People in the News for December 1, 1997

Monday, Dec. 1, 1997 | 11:11 a.m.

In a profession in which vanity comes second only to ambition, Judith Ivey is close to an anomaly. At 46, with 25 years of experience, she is proud to be considered a veteran character actress, someone at mid-career who can swing back and forth between mothers and daughters while adapting herself to the widest diversity of personalities and accents. By making movies (six last year), she can subsidize her stage habit, and she works with equal ease on Broadway and far Off Broadway. With supporting roles in two current films ("The Devil's Advocate" and "Washington Square") and a string of television credits, she is at work in Martin Sherman's "Madhouse in Goa" at the Second Stage. She is doing "Madhouse" because she likes her roles, which were originally played in London by Vanessa Redgrave. When Ms. Ivey was told that her performance in the play was better than that of Ms. Redgrave, she beamed her delight: "Oh, wow! That made my whole day. I can quit now."

Jeopardized

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek wins the round when he provides his own voice on "The Simpsons" episode "Miracle On Evergreen Terrace" Sunday, Dec. 21, on FOX. Christmas will be tougher than the final "Jeopardy!" challenge when the Simpsons lose their tree along with all of the presents. But the residents of Springfield know the true spirit of the holidays and help Homer and the family in their time of need. Visions of sugar plums abound once again until Springfield realizes they've been duped by Bart in this daily double dose of trouble. Now it's up to Marge to save the holiday on "Jeopardy!" When asked about his appearance on The Simpsons, Trebek said, "Although we've had a distinguished list of celebrities compete on "Jeopardy!" we've never had an animated character on our show. And I wanted to see what the creators thought I would look like animated."

Calling Alley

Calling all guys: Tired of those sweaty, brawny football players who have ruled your Monday nights this fall? How'd you like to spend the evening with a sweet but feisty, beautiful, Harvard-educated lawyer? Meet Ally McBeal, the new face everyone else is talking about. Played by award-winning actress Calista Flockhart ("The Birdcage," "Glass Menagerie"), she's comfortable in the courtroom, but uneasy about various other elements of her life -- and she shares them with FOX-TV viewers in fantasy sequences, voiceovers and flashbacks. Latecomers can catch up with her in back-to-back episodes Monday night, Dec. 29.

Bad Pam

The woman once billed as "The Baddest One-Chick Hit-Squad That Ever Hit Town" is back. Pam Grier made her name playing revenge-minded characters in black exploitation films of the 1970s. In her new role, she's a bagwoman for a crook in the Quentin Tarantino-directed "Jackie Brown," which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro. It turns out that Tarantino is a big fan of Grier. He even has a poster in his office of her 1973 movie "Coffy," which made the "baddest" boast. While some believe "Jackie Brown" could rejuvenate Grier's career, she says in Time magazine's Dec. 8 issue that she never was away, appearing in regional theater productions in Colorado and in films like "Posse" and "Original Gangstas." "I was honing my skills for when that Quentin Tarantino call would come," she said.