A Martinez Reveals:  "I Couldn't Be Happier!"

Soap Opera People, 1989

by Lillian Smith

(Thanks to Anne in Australia!)

    On the suggestion that the entrance of Robert Barr into their lives might stir things up for Cruz and Eden, A smiles and says, "I think it will definitely give us a chance to explore other relationships on a level that we haven't had yet after many years of working together and that is great news."

    "Just what is this past he had with Eden?" I asked.

    "Right now I think our storylines are in better shape than any time I can remember.  They've constructed this really wonderful long arc with Roscoe Born and it is going to be like the sub plot of an even bigger arc and not only is it well conceived in terms of how believable and real it is going to be, but it involves more characters than usual so it gives the core members a chance to work with each other in a common story which kind of brings everybody together and perks morale up enormously," A told me...without really giving away the whole thing.

    "It's amazing how much better people feel when they have a sense of all pulling in the same direction.  I think right now we are on the cusp of doing that better than we've ever done it.  So it's extremely exciting to me having been gone a little while and having it help to recover from the typical fatigue you have after five years, you know.  It's just magic to come back and have the writing be so exciting," A said, referring to the weeks he had been off making the movie She Devil with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr.

    "I wanted to tell you, I think your wife is really something for going to New York away from her baby doctor and having her baby there where you were making the movie.  You know how women are about staying with their doctors when they're having a baby," I told him.

    "Yes, when the part first came up and became a good possibility, I certainly thought there was no way it was going to happen because of that.  I certainly wasn't going to miss the birth and I knew if I did it that could happen.  But Leslie was real cool about it, real brave about it.

    "It turned out to be a tremendous blessing because we went there a month before the baby came and they put us up in an apartment that was part of a hotel.  So we had room service whenever we needed it, we had maid service every day, nobody ever called on the phone.  We had everything we needed, there was a grocery store nearby, everything was so convenient and so easy.  We took her mother along to help us and when her mother had to leave and go back to San Francisco for her sister's master degree graduation, my parents came out to stay with us.  Then her mother came back when the baby was actually born.  So we had help the whole time and Leslie actually rested.  She regained her strength on a level that last month that wouldn't have been possible at home.

    "We stayed a couple of weeks after the baby was born.  It was just relaxing and fun.  It's a time we'll never forget.  It's so funny, Leslie has an instinct about these things.  I thought it was bold and maybe irresponsible to try to do it, but it turned out to be real easy."

A and Leslie are definitely a very happy couple.

    "And how was it making the movie?"

    "That was fun and really hard.  I had the kind of part where I zip in, get my laugh and get out and Susan Seidelmann likes to do a lot of takes and you end up at a certain point of time, everything turns into mechanics.  It just becomes finding the right rhythm and executing it repeatedly.  It was just a whole different way to work.  It haven't done a whole lot of comedy."

    "You just did Powwow Highway," I mused.

    "Oh, I've done a lot of films, but when it's a certain high styled comedy, it's just a different task altogether.

    "Tell me about baby Devon Makena," I said.

    "Devon is her first name, but right now she loves Makena (A pronounces it like mackenna); when I talk to her she reacts to it."

    "Any difference with a baby boy and a girl?"

    "Well, certainly with these two, she is much more accessible and more easily amused than Cody was.  He used to smile once every 10 days or so, she smiles when you try to get in her face.  She lights up.  She's real easy going on that level.  Of course, she has a shorter fuse, she complains quicker, but gets past it quicker than Cody did at that age.  And she has a little bit more trouble with her digestion than he did, she seems to be cursed with the hiccups at least an hour every day."

    A says Devon bears it pretty well, doesn't cry or go crazy over it, but you can see she goes through a lot.  The doctor says it will go away.

    "I'm intrigued when a man has a baby girl.  Everyone seems to want a boy first but they say little girls can wrap their fathers around their little fingers and I often wonder, could that be true?"

    "I wondered that myself.  I had that very thought this week.  It's been much slower to get to know each other than Cody and I were.  Part of it is that Cody is extremely upset by her coming and interrupting his access to his mother."

    "I wondered about that too," I put in.

    "Yes, that's the toughest thing that's going on, it puts everyone in the family under a lot of strain.  So my task when I'm home seems to be more often than not to be there for him.  I rarely get to spend very much time alone with her so we don't know each other as well as I knew him."

    He paused, "But she is different and I did start to get the feeling this week that, like I said she has this wonderful smile.  She doesn't talk to me very much, she talks to my momma lot, they exchange sounds, they definitely do.  When I try to talk to her she just stares at me kind of in wonderment and I do find it compelling emotionally.  It's wonderful!"

    The Martinez family is still in the house they rented while waiting to build their own home.  That, however, is coming along very slowly with all sorts of hitches and frustrations.  But A says the house they are in is perfect for Cody to play in the fenced backyard and the knowledge that he is safe there.  It's good for the baby too.  Besides  both A and Leslie are so stretched right now in terms of having two babies at home, it would be worse if they were involved in the hassles of actually building right now.

    "Are these the good years for you?"

    "This is a tremendous time.  It's such a good time."

    "Yes, I am so happy for you."

    "Yes, I'm pinching myself I must admit.  I had a chance years ago to work with Meryl Streep and I screwed it up and I never got over the feeling of regret about it.  Then finally to get a chance again to work with her, well, this just proves that I'm born under a happy cloud.  You know, this is something that the law of averages says shouldn't happen.  And to get to meet her and then have her be so wonderful.  She seemed to like to work with me, she seemed to enjoy it a lot and you can't put a price as to what that means to someone in my position."

    "Was Roseanne Barr funny on the set?" I wondered.

    "Yes.  She's pretty funny.  I only had one scene with her, most of my stuff was with Meryl.  Roseanne was really nice to me and I like her a lot."

   "I can't imagine the plot, Roseanne turning into Meryl?"

    "It's all magic, such a great idea.  Apparently it was done in England and was a complete hoot.  It's just a real cannily casted thing.  Ed Begley plays the man and he's just perfect for it."

    "I saw a picture from the film with Ed Begley in it and I wanted it to be you," I told him.

    "Bless your heart, he's definitely the main man.  I wouldn't have done this in terms of how big a role I had in it.  It you just look at that I shouldn't have been doing it.  But the way I looked at it, if I get a chance to work with Meryl Streep I have to take it.  So I did and it remains to be seen what impact if any it will have on my career.  It depends on whether the movie comes in around 90 minutes or so, if it is real long or something I'm sure my character is one of the ones that will suffer the most in the cutting room in some scenes, so I'm not assuming anything.  But it just can't be taken away what it was like to work with a hero, and learn, watch and listen and get to just catch myself on a level that hadn't been possible and come out okay in the test, it meant a lot to me."

    "Well, I just hope there will be another big part with somebody like Meryl, actually I don't care if the part is long as long as you are in it -- and on Santa Barbara," I added.

    "Yes and I have a job and I love my job.  I mean, I'd love to fulfill my childhood fantasies of being a movie star.  I really would like to see that happen, but.."

    "Maybe I'm crazy but you have so much in your life, it's a goal, but isn't your real goal what you have right now," I put in.

    "Exactly.  That's absolutely the case."

    Of course, there are ups and downs at home.  Poor little Devon had been stung by a bee the day before and both Leslie and A were very upset.  Just the day before Leslie had told A it was the most wonderful day of her life with the two children, so rewarding and happy.  Then the next day was chaos.  It's like being on a roller coaster, day to day living at home, a wonderful roller coaster though, and A cherishes every minute of it.

A happily poses with co-star Robin Mattson.  Robin, of course, plays "Gina" on Santa Barbara.

  Return to Interviews/Articles page