called his agent and asked if they would stop by the center for its annual Creative Arts Festival. Deaf kids from all over the country were in town competing in various art forms through the weekend, and Henry agreed to come for a day.
I was part of a troupe at the center called Traveling Hands, which signed songs. Besides signing as a group, each of us had a solo, and Dr. Pat asked me to do the solo that day.
Henry says, “We saw this little twelve-year-old Marlee come up, and I think she did ‘Free to Be You and Me,’ and she danced to it. But it was so powerful, and not because ‘Oh, isn’t that cute, a Deaf girl dancing to music she can’t hear.’ It was powerful because this human being, whether she could hear or not, she was born to do this. Her power, her commitment, her ability, that intangible whatever that is that makes a star, was radiating off her like heat waves. Stacey and I just simultaneously started to cry.”
Stacey says, “Marlee just transformed everything, like she had magic, she was electric, a life force like if you touched her, you would get a shock.”
After the performance the couple came backstage to meet me, but before they could, my mom pulled Henry aside.
What happened next was the beginning of the cold war between my mother and Henry that continues to this day. My mother feels Henry has cast her as the villain in my story, and I know my closeness to Henry and his family has been hard for her to take.
The Traveling Hands
But looking back on that day, my mom was convinced that my dreams of being an actress would only end in a life of disappointment and rejection. To her, it just wasn’t a viable job option. She wanted me to get an education—not just first, but instead of pursuing acting. She says, “I didn’t look at acting as a profession. I really didn’t have those kinds of dreams for Marlee. I just took each thing as it came.”
She tried to enlist Henry in a bid to lower my expectations—what would be better than a reality check from the Fonz?
Henry listened politely, then said, “You know, I can’t do that, because what I saw was so big that I can’t tell this human being not to do it.”
That moment still makes my mother crazy angry. “He’s telling the mother of a Deaf child that she can be a movie star. I made that one comment and he will never let me live it down.”
As a mother, I can appreciate her sentiment, and like my mother I certainly want my children to get a solid education; but I hope when I am asked that sort of question, I never fail to encourage my kids to dream big.
Meanwhile, I was all business—peppering Henry with questions about the industry I was sure I would be a part of one day.
“Henry came to me after that show and told me Marlee has what it takes to become a professional,” Dr. Pat remembers. “He said, ‘When she finishes school and if she decides to do this, I will be there for her!’”
Even today, this story feels more like a scene out of a movie than real life. Henry was true to his word. Over the years I would write letters to him, just to remind him that I did really want to be an actress. He was always gracious, writing me back, even when I added a PS one time asking him to tell Scott Baio to send me his picture!
A couple of times when I visited my California relatives, I got in touch with Henry. He would always make time to meet with me at his office at Paramount. In 1980, I wrote to him saying:
I think I am going to California in winter vacation and summer too. I’m going there myself. The reason why I’m going there is because I want to visit my relatives, look around in studios, and especially I want to see you so we can have a long talk about my future!
Even with the threat of a “long talk about my future,” Henry made time to see me.
As he always has, he encouraged me to keep going after my dream.
I remember during his visit to the Center on Deafness in 1978 when one of the kids asked him what he
I was part of a troupe at the center called Traveling Hands, which signed songs. Besides signing as a group, each of us had a solo, and Dr. Pat asked me to do the solo that day.
Henry says, “We saw this little twelve-year-old Marlee come up, and I think she did ‘Free to Be You and Me,’ and she danced to it. But it was so powerful, and not because ‘Oh, isn’t that cute, a Deaf girl dancing to music she can’t hear.’ It was powerful because this human being, whether she could hear or not, she was born to do this. Her power, her commitment, her ability, that intangible whatever that is that makes a star, was radiating off her like heat waves. Stacey and I just simultaneously started to cry.”
Stacey says, “Marlee just transformed everything, like she had magic, she was electric, a life force like if you touched her, you would get a shock.”
After the performance the couple came backstage to meet me, but before they could, my mom pulled Henry aside.
What happened next was the beginning of the cold war between my mother and Henry that continues to this day. My mother feels Henry has cast her as the villain in my story, and I know my closeness to Henry and his family has been hard for her to take.
The Traveling Hands
But looking back on that day, my mom was convinced that my dreams of being an actress would only end in a life of disappointment and rejection. To her, it just wasn’t a viable job option. She wanted me to get an education—not just first, but instead of pursuing acting. She says, “I didn’t look at acting as a profession. I really didn’t have those kinds of dreams for Marlee. I just took each thing as it came.”
She tried to enlist Henry in a bid to lower my expectations—what would be better than a reality check from the Fonz?
Henry listened politely, then said, “You know, I can’t do that, because what I saw was so big that I can’t tell this human being not to do it.”
That moment still makes my mother crazy angry. “He’s telling the mother of a Deaf child that she can be a movie star. I made that one comment and he will never let me live it down.”
As a mother, I can appreciate her sentiment, and like my mother I certainly want my children to get a solid education; but I hope when I am asked that sort of question, I never fail to encourage my kids to dream big.
Meanwhile, I was all business—peppering Henry with questions about the industry I was sure I would be a part of one day.
“Henry came to me after that show and told me Marlee has what it takes to become a professional,” Dr. Pat remembers. “He said, ‘When she finishes school and if she decides to do this, I will be there for her!’”
Even today, this story feels more like a scene out of a movie than real life. Henry was true to his word. Over the years I would write letters to him, just to remind him that I did really want to be an actress. He was always gracious, writing me back, even when I added a PS one time asking him to tell Scott Baio to send me his picture!
A couple of times when I visited my California relatives, I got in touch with Henry. He would always make time to meet with me at his office at Paramount. In 1980, I wrote to him saying:
I think I am going to California in winter vacation and summer too. I’m going there myself. The reason why I’m going there is because I want to visit my relatives, look around in studios, and especially I want to see you so we can have a long talk about my future!
Even with the threat of a “long talk about my future,” Henry made time to see me.
As he always has, he encouraged me to keep going after my dream.
I remember during his visit to the Center on Deafness in 1978 when one of the kids asked him what he
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