The Richard Biggs Tribute
March 19, 2005
Richard Biggs: A native of Columbus, Ohio, Biggs is best remembered for his role as ‘Dr. Stephen Franklin’ on the television sci-fi series, “Babylon 5” from 1994 to 1998. He also appeared in “Days Of Our Lives” as ‘Marcus Hunter’ from 1987 to 1992, “Any Day Now” as ‘Bill Moody’ from 1998 to 1999, “The Guiding Light” as ‘Clayton Boudreaux’ from 2001 to 2004, “Tremors” as ‘Roger Garret’ from 2003 to 2004, and in several other television appearances. Biggs passed away on May 23, 2004, at the age of 43.
~Recap by nicholsevansfan…
I was seated with other Stephen fans; Kathy, Patty, Emma, Joyce P. and her husband Dale. Sherry and Sandra of Stephen’s site were also there, but at another table. There were also a bunch of former/old time Days fans and some current Wally fans at another table, who knew Kathy and Patty. I would say the majority of the room was B5 fans, but 2-3 tables were old Days fans.
It was a pretty informal sort of event, subdued, maybe 60 people… which I like. The big soap events are usually run very poorly, and you end up feeling like part of a herd of cattle. This one, you could just mingle and hang out, take pics at your own pace. The food was good.
Speaking of food, as the “chefs” were making a couple of omelets at the breakfast buffet, one flame went up so high that the fire alarm detected it…and yep, you guessed it, the fire alarm went off. LOUD buzzing. I believe it was Bruce Boxleitner (or was it Matt?) who said later…that was probably Rick having some fun with us all. I like the thought of that. We sort of waited as some people tried to shut it off. Luckily, one person was successful (but the fire department showed up anyway, LOL).
Stephen was approximately the second actor to arrive, with George Jenesky with him, too. They were chatting and posing for pics for a while.
They were seated together at the same table with Amy Yasbeck, Melissa Gilbert and Bruce Boxleitner.
–Caren Day (who helped organize the event and was once Mary Beth’s publicist, I believe) spoke of Richard as one of her best friends for 18 years. She said that the event was being held a day after his birthday. She remembered asking him last year what he was doing for his birthday, and he had said his boys were taking him to Chucky Cheese. She said that was the kind of guy that Richard was…she spoke of his sense of humor and loving his family and friends. This year, she and the boys and Lori and family all went to Chucky Cheese to celebrate Richard’s birthday.
–Bruce Boxleitner shared some fun stories and spoke of the kind of guy that Richard was. I remember being moved by his talk. He was up on the stage with his 9 year old son. I don’t know why I am blanking on what he said! I got the chills in the middle of it, just because it really was a good one.
–Stephen shared the story of how moved he was by Richard’s humility at the audition (because it was so unlike an actor to be humble). Then he shared some story of being amazed at Richard’s chest, LOL. He regretted not staying in touch with Richard. Stephen also said that Richard’s passing was another reminder to him to cherish his time with his family and not take it for granted.
–Amy Yasbeck came up on stage to talk about aortic aneurysms. Amy, if you recall, played Olivia, Orpheus’s sister-in-law who was briefly a love interest for Roman/John. Amy is also the wife of John Ritter, who died of an aortic dissection. She explained that dissection is when the wall of the aorta tears as a result of the aneurysm, I believe. This is the same ailment that took Richard’s life. I still have to read the article she passed around for everyone. She wanted to make sure that everyone reads more about it because it is more common than anyone knows. Even people who thought their parents/loved ones died of a heart attack may not know that they actually died of an aneurysm that could have been prevented and/or treated–there are symptoms and a test that you can ask for. The condition can be genetically-linked as well, so it’s important to be educated on it. She also mentioned onstage that when she read of Lori being widowed so young, as she had been, she thought of talking to her to comfort her, knowing what she was going through. But when she read that Richard had died of the same thing that John died of, she knew she absolutely had to. I was very impressed by Amy. She was funny and yet very humble and sweet. She also mentioned that she believes this is what she has to do now, educate people. She has already heard back from a lot of people (many of whom she spoke of), that have had their lives saved by learning about what happened to John and the condition he died from.
–Melissa Gilbert was next to share a memory, I believe. I may have the order mixed up…but anyway, she added that people like her, who are adopted, and don’t have their family medical history, should have the test done. After hearing Amy speak, she says, she is going to have the test done right away. She spoke of being “Gladys, the set wife” at B5 for a while when she was pregnant with her son and Bruce was working on the show. Then she got the role of “the captain’s wife” on the show, right after she’d had the baby. This was her first time acting for a long time, and she was nervous because of that and because she had never done that genre before, plus these were all her husband’s friends, etc. She wanted to impress. So she had all this nervous energy, and her first scene was with Richard, who was examining her as a patient.
Richard said something like, complimenting the size of her boobs and asking what size they were, to lighten things up.. LOL. She said it just made her laugh and made all her nervousness go away so she could go on with the scene. (Her husband Bruce said something to correct her in the middle of her story, and she answered him back along the lines of he is correcting the president of SAG, etc. LOL…it was cute banter).
The rest of the breakfast was mostly mingling, having pictures taken with the actors, talking to them at your own pace. It wasn’t hyper-organized–it was just right. Stephen looked SO GOOD, and in a great mood 🙂 Someone complimented his hair and he imitated his hairstylist…apparently a French/gay guy who considers himself an artist from the sound of Stephen’s “accent”, LOL. Stephen was telling us how the guy didn’t use mirrors.
I never did get a picture with George, but I got some of him talking to others and posing for pics. He was laid back and down to earth as ever. He answers to both George and Conrad apparently, LOL.
Throughout the event, the boys (Richard’s sons) were eating on the floor, walking and running about, playing (as did Melissa and Bruce’s son)–such little boys, so joyful and sweet. They just “brought it home”, if you know what I mean….made you see what the day was really about.
When Matt came in (he was late because he had to take care of his kids, but he stayed the whole rest of the day and shared memories later at the autographs session), he and Stephen greeted each other right away and were talking for a long time as a group of fans took pics and posed for pics with them. They were obviously happy to see each other. Matt mentioned that he had some kind of event at that same room years ago and Monica Lewinsky had been there (before she met Bill, LOL)…hee hee. When they posed for a pic with me, Stephen was rubbing Matt’s jacket and saying, ‘oh, soft Matthew‘, etc, LOL… (He had a nice suede jacket on).
Melinda Clarke (ex-Faith) is very pretty in person, and she was a bit shy, but signed autographs for some people in their Days books. At the breakfast, she spent a lot of time with George, catching up.
Matt talked about Richard, how he was about living life to the fullest. He shared memories from Days, about how Richard went from being “Patch’s best friend” (and not much else) to suddenly having a big story (the revival…stuff with Faith), where he had to work A LOT. He wanted to go talk to the producers about reducing his workload, but Matt told him about the law of ebb and flow, LOL. Anyway, Matt can tell a story well 🙂 He just made you feel what Richard was like in his description of some their times together. Matt thanked everyone for coming.
At the end of the event, all the celebrities posed for a group photo in the front of the room, along with Lori and the kids. They were just adorable. I believe it was at the end where Lori had the older little boy say thank you in the microphone. (He looks JUST like Richard)
He just laughed and said thanks everyone for taking me to college…well something along the lines of that in a 4 year old’s voice. Just precious. (May have been at the end of the autograph session…can’t remember)
–Stephen left after the breakfast. (He wasn’t scheduled to stay for the second part)
After a break, it was time for the autographs session, where they were also set to do hand out the raffle prizes and auction prizes. We all sat a table together just to browse around the room. This event was more formal in that you had to get a ticket for each star you wanted an autograph from. I don’t really collect autographs, but I just went around the room taking pictures with/for a friend there, and also pics of Matt for Emma who had left, not knowing Matt was staying for this part. (Most of those pics didn’t turn out though, hmpf). Matt was shootin the breeze, very laid back, talking to a few fans.
I can’t remember the exact timing (I believe it was toward the beginning of the autograph session or maybe the end of the breakfast…) but anyway…George and Melinda shared their memories of Richard as well.
I can’t remember much of what George said, but it was very sweet/touching as well. He mentioned pitching a story to the writers; he said it was after Stephen left the show, where Marcus and Kayla progressed from friendship to something more. He said that he and Richard had to fill in for Matt at some event where Matt was the headliner–the star of the show, LOL. He just recalled what a great guy Richard was and the fun time they had.
Melinda talked about the fact that Richard was her first love interest on Days or on camera; she was 19 and nervous and he calmed her down. She explained the story on Days–Faith had been blinded in an accident and had a crush on Marcus. She recalled her audition script, like most audition scripts in daytime, being a more extreme/exaggerated version of what actually gets on the air. In her audition, she had to open her eyes after being blind…seeing Marcus. (She explained that Faith’s father was a bigot). Marcus asked her if she understood why they couldn’t be together–and she said “love has no color, like the river of God” erm, or something along those lines. Anyway, something cheesy as that, LOL. Then Melinda shared her personal story, of losing her sister (at the age of 24) to a heart defect. She said that she thinks its very important for people to demand the best care from their doctors, to ask for a test they think they need (like the one to detect aortic aneurysms)…that it is our right to do so and to get educated on this stuff.
The autographs started. Matt was seated with Lisa Howard (April) who arrived at 2:30, and also with someone who played Corwin on B5?? I have no idea who he is… LOL, but he was very cute/handsome, and he brought his adorable, sweet dog that was playing with the kids and some grownups, too.
I still can’t figure out what Tony Dow (Wally from Leave it To Beaver) was doing there, LOL but he was there.
Melissa and Bruce’s son took one of the table centerpieces (a huge set of balloons in different colors) and was playing with it around the room. He was really well behaved and having a lot of fun playing with another boy there. I could tell he was asking his mom if he could take the balloons home, LOL.
The raffles, live auction and silent auction stuff was done towards the end. Matt was a pro at it–and it gave me deja vu…made me remember seeing Richard taking over the auctioneering duties at the last event I saw him at too (the B5 event to benefit the Aliso/Rancho Viejo School–MBE’s sister’s school)…same way of taking charge to help out the cause.
They had another group picture taken of the celebrities, and that was the end of the day.
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