...Michael
Mahonen 2001 Toronto...
January 30, 2002
Mickey holding Alexandra Heilbron's new book "Remembering
Lucy Maud Montgomery" .( click on title to go to Avonlea Tradition
page for more information) Alexandra has interviewed Mickey several
times in the past for Canadian publications.
October 30, 2001
Smiling when I teased him about how "cute" he looked with his new short
hair cut :-D
I asked him if he could look serious for one photo, He is trying not
to smile, but his eyes are twinkling...
Laughing ... when I asked him about his Gemini Award being in the Kirkland
Lake Hall of Fame.
Michael deep in thought ....
holding a Remembrance Day poppy ( Veteran's Day poppy in the USA)
One last photo before he leaves. His gray shirt makes his eyes look
dark gray.
I was standing a tad too close and didn't get the top of his head ...
oh-no!
All photographs by Kitty Hadley
Gemini Weekend October 2001
Another October, and I was able to make my way to Toronto to go sight
seeing and visit friends. Since I didn't know
I was going soon enough, I was not able to get a ticket to go to the
Gemini Awards dinner. Hopefully next year I will?
The good news is... This time a visit had been arranged by the agency
for Mickey and me. He had a free hour he could
spend talking ... so, we did!
Mickey was dressed very casually in a gray polo shirt, gray pants, black
leather jacket and sneakers. I was so surprised
when I saw how short his hair was; that I giggled and said "
Oh, no. You cut your hair!" He just grinned at me. We found a place
to sit and chat, and I took several photos in a row... then put the camera
away so we could talk.
He was curious about my visit so I told him about going to the CBC studio
and back to the CN Tower. That tower holds
a fascination for me. It is big and soooooo tall! I went back to Spadina
House ( Captain Ames house in Return of Gus Pike) and this time
went in for the tour of the old millionaires mansion. I was the only one
there and had a personal tour
of the house, what a delight! There were several spots in the
house where I could envision Mickey/Gus standing ... and I
took a few more pictures. So far only the "Mickey pictures" have been
developed, but ...can you blame me? LOL I'll do
the other pictures as soon as I can.
Alexandra Heilbron and I spent one afternoon at Gooderham & Worts;
an old section of Toronto that is brick buildings
and cobble stone streets. This is where "When She was Bad..."
was filmed. Remember Gus and Sara going down the dark alley looking for
Captain Crane, only to have Gus captured by Abe Pike? I found the alley...
:) Alexandra mentioned that she had watched some of the filming
of "What Katy Did" at Gooderham & Worts, a Megan Follows movie
that has yet to be released. We wandered around the different buildings
looking for places where this movie had been filmed. Later Alexandra and
I went to The Old Spaghetti Factory. We had walked and talked so much that
afternoon, it was heavenly to sit down and enjoy a delicious dinner.
I had gotten an autographed copy of Alexandra's new book and when I
showed it to Mickey , he graciously posed holding
it. Unfortunately we had spent so much time talking about what
I had been doing in the city that we did not have much time
to talk about his work; but here are a few things...
Giant Steps ... The interiors of Jazz musician Slate Thompson's
factory dwelling were filmed in one of the Gooderham & Worts brick
buildings. ( If I had known, I would have looked for it...)
I couldn't believe that he had cut his beautiful hair so short ( it
makes him look so young in person...) and asked "Why?". He said that the
longer hair took a bit of maintenance, but the short hair was easy to care
for. He washes it, towels it dry and he is done. ( It is attractive on
him, but ... I prefer the slightly longer hair that he had last year ....
but not the really long hair that he had as Paul or Ben Davis. Cheeky cat
grin :-D)
When I asked about his Gemini Award, he said " ... it is on loan
to the Kirkland Lake Hall of Fame..". When the KLHF
asked if he had anything for their display , he offered
his Award. ( It still belongs to him, it is only on loan to them). So,
I teased him. "Oh, I see. Now *they* have to keep it polished!". He laughed
in agreement. I asked how he felt about receiving
it. He thought for a moment and answered that he had been very pleased
about it, because it gave him a chance at the Gemini Ceremony to be able
to thank all of the people who had helped him in his work over the
years.
His performance as Paul, the teenager dying of Aids because of a tainted
blood transfusion, in "The Facts Behind the
Helsinki Roccamatios" had been so powerful and moving that I
was curious why he had not been nominated for a
Gemini. He replied that he thought that both he and Michael
Riley ( who did win the award) had been nominated. When
he had received the call from his agent saying he had been nominated
; he assumed it was for "Helsinki". It was about
a week later , that he found out the nomination was for "The Return
of Gus Pike" and not "Helsinki".
David Ferry ( aka "Stuart McCrae) .I mentioned that of all the
RTA actors, David Ferry was the one I least wanted to
meet. That I had been so upset/angry at his character wanting to marry
Felicity when " ... we all know that Felicity belonged
to Gus, and to nobody but Gus...". He was surprised. "Why?
David is a nice guy.", he answered with a smile Maybe David
is, but I still don't like him. ( Says the cat, pouting like a five
year old <G>)
I asked the two questions we all wanted to ask him. "Would you
ever play Gus Pike again and would you work for Kevin Sullivan again?"
He became serious and said that, yes he would. He would be happy
to play Gus Pike again and that
" ...under the right circumstances..." he would
work for Sullivan Films again. (Something we are all hoping for...)
Reading script and auditioning , were two of the things he has been
doing lately but he would not give specifics until something
was filmed and ready for release in the theater or on television. I asked
if "Canada- A People's History ", "Helsinki" ( which he knew was
to
air again on CBC in December ) or the reruns of Avonlea were of any help
to him in getting work. He replied, that it was possible that someone who
was casting a new project might see him and think "... Mahonen
might be good for this part..." But, he said, that things are not
done quickly in his business; it might be 6 months or a year later that
his agent would be called and asked for him to audition..
It was time for Mickey to leave, so I walked him back to the hotel lobby,
and took one more picture. I am looking forward
to October 2002 and the Gemini Awards. Hopefully there will be new
work of his to talk about then...
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