THE GIRL NEXT DOOR
Fabian grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, raised mostly by his "aunts." His father was Navy and his mother traveled with him to various ports.
The "aunts" were three ladies....Aunt Katie, (a spinster Latin school teacher, Margaret, the divorcee, and Mary, the youngest.)
When I met them all in the late 80's, I was welcomed in like an old friend and we made yearly visit to Montgomery to see them all. It was always a joyous time, with great Southern cooking by the maid who prepared the meals. (She was not live-in, but a family "member" in her own right.)
Many a warm Summer evening, we would sit on the front porch, in various rocking chairs or the porch swing and wile away the time.
Next door, lived Miss Peak who was a treasure, (She always had her dining room table set for dinner and covered with a clear plastic sheet to avoid any dust on the dishes.) She just believed in being prepared in case anyone should drop by at dinner time.
When Miss Peak passed away, the home was eventually sold to the Atchison family who had a daughter named Nancy. Nancy very quickly adopted the "Aunts" as her own and would frequently join them on the porch for their evening "sittings."
The next time, Fabian and I visited, Nancy had heard of our coming (Mary had filled her in on our "show biz" lives) and she plied us with all sorts of questions about breaking into the business. We explained that she would need head shots and an agent, eventually. Then we thought little more about it. She was a pretty little girl and a modeling career could well have been in her future.
But that was not to be. Before we knew what had hit us, Nancy was in "The Long Walk Home" with Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek, Then, "Prince of Tides" with Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte and soon after "Fried Green Tomatoes" with Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates, followed by half a dozen others.
Evidently, our advice worked........The picture below is Nancy with Mary-Louise Parker in "Fried Green Tomatoes." (1991) Her last film was in 1998 at age 15 and I can only surmise that she simply grew up and either got bored with it all or just decided on a different career path. But she was quite a young talent. And we knew her when.
The "aunts" were three ladies....Aunt Katie, (a spinster Latin school teacher, Margaret, the divorcee, and Mary, the youngest.)
When I met them all in the late 80's, I was welcomed in like an old friend and we made yearly visit to Montgomery to see them all. It was always a joyous time, with great Southern cooking by the maid who prepared the meals. (She was not live-in, but a family "member" in her own right.)
Many a warm Summer evening, we would sit on the front porch, in various rocking chairs or the porch swing and wile away the time.
Next door, lived Miss Peak who was a treasure, (She always had her dining room table set for dinner and covered with a clear plastic sheet to avoid any dust on the dishes.) She just believed in being prepared in case anyone should drop by at dinner time.
When Miss Peak passed away, the home was eventually sold to the Atchison family who had a daughter named Nancy. Nancy very quickly adopted the "Aunts" as her own and would frequently join them on the porch for their evening "sittings."
The next time, Fabian and I visited, Nancy had heard of our coming (Mary had filled her in on our "show biz" lives) and she plied us with all sorts of questions about breaking into the business. We explained that she would need head shots and an agent, eventually. Then we thought little more about it. She was a pretty little girl and a modeling career could well have been in her future.
But that was not to be. Before we knew what had hit us, Nancy was in "The Long Walk Home" with Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek, Then, "Prince of Tides" with Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte and soon after "Fried Green Tomatoes" with Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates, followed by half a dozen others.
Evidently, our advice worked........The picture below is Nancy with Mary-Louise Parker in "Fried Green Tomatoes." (1991) Her last film was in 1998 at age 15 and I can only surmise that she simply grew up and either got bored with it all or just decided on a different career path. But she was quite a young talent. And we knew her when.
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