Renee on Regis and Kathie Lee 10/06/97 Regis: Stars as the fiesty fast-talking Gabrielle, opposite Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior Princess. A pleasure to welcome Renee O'Connor. (Renee comes onstage and sits) Regis: Boy, Renee, you look about 6"8' and 300 pounds when you were smashing those guys. Renee: Regis: Yeah... Kathie: You're a Texas girl. Renee: Yeah I think it's the spirit of a Texan that, you know, lives in you. Kathie: Yeah. Renee: I might be short, but... Regis: We just had uh, Xena herself on the show. Renee: Lucy. Yeah. Regis: That was alot of fun. Renee: I've come actually to see her in Grease. Regis: Yes! That's right... Kathie: She's only there until October 19th, right? Then Linda Blair takes over. Regis: Now listen, just got back from a terrific vacation, this and I don't know what you did , but lemme tell you what she did she went to Egpyt? Renee: Right. Regis: And that whole area with your mother. Renee: I did. My mom uh... Regis: Went down the Nile? Renee: We actually, yeah we started off in Egypt we went to Cairo and then um, my mom decided um, she would get rid of me, because this man offered her 100,000 camels. Regis: For you. Kathie: Wow. Renee: For me, yeah. And she said well you know, anymore. And so yeah I was laughing at first because I thought it's kind of funny you know and then, the guy says Well, we'll deliver them. And she said, Yeah, you know, Renee, you've been annoying, so....then um, but you know you can't swim in the Nile, so I thought well... Kathie: Why can't you? Renee: There's um, a disease... Kathie: Oh, is it bacteria? Renee: Yeah, the water's stagnant. Kathie: Ah-hah. Renee: So you can't touch the water apparently, but you know there are these children doing flips into the water and I said Well I'll, flip my mom off. Renee: So we had this, you know mutual... Kathie: Renee: Yeah, actually we went to um, Mount Kilimanjaro afterwards and um, climbed it's the highest point in Africa and um, she didn't quite make it to the top but she said You know Renee go, go, go, and I went up to the... Regis: You did. Renee: Very point and barely you know, I collapsed at the top. It is fantastic. Kathie: Now they, they own this Aus- this famous Austin restaurant called Threadgill's? Renee: Threadgill's. Regis: Austin, Texas. Kathie: Austin, Texas. And that's where Janice Jopplin got her start. Renee: Yeah. it's um, my mom actually married a man named Eddie Wilson, and um, it was uh, uhhh this gas station that he started bootlegging alcohol, and Janice Jopplin started singing while she was going to school. Started, selling food and um, became... Regis: Sounds like she could use a hundred-thousand camels. Renee: I think it started another restaurant as well, so... Regis: So how you doing, you're doing pretty good, huh? Renee: Yeah, I'm enjoying the show. Regis: What did you do before the show? Renee: I worked on a couple TV movies, one was with James Gardner: The Rockford Files. Regis: Ah-ha. Renee: Yeah... Regis: Well you must've been a little girl in that one, right? Renee: Oh, no. Renee: Change...uh, called Changes. Kathie: So you've been doing this all your life, literally. Renee: Well, I went to Formeris high school in Houston, and then um, worked on the Mickey Mouse club, actually, um, those were my first jobs, so... Regis: From Mickey Mouse to Xena. Renee: Yeah yeah... Regis: Crazy business, isn't it? Renee: The Kiwi's over in New Zealand give me a hard time cause it's so American, you know, and, the humor's so dry there that, anything that, you know... Kathie: Regis: Renee I'm sorry, we got a little fouled up with our cut this weekend, we ran out of time but it was great meeting you. Kathie: We'd love you to stay... Regis: We'll see you tommorow everybody, have a nice day. Bye-bye! Kathie: ...bye-bye! - ----------------------------------------------------------------------