Meeting Webb!
By Becky Laird
It was one of those unbelievable, surreal experiences where I had to keep pinching
myself to see if I was really on the set of JAG or not!
Through a series of various circumstances, a fellow JAGnik and I were invited to spend
the day on the set of JAG! We were fortunate enough to meet Catherine (Mac),
Chuck (Tiner), John (A.J.), Karri (Harriet), Steven (Webb), and Rex (Mark Falcon);
and we were able to see Patrick (Bud) working from afar.
Everyone was super friendly and made me glad that I was
a fan of a show such as JAG! The cast and crew that we met
are a group of hard-working, professional, and extremely nice
people who deserve every bit of success that they have.
The first person I saw when we walked onto the studio
parking lot going to the building to meet our liasion, was an
extremely tall, thin, beautiful woman with short dark hair that
started walking right beside me. I had to do a few double
takes before I realized that it was Catherine Bell!
They were filming outside in the parking lot that morning and she was
on her way to rehearse her scene.
It was an extremely hot California morning, so the crew, actors and extras are all
huddled together under the one shade tree near the scene. There was a lot of waiting
around and just chatting while members of their crew did their different tasks waiting
for it all to come together.
Later that morning on I saw Chuck Carrington (Tiner), who showed up on his day
off to introduce some of his family that had come into town to visit.
He was easy to talk to and seemed like a really great guy.
Catherine was very friendly and we sat near her and talked with her until she
was called back to rehearse a scene again. In between takes, Catherine would
come back to that same spot. She gladly gave me her autograph and allowed me
to take a picture with her.
I was surprised at a couple of things during shooting. One is that Catherine
doesn't really wear a uniform shirt under her jacket. She had on a sleeveless summer
top (remember it was over 90 degrees outside!).
When it came time to wear her uniform, her shirt is really a
dickey that fits around her neck and has only the top 3-4
buttons. When her jacket is on, it looks like a complete
shirt, but isn't as hot as a real shirt would be.
Later that afternoon, we got a tour of the set, and visited
everyone's offices. (Harm's, Mac's, Bud's and the Admiral's).
We also stopped by the JAG courtroom, which was being painted.
For me, it was exciting because, as I walked on one
of the sets, I saw Rex Linn (Mark Falcon) rehearsing his
Russian lines with Alexander Kusnetsov (the "good"
Russian officer in "Cowboys and Cossacks" and who will be
appearing again in the season 6 premiere! Alex is a
famous actor in the former Soviet Union).
Steven Culp (Clayton Webb) walked up and started talking to
them as well. I just couldn't help myself, so walked up to
them and started speaking Russian to Alex, Rex and Steven.
Steven's and Rex's jaw dropped with surprise as he heard me
speaking Russian.
Both Rex and Steven smiled and began laughing. They were both
impressed that a non-native could actually learn to speak that
language! Rex was nervous because he had to speak a few lines
in Russian in the upcoming scene. Alex was doing a great job
of teaching both Rex and Steven the few words that they were
going to say on screen.
I felt like we instantly bonded with Steven, Rex, and Alex and we spent
some breaks together (when they weren't going over lines or resting) joking
around and chatting.
Steven was so nice and attentive to us. He would come out and check on us during
the breaks and even brought us cold drinks from the catering table. What a gentleman!
We were also able to experience the catering truck as we took our
lunch break together with the cast and crew (their "lunch" break
wasn't until nearly 4pm).
Sandy did not want to sit by them when we first got there, but as
soon as Steven was finished eating he came over and said "hi" and
talked a bit.
After that, Sandy totally lost her appetite and couldn't eat another
thing! (She's the #1 Webbie. I guess she was just too excited!). LOL
Both Steven and Rex were extremely friendly and personable.
By now, filming is about 8 hours behind schedule. But being the professionals they are,
the cast and crew kept plugging along with great attitudes.
Karri was stunningly beautiful and has one of the best smiles I've seen.
Even after sitting in her trailer for 8 hours waiting for her scene to
come up, she came out smiling and ready to go.
Both John M. Jackson and Karri Turner were very friendly and
signed autographs and took pictures as well. I must admit, I
was having trouble separating John M. Jackson from his character,
Admiral Chegwidden. I had felt very free talking to all of the
other actors, but for some reason, I was too intimidated to talk
to John. It was a good thing that Sandy was with me, because she
freely walked right up to him and introduced us to him. He turned
out to be extremely friendly and seemed more like a big teddy bear.
He has a great sense of humor and made me laugh with some of the
comments he made.
What a dedicated, hard-working group of people! At the end of the day we bid
our farewells to everyone and drove home feeling like many dreams had come true!