|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
These are a few comments I have
been able to find from previously printed interviews with various artists that included references to Freddie.
Excerpt from interview with comedian George Lopez
As for his visibility as a Latino in the media, Lopez
remembers that there were no real role models when he was growing up. That is one of the reasons he has turned down roles
where he would have had to play a gang member or a criminal. "Other than Freddie Prinze, there really wasn't anyone to look
up to," he reflects. "There was nothing to dream, nothing tangible....but I always dreamed of becoming a force in my hometown,
and whether radio, TV or movies, whatever, I'll take it."
|
|
Excerpt from an interview with George
Lopez , while host of the morning radio show on Mega 92.3 in Los Angeles - Interview from the Orange County Register....
Lopez
said his life changed when he saw Freddie Prinze on the TV show "Chico and the Man." "It changed my world," he said.
"It changed the way I thought about myself. Here was a guy who spoke the way we spoke and looked the way we looked.
Until he came along , I didn't know someone like me could earn a living telling jokes.
"When he died, I cried for
a week. His death affected me for years."
Inspired by Prinze, Lopez gave stand-up a try but he was a bust on
open mike nights around the city. "I wanted it real bad, but I just wasn't funny. So I gave up the dream and got
a job."
|
|
From a webchat with Paul Williams when asked
if he was close to Freddie Prinze.
I loved Freddie... a great talent and a terrible loss at so young an age.
His death only reminds me of how lucky I am and that my recovery is a gift. My then wife Katie and I were very close
to Kathy and Freddie ...we flew to Vegas for their wedding...only a handful of people were invited.
Freddie and
I toured together and I watched as he amazed audiences with his humor....a very different show from what most people expected
...based on their exposure to his work on `Chico and the Man' Edgy, caustic social observations....more Lenny
Bruce than Chico ... I think it was hard for him sometimes because the TV drew audiences that expected G rated humor... and
that wasn't Freddie.
He was a great young talent and it's
shameful that we didn't get to watch his gifts grow. I miss him.
|
|
Question asked of Rita Moreno in OutSmart:
In 1975, in People magazine, you were asked
about the possibility of playing Googie Gomez in the screen version of The Ritz, and you said, "You know how Hollywood works,
they'll probably let Freddie Prinze play it in drag."
Rita Moreno: Is that what I said ?
Yep. So, do
you think Freddie Prinze would have accepted the part ?
Rita: Uh, let me think. [Pause] He would have
been crazy not to. I'm glad it wasn't offered to him.
|
|
Carlos Oscar is known for
his charming, witty, and energetic stage persona. He fully acts out his jokes by telling stories and metamorphosing
into various characters and voices. Carlos jokes most often about the humorous side of his family, society, and everyday
mishaps. His comedy appeals to the mass audience.
As a Puerto Rican born in New York City, but raised in
Los Angeles, Carlos now considers himself a proud "MexiRican." Carlos tributes the late Freddie Prinze as being the
greatest comic influence in his life. "As an 11-year-old kid watching Chico and the Man, I looked up to him. He
made me realize that you could be both funny and clean and still make people laugh."
|
|
Excerpt from an interview
with comedian Richard Belzer.
Freddie Prinze, who had been a friend before he hit it big with the
sitcom Chico and the Man, fired a bullet into his left temple. He was twenty-two. As embittered as Belzer was toward Prinze's
management people, whom he felt fed off his friend's talent, he says Prinze's death did not undercut his desire to make it
in "the land of the sharks" as he refers to Hollywood. "I feel there's no one in the history of show business who's been as
ready for stardom as me," he says. "That's why, when Freddie died, I felt blessed, in a way, not to be that young."
Rick Newman, also a friend of Prinze's, is not so sure. "I think Freddie's death affected Richard more than he lets on. It
opened his eyes to another part of the business, how they can take a piece of you. I think it made him more aware he had to
protect himself."
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
