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VOL.22, NO.9
Actors find family comes first
Baltimore beginnings Tucker grew up in a large extended family in Baltimore. His mother was one of seven children — his father one of 15 — and they owned a kosher butcher shop.
SEPTEMBER 2010
I N S I D E …
PHOTO BY BEN STROTHMANN
By Carol Sorgen Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry are best known for their star turns in the television series “L.A. Law.” Their careers have encompassed many screens (television and movie) and stages (theatre and speaking circuit), and continue to do so. Lately, however, their focus has shifted from their careers to their family, as the couple has taken responsibility for the care of Jill’s mother, Lora, who suffers from dementia. The couple will discuss their role as caregivers — and the touching new book Michael has written about the surprisingly positive effect it has had on their family — when they appear as keynote speakers at the Beacon’s InfoExpo on Sunday, October 10, at White Flint Mall in N. Bethesda, Md. Tucker, 65, and Eikenberry, 63, met in 1970 while performing together in a play at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. They married three years later. In addition to his talent as an actor, Tucker has discovered a flair for writing, having published two books about his passion for good food and the good life. In I Never Forget a Meal, Tucker highlighted his love for cooking — “inspired by my love for eating” and developed in college “out of self-defense ”— with poignant memories and recipes. His second book, Living in a Foreign Language, continued the theme, detailing the story of Tucker and Eikenberry’s purchase of a 350-year-old stone, fixer-upper farmhouse in Italy, and the friends and meals that have led them to spend as much time there as possible. But in his latest book, Family Meals: Coming Together to Care for an Aging Parent, the ever-entertaining raconteur turns serious (yet not without his trademark sense of humor). Copies of the book will be available for sale at the InfoExpo, and Tucker and Eikenberry will be autographing purchased copies after their presentation.
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LEISURE & TRAVEL
New Orleans endures and entices; plus, Easton’s lively arts scene near the Maryland shore, and figuring gratuities abroad page 39
ARTS & STYLE
Marsha Mason arrives to perform Shakespeare; plus, a former lawyer finds he has a flair for film, and Bob Levey is wistful for Hank Aaron page 53 Actors Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker, together with their grown children Alison and Max, help care for Eikenberry’s mother, Lora, who has dementia. The couple will speak about caregiving and autograph Tucker’s new book, Family Meals, at the Beacon’s InfoExpo on Oct. 10 at White Flint.
When Tucker’s grandfather died after the birth of his 15th child, Grandma Tucker picked up the pieces, ran the shop and raised the kids. “There were always uncles and aunts, grandparents and cousins around the house,” recalled Tucker in a recent interview with the Beacon, speaking from his Upper West Side apartment in New York. But like many of his generation, Tucker added, he “rebelled” against this family model. Tucker, Eikenberry and their two children, Alison and Max, were like many modern American families “spread out all over the country, pursuing our own lives.” Tucker got his acting start in Baltimore,
and then was off to Carnegie Institute of Technology’s well-regarded drama school “to do it for real,” acting having always been his career goal. Tucker’s theater credits range from regional theater to Broadway. He has also appeared in such films as Woody Allen’s Radio Days and The Purple Rose of Cairo, fellow Baltimorean Barry Levinson’s Diner and Tin Men, Paul Mazursky’s An Unmarried Woman, and Lina Wertmuller’s A Night Full of Rain, to name just a few. Most recently, he starred in Based on a Totally True Story, at Manhattan Theatre Club. See ACTORS, page 56
FITNESS & HEALTH k Too many tests in the ER? k Diabetes myths and facts
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LAW & MONEY 26 k Decent returns with less risk k Social Security’s politics VOLUNTEERS & CAREERS k Hats off to a milliner
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SPOTLIGHT ON AGING k Newsletter for D.C. seniors
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LIFETIMES k From the Charles E. Smith Life Communities
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PLUS CROSSWORD, BEACON BITS, CLASSIFIEDS & MORE