Recipes for Life (21 page)

With a fork mash 2 tablespoons butter and the flour into a paste and whisk it gently into the sauce. Simmer for 2 minutes to thicken.

Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms separately in 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil for about 10 minutes, until browned and tender.

Add the filet of beef slices, the mushrooms, and the bacon to the pan with the vegetables and sauce. Cover and reheat gently for 5 to 10 minutes. Do not overcook. Season to taste and serve immediately.

To make ahead: This dish is excellent made in advance and refrigerated in the pan. When you are ready to serve, heat the filets and sauce over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until heated through.

TIP
:

To peel the pearl onions easily, first blanch them for a minute or two in boiling water.

I
N
T
HE
G
AMBLER
with Kenny Rogers, I portrayed a bounty hunter masquerading as a saloon girl. I had to learn to “quick draw,” which required practicing as often as I could. Bunky would work with me for hours at the house between running lines. I’d wear the holster and gun all day, never certain when Bunky would suddenly leap out from behind a door or couch shouting, “Draw!” It was like living with Cato in one of
The Pink Panther
films.

One time during these sessions the doorbell rang and without thinking, I opened the door with the gun in hand. The poor FedEx man stood rooted in fear until I quickly told him I was just practicing for a film.

Before starting
The Gambler
, I was scheduled to do a special two-hour
The Love Boat
in Greece and Turkey. The studio made me a wooden gun so that I could continue to practice and not freak out everyone on the boat.

We had only two days between finishing
The Love Boat
and reporting to
The Gambler
location in Arizona. At long last it was time for me to actually draw on camera. To everyone’s surprise I was faster than my character was supposed to be in that scene, so the director needed me to slow down. Yesss! Bunky was very proud.

For me, the most challenging part of
The Gambler
was the singing and dancing. Being a great singer and songwriter, Kenny Rogers assured me that no matter how I sounded, they could fix me in the studio. Wanna bet? Once again I was dubbed. Trouble is, even when an actor is dubbed, they still do actually perform the song in filming before it gets dubbed. So I had to belt out the song in my own poor little off-key voice, while I watched Kenny trying to stay in character, struggling not to laugh.

Dressing up in the Wild West.

But I’d still have to do my own dancing. Since there was no choreographer on site, Bunky stepped up to the task and soon put together a terrific little routine for me to do. Since we didn’t have time to practice it, she had to stand behind the camera dancing away, with me trying to mirror her steps. Not only did Kenny and the crew get a big laugh over our antics, the scene came out great.

Clowning it up on
The Gambler.

I absolutely loved working with Kenny and Bruce Boxleitner, and my old friend David Hedison as well. The only hard part was going from shooting
The Love Boat
in the mild Mediterranean climate of the Greek isles to 113 degrees in the Arizona desert. It was incredibly hot and dusty, plus I often had to wear heavy dresses with corsets. I’d get so thirsty that I would race to the craft services table morning, noon, and night. Normally I’d just have water, but I tried their lemonade and found I couldn’t
stop drinking it. I loved it. After the tenth glass, I told the craft services man that they may have to let my dress out, but I couldn’t stop drinking it. He said, “Don’t worry, it’s diet.” He told me it was a new product being test-marketed in the area, called Crystal Light.

Ironically, when I got back to LA, Michael called and said there was a new product called Crystal Light and they’d like to send me some samples to try.

I told Michael they didn’t need to send it, I already had it. He said that was impossible because it wasn’t out yet. I had loved it so much I’d bought a few cases in Arizona and brought them home with me. I was even making frozen lemonade bars out of it.

Needless to say, I was happy to accept their offer to become their first spokesperson.

1 large roast of beef

1 small roast of beef

Take the two roasts and put them in the oven.

When the little one burns, the big one is done.

S
ADLY
, I
NEVER
got to work with George Burns’s wife Gracie. To this day I love her brilliant funny mind. I did have the great pleasure of doing
George Burns and Other Sex Symbols
.

This was the title of the special I did with the lovable and seemingly ageless George, which aired just as
Dynasty
was taking off in 1982. I was thrilled to be asked to be on the show; until I found out they wanted me to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. Over the years, I’ve been
seen
singing in films, but trust me: no one has ever actually
heard
me sing.

The first time I was asked to sing was in a Disney film called
Those Calloways
. This is how badly I sing: I didn’t even have a solo; I just needed to sing along with the family. One note, and they knew they had to dub me.

Then, I played a bikini-wearing, skydiving singer in
Beach Blanket Bingo
. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, I had to break into song the second I hit the sand. Thankfully, they had the good sense to use someone else’s voice. And then there was my experience with
The Gambler
.

So, when I was asked to sing for the legendary George Burns, I begged him to give me something else to do. With his trademark cigar on the side of his mouth, George smiled and said he knew I could do it. Wanna bet?

Bunky had to push me all the way to the studio, since I was absolutely horrified that I was about to make a complete fool of myself in front of the millions who were sure to tune in to see George Burns.

In the end, George saved me by suggesting I just talk-sing, like Marilyn Monroe did to President Kennedy. Of course, I’m no Marilyn, but somehow it got me through. As a matter of fact, it turned out to be a wonderful experience: nothing like overcoming your fears in front of one of your idols, not to mention a few million people.

E
ARLY IN MY
Dynasty
days, I agreed to do a few two-hour
The Love Boat
specials during our hiatus. I’d shoot the interiors in the studio and then fly to exotic places all over the world to film on different ships. I loved going to Australia and the Fiji islands, as well as Greece, where we filmed on the islands of Mykonos and Santorini. But my favorite trip was when I went to China. They cast John Forsythe, Ursula Andress, and Lee Majors for that episode as well. We all had shared such sweet memories throughout the years. It was fun for us all to work together.

John’s wife, Julie, came with us, and on our days off we went “china” shopping. We’d come back to the hotel with assorted bags filled with our great antique porcelain treasures, which John had to carry and store away on the plane. All the way home he made us laugh with his “typical husband” routine.

My affair with Chinese cuisine really took off when I appeared in
The Love Boat
in Asia. I couldn’t get enough of the flavors of Chinese food and combed the stores for all the spices I could take back. We had many unforgettable dinners in Beijing and Shanghai that inspired me to get a wok and learn to cook Chinese cuisine.

One evening a small group of us went to a restaurant close to our hotel. They surprised us with an assortment of appetizers, but we didn’t recognize anything. Everyone just stared. Not wanting to be rude by asking what everything was, I adventurously plopped one thing in my mouth only to find it could not be chewed or swallowed. I later found out it was a duck’s webbed foot! I still love Chinese food, but, needless to say, I now always ask what I’m eating!

This is one of my favorite Chinese recipes that I found in
The Classic Chinese Cook Book
. I am very grateful that Mai Leung has been gracious enough to allow me to share it with you. Mai Leung mentions you can cut down on the hot chili pepper; I use just a little and it is delicious.

PREPARATION OF INGREDIENTS

2 cups oil