The Quiet Man
Up Close & Personal With…
B&B’s John McCook
B&B’s John McCook (Eric) and his wife, former actress Laurette Spang, live in a warm, cosy house with their children (Jake, Becky, Molly) in the San Fernando Valley. Here he talks to Soap World’s David Johnson.
How would you describe your life style?
We’re not wild, we’re not jet-setters by any stretch of the imaginations. It’s very suburban, very much about parenting. Now that our kids are getting older thought, it frees us up to go out by ourselves on occasion because we’re never by ourselves in the house.
I know Laurette is a good cook, but how about you?
Well, I barbecue all through the year, even in the wintertime, because the area is covered. We love barbecues, so I barbecue once a week averaged over the year. A lot in the summer.
What’s your specialty on the grill?
My family loves to have a steak once and a while. We do a teriyaki kind of marinade and throw it on the grill. I like to barbecue chicken, which I bake first and then put it on the sear with barbecue sauce.
What abut you in the kitchen?
I don’t have any specialties. But lots of times I make Spanish rice for the evening meal. Or we particularly like those puffy little pastries with cream tuna and peas on it. That’s pretty standard fare at our house.
How often do you and Laurette dine out?
We go out about once a week. In the Valley, we love to got to Café Cordiale, Mistral and Bamboo, our local Chinese restaurant. They always give us the same table, which is rally nice.
You and Laurette are also movie buffs.
Yes. The other part of this job I love is that I don’t work every day. So on a day off, Laurette and I will catch movie in the late morning, early afternoon. Those “bargain matinees” are great. That’s how we keep up with the latest movies.
How is your son, Jake, progressing with his drams of becoming a movie director?
He’s doing wonderfully. He went to the New York Film Academy’s six-week program on campus at UCLA this past summer. He lived on the campus, it’s called Movie Boot Camp. They put a 16mm camera in your hand the first day. He made four movies over the six weeks. It was terrific. They cut their films in the old style on a movieola, spliced them together and then watched them. He’s continuing his screenwriting and directing classes at AFI. He’s in his senior year at high school.
I know you’re so proud of all your kids – and, of course, Laurette. Tell us something about her.
She’s the best wife and mother in the world. In the morning, she has three hours to herself when everybody leaves or even when I’m home. She goes up to our library and works on the computer, emailing everybody and checking the stock market and writing a little bit. She’s working on a novel. The rest of the time, she’s the absolute mother and wife. She doesn’t have time for anything else – and she’s happy about that.
Soap World (Australia), December 1999 Issue # 22