`What's Happening!!': That Was Different Dee

Q: Please tell me if the actress who played Dee on "What's Happening!!" is the same actress on "Amen" and "The Wayans Bros." (as Dee).

A: Anna Maria Horsford, who's now seen as Dee Baxter on the WB comedy "The Wayans Bros.," played Thelma on "Amen" (1986-91) but she wasn't Dee Thomas on the 1970s comedy "What's Happening!!" That role was played by Danielle Spencer.

Q: Recently my husband and I have seen the actor Bruce Davison in several movies. My husband believes this is the actor who played in "The Greatest American Hero." I say that was William Katt. Are either of us right?

A: Katt did star in "Hero." Davison's done many guest roles on TV, including a current one on "Seinfeld" as one of the executors of the Susan Ross Scholarship. His one regular TV role was as Capt. Wyler on the 1985-86 season of "Hunter." On the big screen, he began his career in the campy rat thriller "Willard" (1971) and went on to win an Oscar nomination for "Longtime Companion" (1990). His latest movie is "The Crucible" with Winona Ryder.

Q: Ann Sothern turned 88 Jan. 22. On her TV show in the '50s, she was a secretary named Susie. I believe her second show was called "The Ann Sothern Show." What was her first TV show called?

A: Sothern, who starred in many films in the '30s and '40s including the Mazie movies, played two of TV's first career women in the 1950s. She was Susie McNamera in "Private Secretary" (1953-57), and hotel assistant manager Katy O'Connor on "The Ann Sothern Show" (1958-61). She teamed with co-stars Don Porter and Ann Tyrrell in both successful series. Sothern also was a frequent guest star (as the Countess) on Lucille Ball's TV shows. She returned to TV in 1965 to provide the voice of the car in "My Mother the Car." In 1985, she appeared in the TV movie "A Letter to Three Wives," a remake of her 1949 film. Now retired from acting, she received an Oscar nomination in 1987 for "The Whales of August."

Q: My wife wants me to go see "Evita." I told her I hate Madonna and musicals. Besides, I saw the story of Evita as either a movie or TV flick starring James Farentino and Faye Dunaway. She says there was never such a movie.

A: Tell her you saw "Evita Peron," a 1981 NBC miniseries. It was a non-musical drama based on the life of Argentina's Evita Peron, now being portrayed on the big screen by Madonna.