- Welcome back to another segment
of Behind the Scenes of The Waltons.
Today, I'm very excited to have a special guest.
My guest today is Cissy Wellman,
who played Sissy Walker-Tucker on "The Waltons."
Please welcome Cissy Wellman.
Hello, everybody.
Today, I am so excited to be welcoming Cissy Wellman,
who played Sissy Walker,
and then Sissy Walker-Tucker,
as well as Jane Aspen.
So I know all these different names you had.
In five episodes, you had three different names.
Go, girl.
So thank you.
Thanks, Cissy.
Thanks for taking time out to talk to me
and all of our longstanding Walton fans.
- Well, this is my joy,
because I love "The Waltons."
So I love it.
I'm here.
I'm here for you, for "The Waltons."
- Thank you.
Before we talk Waltons,
I just think people need to know a little bit
about your amazing history and pedigree,
because you have quite a family
of Hollywood legends and actors and history and stuff.
So just fill us in a little bit.
- Well, I even wrote a book about that,
and it's called,
"They Say I Come from Hollywood Royalty...
So Where's My Crown?"
And my dad was a very famous director.
His name was William Wellman,
and he directed the very first film
to win an Academy Award in 1927,
and that was "Wings."
And he's directed,
you know, he's a pioneer.
He did, you know, so many great films.
He did "Public Enemy" with James Cagney.
He wrote and directed the original "Star is Born"
and got the Academy Award for writing it.
And, you know, "Nothing Sacred,"
"Oxbow Incident," so many movies.
You look him up, Google him, and it's like, oh my gosh.
And my mom was one of the original Busby Berkeley dancers.
So yeah, I was blessed.
I'm one of seven,
and my mother was my dad's fifth wife.
He was 37, she was 19 when they got married,
and all seven of us are from her.
- Wow.
- Yeah, so.
- Awesome.
So you truly, I mean, I grew up in Hollywood,
but a whole different era,
and I did not come from, you know,
Hollywood royalty, so to speak.
So you grew up on amazing sets,
and I know the cover of your book is,
there's a picture of you sitting in Clark Gable's lap.
I mean, come on.
- I know, I was so young.
I wish I had known what,
I would - think I was seven.
I wish I'd known whose lap I was sitting on at the time.
It's like, oh my gosh.
- Was your dad directing him in a film, or just?
- Yeah, it was called "Across the Wide Missouri,"
and they were on location in Durango, Colorado,
and the whole family.
At that time, there were just six of us,
and we all went to Durango, Colorado,
because it was just gorgeous.
I mean, so lucky, because it was all of us,
and we were at a River with fishing,
and it was Ricardo Montalban,
and it was such a great group,
and yeah, I was blessed.
We didn't do that very often,
because Dad, what he did was,
he had it written in his contracts
whenever he directed a film.
He made sure that if he was shooting in town,
they had to pull the plug,
so he could be home at six o'clock in time
to have dinner with all of us,
and he didn't like doing locations away.
He didn't like being away from Mom and the family,
and we were brought up on a farm.
We weren't really brought up Hollywood,
yet he was friends with David O. Selznick,
so yes, we went to different parties.
I knew Jane Fonda, and Peter, and the different ones,
but we were more of a, I had chores to do.
We had horses, and chickens, and we cut the eggs.
I rode my horse down to Westwood,
because that was way back.
Dad bought the house.
It was four acres in Brentwood.
- Wow.
- Hello, and at that time,
they thought that was way out,
because he bought it, boy, it would be,
let me see, I'm 80,
so it would have been 83 years ago.
Wow.
So back then, there was absolutely no traffic,
no anything, which is gorgeous,
so I've been blessed,
and the sets I was on was "Goodbye, My Lady,"
which I loved,
on location that was Daddy-directed,
with about the barkless dogs, the Basenjis,
and it was fabulous.
That was a joy,
and also, of course,
"The High and the Mighty,"
and "Island in the Sky" with John Wayne.
And then I got to work with John Wayne,
so that was a gift.
- Oh, wow, what'd you work with him on?
"The Undefeated" "Chisum."
Okay, wow.
But that was with Dear Donner,
when I was married to Robert,
and I was staging the dance numbers in the film.
Andy McLaglen was the director,
and he was my father's assistant director way back,
so yeah, a lot of fun.
- So was it something,
because of being on those sets and around it,
that you just, from an early age,
knew that that's what you wanted to do?
You wanted to work in film and television?
I mean, television probably didn't really exist
in the same capacity.
- No, I never wanted to be an actor.
I wanted to be an airline stewardess.
That's what they called them in that day.
I wanted to fly around.
I had no, it just sort of happened.
And I was studying dance because I love jazz.
I love dance, ballet and dance,
and I started out as a dancer first.
I was, you know, I did commercials,
and then I was a dancer on the Andy Williams Show.
I was one of the Nick Castle dancers,
and it just sort of happened at 16.
I was in the kitchen and got a phone call from NBC.
My mother just said,
Cissy, it's NBC.
I said, oh yeah, right.
You know, sure.
It was Frances Dee, who was a wonderful actress,
who was married to Joel McRae.
They were like my godparents.
And Frances was doing this.
They wanted her for this series called "Amy."
And she said, oh, this is Cissy Wellman.
And so they called me.
They said, you know, we want to see you.
And I said, it's...
Okay, we'll send you a script.
Okay.
And I read it,
and there were like four of the girls in it.
They were all high school.
And so I went,
and I just walked right into the producer's office
with a bunch of people there.
And I said, I'm supposed to be reading this outside here.
You want me to read this,
but which part did you want me to read for?
But was it Dorothy or Betty or what?
And they said, no, Amy.
I said, oh no, I can't do that.
That's the lead.
And they just looked at each other and started laughing.
They said, that's right.
She really is Amy.
I did it, and it never sold.
But that started, and then people found out about it.
And then all of a sudden I was getting calls.
And so it just, you know,
sometimes we find out it just God shots.
It just happened.
- Well, do you think that because you were surrounded
by these icons, but they were just people to you,
that you didn't have the same level of intimidation
that those of us who grew up under,
you know, who just idolize these people.
I look at some of these famous people and I'm like,
I, bleh, bleh, bleh, you know, but for you,
that would have been another Sunday night dinner.
- Well, you know, it was really only,
we didn't do that many Hollywood parties.
Mom and dad would do a party
because dad was a leap year baby.
So every four years they did a big one.
And their friends like Fred McMurray lived up the street
and we used to exchange peanut butter gifts
because he loved peanut butter and so did I as a kid.
So we used to find things to give each other.
I would find the biggest jar I could for his birthday
and fill it with peanut butter.
And this is as a kid, you know, I didn't know anything,
you know, and John Payne, the Henry Fondas.
I got more excited about meeting Ron Howard
when he was a kid,
when he did "The Courtship of Eddie's Father."
I saw that movie.
I was up for "Peyton's Place," the series.
And I was a 20th Century Fox.
And that, he knocked me out in that movie when he cried
and he was just this kid.
And I saw him at the studio and I said,
I'm such a fan of yours.
You knocked me out.
You know, that's what got me is people would move me.
I really have had a fabulous life with great people.
And my favorite meeting was meeting Paul Newman though.
I have to admit that was,
'cause man, you know, I just-
- I got to audition for him one time for a movie.
- How did you, how? And?
- I didn't get it.
It was for
"The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds"
His daughter got the part, so.
- Gee.
- But it was at the Beverly Hills Hotel
in one of the cabana rooms.
And I read for him.
I was really pretty young at the time,
but I just remember those beautiful blue eyes, so nice.
And he commented that he thought
that the actors in Los Angeles were stronger at that point
than the actors in New York.
And so it made me feel good.
But I still didn't get the part.
But I guess nepotism, I understand.
- Sort of, sort of, unfortunately, yeah, damn.
I just met him cause Dear Donner was doing "Cool Hand Luke."
And I was on the location for 16 weeks.
And when I first got there, we walked in
and I had known the director, Stu Rosenberg,
and Paul was making a salad with his hands and like that.
And they were introducing me and it was just Paul.
And he says, oh, sorry about, I can't do it.
I'm going, that's okay.
I'll shake your hand anyway.
You know, it was like, blah, blah, blah.
And he was, like you said, he was just a person.
The best compliment given, he was just so great.
And when Joanne came up on location,
you felt like you'd known her all your life.
She was just, it was, you know, there's some,
you don't hear about that many good things
or good people, but there are a lot of them.
- There are.
And when you have a chance, those little brief moments
where they are in a situation
where they can just be a regular person, it's nice.
And I'm sure it's nice for them as well.
- Yeah.
- I want to thank Cissy for joining me for this segment.
And I will see you again for more
"Behind the Scenes of The Waltons" and more "Ask Judy."
Thanks for watching.