William Keck, Author & TV Producer

Gary Interviews William Keck, Author & TV Producer on this episode of Ready, Set,  Live

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hello, I'm Gary Quinn and welcome to another episode of
Ready Set Live. My guest today is William Keck, an
author and television producer who has spent most of his
life working in the entertainment world as a reporter for
The National Inquirer, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today.

(00:44):
He has been Emmy nominated as a producer for the
Hallmark Channel, Discovery Channel, and NBC. In his new book,
When You Step Upon a Star, his book is really
a tabloid about his bad boy work throughout the history
of his life in Hollywood.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
So don't go away. I'll be right back with William Keck.
Welcome to the show. William.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Thank you, Gary, it's so fun to talk to you.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yes, you know, I was so entertained by your stories
the other night at Barnes and Noble.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
What was the catalyst?

Speaker 1 (01:26):
I know you'd have this book in your head for
many years, and what was the catalyst to say, Okay,
I'm going to finally do this.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, I've been working on different versions of it for
quite a while, for many years, but I couldn't quite
find what the right theme was, what the message of
it was. And then it was during COVID that I
was going through everything, all the notebooks that I'd saved
with every single little detail, a copy down license plate

(01:57):
numbers and hospital room numbers, phone numbers, celebrities who have
long left the planet, and photographs. I saved every clipping
of every article I ever ever wrote. And I started
to see that the most exciting things that were emerging
were the stories that kind of gave me an upset stomach,

(02:17):
some regret, some things that I felt I needed to
apologize for, and that became the theme of the book.
The cringe were they element of my of my background.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
So it's almost a destiny of spiritual awakening of you
having this epiphany to say, I need to make amends
with these things. And you know, everybody does things in
the past that you know might have affected them. But
I think, what a great way to put those through
the book and speak to some of these people.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
I know that when you were growing up, was there one,
let's say, opportunity that you met your first celebrity and
said I want to move to Hollywood or I want
to work in the entertainment business.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Oh my gosh, what a great question. Nobody has asked
me that question I love that. Well, a couple come
to mind. My mom, I think, dragged me to an
evening with Carrie Grant and it was what you can imagine.
It was a Q and A with this legend who
I really had not heard of. But when I listened

(03:27):
to this man tell his stories of having worked with
all these legends, I mean, Catherine, Hepburn and I mean
you name it, I knew that I was experiencing a
very rare opportunity here, that this person was not going
to be on the planet long, that he was a
true legend, and that I wanted to meet more of
these people. Another one that comes to mind is Joan Rivers.

(03:50):
When I was a little boy, my grandfather told me
that he had been to a concert with Joan Rivers
very early in her career, her Black and White years,
and she had given him a kiss at the end
of the concert. And I ended up having the same
experience with Joan a little bit later. I told her
the story and then she gave me a kiss. So yeah,
it was these people that had been around for a

(04:11):
long time and I knew wouldn't be around for much
longer that caused the sort of desperation to me to
get to Hollywood and start checking these names off my list.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
No, I think that, you know, everybody has some first
connection with a celebrity, and there's an energy that they
give off which is real creative.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
And I'm the same way.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
I'm attracted to the creative world. And I think when
you're in that mind space that it feels really connected.
And I had a conversation with Rene zel Wigger and
she said, you know, Gary, we're like circus people, she said,
And I love the way.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Because really it is.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
You know, you do a show, you meet people quick,
and then you leave, and then there's this bond that
you had when you worked at all these places, uh,
you know, meeting all of them.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
When Garry who was the first celebrity you met, I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
I just had that. Donna Douglas, the Beverly Hillbillies.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Ellie, Yes, where did you encounter her?

Speaker 1 (05:14):
At a bank in northern California. She was doing a
promotional tour. I was training for the Olympics. I saw
the ad in the newspaper. I must have been sixteen,
and I just said, I have to go there. Something
said you have to go there, and I went. I
took a taxi there and uh, she was signing these books.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
It was Home Savings, That's what it was. And she
was so nice. She was dressed just like.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Ellie May with the accent she died, and yeah, and
she was just lovely And I even had a picture
with her.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
I took my instematic Kodak.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
But yes, and then and then when I finally got
to Hollywood, it was swimming.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Then it was Penny Marshall and Rob Reiner.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
And then I met everybody because I was through my swimming.
So I understand how you felt, because it's like you're
in this energy. You know. I was twenty one and
I was in a trailer with Faara Fawcet, and you know,
all these people teaching Tom Selleck how to swim and

(06:25):
the Dallas Crew.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
And blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
But it was just like, I don't know, and Tony
Randall and I hung out all day with Stephanie Powers.
It's an energy that I don't think people who have
witnessed that. So you have firsthand because your first job
was that the Inquirer or was it? How did what

(06:48):
was the first job that you actually received?

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Well, I just want to mention quickly since we talked
about Donna Douglas. I believe I had the last interview
with her ever, and it was actually with Jethrow. It
was with Max Bear Junior together. They hadn't seen each other,
I think, since the death of Buddy Ebsen, and it
was a very emotional, very funny interview. It is in
the book. I have a whole chapter on Max Bear

(07:11):
and a real scandal that he was involved in. But yeah,
so I also have a photo in there with with
my meeting of Donna Douglas.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, I haven't got to that chapter yet, but I've
read most of the book. What I was really enthralled
with was was that the that you were sent on
all these assignments that when you were a reporter for
The Inquirer that were a little crazy.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Well, I mean a lot of crazy. I means take
that chapter for instance. It wasn't a sit down interview
with Jethrow. We received the tip that well it was
a tip from a former porn star, an actress who
was very popular in the adult entertainment industry that he
had actually been sexually assaulted by Max Bear, who had

(08:03):
been a friend of hers. So this sent me to
the San Diego area. I met with this woman in
her home. She told me this horrible story. I then
had to contact Max Bear, who gave me the run
around for a while. I remember I had his number.
I called him and he pretended not to be Max,
but it was very you can't gake mistake Jeffro's voice, Philo, Uh, yeah,

(08:25):
Max isn't here. He's on a fishing trip. I expected
the boys to say a fishing trip of the cement pond.
So I said, well, if you hear from him, and
ultimately I did get a quick call with him where
he denied all the accusations. But it makes for a
very disturbing, also humorous and hard to believe chapter. So yeah,

(08:46):
I mean I was sent to funerals. I was sent
to crash weddings. I was sent to hospital rooms when
celebrities were either giving birth or when they were in
their last days. You never know what horror story.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
It's almost like William, It's almost like you were a
spy or you were in character playing these roles.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
Oh my gosh, absolutely, Gary, I remember one of the
stories in the book. Kelly Savalis, who played Kojak on TV.
He was also Max. He was one of the villains
in James Bond nex Blowfield. I believe. I was sent
to a cemetery, Forest Lawn Cemetery, not far from where
you're broadcasting right now, and I had to report on

(09:30):
why his grave did not have a marker. He was
buried in an unmarked grave, and after making several trips
to this grassy plot of land, I got really sick
of making the journey, so I ended up calling on
behalf of the family to find out what was up.
And Forest Lawn told me that they'd had the stone
for many, many months, but that the family was not

(09:52):
getting along so that that was causing the delay. So
I said, you know it's true, would you please reach
out to all the family members and let them know
that we're going to install the stone Tuesday at four o'clock.
And the only person actually showed up was Kelly's brother,
but we were there as well. We got some photos
and most importantly, Kelly Savalis is no longer buried in

(10:13):
an unmarked grave.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
What was it like, uh, chasing around?

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I know you chased Britney Spears and even Elizabeth Taylor
in one of your episodes. What what was the most
Let's say, the most craziest event that you had to
do that you just said, I can't believe. I know
you went to the funeral of Bionic Woman, But the

(10:39):
most craziest was that was there one that topped that?

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Sure? Sure? Well, I think the most tabloidy, stereotypical tabloid
story would be when I was assigned to crash Dean
Martin's funeral and I had been kicked out of the cemetery.
Everybody had been. It was a VIP private event, so
they cleared the grounds and I was like, own, know
what am I going to do? And I was walking
in the circumference of the cemetery. This was in Westwood,

(11:05):
and it was there was a big cinder black wall.
But I saw that one of the houses on the
other side of the wall, that neighbor had a tree
that extended right over the wall, right near the chapel
where they were setting up the electern where the signing
book was going to be. So I rented the tree
for the evening. My photographer and I were up there.
We waited, waited, and then sure enough, a whole row

(11:28):
of celebrities started coming in, including the great great Bob Newhart,
who we just lost, but Frank Sinatra was there and
Don Rickles, and I just couldn't believe that actually this worked.
It just seems like a stunt that you would never
believe it actually happened, and yet it did.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Now moving into the Hallmark channel that was not so inquirish,
so that probably was more relaxed for you.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
It was probably a nicer reception.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
So well, I mean, to go from a place where
celebrities are terrified of you to a place where celebrities
know they're going to be protected and the only controversial
topics will be about their pet parenting tips and their
secret recipes for cupcakes. I mean, talked about night and day.
And it was refreshing because I had changed as well.
Thirty years ago, when I was with The Inquirer, I

(12:21):
was not the person that I am today. I was
in the closet. I was secretive. I was now particularly
happy with my life, and I think because that I
was kind of causing some unhappiness for the celebrities that
I loved. So cut to all these years later, when
I'm in a much better place, I'm honest with myself, with
my friends, with my family, and I'm wanting to protect

(12:41):
these celebrities that I worship and not cause them undue distress.
I mean, instead of stepping on the stars, I think
I'm shining them to make them as illustrious as they
should appear.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yes, And you know what's so interesting is people don't
understand that celebrities are just people their job. And you know,
when I travel the world and people say, oh, I
can't believe you were in the photo with so and so,
I said, yes, but they're just people.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
You know.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
People don't understand that because celebrityism is just so untouchable there.
They put them on such a high pedestal. But yet
they're just people like you and me. I mean, that's
the thing is.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
You know, it's so true, Gary, I mean, I was
just thinking you could go into a seven to eleven
and there could be an older gentleman there in Burbank
behind the counter working there who had made the auditions
to be Greg Brady back in the day, but he
didn't get the role. So I said, Barry Williams became
Greg Brady, and this other man had a different course
in his life. But these are all people who just

(13:46):
got lucky and were famous for a while. Maybe they're
star descended. But yeah, they go to the doctor and
get physicals and cough and they start their more with
cereal and brushing their teeth just like we do. They
just happen to have been on TV or in the movies.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah. Who has influenced your life all these years?

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Hm? Who has influenced my life all these years? Wow? Well,
I mean, I guess in the in the acknowledgments at
the end of my book, you're an author. You you've
you've acknowledged the people who have helped you get to
where you are. The acknowledgments end with with my parents,
and I thank them for allowing me to stay up

(14:35):
and watch all these shows that that I guess they
said it could rop my brain if I watched too
much television. But cut to all these years later, and
I have a book out that never would have happened
if I hadn't stayed up late to watch Dallas and
Dynasty and The Heart to Heart. Uh So I thank
them for letting me be a little unusual as a child.
I mean, I also remember I would collect celebrity obituaries,

(14:59):
which I think not most boys do, maybe matchbox cars
or baseball cards, but I was clipping the obituaries already,
I was like feeling a little upset that these people
I watched on TV, like Ethel Mertz and Jackie Gleeson,
that they were starting to die. I had a whole
binder on all the Adams family obituaries, so that again

(15:23):
forced me to get out there. And then within a
few years I was writing celebrity obituaries of my own.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Who William, who would you like to meet or work with?

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Still is who's a celebrity or or acclaimed let's say actor.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
You know, Gary, I am from a different time. And
even when I was working for USA Today and I
was on Red Carpets interviewing Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
and Johnny Depp, I mean that was sure, it was fun,
but it could not compare, in my book with having
met Florence Henderson and Dick Van Dyke, the people that

(16:05):
really shape my little formative mind, and I met all them,
and the book in the back of the book is
actually a photo gallery of all these reunited stars that
I got to either I was in attendance when they
were doing a big reunion, or I got to a
place where I was producing organizing cast reunions, and so
it's really a photo album of all my TV families,

(16:28):
and it's it's complete. I was really lucky that I
really got to meet everyone that I could. I never
met Lucy. She died in nineteen eighty nine. I moved
to la in ninety and it's certainly not a coincidence
that her death caused me to switch colleges from the
East Coast to the West Coast to get out here
as fast as possible.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
You know, I had the opportunity. I had the opportunity
to meet Lucy.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Oh, tell me, tell me I pies.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
I was working for Deverley Scott, who was doing Herman,
and she did the last episode of the MERV Griffin
Show and she took me backstage. She took me and
they put me in the green room and I'm sitting there.
It's like six o'clock at night, and all of a sudden,

(17:16):
they bring Lucy in, and I knew who she was,
and she was wearing sunglasses and I sat there, just
me and her. And I was already working on Laverne
and Shirley in different capacities before I became a writer

(17:37):
on that show.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
And so I.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Said, hi, Lucy and she said, oh, hi, and I said.
She says, who are you here with? And I said, oh,
I'm here with Debora Lee and she said, oh, that
redheaded girl. And I said yes. And then we started
talking about the entertainment world. And she says, what are
you doing? And I said, well, I work here and there,

(18:02):
but I'm a writer and I wrote a script for
Laverne and Shirley.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Wrong thing to say.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Why.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
She flipped out and said they stole my show. They
were playing Lucy and Ethel and they and she just
I was like, oh my god, how do I save this?
And then she calmed down a bit and I said,
can I get you some water or anything? And she goes,
She goes, no, but is there anything to drink?

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Like?

Speaker 1 (18:30):
I guess she meant a drink and I was I
think I was twenty two. I don't remember, it was young.
And then I said to her.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Then she said to me, listen, kid, you got to
save your money. She said, open a savings account. She said,
when I came to town, I put one hundred dollars and
I was saving five dollars a week. And she said,
save your money and I said okay, and then that,
and then they called her out and they took her

(19:03):
out to stage, and then I never saw her again
because Debora Lee did her peace and then we left.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Oh my god, Gary, what a great story. I've heard
several Lucy encounter stories. That's one of the best. I mean,
I would have thought, I know, remember she loved Three's Company,
Lucy loved John Ritter, who was doing these pract balls.
But I guess it was too close to home, two
women like Lucy and Ethel getting into all these crazy situations,

(19:30):
you know what, And I think she might be right.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, yes, I mean, Cindy and Penny were doing Lucy
and Ethel for sure, for sure, you know. And it
was on Paramount a lot, and it was so funny.
I was able to get all the old episodes of
they were throwing them out. A guard had a vault

(19:52):
that he used to show me because I would walk,
you know, I met everybody at Paramount, and so they
were throwing out the original Lucy scripts. I had about
fifty and I took them home because I didn't know, well,
they're gonna throw them away, and they had also press
kits they went with them, and so I kept all

(20:15):
of this for years, and then when I moved to Europe,
I found a guy who was a Lucy collector and
I needed to make some money, so I had to
go to France and he bought them all for like
five hundred dollars for the whole lot.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
I'm sure they're worth more now.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yeah, you needed the money. Then I needed to say
I do the same thing, like why did I not
keep that longer? Well, that's when I really needed the money. Yeah,
so don't put yourself over that. And then we got
joy out of that. He sold it to other people.
Probably you got correct.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
So I think these moments with celebrities are so great.
That's what I love about your book because I can totally.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Relate to all of this. What would you if you
could go.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Back in time and really history, and let's say meet
a celebrity that you have not ever met, and that
meaning they've passed on the other side that you didn't
get a chance to meet. Who would you want to
meet and what would you ask them?

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Well, that's another great question, And I mean the first
thing I would have said was Lucy. But I will
say that sometimes maybe you're not meant to meet your idols.
Every story I've heard about Lucy is that she was
quite cantankerous and had a very short fuse. You just
told me a story right there about how she got upset.
So I think maybe it's best that I didn't meet

(21:36):
meet Lucy, maybe Ethel, maybe Vivian Vance would have been
great to meet. I did get to do a great
sit down interview with Lucy's kids, Daisy Junior or Lucy Junior,
which was close to that world.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
But what would you ask Vivian, What would you ask Vivian?
What would you ask Vivian?

Speaker 3 (21:53):
What would I ask Vivian? My gosh, I would say, boy,
I think I would say, you know what? There was
there was talk of a spin off when Lucy ended,
they were going to spin off the Merches, and I think,
as we've all heard, Vivian Vance and Bill Frawley hated

(22:15):
the idea of working together again. He would have done it.
She refused to be from the Ethel with him in
any more episodes. But I think I would have said, I,
you know, if you had done that show, you know,
what would it have looked like? And how could you
have made it work? And I guess you probably would
have said in the first episode, Fred Mertz would have

(22:37):
had a heart attack and died, and then he would
have brought in Gail Gordon as my new husband. But yeah,
that could be a fun conversation to have with her.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
What do you think people's fascination with celebrityism is all about?

Speaker 3 (22:53):
You know, I think it's a common conversation that everyone
can have. These conversations have been going on since the
dawn of time. I'm sure that when the slaves were
building the Great Pyramids, they were gossiping about Tout and
common and Ramsays and Cleopatra. They were the ones on
the other side of the wall. We see this with

(23:14):
the royals. Everyone knows about Diana and Charles and Elizabeth,
and they're the common subject matter that everyone kind of
tapping to give their opinion. Not everyone knows about sports figures,
Not everyone knows about scientists, novel laureate winners. But it
seems like everyone has at least some knowledge of the celebrity,

(23:34):
the royal, the king, the president. So I think that's
part of it. And as we've seen so many times,
we celebrate people's rise and I don't know if it's
a jealousy that our life is not as fabulous as theirs,
but we also seen really really drawn to their downfalls.

(23:54):
I mean we see this with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.
Now that we're all just kind of, you know, waya
to find out when the divorce announcement is going to come.
I don't know that we're all waiting, but me it
is something we're aware of. No.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Well, I think the book is such a great read
for people who are nostalgic and also remember all these shows.
And if I said to you, what's the ultimate mission
you have now in your life? After you know this
is like a healing writing this book, what's the next?

(24:28):
You've purged a lot of old energy, You've healed a
lot of things within your own let's say aura and
your vibration, your soul.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
You've made amends with these celebrities written essays that appear
in the book, with their version of things. There's a
lesson learned at the end of every chapter. So yes,
what's next?

Speaker 2 (24:47):
What's next? For William Well?

Speaker 3 (24:50):
I still have this this love of nostalgia, and nostalgia
in my mind has changed because so many people are gone,
but I think the still ways to celebrate the things
that lit me up as a child. So I'm I'm
partnering with some of these people in We're planning projects

(25:11):
that I can't quite talk about yet, but it would
be a way to honor these shows and stars that
are no longer with us in a new way. And
so instead of me hiding in the bushes and stealing
celebrities garbage, I'm reaching out to them now to say, hey, listen,
I love you, I love the I love the mystique

(25:34):
about you. Let's partner to work together to celebrate that
and bring joy to people who, like me, can't get
enough of you.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
I think that is brilliant, William.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
And you're so great at all of this knowledge of information,
and I think you're like archiving it for history in
the books.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Thank you, you know, and a lot of younger readers
they won't know who Jajah Gabor is and they won't
know who Tammy Baker is. But in the beginning of
each chapter, I I sort of I relate it to today.
I mean, with Kelly Sibalis I mentioned him. I say
he was Jennifer Aniston's godfather. With Jaja I say she
was a Kim Kardashian of her time, along with all

(26:15):
of her famous sisters. So in the beginning I spell
out who these people are, and I think people will
be able to get who they are and then enjoy
the crazy journey that I took with these people.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Well, people can find the book at Barnes and Noble.
They can buy it online Amazon, and it's when you
Step upon a Star. And I can also attest that
some of the stories are really great page turners.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
And you can go to at the William Keck at
Instagram where he can find you.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
You can find him, or you can.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Actually have a website for the book when you Step
upon a Star dot com, which gives little previews, it
gives some celebrity endorsements, and then also order information if
you want to purchase a copy.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
Excellent, William, Thank you so much. I could talk to
you all day about all guys.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
I know, Gary, I can't believe a half an hour's
up already. Thank you for having me on. I've really
been looking forward to this.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
You're great, super You have a great rest of your
day and I will.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
See you very soon.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Look forward to it.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Thank you. I'm Gary Quinn. Until next time, be well,