52 | JULY 25 • 2024 
J
N

DR. RUTH AND RICHARD 
SIMMONS; TIME 
BANDITS AND VETERAN 
BRIDESMAIDS

Last January, Jeff, an old 
friend who lives near Los 
Angeles, forwarded an article 
about a 10-minute come-
dic film that had just been 
screened at the Sundance 
Film Festival. This satire 
featured Richard Simmons 
(played by comedian Pauly 
Shore) doing an exercise 
workout on TV.
The article noted that 
Shore, 56, was using this 
short film as a preview 
of a full-length film about 
Simmons that he hoped 
to make. Shore said he 
didn’t intend to make fun of 
Simmons. 
Simmons rarely made 
public statements in the last 
five years, but he did issue 
a terse statement about 
Shore’s projects. He said: “I 
had nothing to do with this.”
Jeff titled his email: “I know 
Richard Simmons and he 
is half-Jewish.” I asked him 
how he knew Simmons. He 
replied that Simmons was a 
waiter in an L.A. restaurant 
he went to — and, encour-
aged by friends, he (Jeff) 
invested in a (combo) restau-
rant and workout studio 
that Simmons was going to 
run. The restaurant did OK, 
Jeff said, but the workout 
studio was a huge hit with 
women and the restaurant 
was phased out. (Jeff got his 
investment back and made a 
small profit). 
I vaguely recalled that 
Simmons’ mother was 
Jewish, but he wasn’t raised 
Jewish. Wikipedia says his 
father was a Methodist, his 
mother was Jewish, and 

he became a Catholic as a 
young adult.
This didn’t sound right 
and, last January, I found the 
correct info in a 20-minute 
2011 interview on Dr. Ruth 
Westheimer’s TV show! This 
YouTube video is titled “Dr. 
Ruth and Richard Simmons 
discuss dieting and exercise.”
In the first five minutes, 
Simmons said that his late 
father was Catholic, his 
mother is Jewish, and he 
was raised Catholic. He 
added that his mother was 
disowned by her parents 
when she went to dance in 
“the Follies” and this led his 
mother to bury her Jewish 
background. He said he was 
19 when he learned that his 
mother was Jewish. 
I have to say that Simmons 
and Westheimer (a sex info 
expert) were just so sweet 
and bubbly in this interview. 
Simmons talked about 
new exercise programs for 
seniors and for the disabled. 
His work for the disabled, he 
added, was totally free. 
At the close of the inter-
view, Westheimer stated 
what most of us found in 
Simmons: he had joie de 
vivre (love of life). Of course, 
Dr. Ruth had the same joy. 
Dr. Westheimer, age 
96, died on July 12 and 

Simmons, age 76, died the 
next day. They were eccen-
trics who knew they could 
be figures of fun — but that 
“fun” helped them convey 
invaluable info (about sex 
and exercise) to millions.
Time Bandits, a comedy- 
fantasy Apple TV + series 
based on the hit 1981 movie 
of the same name, began 
streaming on July 24. It 
follows an unpredictable 
journey though time and 
space with a ragtag group 
of thieves and their newest 
recruit: an 11-year-old history 
buff named Kevin (played 
by a young actor whose real 
name is Kal-El Tuck!).
Lisa Kudrow, 60, plays 
Penelope, the Bandits leader. 
She guides the Bandits in 
epic adventures against evil 
forces. Kevin guides them to 
treasures as they go back 
in time — every place from 
the age of the dinosaurs to 
the age of Stonehenge to 
Harlem in the 1920s. 
Taika Waititi, 48, has a 
small role as “Supreme 
Being.” He also co-pro-
duced the series. As I 
have noted before, his 
maternal great-grandfather 
was Jewish, and his father 
was a New Zealand Maori 
(Polynesian). He identifies as 
a “Polynesian Jew.” 

His many top credits 
include an Oscar for his 
screenplay for JoJo Rabbit 
(2019), an anti-Nazi film. 
Waititi’s Maori grandfather 
fought the Nazis in Italy in 
WWII. 
The Fabulous Four, a 
comedy, opens in theaters 
on July 26. It follows a group 
of lifelong friends (Susan 
Sarandon, Megan Mullally 
and Sheryl Lee Ralph) who 
travel to Key West, Florida, 
to be bridesmaids in the sur-
prise wedding of their best 
college girlfriend Marilyn 
(Bette Midler, 78). 
The film’s publicity says: 
“Over the course of one 
outrageous trip, sisterhoods 
are rekindled, the past resur-
faces, and there are enough 
sparks, raunch and romance 
to change all their lives in 
unexpected ways.”
Footnote: You might have 
read that Susan Sarandon 
has been among the most 
acerbic critics of Israel since 
the Israel/Hamas conflict 
began. So acerbic, and 
wrong, that she apologized 
for two of her remarks. 
I wonder if this movie 
would have been scrapped 
or re-cast if this movie was 
filmed this year? It’s certainly 
possible that Midler wouldn’t 
work with Sarandon now. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

Bette Midler

JOHN MATHEW SMITH & WWW.CELEBRITY-PHOTOS.COM

BY RHODODENDRITES

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LIFE

Richard Simmons
Ruth Westheimer

