PART 2 of the Q&A conducted via speakerphone with Clancy Brown during the Earth 2 Fifth Anniversary Party July 1999 Transcribed by Beth Blighton

E25A: Hi Clancy, this is John, the nutcase announcer from New PacifiCon '96...

Clancy: (chuckles) You weren't a nutcase! You were just having fun.

E25A: They were trying to con you into the Irish brogue and the Scottish brogue and all that, but in the last few Star Trek conventions I was at I found out some of those actors have amazing singing voices I would have never expected. Like Avery Brooks, and Rene Auberjonois, Tim Russ... Wonder if we'd ever hear you singing something? (long pause)

E25A: That's a dead silence on the other end of the phone. (laughter)

Clancy: What did you ask me? If I would sing something?

E25A: Do you sing?

Clancy: Not really, out of character. But I'm surprised you would be surprised that Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois wouldn't have like great singing voices. You hear Rene, actually, in "The Little Mermaid".

E25A: I didn't know it was him until he sang the "The Fish Song" for us.

Clancy: Oh, you didn't know that? It's the best song in the thing. I love that song, and he's so good in it! I think that's where he started. He started on Broadway. And Avery Brooks? I mean, every woman must be dying to hear him sing to ya. What a great voice he has. I'm sure Michael Dorn sings. We all know that William Shatner sings, so... (laughter) But yeah, actually I sing on "Little Mermaid II" It's going direct to video, but I play this big shark. Anne Bancroft is Ursula's sister, so she's another squid witch/sea witch type, and I'm her side kick. And at the beginning of the cartoon we see that I was a big mean shark, and I was gonna attack and eat everybody, but then Triton zaps me with his trident and I get turned into a little minnow, but I have the same voice, and the whole time I'm being tough, but I'm really small, so I can't scare anybody too much.

E25A: Well, Ann and I still don't have a little Koba, so we haven't always been picking up on things like that yet, but we'll have to get that now.

Clancy: Oh yeah, definitely get it. And I sing... I was supposed to sing with Anne, but then Anne had a little trouble with it so they went and got Pat Carroll (who played Ursula), and she actually ended up singing this song, and I came in... She was in Connecticut and she was singing it through the phone line, and I came in and sang my stuff with her. So we actually ended up doing this little duet together. You get to hear me sing and I'm kinda like an UN-musical Tom Waits... that kind of sound.

E25A: Hi Clancy. My name is A.J., and I have two questions... On "Earth 2", at the end of "Survival of the Fittest", that last scene with True where you're begging the Grendler for her life, where did you get the inspiration for that? That scene made me cry! That scene really touched me...

Clancy: Good. It was supposed to.

E25A: My other question was what was it like to work with J. Madison Wright and having her as your daughter on the show?

Clancy: It was good practice! I have no idea where she is now, maybe Joey [Zimmerman] might know. I think Joey keeps in touch with her. I think they moved back to Kentucky, but she was the sweetest girl in the world! She was just so well behaved, and so friendly, and so smart, and so beautiful, and really an available little actress. I'm kinda sorry that she's not out here doing it some more but I'm sure her parents made the right decision by going back. I loved working with her. I loved her. I should have stayed in better touch with her, but I'm not that good at that.

E25A: Hi Clancy, it's Kathy again...

Clancy: Hi Kathy!

E25A: They almost stole my last question that I have for you... You've played some really emotional roles lately and I was just wondering what you do or how you make yourself cry...

Clancy: [laughs] I don't know! It's always in the writing... What are you thinking of? What have I done lately thatÕs so emotional?

E25A: "Patron Saint of Liars" and several episodes in "Earth 2" you were getting a little verklempt.

Clancy: Verklempt, yeah.... Usually it's in the writing. It's right there. I'm just a softy anyway. IÕm a sucker for stuff like that! Harrison is a terrific writer to begin with, so that was pretty easy to do. And I guess you're right, in "The Caseys" I had to do a little bit of that, and that's all good writing. That's all, you know... it's all about the writing and just being available to yourself. What are you asking me? Do I like imagine that my mother died or something? [chuckles] No, I don't do that. But if itÕs a scene about my mother dying then... It doesnÕt take much to get me going.

E25A: Hi Clancy, it's Ann, the other Ann... There's three of us here, so we're getting confused.

Clancy: That's enough.

E25A: We were kind of wondering, during "Patron Saint if Liars" you were working with Dana Delaney, who is also, of course, Lois Lane on "Superman". Did you ever do "Superman" stuff while you were behind the scenes or whatever, or were there comments made about this coincidence?

Clancy: Oh sure, yeah... We actually knew each other a little bit from before... Cuz I did an episode of "China Beach" and we found out, actually, that while I was at Canyon there for that summer theater -- I was there for a summer -- she actually blew into town cuz she was dating Treat Williams, at the time. So we figured out that we actually probably first met there. But did we talk about "Superman"? Yes, of course, but mostly in very distant terms like, gee, what a great thing it is to do those animation voices, and what fun it is, and who would have guessed? And stuff like that.... But we didnÕt sit down and have a confab about what we should do with our characters or anything, cuz that stuffÕs not that tough. We were just happy to be there. That was fun doing "Patron Saint", actually. It's a different kind of TV movie, ya know? You donÕt get to see stuff like that too often. And I donÕt think it did too well, so I probably wonÕt see too much of it ever again... But every now and then, one sneaks through.

E25A: Hi Clancy. Now, "The Caseys" wasn't picked up for fall on UPN. Is there any chance that it might be picked up as a mid-season replacement?

Clancy: I dunno. I know they're shopping it around... The interested parties are shopping it around. I asked if I could be any help and they said "No, just let us try to pique somebodyÕs interest." YouÕd have to write UPN and find out why they didnÕt pick it up. It was awfully good. It was better than they expected, I think, and that kinda scared Õem off a little bit. Cuz it was only supposed to be what they call a "presentation", where you get some money to do a few key scenes and then they decide to give you some more money to shoot the rest of it. The fella that did it, Michael Steinberg, comes from Independent film and, ya know, the money they gave him, he said, "I could shoot a whole movie on this money." ThatÕs actually one of his talents. HeÕs also a good writer and a good director, as well. But they didnÕt pick it up, and... DonÕt even ask me why, cuz I never understand that stuff. They didnÕt renew "Earth 2", they didnÕt pick up "The Caseys"... [chuckles] Maybe itÕs me!

E25A: TheyÕre doing some awfully strange things... Like theyÕve put off "The Agency", they said, until like Spring of next year...

Clancy: No, I heard October 24th, and that was from the horseÕs mouths... That was from one of the producers, the producer David MaddenÕs mouth.

E25A: Great! Are they still talking about maybe making that a series or no?

Clancy: I know they shopped it around. I donÕt think anybody bit though, so... No, I donÕt think thatÕs gonna be a series.

E25A: This isn't really a question, but my son is almost six and he's a big fan of yours, since he's grown up on all the stuff, and I promised I would say hello for him.

Clancy: Oh... hello back! What's his name?

E25A: Lukas

Clancy: Hello Lukas! Hello right back! Bring him next time, since it's such a family affair! Bring him to one of these things one day.

E25A: He'd love to! He wants to meet your little girl, at some point.

Clancy: There you go...

E25A: [crowd starts laughing] Uh-oh!!!

Clancy: Tell him to go to Med School or Law School....

E25A: [more laughter] My son's going to be a genius!

Clancy: All right then, go to Genius School... We'll arrange that.

E25A: Hi Clancy, this is Doug again. I'm working from a fuzzy memory here, but I think John Wollner, formerly John Gegenhuber, has told us that you and he collaborated on a potential "Earth 2" episode, an idea you guys were kicking around... and I believe you also mentioned in a chat one time where you came up with a possible idea for the second season to get Devon out of cold sleep. Do you turn to writing often once you join a project? Is that usual for you when you join a cartoon series or any project. Once you sign on, do you turn to writing or creative...?

Clancy: Well, I think [chuckles], I think John might have pulled your leg a little bit. I donÕt remember what we had developed but I'm sure it was some kind of... I'm sure it was mostly John who was developing something, and I'm sure it was brilliant, and I was just sitting there saying "Yeah John, go ahead! Write it, write it!" But every actor sits down and, once the show gets going, has his own idea of about what the next episode should be like and, invariably, it features their character prominently. The next season... I think I got privy to the next season through Duggan. Duggan was telling me what was going on, a little bit, and John Harrison, and it seemed really exciting. But I'm an actor, I try not to get too involved in that. Most of my time is taken up with trying to figure out how to make somebody else's concepts come to life. I have too many questions... You can ask anybody that wrote or produced "Earth 2" about that, or any other show that I've ever been on. I just have too many questions about what weÕre doing that day to get into trying to tell anybody else how to write my character.

E25A: Clancy, can you tell us anything about your role in "Chump Change" or "Claire Makes it Big", and when they may be coming out?

Clancy: I don't know... "Claire Makes it Big", you'll probably see that on some short film festival thingamabob at some film festival or on PBS or cable or something. That's about an overweight actress that is quite a brilliant actress but is suffering from weight prejudice, I guess, and how she overcomes that rather cleverly. And IÕm just kinda her boyfriend that supports her, that is blind to her weight problem and just loves her for who she is. "Chump Change" was really just kind of a favor for somebody that I was working with a little bit, at the time. ItÕs not about anything except this young guy and how he tries to become a big star in Hollywood. I just do a very brief cameo as an acting teacher, and did it because of my friend, and also did it because I thought it was the funniest thing in the script. You know, it's supposed to be a comedy all the way through, but I didnÕt think it was that funny until I read my part! [laughter] And I have no idea about "Chump Change" Again, another low-budget thing, and itÕll be out when it's out, or itÕll be on cable or all that other stuff. See, thatÕs why I could never produce something cuz IÕd be on to something else... As soon as principle photography was done, I wouldnÕt care less. I wouldnÕt bother with distribution and all that other stuff.

E25A: Clancy, itÕs Alice again. I was wondering, who would you most like to work with?

Clancy: Hmm.... Well, anybody from "Earth 2" again, thatÕs for sure! Just put everybody on that list. IÕm a big fan of like the older guys, guys that have been great film- makers for a long time. I was real lucky and got to work with Norman Jewison last year, so that was a highlight. ThereÕs a bunch of those guys, like Norman Jewison, John Boorman, just those auteurs, like Stanley Kubrick -- but I guess I canÕt work with him anymore -- those fellas IÕd love to do something with. Paul Schrader I think is a real interesting film maker. Actors? I donÕt care. [chuckles] IÕll work with any actor. I donÕt know... name a famous old-time director and I would be interested in that.

E25A: This is Beth... As a last question, I understand that a year or so ago, when ER was coming out, you did a Shakespearean reading at a youth orchestra in Indiana?

Clancy: Yeah...

E25A: Do you have anything else like that coming up?

Clancy: No... they didnÕt invite me back. [chuckles] No, that was my sister-in-law. She runs this youth orchestra in Indianapolis, called the New World Chamber Orchestra, which is no longer a chamber orchestra cuz itÕs about a hundred and fifty pieces, but she just called me up and said "IÕm gonna do for our big fund raising concert, IÕm gonna do ProkofievÕs ÔRomeo and JulietÕ, a couple movements from that, and I wonder if you would come and narrate it." And sheÕd asked me before to narrate "Peter and the Wolf", but that was the year Rose was born, so I couldnÕt really go then, so I said "Yeah, sure" and then she said "Well, you gotta write it, too." So I just basically put together what I thought was going on in the ballet at the same time the music was going on, and I would just punctuate the movements with kind of an explanation about what was going on, and a reading from the play, doing all the characters and stuff. It was very short, sweet, and I loved doing it, and É I doubt weÕll do it again.

E25A: It sounds great! If you could let us know any time youÕre about to make a public appearance, weÕd sure all like to come and see you!

Clancy: Oh.... [growls then chuckles] I donÕt really make public appearances.

E25A: But then you just pop up every once in awhile....

Clancy: Yeah, that was for my sister-in-law. I couldnÕt actually be married anymore if I didnÕt do something like that! [laughter] It wouldnÕt be allowed....

E25A: Well, we thank you for doing this and does everybody want to say goodbye? [everyone in the room calls out their goodbyes]

Clancy: My pleasure. Wish I was there.... sounded like a lot of fun.

E25A: [everybody agrees] See ya next year! Clancy: Yeah, I hope so!

main articles