Friday, November 24, 2017

Blind Items Revealed #6 - Anniversary Month

March 28, 2017

This actress was almost at the A+ level at one point in her career.  She was a young actress in an ensemble cast of one of the most popular television shows of all time.  The character she played was beloved by audiences and her acting was great.  She is a multiple award winner/nominee.  As I already wrote, the television show our actress starred in was one of the top rated shows at that time and was also critically acclaimed.  The ensemble cast was a group of talented young actors and actresses, several of whom went on to become even more famous as their careers progressed.

The sad thing is that our actress, who I'll call Ms. D, has pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth.   At the height of her fame, she inexplicably decided to walk out on the show.   Not only did she walk out on the show, but she also forfeited what would have been an incredible amount of money in the process.  Of course, there were diversionary tactics used to explain her departure from the show--the usual stuff about how she was difficult and demanding, and also that she was just downright crazy. None of this was true.  What actually took place is that something very bad had happened to this actress at the hands of another cast member on the show.  We'll call him Mr . A.   Mr. A was almost as popular as Ms D. was at that time , but beneath his wholesome exterior he was hiding a very dark side. To be blunt, this dude was a sociopath.  Anyway, the real reason Ms. D walked out was not only because of what she experienced, but also because others involved with the show chose to look the other way.  In fact, the higher-ups around the show made it clear to cast members that the situation was to be hushed up so that there would be no bad publicity.  Mr. A also gaslighted Ms. D., big time, in order to keep her quiet.  He had everyone on the show conned.  It was so bad that our actress began to suffer from serious health problems from the stress and those close to her were afraid she would end up hospitalized.  So... she bolted from the show for her own health and sanity and pretty much faded into obscurity.

After her departure, the show continued on, as did the careers of Mr. A and the other cast members who had turned a blind eye to what happened.   A few years passed and Mr. A became even more famous and wealthy thanks to his role on the show.  His increased fame placed him in more elite social circles where he crossed paths with another actress.  This actress, who I'll call Ms. T, is what I'd consider permanent A list.  At the time she encountered Mr. A., she was not really acting very much, but still maintained her A-list status for other reasons.  Anyway, Mr. A. crossed paths with Ms. T because of mutual friends and also because of a business matter they had in common.  Unlike Ms. D,  Ms. T had been around the block a few times and recognized the red flags with Mr. A's personality pretty quickly. She is no shrinking violet and was not about to put up with any crap from this guy.  Ms. T saw the warning signs after our actor attempted to make a business situation as miserable as possible for her.  She told him in no uncertain terms that he better back off-- and as is the case with these personality types, when Mr. A realized was onto him, he made sure to stay out of her way.

Although Ms. T's heydey as an actress was pretty much over at that point, our actress was (and is) very well liked in the industry.  She has lots of loyal and powerful friends.  And  Ms. T made sure that ALL of them heard about her miserable experience with Mr A.  Since our actress has never been known to say an unkind word about anyone, that made her story that much more credible.  Her powerful friends that heard the story were even more disturbed by it because at the time she crossed paths with Mr. A,  she was going through a very vulnerable time in her life.   Mr. A honed in on that and attempted to exploit her.  Luckily our actress saw through that and was able to avoid harm.  Ms. T's friends were so disgusted by this story that they spread it around like the plague and before long, almost everyone in the business had heard it (and believed it).

Mr. A continued to work on this very famous show, but once the show ended, he suddenly found himself struggling to get more work.  No one would give him the time of day.  This is surprising given that a number of the actors from this show went on to further successes after the show was over- but he didn't.  It was clear that people in the business were aware of our actor's issues and were avoiding hiring him.  What is even better is that that none of those old castmates were willing to help Mr. A find new work either.  They all felt guilty about the situation with Ms. D- and no longer wanted to be tainted by any association with him, especially since Ms. T's story was widely known at that point.

What makes this all so interesting is that Ms. D and Ms. T recently met one another for the first time.  They were introduced by a mutual friend who was aware of both of their stories.  Since Ms D was really not in contact with many people in the business anymore, she was had not heard Ms. T's story when it was circulating around.  The two women have since become very close friends and consider themselves part of each other's families.    This is a very unlikely friendship but they have totally bonded over their mutual loathing of Mr. A.  What is even more intriguing is that Ms T is urging Ms D to write a book about what happened to her. Ms. T has even offered to pony up the cash for Ms. A to hire lawyers in case there are legal problems with the book.  It will be interesting to see if the tell-all gets written.  If so, I would imagine there will be quite a few in the Industry who will be very nervous about the prospect of being called out for not intervening in Ms. D's situation with Mr. A.


ER/Sherry Stringfield/Noah Wyle/Bo Derek

59 comments:

Rosie Blue 42 said...

Whoa!! Several of you nailed this one when it was originally posted. I always wondered why she walked away from a great show.

Do Tell said...

Freaking twit. I never liked his character on E.R. either. Susan was the best!

Rosie Blue 42 said...

Also BRAVO to Bo Derek! Didn’t know how much soine she had. Now my hero!

Rosie Blue 42 said...

Meant ‘spine’

Tyler said...

What was it that he did though? This is frustrating.

Sunspirit said...

Wow.
I had to google what gaslighting meant.

OB said...

What a fascinating story. And I love the fact that there is WAY more to Bo than meets the eye. Stunning beauty, and balls too!

Tricia13 said...

What a knob.
Doesn’t haves trace of charisma either -never got him.
“Soup without salt “as Mom always says...

Do Tell said...

Bo Derek - beautiful, kind, loves animals, and she's a sharp cookie! Glad she turned it around on that POS.

Do Tell said...

@austin, after Bo's husband died, Wylie tried to lowball her in a real estate sale.

Lora said...

Yes the biz deal = Wyle bought Derek's house in Santa Barbara...go Bo!

LondonGirl said...

But what did he actually do to Sherry Stringfield?

SkittleKitty said...

WOW. Did not suspect / expect these folks. But this explains a lot about Sherry S.'s career--she's an AMAZING actress. I remember her from Guiding Light. ER actually didn't use her as well as they could have. No wonder she walked away.She must have left before some random number of episodes hits and you get more residuals from the reruns (?).

And now I know that Noah Wyle is a douche.

Do Tell said...

@LondonGirl He probably assaulted her.

"something very bad had happened to this actress at the hands of another cast member on the show. We'll call him Mr . A. Mr. A was almost as popular as Ms D. was at that time , but beneath his wholesome exterior he was hiding a very dark side. To be blunt, this dude was a sociopath. Anyway, the real reason Ms. D walked out was not only because of what she experienced, but also because others involved with the show chose to look the other way. In fact, the higher-ups around the show made it clear to cast members that the situation was to be hushed up so that there would be no bad publicity. Mr. A also gaslighted Ms. D., big time, in order to keep her quiet. He had everyone on the show conned. It was so bad that our actress began to suffer from serious health problems from the stress and those close to her were afraid she would end up hospitalized. So... she bolted from the show for her own health and sanity and pretty much faded into obscurity."

Tyler said...

@Do Tell, thank you. Any idea what he did to Sherry Stringfield that made her leave the show? BTW, this blind isn't quite accurate. Noah has worked steadily since ER ended. Even before it ended, he landed the lead role in Falling Skies which was hugely popular, and right after that, The Librarians which is still on.

Tyler said...

@Do Tell, read what you posted just before me which answered my question, thanks!

Do Tell said...

Noah is working steadily, but not getting projects that are anywhere near the prestige of what his E.R. star trajectory was predicting. He went almost straight down, with the exception maybe Donnie Darko and one other project. And that was while he was still on the show.

LondonGirl said...

Colour me shocked, I loved him in ER. What a shit bag.

Jayne Townsley said...

I didn't care for Sherry at all, so I guess I'm in the minority as far as her acting goes.

Noah Wyle is a horrible person for what he did to her and I'm glad he's no longer getting work.

Ms. T - Bo Derek the Ms. "Ten" .... Love it.

I'm glad Sherry found her. Sometimes, it really helps to have someone who's been there on your team.

misslilyg said...

read bo's book/autobiography. she has a chapter on this.

she was angry because he and his wife played with her dogs when they toured the house, and also because his mortgage company's inspection spotted needed repairs in the wiring. john derek had built the house himself, and she regarded asking for repairs as an insult.
She admitted their mutual friends told her to lighten up.

i've no idea about the situation with sherry, but she did return to the show later on and their characters were romantically linked for awhile.

Thursday November said...

What the hell did this sh*thead do to Sherry?! I remember her on Guiding Light when I was a kid, an older women in my apartment building who used to babysit me sometimes watched it.

Thursday November said...

Wondering if he was gaslighting her in some way.

nancer said...

this is so weird because his character on ER was such a wimp.

DavidHowesCREBroker said...

Another reason to like Bo Derek.

Serenity said...

I found this info posted by someone in March on another forum in reply to this exact blind item:

Show: "ER"
Ms. D: Sherry Stringfield (she quit just as television executive Dick Robertson was closing a deal that guaranteed the ER cast millions in future earnings from sales to cable and syndication, meaning she effectively "walked away from a fortune")
Awards: In 1991 and 1993, Stringfield was nominated in the "Outstanding Villain/Villainess" category at the Soap Opera Digest Awards for her role in Guiding Light. She has also received multiple awards and award-nominations for her role as Susan Lewis in ER, including three separate Emmy Award nominations in the category "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" in 1995, 1996 and 1997. In 1995 she was nominated in the category "Favorite Female Performer" at the People's Choice Awards and in 1995 and 1996 she was nominated in the "Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series -Drama" category at the Golden Globe Awards. In 1996, she won a Q Award for "Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series" and in 1997 she, along with several of her ER cast-mates, won a Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series".
Mr. A: Noah Wyle (although he starred in "Falling Skies" and "The Librarians", he also produced them)
Ms. T: Bo Derek (sold her ranch to Noah Wyle after the death of her husband John Derek)

The tl,dr version- Noah Wyle was a total scumbag and did horrible things to Sherry Springfield on the ER set. Nobody helped her since they didn't want to lose the money coming in from the show going into syndication. So Sherry left, didn't get the extra money and was made out to look like she was a crazy bitch. Years go by and Noah is going to buy Bo Derek's ranch. Noah tried to pull some of the same crap he did before with Bo. She told him to fuck off and told her friends. People believed her and refuse to work with Noah. Bo became friends with Sherry and is trying to help her.

Glue said...

I never really watched ER, but love Sherry Stringfield. I remember her from when I watched Guiding Light (Blake Thorpe) in college and then I think she was also on NYPD Blue.

My husband called it a long time ago while watching one of the first episodes of Greenlight Project on HBO. A film student was interviewing Noah Wyle. His true colors showed then and there - Noah Wyle was enjoying being a blatant dick to this young guy - happy to never see that man onscreen for anything ever again.

Interesting little six degrees of separation kinda thing: Ben Affleck was one of the producers for Greenlight Project on HBO and guest appearance by Noah Wyle as a favor for a friend. Birds of a feather....

Itttt said...

He always looked like a beady-eyed little weasel, but to be such a shitheel sociopath! What did he do exactly?

Itttt said...

I wouldn’t call going from a top network hit like ER to a couple of SyFy/TBS/TNT/whatever shows to be a continuation of one’s career. ER -> Falling Skies? Librarian? Flol...

Sabrina said...

But WAIT.

Sherry DID come back to ER after she left and her storyline was a love story with Carter, Noah Wyle's charater. How come she accepted that then? She was abused and accepted to come back to have love scenes with the same guy who abused her? That doesn't make any sense, I'm sorry.

I don't doubt that Noah Wyle, who is said to be a privileged brat, is a jerk. But that blind makes zero sense.

Gator said...

I always wondered about Wyle. He gave off that kind of vibe, like the asshole he played in White Oleander.

Marlin said...

Still not getting it, did he sexually assault SS? Another major disappointment for me, I loved Noah Wylie as Dr Carter. Yet another example to stress these actors and actresses are nothing like the characters they portray. I have always liked and respected Bo Derek. Unclear about that too tho, was he trying to take advantage of her grief and rip her off or was she just upset that there was criticism of her late husbands work on the House I.e. legitimate repairs needed.

Marlin said...

Also what’s the significance of the letters by entry? ms T is obviously for Ten who we all know as Bo Derek but cou,don’t get the ms D(for doctor maybe). And mr A?

Thursday November said...

From what I found online Sherry & Noah dated during the 1st season.

DJ said...

@marlin

Mr A = asshole?

Marlin said...

Oh lol. Thanks.

Unknown said...

I'm not saying Noah Wyle didn't do what he was accused of, but this article makes it sound like everyone went on to be a big star after ER and that's just not true. What have Goran Visjnic, Laura Innes, Anthony Edwards or Eriq LaSalle done since they left ER? Sure, George Clooney and Julianna Marguiles both went on to bigger and better things, but not everyone became an A-lister when they left that show.

texasrose said...

Sorry but Sherry Stringfield never close to A+.

Glue said...

Quick update: Was reminded, it wasn't really an interview as much as NW happened to be in the studio where they were filming their greenlight project.

NateM said...

Liz Woods

They basically all did better than Noah Did, which considering he was the main character of the show mostly the entire time he was on seems suspicious.

Also the timing makes sense, SS came back in season 8, A left in season 11 and if I recall correctly his character was off in Africa the last several seasons he was on the show so he wasn't really around everyone else



Kinda makes you think about Vanessa Marquez' allegations of racism on the show. If A could get away with that much...

jessorella said...

Bloody hell. Hope that book gets written, and hope the other cast members feel suitably shitty for not standing up for her when they should have done (now would be far too little, far too late).

Himmmm said...

Yesssss! +10000000 on this blind!!
Noah Whiney is a total shitbag.

He did a little indie movie that Drew Barrymore paid for and financed out of her pocket. Everybody worked for scale or below. All because it was an amazing project, and Rich K. - the newbie director/writer- was a great kid. Everybody was a cheerleader for this project.

Then comes Noah. Drew BEGGED him to do it as a personal favor since they were supposedly "very close" at that time. He was all aboard. Only had a few scenes, but they were important. Noah was such an inspiration, and went around helping everyone out. He even was spending late hours with Jenna Malone "coaching" her on her "craft" too. What a nice guy! Noah was going out and drumming up publicity for the project while it was still shooting, and getting media exposure for it. In fact, Noah was GOING OUT OF HIS WAY TO MAKE HIMSELF A VERY VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THE ENTIRE FILM. Yep. Almost trying to make it to where the project would crumble without him. How swell.

THEN after shooting 3/4 of his scenes? He does a total 180 on Drew, Rich, and everyone. DEMANDS either full quote pay (meaning to be paid on par with his LAST studio film!) or else...if they didn't pay his quote? He wanted FIRST DOLLAR GROSS! Which even Drew wasn't getting as an actress (she was an investor/producer).

This fucktwit Noah KNEW it would cost a fortune and take time to re-cast and re-shoot his role. It was such a shoestring film, that even that adjustment could SINK the whole film! A legendary veteran actor with a featured role in the film physically threatened to beat the shit out of Noah about it. But he didn't have to worry. Turns out that a guy who knew Rich from "back home" when they were kids - and was a pal who helped Rich and Drew to launch it - when HE heard about it? HE went to Noah and made him an offer he couldn't refuse (lol - with his own version of Luca Brasi!). Nothing illegal transpired, allegedly ;-)

To make a longer story shorter? Noah was eventually "convinced" by this "him" friend to play ball and stick with the deal. But he was a dick to everyone the whole time after that. They even got Noah to do positive press for the movie, and praise it. (Or else :-) But during filming Rich almost shuttered the whole movie over Noah's bullshit.

The movie was called Donnie Darko.

And that's the story of how a guy (Noah) could be an even bigger DOUCHEBAG than Seth Rogaine. (who had a teeny-weeny role in it too).

FYI: glad to hear Bo was so awesome about this! She's a great lady. I would never wanna piss her off either. She was responsible for starting and saving Shania Twain's entire music career! They even lived together for a while in the early 90s! I would've LOVED to been staying at the ranch in those days, when Bo and Shania were "roomies" together ;-) I would've been happy just sleeping on the couch -lol.

Raspy said...

Haha great story about Noah getting put in place by a heavy type!
Now I wanna know what Seth Rogan did. He always presents himself as an easy going bro just happy to be there type

OKay said...

I've loved Sherry Stringfield since her Guiding Light days. She deserved as big a career as she wanted. I really hate Noah Wyle now.

Scandi Sanskrit said...

OMGGGGG. i loved Noah as a doctor on "ER" (i didn't even follow the storyline and didn't give a shit about Clooney). i like dhim so much i actually bothered learning his naaaame (and i rarely care about celebrity actors).

but yeah i hope Ms. D gets er justice. 💔

Scandi Sanskrit said...

Actually I hope Sherry Stringfield gets her justice (I should be more respectful and learn her name too). Hugs. 👩🏻💛✨

Rinky said...

Hah, Himmmm! Nice story! I'd forgotten Noah Wyle even existed to be fair. Now I can see that's not entirely a bad thing.

OB said...

Himmmm is fab. Full stop. Love them!!!

yarnwhore said...

This makes me very happy that, when I was on that quickie Southwest flight from Vegas to Burbank with him one time, I didn't recognize him until someone in baggage claim said it was him because that asshole has spent waaaay too much time in the sun. He looked like alligator skin.

Erik Estrada, however, was charming and incredibly well preserved.

totaji said...

I love Donnie Darko and rewatch it every so often. I’m assuming it was Patrick Swayze who threatened him. I didn’t know who Wyle was until reading this. All I can say is he brought nothing to his role and was completely forgettable.

plot said...

@Liz Woods -

Goran Visjnic has been very busy as an actor. He will always be working.

Laura Innes is directing a ton of stuff and acting still.

Anthony Edwards does seem to have fallen off the map and become mostly a dabbler.

Eriq LaSalle is in some ways the biggest success story, after Clooney and Margulies. He's directing and producing constantly in the hit series.

Glue said...

@Himmmm - great story. Thank you for sharing and does sound like my husband's instincts were correct. Just a few min of watching him on GP on HBO and my husband blurted out, "That guy is a real dick!! And I don't think he's acting."

Teaching in the trenches said...

Anthony Edwards’ wife founded Stila cosmetics,
which later sold to Estée Lauder.
I imagine he only works when he is really interested in a project.
(Yeah, I googled him after I read that he named
the POS who abused him).
A.E. seems like a class act & I wish him the best

plot said...

@OKC Teacher -

I did not know that! No wonder AE went to ground - he doesn't need to work unless he feels passionately about it and probably has a conflicted relationship with Hollywood anyway.

Haven't looked up AE's abuse claims. Will do now.

Scallywag said...

She was terrific in Guiding Light. I remember at the time they said she was leaving going back east for a fiance or something, though she didn't get married for several years after. It could be she had a better personal support system in NY.

Scallywag said...

@plot - Anthony Edwards has been playing the judge this season in that Menendez mini-series. Haven't watched it, real life go-round was plenty for me.

Gina said...

I only find this hard to believe because Sherry was a series regular on ER twice. Season 1 to mid 3 season and again season 7 to season where she was Noah's love interest season 7. Noah was on ER full-time from season 1 to 11 and only appeared in a 4 part arch season 12. When did this happen? Surely no one is sick twisted enough to bring Sherry back season 7 and almost immediately par with her supposed sworn enemy Noah? This blind DOESN'T SPELL SENSE!!!!

Bend3r said...

@Himmmm WOW. Jena Malone was 16 when Donnie Darko was released. I assume she was 15 while he was 'coaching' her on her 'craft'.

And I have to say that the mental picture of Shania Twain and Bo Derek 'coaching' each other on their 'craft' in the early 90s is a hell of a mental picture.

Bubbles said...

Kinda blown away to find out Noah (maybe he's called Mr. A for Ark= Noah)Wiley was such an asshole. Had the biggest crush on him back in the day.

@Himmmmm, some backstory please on how Bo Derek became so powerful in Hollywood? I would personally think that with the story you provided re: Donnie Darko that Drew Barrymore would have far greater cache getting him blacklisted as she seems hella connected.

And was Noah really a huge ass to Bo or did he just want some repairs made to the house? Assuming that they both had agent repping them, I wouldn't think their interactions would have been THAT involved.

Nancy said...

@misslillygm this is what confuses me about this blind being revealed to be Noah/Sherry/Bo. Bo stated in her book what she was upset about with the house deal (he and his ex-wife petted her dogs and there were some issues in the inspection)...and I think if there was more, she'd reveal it but didn't. And Sherry came back to ER for seasons 8-11 and why would she come back to a show where her alleged abuser/harasser/gaslighter was still working? She would leave the show a second time right after Wyle left. And then she came back for the final season where her primary interaction was with Wyle (Carter opened a hospital in the name of deceased son and she, Benton, Corday and Weaver were there to celebrate the opening and discuss old times).

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