ALUMNI NEWS

Make a Date to See
a Mizzou Star

By Nancy Moen

Do you miss Mizzou? If a movie date or TV show with an MU actor will ease a case of Mizzou-homesickness, there are plenty of upcoming opportunities. Enjoy these new releases starring our entertaining alumni.

Chris Cooper, BGS ’76

Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winner Chris Cooper has lead roles in four 2007 movies and one scheduled for release in 2008. He earned critical acclaim for the role of spy Robert Hanssen in the early 2007 movie Breach.

Look for Cooper later this year in The Kingdom, an action thriller to be released Sept. 28 (he plays a government agent) and in the crime-drama Married Life, set to open Nov. 9. Also planned for 2007 release is The Road Back, a drama that features Cooper as a man whose family falls apart after his daughter’s suicide.

Cooper and his wife, Marianne Leone Cooper, have a special interest in the 2008 film Hurricane Mary, the true story of a mother’s fight to give her severely disabled twins a normal life. Leone wrote the script before the Coopers’ only child, son Jesse, died of complications of cerebral palsy. They continue to work on behalf of disabled children.

Tom Berenger, BA ’71 speech and dramatic arts

Oscar-nominated actor Tom Berenger can be seen in three 2007 movies. He stars in the title role of The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, the story of a broken-hearted boy and an ill-tempered woodcarver.

In Order of Redemption, Berenger plays a once-prominent defense attorney who stumbles into a high-profile murder case. See him, as well, in Serbian Scars, an action film about a soldier in search of a long-lost brother.

In television, Berenger has played the commander this spring in ABC’s “October Road,” a six-episode drama that made its premiere in March.

Brad Pitt, journalism (attended MU until 1986)

Brad Pitt’s 2007 movie appearances include the third installment in a series of caper movies. He joins George Clooney and cronies in Ocean’s 13, to be released June 8. Also on tap for Pitt is an action-Western, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

In 2008, Pitt will star in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a romance fantasy; Burn after Reading, a comedy about espionage; and State of Play, a tale of a reporter investigating the murder of a powerful congressman’s mistress.

Robert Loggia, BJ ’51

Character-actor Robert Loggia plays a wise guy in the FBI’s witness-protection program in the comedy-adventure Forget About It. He plays Jake in Rain, a film to be released in May. The drama features a musically gifted black girl who must go to live with white relatives she didn’t know existed.

In Wild Seven, set for 2007 release, Loggia plays Mackey — just out of prison — who teams up with an old partner to plan a bank heist. Also on tap for Loggia is the comedy-drama The Last Request.

Loggia starred in the January 2007 film Funny Money with Chevy Chase. The DVD will be available soon.

Melanie Moore Paxson, BA ’94 theatre

A television personality with a voice you’ll remember is Melanie Moore Paxson. Paxson is a featured actor in an ABC sitcom about parenting, Notes from the Underbelly, which made its premiere April 11.

Paxson’s distinctive voice won her the role of “Glad lady” in that company’s long-running advertising campaign, “Don’t get mad; get Glad.” The exposure led to a role as Joyce DeWitt in the 2002 TV movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three’s Company.

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Last Update: November 15, 2007