Ask Alexandra – September/October 2016

1) I just watched you on Johnny Carson when you where on at the age of 24. He asked you if you will ever get married and you said no. I looked to see if you did and it’s not clear, did you ever get married?and how was it to be on with Patrick Swayze? He had just came out with dirty dancing.
Paul E McDonald

Hi Paul,

Yes, I was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 3 times, probably because he knew he could make a lot of jokes about marriage when I was on.

I did get married, at age 37, to the most perfect man in the world, Ian Murray. We have been together 21 years now (married for 16) and we are extremely happy.

Even though I knew I wanted to be with Ian for the rest of my life, I was still resistant to getting married. Then one day a man – who knew I was dating Ian – asked me out. I told him “I have a boyfriend, you know that”. And he responded, “What does “boyfriend” mean? It could mean you are just having fun.” I knew I was serious about Ian and I wanted the world to know that too. That incident, along with the legal privileges marriage confers, is what finally made me consider marriage. And now that I am married, I know I made the right decision. I am glad to say that I have a lot of friends who are very happily married, but I still am not a wholesale proponent of the institution of marriage. I would say that it all depends upon the person to whom you are pledged – make sure that your partner will allow to life to continue getting bigger, and that they do not feel they own you. One secret to Ian’s and my happiness is that we accept each other and support each other.

Moral of the story: Everything a 25 year old proclaims has to be taken with a grain of salt 🙂

It was great to be on the show with Patrick Swayze, whom I knew because we were represented by the same manager. What a wonderful, kind man and an amazing dancer. Speaking of marriage, he and his wife Lisa were a lovely couple, and I was in awe of it back then. I am sure his death was heartbreaking to her, but I was happy to read that she got remarried recently.

Thank you for writing!

Alexandra

2) Hey, Just want to say you are still a very pretty lady. As a producer of 2 weekly programs i have always loved your work and just watched 8 million ways to die. You were great and try to catch all your are in.

Thanks for the chance to say this,
Rock Parsons

Hi Rock,

Thank you very much, you made my day! And I am happy to hear that 8 Million Ways to Die played again recently. I am proud of my work in that film, because Sunny, an innocent but beguiling call girl, was so different a character for me to play. I really loved working with Jeff Bridges, who is sooooo nice and down to earth, and Andy Garcia, who at that time was an unknown. It was Hal Ashby’s last movie and it was a privilege to be directed by him.

My next role was “The Virgin Connie Swail” so that swung me in the opposite direction…

Best wishes,

Alexandra