Section B · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
Book details Hispanic actors in Hollywood
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — When veteran actor Gilbert Roland starred in the 1959 TV series pilot Amigo as a police detective working the U.S.-Mexico border, the show was summarily rejected.
Advertisers declared that viewers would not accept Hispanics as series leads, said Hollywood historian Luis Reves.
The situation is virtually unchanged today, as a study being issued this week illustrates: Minorities other than African Americans tend to be invisible on network television, according to a coalition of civil rights groups.
What's missing, he said, are Hispanic-directed movies that reflect the Latino experience in the way films from such directors as Spike Lee and John Singleton reflect the African-American perspective.
In television, Reyes said, diversity needs to be broadened beyond just Black and White — an assessment backed by the National Latino Media Council and other groups issuing a report card on broadcasters Tuesday.
Although few movies or TV series explore Hispanic life (Showtime's new *Resurrection Blud*. is a rare example), many have used Hispanic actors. From the start, the movie industry took advantage of the labor pool represented by Los Angeles-area Hispanics, including ranchero workers who knew how to ride a horse. Revocates reu
Progress has been made. There are more Hispanic actors in films and a broader range of roles available to them beyond the old stereotypes of maids, Latin lovers or gang members. Reyes cites such success stories as Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Andy Garcia and Freddie Prince Jr.
In the 1924 Douglas Fairbanks' film *The Thief of Bagdad*, the contingent of "Arab" extras was played by Mexican-Americans, he said. Hispanics played Native American as well as Latin roles in Western movies and TV shows like Broken Arrow (1956-60).
But Hollywood's resistance to diverse casting has not kept Hispanics from carving out a place for themselves, Reyes said. In Hispanics in Hollywood: A Celebration of 100 Years in Film and Television, Reyes details the careers of major and minor actors who were Hispanic.
With an eye on the past, Reyes is optimistic about the future.
"The political and economic strength of the Hispanic American community is only now starting to be recognized as a major force in American society." Reyes writes in his book, "and the entertainment industry is slowly beginning to reflect those concerns in films and television."
Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet
("Hispanics) were there from the beginning." Reyes said. "It's part of Hollywood history, part of the whole picture, and it's as valid and important as anyone else's history in Hollywood."
The book also offers in its 7,500-plus entries a comprehensive list of films and TV programs featuring Hispanic players, characters or themes.
Up the road, in Hartford, Lorelai's old-money parents (Edward Herrmann and Kelly Bishop) have long since written off their maverick daughter, despite the happy life she built for Rory and herself. But they have begun showering attention on Rory, who, they imagine, might be a candidate for the country-club style Lorelai rejected.
Gilmore Girls has a lot to say about growing up, parenting, family politics and social class — most explicitly from the mouth of Lorelai, who, as a coping device, fires ironic rebuttals at the world around her with almost helpless fancy.
NEW YORK — Like her teen-age daughter Rory who is sometimes mistaken as her sister, 32-year-old Lorelai Gilmore is a looker.
But looks aren't really the point of Gilmore Girls. Closeness is. No generation gap here! The Misses Gilmore are sufficiently in synch that, after a fight, each retreats to her bedroom where she cues up the same album by Macy Gray.
Lauren Graham sparkles as Lorelai Gilmore, an unwed mother raising 16-year-old Rory (Alexis Bledel) in cozy Stars Hollow, Conn., where she manages the Independence Inn and drinks a lot of coffee.
A refreshing comedy-drama, Gilmore Girls joins its heroes in focusing not on appearances, but on truth, feelings and basic human quirkiness. Airing Thursday on the WB network at 7 p.m., the result is this fall's best new series.
Gilmore Girls charming with family friendship
The Associated Press
Typical mother-daughter banter goes like this:
Gilmore claimed four of eight categories in the-released Viewers for Quality Television's viewer poll, which named Graham best actress and Loreal as "most interesting" new character.
Rory: "So, is this party grandma's having gonna be a big deal?"
"On the show, we have very, very real relationships," says Graham, "with a kind of heartache at the center — the pain any family endures. But the setting is so idyllic! And not in a stupid way, but in a way anybody would like to be part of."
Lorelai: "Not really. The government will close that day. Flags will fly at half-mast. Barbra Streisand will give her final concert — again. The pope has previous plans, but he's trying to get out of them. However, Elvis and Jim Morrison are coming. And they're bringing chips."
Rory (sighs): "Ask a simple question."
Now Graham sighs. "It's a lot of dense material to memorize," she tells a reporter over lunch. "Rory is starting to be more talkative, but we have lots of exchanges where I say a lot and then she says, 'I don't know,' or 'Really?'
"Lorelai is a character that is SO about the way she speaks and what she says! But it's my challenge to make sure there are also moments of silence, of openness. She's a person who is constantly deflecting, constantly defensive and very funny and very tough. But the audience has to be able to see where it's all coming from."
Crossword
a. ACROSS
1 Nagger
5 Mexican coins
10 Invitation letters
14 Hideaway
16 Antilles island
18 Arab leader
19 Perry's penner
20 Kept talking
19 Hatcher or Garr
20 Starred
20 Othello's memoirs
23 Sunny road
24 Looking glass
26 Goofing up
29 Hammett's detective
21 Crazy bird?
23 Singer Easton
24 Flower at first
27 Fills completely
29 Cultural expression
40 Dry-heat bath
42 Aser and Meynion
43 Striggler
45 Baby bed
47 Telegraph code
48 Incidents
50 Paler and grayer
53 Venetian blind piece
54 Neighbor of Vietnam
55 Beachfront promenades
1. Grounded birds
2. Trailblazer
3. Macintosh center
4. Crooner Mel
5. Actress Moran
6. Back talk
7. Stairway
8. Parakeet staple
DOWN
1 Earnest request
2 Jug handles
3 Sandy deposit
4 Ease of the tundra
5 Trimmings
6 Rub out
7 Submerged
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
© 2000 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
All rights reserved.
8 Hautbay
8 Bedtime visitor?
10 Quit working
11 Spread lies about
12 Zodiac sign
13 Preceding in order
1 First name of a
canine star?
1 Lupino and
Tarbell
Otherwise
2 Byway
2 Decomposes
Wrestled cloth
3 Rose
Samaras
4 Old croes
5 Scottish river
6 Precisely defined
quantity
7 Taps gently
8 Blackthorn
41 Synthetic fibers
41 Checks
45 Demonstrates
connections
47 Off-target shots
49 Mover's vehicle
50 Guinness and
Baldwin
51 Island
group
52 Cunningham
novel, with "The"
53 Losing streak
57 Dundee hole
57 Skin fellow
58 Dearful
59 Great Lake
60 Mail
au Marché the European market 19 W. 9th St.
---