European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Cypher helps make a major dad generally funny a a a by Mike Genalo new Yor Bureau life goes on at Camp Hollister and for the most part its a Welcome change of place for major dad. When it was announced that major dad John Macgillis played by Gerald Mcrancy was to be transferred from California to a Supply depot outside Washington d.c., Many Felt that a change of locale and characters would Lessen the Quality of the show. Apparently the change of cast has Only helped to strengthen major dad which airs on armed forces television As Well As stateside television. Aside from Macgillis wife Polly and daughters Elizabeth Robin and Casey played by Shanna Reed Marissa Ryan Nicole Dubuc and Chelsea Hertford respectively Only it. Gene Holowachuk Matt mul Horti remains fro i the original cast. Macgillis has been assigned to Camp Hollister As adjutant to Gen. Marcus c. Craig Jon Cypher and Beverly Archer has been introduced in the role of gunnery sgt. Alva Bricker. Cypher Best known for his role As the unethical opportunistic police chief Daniels on the emmy award winning Hill Street blues has finally broken the Mold of villains he used to portray. A a it a such a pleasure to get up in the morning and go to work knowing that your chief function for the entire Day is trying to figure out How to make people laugh a he said in a phone interview. A a that a the whole philosophy behind the program. If we re not having fun then we can to expect the audience to be having Cypher a 59-year-old Brooklyn native who lives in California took the usual Long route to the big time. He appeared mostly on stage for the first 15 Jon Cypher As Gen. Marcus c. Craig. Years of his acting career. He also had parts in soap operas usually cast As a bad Guy. A a in be killed so Many people in my acting career and played so Many smarmy characters a he said. Cypher recalls an especially evil character he played in the soap As the world turns. A was i was leaving the set one of the cast remarked to me a give my regards to the fish scr a a he related. Cypher admits acting was not his first love. A i was 15 years old and Laid up with a knee injury when i heard an Enrico Caruso recording a he said. A having a pretty Good voice myself i decided that a career As an opera Singer was my then Fate intervened. He joined the army. While undergoing 16 weeks of anti aircraft training at fort Bliss. Texas in the Early 1950s, Cypher became friends with another go who was also a Singer. A the had a tremendous voice Quot Cypher said. In fact he went on to sing professionally in opera. 1 realized then 1 was not qualified to com Pete with people of his after his discharge from the army,.Cypher attended College under the go Bill. He went to Texas West College now known As the University of Texas i paso and became involved with shakespearean acting. A these people actors were allowed to smoke and stay out late at night and 1 realized that this was for me a he said. Cypher has not Given up his love of singing. He spent two years As understudy to Richard Kilcy in Man of la Mancha. Cypher also has taken the show on tour around the United states with Var 1 ious theater groups. In a recent episode of major dad Cypher Sang the impossible was it turns out a he said a it was the Day that War broke out in the persian Gulf so it seemed to be a very appropriate As Gen. Craig Cypher brings his vast acting experience to Bear in developing the a lot of it is adaptations that have evolved Over the weeks a he said. A i try to incorporate various ideas into How 1 think the character would behave under certain circumstances. 1 have an Uncle who a a retired military officer and a lot of the general a personal characteristics Are modelled after there was Early criticism from marines As to How he portrayed the general a comic figure whose bumbling the major has to clean up after. A Many thought he was too off the Wall Quot Cypher said. A a it a been a series of adjustments a both serious and comedy a to develop the character to where he is today. A a in be met Many individual Marine officers who Are pleased with the general As portrayed now. They Tell me How they know officers at the base where they Are stationed who Are just like As a sign of that acceptance Cypher was recently invited to attend the Marine corps scholarship Ball and sing for the retiring commandant of the Marine corps Gen. Alfred m. Gray or. Call that one a major . Law to a deadly blessings like night and Deyby Pete Szilagyi Cox news service that dress its so tight. And Short. And those fingernails too Long. And that exposed cleavage. This is a Susan Dey that most of her fans would not recognize in a role far different from the Cool together attorney Grace Van Owen played by Dey in the television series . Law. In a hiatus from . Law which she has agreed to rejoin for a sixth season after a Well publicized decision to quit Dey is playing a complicated and distinctly Texas role a role that takes a Little body language a few tight dresses and a Texas accent to pull off. Dey was in the Central Texas cities of Bastrop and Lockhart recently filming scenes for the Abc to movie deadly Blessing a drama based on the 1981 shooting of former Texas House speaker Price Daniel or. By his wife Vickie Daniel. Dey plays Vickie Daniel a former Dairy Queen waitress who married into the powerful Daniel family and attempted to conform to upper class East Texas society. Vickie Daniel was acquitted in a trial that re pc Ald she was a battered wife who loved her husband but no longer could take the abuse. Price Dan ice or. Is portrayed in the film by Chris Cooper who played sheriff july John Susan Dey son in the minis pics lonesome Dove. The movie will also feature Mary Kay place As Jean Daniel Murph . Bailey As the Daniel family attorney and Lane Smith As Vickie a trial lawyer Richard Quot Racehorse Haynes. Bastrop 30 Miles East of Austin was chosen for its classic Small town appearance. A just looking around its hard to find an authentic looking old town like this in California or almost anywhere a said director Billy Graham. Bastrop residents have seen several movie and commercial shoots in the past few years and were nonchalant about the filming. Just a few stopped to watch. One of the locals at the filming was 19-year-old Rhonda Rosser for whom deadly Blessing is one of those storybook experiences that one usually Only hears about in fan magazines. She became Dey a language coach. Dey a seasoned actress who began on tvs the Partridge family when she was 17, faced a major Challenge when she came to Texas two weeks ago for the filming a developing the right accent. Dey said she visited Barton Creek Square mall in Austin to listen to people but found out that few people there spoke with a Texas accent. Meanwhile her husband Bernard Sofronski was in Bastrop scouting locations and struck up a conversation with Rosser a drug store clerk with just the accent he wanted for Dey. Sofronski put Dey the actress and Rosser the clerk together. The real Vickie Daniel declined to talk to Sofronski about the movie. 1 be did speak at length to her daughter Jean Daniel Murph who provided the name for the film when she described the Daniel family a wealth and Power As a a deadly no air Date for deadly Blessing has been set. August 4, 1991 sunday a Page 15
