2003
UPDATES
UPDATE JANUARY
2003
It
IS still a good life.
Who would ever have thought that 42
years after filming "It's a Good Life", a "classic" episode of the
original "The Twilight Zone" television series, that I'd return to the
role of "Anthony Fremont" the "monster" with almost limitless mental
powers in a brand new episode of "The Twilight Zone", once again teamed
with Cloris Leachman and adding to the mix, my 8 year old daughter
Liliana Mumy?! WOW!
When this project, "It's Still A Good Life" was initially
discussed by me and the executive producer of the series, Ira Behr, I
was really excited about the possibility of playing Anthony again.
Some characters have a way of "staying" with you and Anthony certainly
has been one. Honestly, I loved kicking the concept around with
Ira, but I didn't really think it would happen. Then, I got the
call. "They want to do it."
I got nervous. It could be real.
Making a sequel to something that is considered a classic, that was
named by TV Guide as one of the best 100 television shows ever made is
challenging. There are sequels... "Godfather 2" and there are
sequels, "Exorcist 2"... I started to worry.
The
entire experience was special. Everyone treated us all like
royalty. I was allowed quite a bit of creative input on this project, and for that I'll always be
grateful. I don't know how objective I can be at this point, I haven't seen it edited together yet, but, I believe it's going to
be a really strong show. A good television show. A real good television
show.
I don't do a lot of on camera acting these days. I
feel like I did some of my best work on this show. I hope you'll
check it out. Thanks.
Stay
out of the cornfield.
Peace,
Bill Mumy
UPDATE MAY 2003
Hello,
It has been brought to my attention that I'm
overdue for one of these updates, so... here we go. First off, I
would like to remind any of you that are interested that I have been
"managing" the guest book here personally lately and I've been posting
"mini updates" (sounds like a breakfast cereal) and responses to questions
in the guest book quite often. The Mumy guest book is a very quirky
place full of nonsense and weirdness, so if you're into that or if you
simply want to post a question or a thought... check it out.
I've been
quite busy lately working on the multitude of things that I do. I've
been narrating lots of Biographies for A&E, voicing Farmer's Insurance
commercials, gigging with the Jenerators, gigging solo, plotting and
writing many different things, recording and producing.
Let's see... I just got back from
New York and New Jersey where I appeared at the Chiller Con alongside my
wonderful "family" from Lost in Space, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen and
Angela Cartwright. It's always great to spend time with them
catching up on personal things and meeting the fans of our old show.
I managed to venture into Manhattan with the always ambitious Ange for a
nice lunch and a bit of shopping...(well, it was more her shopping and me
watching impatiently...) it was a beautiful day so it was nice to walk a
bit before sitting down to the "work" at the con. I performed there
Saturday night playing with "The Dead Elvi" band. Besides "Fish
Heads", (which is always fun live, although it's totally different
of course from the record) I sang and played some old rockers from the
60's... the Byrds' "So You Wanna Be A Rock n Roll Star", "Mr. Spaceman",
the Beatles' "You Can't Do That" & "One After 909" and Mark Goddard
joined me on vocals for Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" which I
dedicated to Jonathan Harris. It was fun. Thanks to Kevin Clement
for bringing me out there and for letting me play his Les Paul. I met
legendary horror tv personality "Zach" and shared the musical stage with
ex-Rolling Stones lead guitarist Mick Taylor. The Jenerators had
gigged with him about 6 years ago here in L.A. at the Palamino Club.
Anyway, it was an enthusiastic crowd and rock happened...
My brand new 5th solo
CD, "Ghosts: the best of Bill Mumy" has just been released on Renaissance
Records and is available at their website, (renaissancecd's.com),
amazon.com, and here at the Mumy Mall. Don't expect to find it at
your local record store though. There are five brand new recordings
and fifteen compiled from my first four solo albums. As usual, the
multi talented Angela Cartwright took the photographs and designed the
package. I hope you'll check it out in the MUMY
MALL along with some Twilight Zone pics now
available. If you'd like to hear
some tracks from the new CD just click here: GHOSTS
The Jenerators are going into the
studio to record a new album very soon and we're also compiling the "best"
of our first two cd's as they are both now out of print. More on
that as it happens.
Barnes and Barnes are also busy. We're releasing our often rumored never heard 1982-83 unreleased album "Code of Honor (Kodovoner)" soon on Oglio Records. It will include all the completed and uncompleted tracks we were working on for that project. Nothing has been "sweetened" or changed. It's all exactly as we left it twenty years ago. For B&B fans, this is exciting news. For the rest of humanity... go back about your business. B&B are going to re-release (with bonus tracks) the rest of our catalogue "Amazing Adult Fantasy" (1984), "Sicks", (1986), "Loozantean" (1991) and then make a NEW album. More on that as it happens. yeah.
I recently collaborated with Kevin Burns on picking unseen images from the first five episodes of Lost in Space for a new trading card set coming out from Rittenhouse. We went through ALL the original proof sheets from 1965 and pulled some really cool stuff. LIS fans will surely dig that. Also, the first season of LIS will be released on DVD in January from Fox. I believe you can pre-order it now at amazon.com. Sadly, although it was discussed, they are not going to include any bonus or new material, but the good news is it's coming out!
The first two seasons of Babylon 5 are now available on DVD from Warner Bros. No home should be without... (my family and I had a lovely dinner at Mira Furlan's a month ago. You B5 Minbari fans will be pleased to know "Delenn" and "Lennier" are getting along just fine.)
My daughter Liliana is currently working with Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt and Hilary Duff in "Cheaper by the Dozen". She films that through June. She's having a great time. The episode of the Twilight Zone we starred in together, "It's Still A Good Life", (see the last update for details and photos) was the highest rated and critically acclaimed episode of the series. We sure had a great time doing that.
My son Seth recently had a lead role in a school production of "A Funny Thing Happened To Me On The Way To The Forum". He played "Hero". "3 Wishes" the film he starred in with Patrick Swayzee ran on TV this week. He was so little and good in that! He's also playing little league and just being a teenager nowadays.
There are LOTS of other Mumy projects in various stages of "happening", but I'll hold off talking about those things until they actually happen. I've learned that lesson the hard way.
That's it for now. Take care
of yourselves and take care of Mother Earth and all the living things on
her.
Peace,
Bill
Laurel Canyon, CA
"Look out kid, you're gonna
get hit by users, cheaters, six-time losers, hang around the theaters, the
girl by the whirpool's lookin' for a new fool, don't follow leaders, watch
the parkin' meters."
Bob Dylan: "Subterranean Homesick
Blues"
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2003
So, yesterday I was doing a radio
interview with www.SCIFIOVERDRIVE.COM (it was taped and it
hasn't aired yet. check it out.) and the host mentioned a very odd fact to
me that I'll now share with you... I'm still in my 40's yet I have
worked professionaly as an actor in SIX DECADES! the 50's, 60's,
70's, 80's, 90's, and 00's. THAT'S WEIRD!! Kinda cool. Kinda
disturbing...
This month started off with me in Atlanta at DragonCon. It was really crowded and humid and nice. I
gave a one hour solo acoustic concert there that was well attended that I
enjoyed very much. Other than that, there were Lost in Space panels with
me and Angela Cartwright, and Babylon 5 panels with Stephen Furst, Julie
Caitlin Brown, Stephen Austin and myself. Mira Furlin and Claudia
Christian from B5 were also there but they left early. Anyway, it was
great to see friends like Peter David, Julie Schwartz, Forey Ackerman, Bob
Burden, Walter Koenig, Lou Ferigno... the list goes on and on. Although
the plane flight there was a bit tense, the trip was good.
As usual, I've been working hard on
my current series, narrating "Biography" for A&E. I do enjoy
this gig. I hope some of you will tune in and hear me. The shows are
always interesting and well done.
I've just now finished demo'ing a
batch of new songs that I'm pretty sure will eventually become my next
solo album. When I get around to actually recording them properly, I can't
say.
I'm happy to report that my good pal
Mark Hamill has finished editing his new film, "COMIC BOOK: THE MOVIE" that he's directed and stars in and
yours truly is featured in it. I've also got a song in the end credits.
Look for that in the near future.
The Jenerators will be back
onstage soon and I can't wait to plug in and rock. If you're in Southern
California, look us up. Gigs are always posted in advance here at the
website homepage.
Summer came and went quickly here. My
family is well, my kids are back in their schools, the house is a mess,
our 3 dogs are crazy and life goes on. I'm working on several other
writing and recording projects but we'll save those for the time
being.