"Just The FAQs Ma'am ..."

     11.  Will the storyline of what happened to Robert E.'s first family ever be
     developed?  Will we ever learn of their fate or will any of them ever find 
     Robert E.?

      
     I mentioned to them after the first season when it was brought up that Robert E.  
     It was hinted at that Robert E. had another family, but he chose when he told Grace 
     that they are not going to talk about this anymore.  I don't know what the writers 
     are going to do.  They know about it I think.  I've mentioned to them about what if 
     a son came to town.  But, now that Robert E. and Grace has a son, I don't know if 
     they are going to pursue that any further.  It would be interesting to see what  
     would happen if that family did come to town.  And they did find him.

     12.  Will Robert E. be featured more this coming season?


     I think so.  We've done a couple of shows where Robert E. and Grace are heavily 
     featured.  From what I understand they will be involved much more in the town.  
     Robert E. is now on the City  Council.  Whenever the City Council convenes they
     will have to bring Robert E. on. So, we will see how much say he has in the
     development of the town.

     13.  What other movies or series have you done?


     [Laughs] I've been doing this for about 26 years.  So, I've done a lot of episodic. 
     Had recurring roles on "Hill Street Blues,"  "St. Elsewhere," "Trials of Rosie 
     O'Neal."  I've done the sitcoms "227," "The Jeffersons," "Good Times." What else? 
     "Matlock," "McCloud."  I've done a number of those.  Probably my biggest movie  
     that I've done that a lot of people saw was "Bull  Durham."  It's still playing 
     somewhere in video stores.

     14.  How did you research the role of Robert E.?


     Well,  I'm  a research freak.  When I get a role and I'm not sure what I'm doing, I 
     will try and find out what's going on with this particular character and what makes 
     up his life.  I did a lot of reading as I said before on blacks in the West.  There 
     are a number books written about blacks and Indians and blacks and bad guys.  

     I went out to Redmonds, they were having a recreation of soldiers and mountain men 
     out there.  And I went because somebody told me there was a number of blacksmiths 
     working out there.  So, I went out there with my camcorder and spoke with a blacksmith 
     and taped the interview that I had with him.  Also, a number of wranglers on the show 
     are blacksmiths.  I have a friend of mine who also owns a horse and has a furrier who 
     comes around from time to time.  So I've gotten a lot of information in that sense  
     from people who've been around horses pretty much most of their lives and know about 
     smithing. And, also having grown up in the 40's and 50's, you kind of see how in being 
     brought up in Houston.  You see how the men and women of that time in Houston, how 
     they reacted to the time period and I remember those.  So, it helped a lot to try to 
     be able to walk that thin line in a town where it's predominantly white.

     15.  Do you have any projects in the works for the hiatus of Dr. Quinn?


     I wait and see what happens. I'm working on several projects of my own. They normally 
     take a little time to develop, but I'm just trying to get it all together.

     16. If you could play any kind of role what would it be?


     I would love to play a bad guy. I don't normally get cast as a bad guy. I had a casting 
     lady tell me about 15, 16 years ago that I didn't look like a bad guy. Well, what does 
     a bad guy look like. I guess when you play all these kind of dads, judges, kind of guys 
     that are quote unquote nice guys the tendency is to want to be able to let your hair 
     down. Kind of let loose and do some ugly things. So yeah, that's what I would like to 
     do.

     17.  What do you do when you have time off?

 
     Well, I do a lot of gardening, work in the yard, love working in the yard.  Love 
     gardening.  Grow little vegetables.  Pretty much work around the house that's about 
     it.

     18.   Is there an episode which has been your favorite?  If so, which and why?

 
     I guess -- "Things My Father Never Gave Me," because it gave me a chance to explore 
     different things about Robert E.  It was the first time we've ever seen Robert E. 
     be a little nasty and that was kind of nice.  Some of his fears came out and how he
     handled stressful situations.  So that was interesting.  So, that was pretty much a 
     good show for me

     19.  What do you like about Robert E?  Grace?

 
     I like their strength.  I like the fact that Robert E. is his own person.  A quiet 
     person. But, he is capable of doing some good things. He is now very active in the 
     community.  I think the relationship between Robert E. and Grace is a good one.

     20.  How do you feel when the subject of Grace's or Robert E.'s race comes up?  
     Does it make you feel awkward on the set?

 
     No, I'm very comfortable with who and what I am.  And once you work around these 
     people for four or five years it becomes like a small family.  Anybody who has a 
     problem with my race, then they pretty much keep it to themselves.  I'm a black 
     male.  They know I'm a black male and I don't have any problems with that [laughs].  
     No problems.  I mean we kind of joke about it but there are no problems there.  
     Everybody is cool.