Beverly Hills 213 - Acting and Art: Two Passions

For Kristen Dalton, who starred in USA’s The Dead Zone, and also starred in CBS’ Gleason, acting is a passion. “It feeds me. It feeds my energy, and makes me feel good. There’s nothing else like it.” In fact, when Dalton was first beginning her acting career, most of her free time was spent studying acting in any shape or form, whether it was improvisation or Shakespeare.

For her role as Audrey Meadows, opposite Brad Garrett on Gleason, Dalton drew inspiration from the many episodes of The Honeymooners that she had seen on television. “I’m a night person. I’ve always watched late-night television, and before cable, black and white reruns were the best late-night.”

From all of her late-night viewings of The Honeymooners reruns, Dalton remembered Meadows’ movements, where she put her hands, and how she reacted to Jackie Gleason on screen. “It was ingrained in [my mind.] I had a library in my memory.”

When she went for her audition, Dalton says she did her own hair and makeup, and voice preparations, to prepare for trying out for the role of Meadows, who played Alice Kramden on the hit 1950s show. “Audrey’s voice changed during the series,” says Dalton. “Each person has a different idea of what she sounded like. She had a nasal quality, a nose job, and her first language was Chinese.” Dalton also explains that Meadows came from a very upper-crust family, and had only had 15 words in her vocabulary that sounded like the stereotypical “New York” dialect.

Dalton’s preparation paid off during the audition. In fact, she says that the casting agents assumed that the dialect she used during her audition was her actual speaking voice. When a producer called Dalton at her home, the producer didn’t recognize Dalton’s real voice. Nevertheless, Dalton had friends from New York who didn’t think that a woman from the West Coast could play a woman from New York.

“I had such a ball doing it [Gleason]. Nobody thought I could do it.” Of course, Dalton also had help from Garrett, who played Jackie Gleason. “Brad Garrett is amazing. He’s so much fun, especially if you’ve done your homework.” Dalton says she especially enjoyed Garrett’s improvisation talents. “He feeds you.”

Currently, Dalton plays a cynical local reporter on The Dead Zone, a series with Anthony Michael Hall, based on a novel by Stephen King. “Anthony Michael Hall is so supportive, and so prepared,” she says. Dalton also says she’s a huge Stephen King fan. The Shining was one of the first films she saw in a theater, and King was the first author she read that she wasn’t assigned to read in school. “At first I thought the role wouldn’t have any depth. I didn’t want to play the stereotypical red-haired woman. But she’s a very strong local reporter. When you open up her layers, you see she’s vulnerable.”

Dalton didn’t always expect to become an actress. She was raised in a business-oriented family, and as a teenager spent most of her time assembling computer memory boards, and taking finance classes. As a high school student, Dalton says she already had experience filling out tax forms, and taking care of her checking account. Dalton had expected to one day enter the world of business, but a friend showed her photograph to an agent, who offered Dalton $1,500 a day to model during her Easter vacation. At age 16, she moved to Paris and became a model. “I found out I wasn’t as shy as I thought.” After being asked to sing and dance in a television commercial that would later win a major French award, Dalton began a career in commercials. That career took her to such locations as Senegal, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. She says she has filmed 200 commercials for mattresses, fast food, soft drinks, and beauty products.

After moving back to the United States, Dalton began acting on television series such as the hit show Beverly Hills 90210. She also appeared on Sliders, RLP., and JAG. She also had roles on the big screen, including Night at the Roxbury with Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell, and Tango and Cash with Sylvester Stallone. Recently, Dalton starred in Surviving Gilligan’s Island, playing Tina Louise, who played Ginger on the famous 1960s TV series. “I loved walking around in that dress and talking like Marilyn Monroe. It was so tongue-in-cheek.”

Just as Dalton discovered a never-before known passion for acting, she also discovered a previously unknown passion for painting. Dalton’s two uncles and mother all had painting talent, but it wasn’t until eight years ago that Dalton surprised herself by learning how to paint. She now works with oils, and has a collection of art that includes her own pieces as well as those of other artists. Her favorites are Tamara de Lempicka, Picasso, and Erte. Currently, she also enjoys collecting pieces of American Rookwood pottery, and working on the design of her homes in Los Angeles and in Vancouver.

For the next couple of years, Dalton has modest goals. “I just want to keep working. I enjoy myself in the process, and working with passionate and supportive people. You can’t just be there for the outcome. You must also love the process.”

Clearly Dalton does.

John Irwin