Cowley College - Tiger Daze Yearbook (Arkansas City, KS)

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e Waltons. Jnlike other celebreties, Gillman ' s best luence was not with a brilliant starlet closer to home. [ think probably my grandmother was a at influence. Yes, my grandmother, said. Because she started teaching me gs, poems and recitations which were iular in those days. iillman ' s interest in the performing arts not fade with the Depression. ' My interest in the theatre just never led, she said. vlarriage for Gillman also came at an yage. [ was 20 years old when I married him r first husband) and working on adway. He was an orthopedic surgeon the county hospital. We had four dren and I would take time off when y were born to spend the time with n, but then right back to the theatre embered Gillman. .gain finances were the reason Gillman irned to the theatre. ' He (her first husband) was earning .50 a month as a resident at the county pital, so it was a good thing I was an ess and could support a family, she L jillman ' s first husband died later, after ing a heart attack. She eventually larried, only to loose another spouse. I married again and acquired four more dren, step-children, she recalled. And i my husband died. At this point, I had two kids in school so I went back work again. I went back to Los eles and it was there I met Gordon ' is. avis, writer and director of Eleanor: Celebration, has had a colorful jer that includes acting, producing, cting and writing a novel. He (Gordon Davis) started the first 24 ur, all-news station in Los Angeles, I used to listen to him doing editorials I thought he was very bright, very resting. He used to also watch me on vison and then finally a mutual friend oduced us and we became very good rids, recalled Gillman. ' he bond of this good friendship later ame a basis for matrimony. We really had not intended to marry, l our friendship became so great and we found that we had similar tastes in music, theatre, philosophy, life, children so we married, Gillman said. It was this marriage that convinced Gillman of Davis ' bravery. Gordon is the bravest man in the world, said Gillman. Any women who has had two husbands die of heart attacks - why would any man want to marry her? Most actresses divorce their husbands, I love mine to death, she said. Gillman ' s marriage to Davis enlarged her family even more. When I married Gordon I aquired two more children so I have 10 children. Six of them are step-children but they don ' t treat me like that because I ' m their real mother, said Gillman. Talent is often passed down through generations, but this is not always the case. No (none of my children are involved in the theatre.) I ' ve been asked that question before and people have said ' why aren ' t any of your four children in the theatre? ' and I ' ve given them a very fast answer: no talent, she said with a laugh. And that ' s an excellent reason for not being in the theatre if you have no talent. They have talents in their own way, they have children and other jobs that they do. Many times career choices can come between a couple but not with Gillman and Davis. Our careers meld together, we are both directors and actors, (Gordon was an actor). We understand the business. Neither of us ever thought we would ever marry someone in the business, said Gillman. Most actors and actresses retire to get away from the constant moving around and establish a home where they can live the rest of their lives. This would have been the case for Gillman and Davis, who had already retired to Minnesota, but the temptation of putting on Eleanor: A Celebration was new and strong. This is a whole new theatre to us. It ' s more than just doing this play, that ' s like the cherry on top of the sundae, it ' s the opportunity to do seminars and classes with students and community projects, Gillman said. It ' s also the opportunity to give young women in college a role model that isn ' t (Please continue to page 37) ALL OF THE NEWS WHEN YOU WANT IT! When and where- to be found here and now— in the pages of The Winfield Daily Courier. Keep up on the news of your town, on the state of the nation, on the events happening all around the world... right in the pages of The Winfield Daily Courier For Special Student Subscription Discounts .Call 221-1050. Pulse

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Toni Gillman CELEBRATES Eleanor Roosevelt in Crabtree Convocation GILLMAN ' S GIFT-Tonl Gillman presents a preview of the Eleanor Crabtree Convo- cation in the Little Theatre during the annual Family Day celebration at Cowley. (Photo by Jeff Krueger) This is fine here, she said as s squatted slightly to sit in an imagina chair on the empty stage. She walk slowly around the as if she had been th( a 1000 times before. I work right across, she said raisii her arm to each bright light shining on t deserted stage that would be transform into Eleanor Roosevelt ' s sitting room. That ' s good, right in here, she said she made sure each light was set exact where it needed to be. It feels lovel; she said. None of her props had been unload yet, but it did not matter. Visualizing I scene was second nature to her. I ' m at my desk here, she said peeri again into the bright lights. That fe lovely. Yes, she said decidedly. The play Eleanor: A Celebration not foreign to Toni Gillman, veter actress. Now, in its fourth season, t play was commissioned in 1984 on r 100th birthday, as a celebration of t great contributions Eleanor Roosevi made to this country. Gillman began her theatrical career the age on four, as to help support 1 family. I didn ' t decide it (to go into acting) all, the Depression did, recalled Gillma I probably would have gone to a fi girl ' s school, been totally spoiled by i mother and father, she imagined. My father was a concert violinist, ur the Depression came. During t Depression, they were not hiring cone violinists, they were closing do 1 symphony orchestras, so my mother a father had two talented little girls w could act at age four and six. We would have lost our home exec for something called HOLC, the Hoi Owner ' s Loan Corporation. We were ch actresses who worked impulsively a because of that work we were able to p off our HOLC, said Gillman. Theatre was not the only medii Gillman and her sister, Lucy, w involved in at a young age. We went into radio. We did so opera ' s and vaudeville and then I went Broadway at the age of 10 from Chicaj Chicago was my home, recalled Gillnru I went to Broadway to do my first pi and that was with Will Geer, gramps Fall ' 87

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We get 20 or 30 requests a semester wanting us to do things. Doug Hunter 10 F a 1 1 ' 87