Question: What is the scoop on David James Elliott, star of the series "JAG"? I read some time ago that he had committed suicide.
Answer: I suggest you cancel your subscription to "Irresponsible Death Rumors Monthly." Elliott is still alive and doing quite nicely.
Question: We are trying to find information on a movie that we rented around 1989. This movie as we recall had a "ratboy" type of character who in the end went to an underground community where similar characters lived. Any ideas with so little to go on?
Answer: Hmm ... ratboy, ratboy, ratboy ...
Could it possibly be "Ratboy," released in 1986?
It stars Sondra Locke (who also directed), Robert Townsend and Sharon Baird in the title role.
Question: I remember a movie from when I was a kid in the 1960s. It was about a young woman who was a newlywed and who had a poodle. Her mother advised her to train her husband the way she had trained her dog.
It might have been called "How to Train Your Husband." Is it out on video?
Answer: As a member of the male gender, I'd like to go on record as saying that "training" me is not like training a poodle. An Irish setter, maybe ...
At any rate, the movie is called "If a Man Answers," and it was released in 1962. Sandra Dee is the trainer, and Bobby Darin is the canine surrogate.
Question: I have been wondering if Dave Garrett of "Everybody Loves Raymond" is the son of TV legend Fred Gwen. They look so much alike. I'm almost positive that he is. My husband disagrees. Please clear this up for me.
Answer: You mean Brad Garrett, who plays Robert on "Everybody Loves Raymond," and Fred Gwynne, who was a regular on "Car 54, Where Are You?" and "The Munsters"?
By any name, they are not related.
Question: Our neighbor, who claims to know everything, was trying to convince us last night that Cybill Shepherd was once an "angel" on "Charlie's Angels." He said she was a replacement after one of the three originals left the show. Please tell us he's wrong!
Answer: He's wrong! You're welcome.
The angels were, of course, Farrah Fawcett (1976-77), Jaclyn Smith (1976-81), Kate Jackson (1976-79), Cheryl Ladd (1977-81), Shelley Hack (1979-80) and Tanya Roberts (1980-81).
Question: I was vacationing in New Hampshire last summer, and I was watching an old movie with Humphrey Bogart. He was a boxing trainer. At the end of the movie they said it was one of his most embarrassing movies and he never talked about it. I would like to find this movie to purchase, but I cannot remember the name or part of the name. Can you help?
Answer: The movie is 1938's "Swing Your Lady," and it was written into Bogart's contract that it could be shown only in New Hampshire, only in the summer.
I kid!
The cast also includes Frank McHugh, Nat Pendleton and the comedy-singing team the Weaver Brothers and Elviry.
Fascinating fact: During a scene in one of Bogart's best movies, "The Maltese Falcon," you can see a movie poster for "Swing Your Lady" plastered on a wooden fence! Coincidence or intentional? You be the judge.