Facing The Music On 90210

Jamie Walters figured playing blue-collar hunk Ray Pruit on Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210 would be a pretty cushy gig: Stroll in, cavort with the beautiful kids, and promote his career as a pop musician. After all, "How Do You Talk to an Angel"--the tune he crooned for a previous Aaron Spelling series, The Heights--hit No. 1. What he hadn't counted on was the 90210 writers deciding to have Ray abuse his girlfriend, played by America's virgin princess, Tori Spelling.

"The actor in me thought, 'Hey, this'll be cool, it'll be something different," he says. "But the side that knows that a lot of people out there get confused between TV and reality said, 'This could have a bad backlash.'"

And that side proved all too right, he says. "I went on tour and there were people in the audience with signs that said stuff like, 'Pick on someone your own size!'"

As a result, Walters and the writers agreed that Ray should disappear awhile for some rehab. Thus, the character who returns to the country's hottest zip code this week is a "Kinder, gentler Ray Pruit," Walters explains. "He's a nice guy. It was important to me that they let me finish up the season with a more positive outlook." (Not to mention let him debut a song from his next album, due this fall.)

"I think of myself as a musician first, but most people know me as an actor," Walters admits. But he hopes the tide is turning: "I get excited when I see articles that say 'musician-slash-actor' rather than 'actor-slash-musician.'"
--David Kronke

From TV Guide, May 11, 1996