Question: On The Dukes of Hazzard, what was the name of Roscoe’s Bassett Hound?
Last Question: Who signed off his show, “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams”?
Answer: Robin Leach
Before there was MTV’s Cribs, there was Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous hosted by Robin Leach. The show aired from 1984 to 1995. In the final season, Leach cohosted the show with Shari Belafonte, and the show was renamed Lifestyles with Robin Leach and Shari Belafonte.
Many actors and comedians parodied Leach’s English accented voice. And I’m sure that just about every one of us had also done a “Robin Leach” voice at one time or another.
Robin Leach now lives in Las Vegas and writes for the daily VegasDeluxe.com web site.
Here are a couple of segments of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous:
Question: Who signed off his show, “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams”?
Last Question: Actress Linda Kozlowski made her big-screen debut in what 1986 blockbuster?
Answer: Crocodile Dundee
Linda Kozlowski was a stage actress when she gained fame by playing the female lead opposite Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee. The romance spilled over to real life as Kozlowski married Hogan on May 5, 1990, following his divorce from his wife Noelene, to whom he had been married for 32 years (1958–90).
Kozlowski did not appear in too many more movies. After the original, she appeared in Crocodile Dundee II, Almost An Angel in 1990, Backstreet Justice (with Paul Sorvino) and The Neighbour (with Rod Steiger) in 1994, and the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned. The last movie she appeared in was in 2001 – Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. Am I the only one who didn’t know that that last movie existed?!?
She eventually gave up acting because she was not happy with the roles she was getting. She’ll always have Crocodile Dundee though:
Question: Actress Linda Kozlowski made her big-screen debut in what 1986 blockbuster?
Last Question: In Top Secret!, who starred as American rock ‘n’ roll star “Nick Rivers”?
Answer: Val Kilmer
Top Secret! was Val Kilmer’s first feature film. It was directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, who as you may know, also directed Airplane!. Kilmer played Nick Rivers, an American rock ‘n’ roll star who goes to East Germany to perform at a cultural festival. While there, he becomes involved in the French resistance movement and helps the beautiful Hillary Flammond (Gutteridge) rescue her father (Gough), a brilliant scientist being held by the Germans and forced to build the deadly Polaris naval mine. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and released an album under the film character’s name, “Nick Rivers”.
Question: In Top Secret!, who starred as American rock ‘n’ roll star “Nick Rivers”?
Last Question: In 1986, who became the first new MTV VJ since the original five?
Answer: “Downtown” Julie Brown
“Wubba Wubba Wubba”! As MTV was turning 5 years old, they brought in new blood with the British Downtown Julie Brown. She became a VJ, and hosted Club MTV, which was similar to American Bandstand, except it was exclusively dance music.
After leaving MTV she went on to work for ESPN conducting on and off the field interviews with football players. Then she moved to L.A. to go to the E! channel.
Let’s Return to the ’80s, and look at the VJ at work:
Whitney was Whitney Houston’s second studio album. She set all kinds of records with this album. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart the issue of June 27, 1987, becoming the first album by a female artist, and only the fifth album by a solo artist. The album remained at the top for eleven consecutive weeks, creating a record; the most cumulative weeks (25 weeks) at number one on the albums chart by a female artist during 1980s. Its first four singles—”I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”—all peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the first female artist to achieve that feat. Along with three straight number one singles from the debut album, they established an unprecedented seven consecutive number one hits by a performer, surpassing the Beatles and the Bee Gees.
Here are some great songs from the album. The first two were not released as singles, but I still love them:
“I Know Him So Well” (duet with Cissy Houston)
“You’re Still My Man”
“Love Will Save the Day”
This song was the fifth single released from the album. It ended the #1 streak. However, it still made the top 10, peaking at #9 on the charts.
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go”
Wherever they go, that’s where they are right now, Whitney. We miss you!
“So Emotional”
This is still one of my favorite Whitney songs.
“Didn’t We Almost Have It All”
“I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”
This was the first single from the album, and was one of her signature songs.
Return to the 80s 