I got Whoopi Goldberg to play a teacher[and] I knew she was going to win the Academy Award that year for Ghostand she was amazing. Hardison: Two weeks after I went to the taping, I got a call that they were auditioning people for extra characters. She had an extensive stage career, and was one of theNEC's original members. Something told me to stop and go over, so I did. However, as Playbill notes, O'Neal's screen resume doesn't encompass the entirety of his career. 1 min read Mary Alice, an Emmy and Tony Award winner best known to TV viewers for her roles in A Different World and I'll Fly Away, died on July 27in New York City,. Robinson: My experience in the real world was hilarious, because some folks who cant separate art from real life were like, Bruh, seriously, you dont want to be with Jada? There was a lot of that. Thats a huge reward. We all grew up together. The show followed her day-to-day life at Hillman College. Romantic relationships abounded on the show, to mixed reactions from the actors who were involved. And it was like, yes, I have a degree from Stanford, but Im here to do whatever it takes to be a part of the creative process, to see how it works, to pitch in. Guy: [Kadeem and I] were like, Are we coming back next season? Because people were getting fired a lot. I wish that people got as excited about Black television as they did for Cheers, which was right down the road from us, but I dont think we ever felt a real overwhelming sense of celebrity. The audition took place in an office packed with writers, producers, and NBC executives. Neither Hardison or Guy thought the Graduate*esque story was a good idea. Its an adjustment, and one that I wasnt really seeking. I think that was a real benefitto be able to emotionally infuse the characters with what we were going through together. Having initially bonded over a love of motorcycles, Hardison and Summer dated throughout much of the series. Bell: Kadeem got the job but hes a New Yorker, so he [came] to L.A. and moved in with me. While A Different World finished its first season rated number two behind The Cosby Show, the writers and cast believed that the story lines lacked the depth and relevance needed to accurately portray student life at an HBCU. By season six, Freddie, Dwayne, Kimberly, Ron, and Whitley had all graduated from Hillman, and a new group of students joined the cast in main and recurring roles. Patrick Cassidy would always be there signing autographs and talking to people, and I was like, Ooh, Im so glad thats not me. It did become me, over the years since A Different World, but I was mostly concerned with the work. Though NBC's "A Different World" started out as a fairly standard spin-off show with frequent appearances from the characters of its parent sitcom, "The Cosby Show," it was ultimately able to stand on its own two feet. Matthew Diamond. We got to work for the first table read on Monday, and Jasmine had just finished auditioning 20 minutes beforehand. Fans watched . To have that kind of attention on you at 20-something years of age, it was different. Not long after the show first aired, a litany of guest stars began appearingsome of whom were already established, and others who were relatively unknown at the time and have since become famous actors and musicians. [And] it felt like such a snake-in-the-grass thing to do to some other guy who you were friendly with. Most recently, she played a drug-addicted and troubled girl in Showtime series Ray Donovan. But Im still good. I dont look for those accolades. But I came back in a few days with Hangin With Mr. Cooper. But if a show goes on for a period of time, characters need to evolve. We just hadnt seen that. That was an episode that dealt with colorism, and I remember after our first table reading we had a two-hour conversation because everyone had their own story of being otherized because of the color of their skin, whether it was considered too light or too dark or whatever. Hardison: I live for the moments at the gas station when a grandmother tells me her baby wanted to be an engineer because of me. Pitting them against one another, you dont have to do much. Jasmine and I, oh, my Godwhen I think of the first time I met Jasmine, love at first sight. Rape, racism, AIDS, and colorism were all among issues the show explored. And we had to put hot sauce on the tables. I remember Kadeem walked by and I thought, Oh, God, he is so fucking fine. Robyn Griggs, 'Another World' Actress, Dies at 49 She appeared on Nickelodeon before landing a recurring role as a teen on 'One Life to Live.' By Ryan Gajewski August 13, 2022 11:09pm Robyn. The Tony winner and comedy legend reflects on a wild, 40-year-plus acting careerall leading to this moment. I kept going and I had the car phone at the time, so I called Glynn Turmans wife, whos a Realtor. It was just a door. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Administratively, a lot of barriers came down. All Rights Reserved. Mae Whitman Put Absolutely Everything Into. A shoulder we all stood on. Diem Brown died in November after a long struggle with cancer, as documented on MTV. He did such a great job in the latter role that the character's spin-off series, "Benson," ended up running much longer than its parent show. All products featured on Vanity Fair are independently selected by our editors. Amazingly enough, Benson wasn't even Guillaume's last iconic role. [The writers] were talking about me playing a dean and I was like, You know what? The audience decides what really lives with them, what really sticks with them.. The Clippers were awful, so we could just walk right down and sit in the front row. He shows up and hes not the guy that she wrote about. She achieved further fame asthe conniving Dominique Deveraux on the popular ABC soaps "Dynasty" and "The Colbys.". Bell: After the chemistry read I was like, What time are we heading home Kadeem? And she said, I do! Among those actors were Patrick Malone, Pinkett Smith, Bumper Robinson, Ajai Sanders, and Karen Malina White. And then after Brandon, it was Warren Littlefield. In 1987, one of televisions most influential shows was born. There was a great affinity for the show. Turman: I know what comes with being young and famous and rich. Every once in a while, "A Different World" brought in a face you either knew from a very different sitcom, or would go on to become familiar with on a similar show. We had nothing like that. Ill never forget it. Carroll died on October 4, 2019, at the age of 84. A Different World definitely should have been more lauded and acknowledged for its popularity and its contribution to society, but we were making a show for the people, not for the accolades. I remember wearing moccasins that I brought from home. It was like seeing the experience that I was living and going through on television. A Different World cast list, including photos of the actors when available. Living Single is also where she met Reggie Rock Bythewood. The show garnered just three Emmy nominations (Carroll and Goldberg, both for outstanding guest actress, and outstanding technical direction) and took home none. Then she became the Halle Berry we know now. Hillman College was set in Virginia, so you couldnt tell any of us that it wasnt based on Hampton. Susan Fales-Hill (writer and producer): I cant even remember anyone else who auditioned because [Jasmine] just came in and owned it. Lewis: Sinbad and I have this really great friendship and chemistry. And it had been happening all over campuses. Over the years audiences watched them struggle with schoolwork, form meaningful friendships, fall in and out of love, and grow from capricious teens to responsible young adults. I had just finished working on The Jacksons: An American Dream, playing the role of Jackie, and was incredibly excited about the opportunity for A Different World. A lot of the kids, they took that advice. Regina Hicks was a PA on A Different World. She said I can have them, because I want to send them to the National Museum of African American History in D.C. Thats where they should be. Whitley reminded me of a lot of the women that I grew up with in Cincinnati and in Jack and Jill, and women who attended Hampton. Fales-Hill: [After the date rape episode] we got a call from the attorney general of Pennsylvania. He was easy to love. Her birth year had been reported both as 1936 and 1941 in various sources. Alice was an iconic performer on both the screen and stage. That little moment at the very end where Freddie says to Dwayne, Thank you for being my friendsomething about that just fucking tears me up. Bell: Our show came on the air under Brandon Tartikoff [who left NBC in 1991]. She was so effusive and welcoming. I was always on a plane going somewhere, or driving somewhere. She had married Lenny Kravitz and you knowI guess Bill had his . Guy: [Ceci] had Whitley down. There was a little girl who had been raped by her neighbor while selling Girl Scout cookies. I think she had a conversation with Mr. Cosby, and then he had conversations with [producers] Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, and Caryn Mandabach. The show's theme song makes it clear that it's radically different from the program that focuses on the affable Huxtable family: "It's a different world/Than where ya come from/Yes it is now," promise the lyrics. I thought @HillmanGrad was cool and a lot of people dug it. That A Different World was never nominated for a Golden Globe and never won an Emmy is both unsettling and indicative of how Black shows rarely receive the praise they deserve. Even more notably, he was a highly-lauded stage actor who took home a Tony Award for his Broadway portrayal of the Cowardly Lion in "The Wiz" (per Playbill). This was a time when it was perceived that the writers were gods and the actors [should just] do what theyre told. Summer: I still dont like Freddie going with Ron. She was not on my radar, and clearly, I was not going to her radar at the time. Ill be you, and you be me. And then it clicked. Ian McLagan, a fun-loving keyboardist who played on records by such artists as the Rolling Stones, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springsteen and his own bands -- the Small Faces and its successor, the. If I didnt do well on a test or if I got in trouble at school, I remember my mom saying You aint going to be able to watch A Different World if you keep acting up.. Allen: There were a lot of politics going on behind the scenes, and none of us will ever truly know all of it. THATS WHEN I CAME UP WITH THE ACCENT FOR WHITLEY.. ", Philip "Uncle Phil" Banks on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. When actor and producer Lena Waithe first joined Instagram in 2011, her handle was @hillmangrad. "A Different World" features a large number of musical guest stars, many of whom are no longer with us. Allen: One of the first things I did was take everybodys fake nails and hair weaves off to make them a little more natural. Under Allens leadership, A Different World remained comedic, but no topic was off-limits. I just thought we had done so much stuff that was grounded in reality, and this was a complete leap. I was fascinated. I dont think the network wanted us to do it, and advertisers pulled out, but it was just the time. Bell: They got me some hockey pads so I could get on my knees and be Rudys size for the camera. He took home 10 NAACP Image Awards and two Daytime Emmy awards for this mammoth performance (via IMDb). Kristoff St. John first appeared asDavid James on an episode of "The Cosby Show." Though Carroll only appeared on nine episodes of "A Different World,"she elevated every single one. The theme song was sung by Phoebe Snow for season one, Aretha Franklin for seasons two through five, and Boyz II Men for season 6. Bell: One of my favorite nights was the night that Magic Johnson broke the all-time assist record. You felt like they were in love. Debbie Allen (director and executive producer): My sister [Phylicia Rashad] was a guest on A Different World, and she observed some problems behind the scenes in terms of the storytelling. She was seven years old and she didnt tell her parents. The stars, writers, and producers look back on their years at Hillman . Clockwise from bottom left: Jasmine Guyhere with Darryl Bell and Kadeem Hardisonstarred as Whitley Gilbert following Lisa Bonets departure; from left to right, Guy, Bell, and Debbie Allen in makeup; left to right, Bonet, Dawnn Lewis, and Marisa Tomei on set in the first season; Hardison, Guy, and Cree Summer behind the scenes; Bonet wraps Lewis in a hug. He had a good heart. There were some things that were really beautiful that Whitley wore. Can you come in tomorrow? But the onscreen chemistry between Hardison and Guy was hard-foughtinitially hampered by a little crush Hardison says he had on Guy, and a fear of coming off too aggressive. God knows my heart and how determined I am to make change in this world. When youre a costume designer, when youre doing makeup and hair, youre part of creating this character. When youre writing for TV, there are a lot of moments where you say, What am I doing with my life? Yvette Lee Bowser went on to show run Dear White People, the series, which was the first movie Id ever produced. Clockwise from bottom left: NBC/Everett Collection; Courtesy of Yvette-Lee Bowser; NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images; Gene Trindl/NBC/ Everett Collection. I look back at some of Freddies clothes and I think, Wow, Id wear that still today. None of this was possible for me before I watched A Different World. [She] taught you so much because she wasnt really a trained actress. Main characters [ edit] Denise Huxtable Kendall [ edit] Bell: [The cast] was in Detroit on our way to do an interview at a radio station, and this woman saw us in the street and lost it. "Boy Meets World" is a coming-of-age comedic television show that aired on ABC and ran for 158 episodes across seven seasons. Whitley Gilbert's overbearing mother, Marion Gilbert,is a Hillman graduate herself, as well as a member of the board. She was going to wait for her cue, but I wasnt going to get to it. They honored their word, but they werent too happy about it. Hardison: We were friends at first. But I thought that he could evolve into something else, and he did. Hes really cool, but hes really corny; hes so confident, but hes really insecure. It was not nice. Eventually, "A Different World" grew into its own, glorious thing. It was a very tumultuous time; we never knew who was going to leave or why. But I understood Whitley, and I understood why she became what she was and the journey that she had to go on. Id been accepted to UCLA, and I was like, If I get this, Im not going to be able to go to college full-time. I was kind of torn between [going to school full-time or] having to go part-time and work on A Different World. Robert Guillaume may have only appeared on three episodes of "A Different World," but he holds the distinction of playing two different characters: Dean Winston and Professor Murphy. Bowser, Fales-Hill, and fellow writer Thad Mumford went on an HBCU tour, visiting students at Spelman, Morehouse, Howard, and other HBCUs to talk to them about college life, the issues they were passionate about, and what they wanted to see from the show. So [the older cast members] took it upon ourselves to [say] buy a house, investwe tried to plant those kinds of seeds. Bumper Robinson (Dorian Heywood): I was graduating high school at the time, so I was actually a legit freshman coming into college. Previously he was hospitalized in December of 2012 for pneumonia. That was it. She was singing, I was dancing. You dont know whats happening, so it just makes you a better actor because your job is to react. So when we decided we wanted to meet Whitleys mother and we knew we wanted Diahann [to play her], I literally drove up to her house in Beverly Hills and said, You need to come do this show. And Lena Horne, similarly, Id known her all my life. It went off the air unceremoniously. Ceci: I didnt like them either, quite frankly. [Though] I have to say, I witnessed a great deal of resentment towards Bill Cosbys power, and Marcy and Tom. His performance as the flashy Youngblood Priest made him a major name, but as O'Neal himself admitted, this was somewhat detrimental to further career opportunities (via The Guardian). Bell: Lisa was on The Cosby Show, so she was accustomed to being in the atmosphere of a juggernaut. Summer: The girl that was my competition lived in England and Debbie asked if she could stay with me. Honestly, when I look back, if a girls got to have a first love, he was the blueprint. The sitcom originally starred Lisa Bonet, already known to the world as Denise Huxtable. While filming season six, NBC announced to the cast and crew that A Different World wouldnt be renewed for a seventh season. Hardison: That was stupid. The writers knew my name was Cree Summer, that I had a baby brother named Rainbow Sun, and that I once lived on a school bus. Dwayne and Whitley would eventually become one of televisions most iconic couples. Because of them as actors, I was able to do and say all the things that I, as a person, totally disbelieve. And it was very hurtful to my entire companythe cast, the writers, the producers, the cameramen. Guy: Some of the writers and producers were coming up to me and going, Are you nervous? I was like, No more nervous than any other time. I wanted to tell people, Im not her, Im not really getting married. I think its disappointing to people that I wasnt as invested, but I would definitely be crazy if I thought I was the characters that Ive portrayed. By Emily Reuben / Updated: Jan. 25, 2023 5:24 am EST. What is happening?. It frees you up as an actor when someone is that loose with it. Fales-Hill: When Halle Berry did the show, she was not yet a star, she hadnt done any of her big movies. We bounce well off of each other, so when the writers saw that, they started putting it into the script. That was Darrell coming unglued, because that was the last shot of the night, and it was over. Clockwise from left: Courtesy of Darryl Bell; CARSEY-WERNER CO./NBC/ ALAMY; Everett Collection; NNC/Everett Collection. She won a Tony. Six months later she saw the episode and it gave her the language to understand what had happened to her. Bowser: I love watching [Dwayne and Whitley] go from being awkward teenagers to more mature Black people in love. Young people who gain fame, they [can] get carried away. What do you mean? And then I thought about it and I was like, Well, Im not messing with nobody [and] shes my bestie, why not? And then it just went on and on. With the success of the show came a level of fame that, while moderate in comparison to the visibility of young actors in todays more diverse, social mediafueled industry, was an adjustment for the cast. I remember that week, I spent all my time with Liz. So it wasnt us versus them, it was us together. Bell: I met Tempestt four or five times before she ever remembered meeting me once. Walter and Jaleesa were supposed to get married, but the two decided against it at the altar. I was like, Damn, how can I be cool in this episode too? But I realized then how important my character was to show those sides, those layers of us, as Black people. He was a prolific and award-winning stage performer, both on and off-Broadway. This needs to be Dwayne shows up. On the other hand, it was nice to go out on a high and not feel like youre a poor imitation of what you once were. Turman: Heres how influential Colonel Taylor was. Fales-Hill, who had been a writer for The Cosby Show, was tapped to write for a spinoff, originally titled Stepping Up to Step Out. On February 3, 2019, St. John was found dead in his Los Angeles home at the age of 52. On September 24, 1987, A Different World aired its wildly popular pilot, whose ratings surpassed every other program except The Cosby Show. 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