o
The line between drama and
comedy is thin, but it still isn't
often that dramatic actors and
ctre e ma e a uccessful
. :witch to comedy.
Anna Maria Horsford has
made the switch and revels in it.
Co- tarring opposite Sher­
man Hemsley in ABC's Satur­
day night comedy, Amen,"
Hor ford shines as a whiny,
seemingly helpless pitiful
oman whose loves in life are
religion nd her father (who
happens to be deacon). Anna
aria is 0 convincing as Thel­
ma Frye that she once was
proposed to by a member of the
audience who yelled, "If you
really need a husband, I'll marry
you."
think men want you to be
pitiful," Horsford says. "I turned
him down though."
"The tranges thing is, ever
since I was a little girl, I really
never did comedy," recalls the
actress, "but I'm probably one of
the most naturally funny people
you could know."
EL G THOME
I don't know what the delay
was, but I feel so at home now; I
can really be myself. I'm acting,"
e muses, "just as strange as I
cted from the time I was a little
girl."
At first, Anna Maria said she
was uncertain about how to ap­
proach the role. "I tell you, I was
a little nervou about the charac­
ter choices I made. But if you
like the person you play, that's
9
or An
what the audience picks up - that
I like Thelma. So whereas she
could be very annoying. you say,
'But I like her,"
Horsford credits the shows
writer and producers for
making thelma a real. person
with many facets to her charac­
ter.
"The writer said it was impor­
tant to laugh with her and not at
her. on't want her to be total­
ly stlipid," Horsford continues.
"The audience should want her
to win, but if she doesn't, they
should forgive her. She's really a
diamond in the rough."
ORLn TRAVELER
While Horsford is her own
person, independent and
definately able to take care of
her elf - having traveled exten­
sively, first in Puerto Rico for
college, then a year in Sweden -
she admits that she has used
Thelma's characteristic whine
to get herself out of jams.
"One night I got a flat tire in
this dark neighborhood,' she
re . "First I started whining
like Thelma: 'How could this
happen to me?' And two men­
God sent them to me from
somewhere - said, 'Miss, do you
live far?' I said, 'yes, very far:
And they changed the tire."
She notes, however, that
television and reality are often
quite removed from one
another.
Sherman Hemsley, for ex­
ample, is the complete opposite
of his overbearing character of _
CITY COUNCIL
[&J LI SEY PORTER
I&) CHRISTI E FRA KLI
� CHARLIE P. DAVIS
� CO ER HEATH
� FRA K J. ROSS
ovember 1-7,1987 'Ib Michigan Citizen
a
aria
13
and respect of Black women iD
the arts" as the president of
Black Women in theatre! ew
York.
Part of the group's work is
reflected in staged productions
that portray Blac women in
wide variety of roles.
"I don't want to do only posi­
tive role models, let's do the
other ones," she advocates, be­
cause there's a whole lot of mad­
ness in the Blac lifestyle too.
We need to know what makes a
woman kills her child. Not that I
condone it, but maybe if we see
it, we can short -circuit it."
Horsford feels that there are
"tremendous pressures on Black
actors. Because there are so few
roles, yoou start to feel like
you're representing the entire
race."
That doesn't stop this actress
from being an optimist.
"I am enjoying doing 'Amen'
so much that the end result is
really only a minor part. It's how
much fun you have while you're
doing it, how much you learn,
who you meet. . . because we
have two different lives; the life
e live when we tape and the life
we are living as we view and
react to the show."
Overall, she says, "The goal is
to be happy." And this is one
actress who seems to have that
goal well in hand.
DID YOU
o ... that
George J efferson, and also,
now, Deacon Frye.
"I looked at 'The J effersons'
for a number of years and you
think, 'obnoxious," she ex­
claims. "Then when you come in,
he's the most humbling person
in the world you say, 'Wait a
lends a hand to Hale House for
babies born to addictive
mothers. Then there's the New
York City drama-therapy
program that gives young
people a chance to go to college
- if they stay in the program.
Since moving to Los Angeles,
one key measure of your sue­
ces in life is what you do with
your time. If you live to age
70 you would have had 613 600
hours to u . By age 40 you
would have already used up
350000 of tho hours. One
way of making better and more
enjoyable u of your time is
to make a list of the thing
you enjoy doing and a list of
things you are good at. Then
figure a way to integrate those
things into your daily life.
Remember, your time is run­
ning out.
DID YOU OW ... that if
you ever feel like calling the
White Hou the number i
202/456-1414. Try it. Maybe
Reagan ill answer.
CI
MAYOR
[8]. ROBERT B. BLACKWELL
CITY CLERK
� JEA GREE
minute. He fooled me: When
you start looking at TV, you
think those are the people.
That's why people are surprised
when a person who plays a nice
character turns out to be dread­
ful when you meet them. He
(Hemsley) is really quite intro­
verted and quite. And we've be­
come really nice friends."
Anna Maria's schedule
leaves little time for relaxation,
but she uses what time she does
have to help charities and or­
ganizations important to her.
VOLUNTEERS
When she's not taping, she
Horsford hasn't been able to
work with the program, but it
has a warm spot in her heart.
"We would do improvisations to
get them (the teenagers en­
rolled) mostly just to get them to
verbalize their feelings and
opinions . . . A lot of them are
very bright, but for whatever
reason, in the home or in the so­
cial environment they were in, a
lot of them dropped out of
school That's the only thing I've
missed about leaving the city,"
Horsford says.
Anna Maria also is involved
with "increasing the visibility
CITY OF HIGHLAND
RK
. Thank you
Elect ...
cou