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Digest
Online - August 11th, 1996
Interview
with Jack Coleman's wife, actress Beth Toussaint
Star:
Beth Toussaint
Role:
Veronica Koslowsky, SAVANNAH
Birthday:
September 25
Lives With: Husband
of 7 weeks, Jack Coleman (ex-Steven
Carrington, DYNASTY; ex-Jake Kositchek, Days of our lives)
Home Is:
Los Angeles, Martha's Vineyard, and Atlanta
DIGEST
ONLINE: How does it feel to be a newlywed?
Toussaint:
``It feels great. It's the best thing in the world. People always
say, `Oh, it won't feel any different, but it feels totally
different.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: Right now, you and Jack have a rather unusual living arrangement,
don't you?
Toussaint:
``We don't really live together [on a day-to-day basis] because I live in
Atlanta [while SAVANNAH is filming] and he lives in Los Angeles and
Martha's Vineyard. I commute back and forth to L.A. and the Vineyard,
wherever Jack is, as much as possible.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: How did you two meet?
Toussaint:
``We met on a Wes Craven TV series called NIGHTMARE CAFE. I came in on the
last episode to play Jack's love interest. He's the first man that I ever
met working with, so I decided to marry him [laughs].''
DIGEST
ONLINE: Tell us about the wedding...
Toussaint:
``The wedding was June 21. It was the first day of summer, which is Jack's
favorite day of the year, so he picked the date, and we got married on
Cape Cod. The ceremony started at one o'clock in the afternoon, and the
party ended at 4 a.m. At about midnight, we all took a break from dancing,
hiked up our wedding dresses and tuxedos, and waded into the ocean.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: Was it a big wedding?
Toussaint:
``We had about 120 guests. No castmates were there. We really wanted it to
be an intimate wedding. It wasn't a religious ceremony. We said our own
vows. It was really a ritual about our
relationship, and what the commitment meant to us. We just wanted the
people closest to us there, the people who've supported us in our lives,
and in our love. You know, the relationship was rocky for a long time. For
the first few years, we were just trying to get away from each other;
then, finally, we realized that instead we would just spend our lives
together. So we didn't want our wedding to be a Hollywood occasion.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: On SAVANNAH, Veronica's storyline has intertwined with Edward
Burton's. What is it like working with Ray Wise, who plays Edward?
Toussaint:
``I love Ray. He's just the greatest to work with. Ray has really become a
friend, and we spend a lot of time together. On the set, he's an absolute
dream. Besides being a wonderful actor, he's smart, and has a great sense
of humor. We literally just laugh all day when
have scenes together. It's
kind of like going to Club Med when I go to work with Ray.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: What's it like working with Paul Satterfield, who plays Veronica's
fellow scam artist, Tom Massick?
Toussaint:
``Paul's more serious [than Ray]. He's great to work with, too, but as far
as chemistry goes, Ray and I just have a blast together.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: What was your SAVANNAH audition like?
Toussaint:
``I auditioned the day the verdict was announced in the O.J. Simpson
trial, and a very close friend of mine, Ron Shipp, who was at our wedding,
[had been] pretty prominent [during] the trial. He was the black cop who
testified against O.J. He was O.J. and Nicole's domestic violence
counselor, and he was a friend of O.J.'s for 15 years. He broke down on
the [witness stand] and basically said, `Tell the truth, O.J., this is
sad.' And he was kind of blacklisted [by O.J. supporters] after that. I
would be at games with him, and people would just curse him out, threaten his
family. Anyhow, I went
through the whole thing with Ron. I was so
distraught over the verdict. I was devastated and crying the day the
verdict came out --meanwhile, I had to go to this audition [for SAVANNAH],
and I hadn't even looked at the script. I figured I had all day to do it;
it was only three pages of dialogue. I was so distraught that [I couldn't
concentrate]. I
studied [my
lines] on my way over in the car, but I'd worked with Aaron Spelling
before, so [it worked out]. After that, they offered the role to me, I
didn't have to test or anything.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: Does your husband, Jack Coleman, have a project coming up soon?
Toussaint:
``He's going to do a movie for Showtime in the next few weeks. He took the
last several months off to go back east with me and plan the wedding. The
two of us planned our whole wedding and
arranged for 120 people to stay on Cape Cod. We literally picked out every
bed and breakfast and decided where every person should stay -- it was
quite an event. He just got back to LA a few
weeks ago. Unfortunately, he needs to be in LA, while I'm in Atlanta,
because there's really nothing for him to do there [work-wise]. He
basically quit DYNASTY because he really wanted to do stage. He also
turned down [the lead] in THE FLASH. [fyi: The role went to John Wesley
Shipp.] Jack was just going through a time
in his life where he said, `I want to do Broadway,' and
he did. He loved DYNASTY.
Then, he just felt that he needed to venture off
and try other things for a while. But he's definitely anxious to get back
into television on a regular basis.''
DIGEST
ONLINE: You must be clocking a lot of frequent flyer miles these days...
Toussaint:
``I've been to the Vineyard twice since [SAVANNAH went back into
production]. Actually, I fly out on the red-eye a lot, just to be wherever
Jack is. I expect to get home once every two weeks, whichever home it
might be.... Ultimately, I guess, home is where Jack is.''
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