first time they were really chased through a marketplace or around, so they didn't like it.
Steve Kmetko
No, and you raise chickens.
Heather Thomas
Yes, I do raise chickens.
Steve Kmetko
Why?
Heather Thomas
Because I can. I don't know. I had a daughter. My middle daughter got Crohn's really bad, and we basically took her out of it with Chinese medicine. Western medicine wanted to put her on a machine the rest of her life and remove her intestines. It was bad. She was, she was ulcered from her throat all the way down, and we changed. We used Chinese herbs and acupuncture because they treat it like, oh, this is all one. They treat the immune system differently, and we brought her back, and I started raising all our produce, and the chickens just kind of started going naturally with that. I think there was a salmonella outbreak when my third daughter was like eight years old, and I decided to get some chickens, and it was easy,
Steve Kmetko
and now with the price of eggs,
Heather Thomas
yeah, I mean, I just got some new baby chicks, as a matter of fact, they sent me nine, thinking three would die, because I ordered six, so I might have some extras. It's going to be tight in some of the coops, but we'll work it out. There's always personality difference,
Steve Kmetko
even with chickens, huh?
Heather Thomas
Yeah, even with chickens,
Steve Kmetko
were there? Instances where you thought your looks, because you became like an instant sex symbol, and your poster was up and stuff. Yeah, I
Heather Thomas
was really typecast.
Steve Kmetko
Were you?
Heather Thomas
Yeah, that's so.. I had some good roles. I did something with.. I did Ford the Man and Machine with Cliff Cliff
Steve Kmetko
Robertson,
Heather Thomas
Robertson, and I did something with Martin Landau. I did something with Christopher Plummer. Those were three things I did. I worked in Sri Lanka on a German mini series. I loved going on location, but that's when I started, you know, looking at how much I was home raising kids, and they were my husband's kids from a previous marriage, and they were young, and they were angry, they were like four and six, and I needed to be home.
Steve Kmetko
Did they not like the fact that you weren't their original mother or something, that they were angry.
Heather Thomas
No, it was this, the usual thing. You just don't personalize anything, because if you, if you say something wrong about either of their parents, that's like saying something's wrong with half of them, you know. So I think really we're very close right now, all of us, you know. It was.. I got a little bit of the mother anger was, was, you know, transferred to me, but on the whole, we kind of grew to love each other.
Steve Kmetko
How long have you been together now as a family unit?
Heather Thomas
Oh my god, over 30 years,
Steve Kmetko
that's a long time.
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
what else do you have lined up?
Heather Thomas
What else I have lined up. Well, I have certain charities work on the Rape Foundation, that's through UCLA now, and I work on I work on Don't get purged, which is a website I run where you can check to make sure you haven't been purged wrongfully purged for an election. A lot of people get swept up in voter roll purges and don't know, and I don't want.. I hate the thought of anybody, any political party waiting eight hours in line, and then finding out they're not on the roll, so it's a website to make people aware of that.
Steve Kmetko
Have you kept in touch with people who were on the Fall Guy with you? Like, I see
Heather Thomas
Lee all the time. Do
Steve Kmetko
you?
Heather Thomas
Yeah, when I do autograph shows every now and then, I do that. I'm writing three things. I've been selling a lot of work.
Steve Kmetko
Yeah, I think I read that you wrote a novel.
Heather Thomas
Yeah, yeah.
Steve Kmetko
Where does that come from?
Heather Thomas
It was because when I was a young wife, relatively young, let's say 29 What happens in Los Angeles is all the various charities and activist groups, they survive on calling young wives and bringing them in, and, and you know, getting them into their organizations, and so what I noticed was this was an entirely interesting breed of people, you can think what you want about someone, a trophy wife, let's say it's the third marriage or something. There isn't a school, university, there isn't a museum, there isn't a political candidate, there isn't a park any kind of public thing, any kind of medical research, environmental conservation. None of that happens without the money from a trophy wife. They, they are responsible for about 80% of the donated monies in America, and I would say throughout the world.
Steve Kmetko
Do you feel funny, or is it putting you down to refer to yourself as a trophy wife?
Heather Thomas
I don't know if I was a trophy wife or not, because Skip and I were friends for so long, and I certainly don't like the stereotype of someone who's vacuous and married an old guy for money, because I didn't marry an old guy, you know, but I, I sort of was plunged into that world. There were certainly a lot of women that were definitely were trophy wives. They were like married to guys like 40 years their senior, and it was, it was an interesting group. So, I couldn't help but have to write about them.
Steve Kmetko
And have you enjoyed that? Has that given you a kind of a release? Yeah, I
Heather Thomas
write scripts all the time and sell them.
Steve Kmetko
Do you?
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
any we would have heard of
Heather Thomas
a couple of them. There was school slot, that one's still in products. They're still.. I have a whole bunch that that like are bought, but they're not in turnaround yet, so I really can't talk about them, okay? Because I don't know if that's going to happen or not.
Steve Kmetko
And we'll be right back. If you'd like to be more involved with us at Still Here Hollywood, you definitely can. Just visit patreon.com/still Hear Hollywood. You can support us for as little as $3 a month, you can get our episodes a day before they post anywhere else. You can see what guests will be coming up and submit questions for them. You can even tell us what stars you want us to have on as guests. You'll see what goes on before and after the episode, plus exclusive behind the scenes info, pics, video, and more again, that's patreon.com/still Here Hollywood. Did you do your own stunts when you were on the Fall Guy?
Heather Thomas
Not all of them. No, I don't do fire. Yeah, but the stunt fighting, yeah.
Steve Kmetko
Did you ever get hurt?
Heather Thomas
No, no. Well, Lee almost broke my nose one time, but it didn't get too broken.
Steve Kmetko
No, it looks fine.
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
substance abuse crept into your life, didn't it? How did that happen?
Heather Thomas
Oh God, back in the 80s, I was still a kid, and everybody was doing blow on the sun. It was a close set, and in those literally in those days they said it's not addictive. And then I said, you know what, I did it too much this year, I'm gonna go to rehab. I went to, like, before they had, before rehab was glamorous, I went to, I just took myself to the local hospital and did a 30 day program,
Steve Kmetko
and did it work first time? Blow,
Heather Thomas
yeah, absolutely. Has
Steve Kmetko
it been difficult sustaining that?
Heather Thomas
No,
Steve Kmetko
because a lot of people, I think, would have a problem with that.
Heather Thomas
No,
Steve Kmetko
you never went back. Good for you. I went back a couple of times.
Heather Thomas
A lot of people do. You know, I drank, and I did that. Yeah, I drink, but I don't. I didn't never consider myself an alcoholic. So,
Steve Kmetko
tell me, what was it like being an instant sex symbol? Did you appreciate that? Did you like it? Did you like the attention?
Heather Thomas
Yeah, it was making me, I was making more money I ever made in my life. I was young, I was happy. Why not?
Steve Kmetko
From your lips to God's ears. Where were you born?
Heather Thomas
What year?
Steve Kmetko
Where? Where I know better than to ask what year. You could ask what year. I'm
Heather Thomas
not shy about my education.
Steve Kmetko
Okay, I was
Heather Thomas
born in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Steve Kmetko
Do you get back there, or you still have ties there?
Heather Thomas
I lived there five minutes.
Steve Kmetko
Okay, that's a good enough time to figure out a place. Yeah,
Heather Thomas
I'm a California girl.
Steve Kmetko
Are you?
Heather Thomas
I lived in Rock View, Maryland, when I was from when I was two to four, and then I've been in Santa Monica ever since.
Steve Kmetko
Two to four, you must not have too many memories of
Heather Thomas
it. I do. I remember in those days it was all forest. It was all forest. I remember the forest
Steve Kmetko
well. I have a question for you from one of our Patreon subscribers. Her name is Zoe Togo. So she asks, back in the 80s it seemed that in every photo you were in a bikini. Obviously, times have changed a little. Looking back, how did you feel about being so blatantly sexualized by Hollywood, that's from Zoe To Go.
Heather Thomas
I think there's a certain amount of disassociation, and it was really my business. It would be like a woman who sells bathing suits. It's.. it was a way I sold things. They didn't in those days it wasn't, it was accepted, and I understood when they were, you know, when it, if something got a little misogynist, there's a big difference, and I was happy with my body, I worked hard, it wasn't in a misogynistic way. In other words,
Steve Kmetko
how have you able to? You've stepped back now for quite some time. Are you able to observe changes? Are there changes that you've made note of in your head in Hollywood?
Heather Thomas
Yeah, of course, women aren't confined to, like, using their feminine wiles to solve crime. There's more of an acceptance that it's just more reality that we're all human beings and equal intellectually, but who knows with today's atmosphere, if that's going to change, but I think there's a big difference, and yeah, in my day they swatted you on the butt, and there was, you know, the guy you avoided at the at the rap party because he'd get handsy, or you know, hi honey, there you know, you got pretty savvy about that. Women, by the time you're 12 years old, you can tell who's, you know, men look at you like a lion looks like an impala. You kind of, in my day, you just kind of had survival instincts. Every woman did. It's like, I'm not going to be in the room with that one, and that one's drinking, okay? I'm going, or that one's getting high. I'm going, you know, you just tried to keep yourself out of a situation, so thankfully that's gone away. I think me too went way overboard.
Steve Kmetko
Do you?
Heather Thomas
Yeah, I think that's responsible for the bro backlash right now, that's that we're under, where they're, you know, angry about DEI. Well, the DEI is just that's just a watchword for something people don't like, but I think I think that the Me Too went too far. You know, people would get in trouble for complimenting someone's hair, that's ridiculous. You know, I talked about this because, you know, I was.. I was there. Were some programs we were doing with the Rape Foundation in high schools, because violence and sex was starting to get mixed up, like creepy, where boys were hitting girls that wouldn't put out, you know, and I was talking about this with Beatrice Woods, the mother of Dadaism. I had a friend who was her protege, and this is years and years ago. We went to visit her, and she had that, you know, Happy Valley School or something with JR Kirschner Murphy, and she was a Dadaist and also spiritualist and everything, and because she had asked me what I was doing lately, and I said, well, I, I went to Sacramento, and we were testifying about certain things happening in schools, and we're doing a program, and she said, you know, nobody square dances anymore, and I kind of thought that's nice, Beatrice. She said, "No, listen to me. It was boys and girls touching each other in a non-competitive way. Nowadays, they don't want anybody to touch anybody that's not human, but it seems to me that I you look at old movies, the ones that occurred kind of during the war, and there was a period where men and women seemed to be more friends. Yeah, there were stereotypical roles, but it was a much more friendly atmosphere, wasn't this hateful atmosphere that's out now.
Steve Kmetko
When I was growing up, and we had square dancing at school, my mother would send a note to get me out of it, because we were Baptist, and we didn't dance.
Heather Thomas
Oh my,
Steve Kmetko
oh my, yes, that was the rule, and it worked.
Heather Thomas
Jack Baptist.
Steve Kmetko
Yes, Jack Baptist,
Heather Thomas
Jack Mormons, and Jack Baptist.
Steve Kmetko
I didn't know that. How is it you got so involved in activism?
Heather Thomas
I had a lot of time on my hands and a lot of money.
Steve Kmetko
That's good.
Heather Thomas
It's true.
Steve Kmetko
Yeah, but
Heather Thomas
also, if you're a public figure, I think you have a duty, the responsibility. If you have money, you have a responsibility to give back to the community, and if you don't have money, you have a responsibility to give back to the community. And I'd see something I didn't like, I'd get an I started out as a feminist, and that evolved into I remember with Bruce Valance during AIDS, we had a charity that would get psychiatrists and therapists for people with AIDS, and or I'd fight for the rain forest, or something, you know, I lobbied Congress and the Senate in Washington for the NRDC, you know, trying to get toxics out of our food, or, or, or begging them not to put radioactive material into the. The recycling market, there were. You wouldn't believe what they've tried to pass over the years, but I fear for that now, because there's an onslaught changing now of getting deregulation, and I think there's some - we're in a political upheaval where people aren't really aware of what's happening, it's so much it's like a fire hose. So I worry for that.
Steve Kmetko
Ted Lange, do you know Ted?
Heather Thomas
Yes, he directed me in the fall. I was
Steve Kmetko
going to ask you about it. How was he to work with? Came here and talked with us. It's
Heather Thomas
lovely. He gave us a very
Steve Kmetko
nice interview, very nice. He's a very good guy, is he?
Heather Thomas
I like him a lot.
Steve Kmetko
What makes him a good guy here in Hollywood?
Heather Thomas
He's actually very respectful. I watched him work with a crew, he was on time, knew his stuff. He was a fantastic director. I was really happy with him.
Steve Kmetko
Do you ever see him or hear him hear from him or talk? No, I do not. No,
Heather Thomas
no.
Steve Kmetko
Would you be able to give advice, for example, to a Sydney Sweeney who's enjoying the kind of popularity you did at the height of your popularity?
Heather Thomas
Really, I don't think she needs any advice? I think she's doing fantastic, and there are roles now for women as you age where there weren't in, say, the 70s. I think there's bigger roles than the grandmother or the mom or the nosy neighbor. There's a billion different, you know, parts you can play. They're very interesting parts at my age. So I don't know if I'd warn her about anything except for watch your business people, that's the most important thing.
Steve Kmetko
How? So
Heather Thomas
I'm the wife of a lawyer, same an attorney, and I've seen how many people have been ripped off by their business managers, and how many times he had to bring giant stars that someone would think are filthy rich, he had to bring them back from bankruptcy, or had to get their money back. So that's the first thing I say: be careful with your business people.
Steve Kmetko
What did you think of the Fall Guy movie that came out last year?
Heather Thomas
I loved it. I was in
Steve Kmetko
it. Oh,
Heather Thomas
I'm in the last.. I'm in the post credits. The post credits, yeah. You know how Marvel always has a post credit, right? Yeah, Lee and I are in the post credits.
Steve Kmetko
Oh, cool.
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
did you get any? Have you gotten any feedback from the public about that,
Heather Thomas
yeah, the right feedback. I went to the premiere, they treated me right. It was, it was really fun. It was fun working again.
Steve Kmetko
That's good. Let me get back to that for a second. Where you were just before this, Paris? You got married in Paris?
Heather Thomas
Yes.
Steve Kmetko
How nice. How did you decide that?
Heather Thomas
Because we knew that if we got married in LA, because of who my husband was, we'd have to invite half the city and pay for dinners for people we don't even like. So we decided to go to Paris, save the money, and have an awesome honeymoon.
Steve Kmetko
And did you?
Heather Thomas
Yes, yes.
Steve Kmetko
Tell me about
Heather Thomas
it. We did a week at the Ritz, and that was kind of gnarly in Paris. Yes, the Ritz,
Steve Kmetko
where Diana spent her last night or something, Princess Diana.
Heather Thomas
Yeah, yeah, I love that hotel.
Steve Kmetko
Yeah,
Heather Thomas
I love it. I love going to Jar, the jewelry store, you know, right there. And, and you walk into the room, and then they raise the velvet partition, and you see all the jewels in the dark. I love that place, but and then we got to go to Venice, and in Venice, I remember it was October. There's nobody there. It didn't smell, and there were no tourists. It was so romantic, and it was just smell foggy. Well, it can get kind of ripe in the summer.
Steve Kmetko
Yeah, I know.
Heather Thomas
And I remember, you know, that first square in front of St. Mark's, not the one in front of the Doges, but the first square, I guess that's in front of the Doges Palace, right? First one's the Doges, second one's St. Mark's. Okay, in front of the Doges, we just ate at Harry's Bar, and we walk into the square, and instead of solid cafes all the way around, none of them were open, except for one, where there was a saxophone player playing My Blue Heaven, and my husband grabbed me and waltzed me around that square that was on our honeymoon.
Steve Kmetko
That's romantic,
Heather Thomas
that gondola. Us and boat trips, it was beautiful. Yeah, beautiful honeymoon.
Steve Kmetko
I've heard the phrase "see venison die" because there's nothing else to live for. They say
Heather Thomas
food is pretty good,
Steve Kmetko
yeah. The food is good. You can't beat the food in Paris either. I know the food in
Heather Thomas
Paris is a good scarf. Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
a good scarf. Heather was there a time when your looks hurt your career?
Heather Thomas
Well, I was very blonde, and I had done a lot of body stuff, so there's an obligatory condescension that goes with being a blonde, a type, so yes, in certain ways, but you can always find a role.
Steve Kmetko
You have a very good attitude about this, no matter what your.. when
Heather Thomas
I want to work, I can work,
Steve Kmetko
really.
Heather Thomas
Yeah, I've sold everything I've ever pitched, and I can work
Steve Kmetko
good for you.
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
do you have your name out there in terms of auditions or things you would like
Heather Thomas
to do? Oh,
Steve Kmetko
would you hear of something? Do you go away? I'm still a
Heather Thomas
member of the guild.
Steve Kmetko
Yeah,
Heather Thomas
and if there was something I really wanted, I would go for it. Right now, I'm just concentrated on my grandkids, family. How many grandkids
Steve Kmetko
do you have
Heather Thomas
four?
Steve Kmetko
That's a lot.
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
and your family,
Heather Thomas
and my family, and my daughter. You know, I've got three daughters, so there's a bunch of little families, except for one. One's very young, and I'm concentrating on politics and some activism right now. I think that's where I can contribute the best.
Steve Kmetko
Did any of the children go into acting?
Heather Thomas
No.
Steve Kmetko
Did you warn them against it?
Heather Thomas
No.
Steve Kmetko
Did you encourage them to go into
Heather Thomas
it? No. No. My oldest daughter was in all the plays and all through school, but she became a lawyer. Where an acting background is very helpful.
Steve Kmetko
Well, when having your husband is very helpful too.
Heather Thomas
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
if you're going to be a lawyer,
Heather Thomas
well, yeah, she was a litigator, though. He said he, he's a living legend of a deal maker.
Steve Kmetko
I'm trying to remember what he did or who he represented. Britain, Brittenham, yeah,
Heather Thomas
Skip
Steve Kmetko
did he represent Michael Jackson for a while?
Heather Thomas
Zifarn Brittenham Branca did. John Branca was the lawyer for Michael Jackson. Skip represented him in some things.
Steve Kmetko
Okay, because the name is very familiar.
Heather Thomas
He's in the Richard Pryor documentary. He represents, he's represented Henry Winkler and Harrison Ford forever. He's represented everything from Comcast to Warner Brothers to Jeff Katzenberg, David Geffen, everybody, busy
Steve Kmetko
guy,
Heather Thomas
Beyonce. Yeah, we could go on and on and on. Kevin Faggy is his client,
Steve Kmetko
who
Heather Thomas
Kevin Faggy, Marvel, millions of producers, all the independent television.
Steve Kmetko
Are you happy?
Heather Thomas
I'm so happy. He's a good guy. I've notly in love with him. Married him a long time ago. He'd been married 30 years.
Steve Kmetko
That's a long time.
Heather Thomas
I married my best friend.
Steve Kmetko
That's the way to do it.
Heather Thomas
Yep.
Steve Kmetko
Thank you, Heather. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming in.
Heather Thomas
That was fun.
Steve Kmetko
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