An Interview With William Gray Espy 1974?
Interviews are not among William Gray Espy's favorite things. Still, his interest in and curiosity about people (and his popularity with viewers) leads him inevitably into them. What will be said about him this time? What tag will someone pin on him? "Shyest playboy" is one of the most recent, and, to William, one of the most surprising. "I never told them I was a playboy. With five scripts a week: five days a week?" he asks rhetorically, and points out that the schedule leaves hardly enough time for sleeping, eating and reading. And no time at all for being a playboy, shy or bold.
Like Snapper Foster, he is soft spoken and seemingly at ease. We asked William about his birthplace. Dothan, Alabama. "There's fresh air. fresh vegetables, no theater and two movie houses. It's growing fast. I don't know whether that's good or bad." The decision to leave his home town and become an actor was made after he had graduated with a degree in philosophy from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Tennessee. "I knew I didn't want to continue what I'd been doing. I'm not putting education down, and I have no regrets about going to college. But if I'd known then what I know now, I might not have gone. However, I'm here now and I wouldn't change anything.
Where is his Southern accent? He does not sound like someone who has lost an accent, he sounds as if he's never had one. "Of course I had an accent. Everyone in the South has. Fortunately, I met an English actress in New York and working with her helped me to lose it. But I still say some things with an accent." Will he give us an example? No. And we get that direct look again.
As a TV viewer, he'd like to see' more public television drama; more classics = "Moliere," "Shaw," "O'Neill"..."Columbo" is one show he enjoys. "Peter Falk! he says, "now there's a characterization!" William smiles and tells us "This is the most relaxed I've been-during an interview." The smile turns into a laugh and he adds. "Sometimes I wish I was the type who could go home, drink a bottle of. scotch and relax." This is a startling note, and before we can comment, he adds. "But I'm not." He does go home and read, and enjoys reading about actors and acting. We'd seen the fans waiting at the artists' entrance at CBS and watched them descend on James Houghton (Greg Foster on "The Young And The Restless). Do they lie in wait for William? "Well, yes, but they seem to be a little afraid to approach me...
By
Paul Raven ·
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