I COULD'VE BEEN A CONTENDER

well, oscars are over and everyone looked gorgeous,there were no surprises.

sondra bullock won the oscar as predicted... when she was being introduced, Forest Whitiker did a homage to her and mentioned he directed her in the movie HOPE FLOATS.it brought back a memory that i had completely forgotten about.

in 1997 i was on a flight from new york to los angeles. in those years, first class was large and everyone was very friendly.. most of those on the flight were in show biz and i was then on the periphery.. very periphery of show biz. i was a faux celebrity.

my basic nature is to talk to anyone and everyone. i began a conversation with a lovely woman who i later found out was a high powered producer named linda obst. we chatted the entire flight and when we were leaving, we exchanged phone numbers and vowed to speak to each other again. i did a lot of exchanging of numbers in those days and never saw or heard from anyone.. thats very show biz !

a few months after my meeting with linda obst, i got a phone call from her office. they said linda wanted me to appear in her movie, Hope Floats... starring, of course, sondra bullock.. i went to the meeting and they asked me to read for the part. i said, i'm not an actress, why am i going to read? but i did . everyone was fawning over me and i was laughing. all the sudden, i'm going to be in a movie.

i took none of this seriously. weeks after my so called audition, i got a call from linda obst and she said, you got the part and we begin filming in austin, texas on may 1st. i paused for a long time and said, linda i have reservations at canyon ranch for the dates you want me and i really want to go. she kept trying to convince me that this was a chance of a lifetime and i kept thinking, this has got to be a big joke.

well, i made the decision to go to canyon ranch, where i was not yet working at but i loved the place.

my movie career went down the toilet with that decision and the part was done by kathy najimi who did a much better job than i could have ever done.

last night after forest whitiker mentioned Hope Floats, i realized that sondra bullock was about to get my oscar !

i figured from a small part in Hope Floats for me, i could have gone on to bigger and better roles and given meryl streep a run for her money.. if you're not laughing, its ok, i am.!

be back soon