'All in the Family' icon Struthers to appear in Somerset

By CHRIS HARRIS, Staff Writer

Somerset — On Wednesday night, Gloria Bunker-Stivic — one of television’s most famous left-wingers — will visit Republican stronghold Pulaski County.

What’s more, she’s looking forward to it.

Sally Struthers, who’s been appearing on America’s big and small screens for 40 years, will be starring in the Kentucky Repertory Theatre’s production of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” a play for two people.

Appropriately enough, given the liberal politics of her most famous character, Gloria of “All in the Family,” Struthers is starring next to Mike Gallagher. A conservative talk radio host (of “The Mike Gallagher Show”) and Fox News contributor, Gallagher is also a bite victim of the acting bug, and the two act opposite each other to tell the story of two people who share 50 years worth of letters, cards, and messages conveying an unbreakable closeness.

“It’s a very sweet, simply-told story about the relationship between a man and a woman,” Struthers told the Commonwealth Journal last week. “You learn about their lives, their fondness for each other, things that happened and didn’t happen between them through letters written over time.”

Struthers noted that the action “bounces back and forth” between herself and Gallagher, sitting at desks and reading to the audience. “It sounds like it might not be enough action, but it’s absolutely charming, heartwarming and heartbreaking.”

The show runs for five nights in different spots around Kentucky — Hopkinsville, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Horse Cave, and of course Somerset. In fact, the Somerset performance falls on a very significant date for Struthers.

“I consider it a very lucky day — it’s the day my father was born,” said Struthers. “If he were alive, he would be 93. I can’t think of a better place to memorialize my father than in Somerset, Ky.”

In some ways, however, Gallagher is a little more at home in conservative Pulaski County. “It will be fun for me — Kentucky is certainly not Berkeley, Calif., and that’s the way I like it,” he quipped.

Although it seems odd for big-time media personalities like Struthers and Gallagher to come to Kentucky to do a stage show, Struthers is in fact no stranger to the Bluegrass State, having been through this region in three previous productions over the last 15 years (”Grease,” “Annie,” and a female version of “The Odd Couple”). In this case, said Struthers, she’s here because of “that old Hollywood story — they called and asked” if she would be in “Love Letters.”

“It’s been a lovely experience every time I’ve done it,” said Struthers. “I can’t think of a better place to be in the springtime than Somerset, Ky. Everything is beautiful and blooming.”

Something else that’s bloomed over the years is the friendship between Struthers and Gallagher. Despite the pair’s differing political views, they hit it off when Struthers appeared on Gallagher’s radio show, and Gallagher’s late wife Denise became like a sister to Struthers (to the point that they called each other “Sissy”).

“One of similarities (between real life and the show) is that Sally and I are not politically aligned but neither are a lot of the people you love in your life — I was married to a liberal,” said Gallagher, who will be doing his show from a Glasgow radio station while in Kentucky. “We realize that we don’t have to have the same ideology to get along or even to love each other.”

In June 2008, Denise passed away after a battle with cancer. Struthers’s friendship was instrumental in Gallagher finding a way to move on after the tragic loss.

“I made it my personal mission to make sure he was okay, and to check on him all the time,” said Struthers of Gallagher. “I started talking to him about getting back into theater. He knows all the lyrics to every song in every musical ever written. He can sing them all and has a great voice.”

Gallagher noted that a little extra prodding from his sons encouraged him to get back into acting as a sort of diversion. It’s gone well so far: Gallagher hit three auditions in New York a few months ago, and got all the parts for which he tried out. He’ll be playing Harry Macafee in the classic “Bye Bye Birdie” in Dallas this summer. When Struthers found out about “Love Letters,” she called to get him involved in it too.

“I thought he would be great next to me because he reads every day on the radio and never stumbles over anything,” said Struthers. “He said he was so excited (about the opportunity) that he couldn’t stand it.”

Gallagher’s experience with his wife’s passing provides a unique perspective to take into the play, one about a deep and timeless love affair. Struthers noted that Gallagher wasn’t sure he could make it through emotionally, but she encouraged him and gave him “a standing ovation in my heart.”

“The last couple of years have been really tough,” said Gallagher. “I’ve come to reevaluate life on many levels. The years she was sick, we loved and laughed and lived because we knew it was bad. We made every minute count.

“I’ve come to appreciate a relationship like (in the play) between man and woman in a way I never had my whole life,” he continued. “These are two people who have loved each other since they were children. The emotional impact of two people loving each other very much hits close to home because of the love affair I had with my Denise. I’ve got her very much on my heart and mind as I get ready for this show.”

For Struthers, another aspect of “Love Letters” touches her art: the almost forgotten art of correspondence. Struthers doesn’t own a computer and doesn’t send e-mails or text messages, and that’s just the way she likes it — even though, she admits, her old-fashioned communication tends to frustrate the ultra-modern Hollywood types around her.

“I have always enjoyed writing letters, making them visually attractive as well as weaving words in a meaningful and sentimental way,” said Struthers. “It’s a lovely story, and reminds people about the art of letter writing. I know I get excited when I open the mailbox and see an actual letter. I love to see the handwriting, the stamp they got at the post office. I love to same them and pull them out and re-read them. ... I really honor that form of communication that seems to be headed for extinction.”

Struthers credits the author Gurney with the verbal acumen to make a play based almost solely on words an entertaining experience for an audience. “Since there aren’t any sets or costume changes, and it really is all about words, (’Love Letters’) obviously had to be written very well,” she said. “Gurney did a superlative job of turning out such a touching piece with just words — no props, no lighting effects, no dancing girls. Just words.”

The one-night only performance begins at 7:30 on Wednesday at The Center for Rural Development. For more information, call The Center Box Office at 606-677-6000.

Though Struthers is known for her roles on TV and in films, the stage is one of her original loves, and getting the opportunity to interact with a live audience in Somerset — along with one of her “top five best friends,” as she calls Gallagher — is a very special for the woman known for her roles in “All in the Family,” “Gilmore Girls,” “General Hospital,” and much, much more.

“Theatre is an exciting and safe place for me to ply my trade between television series and films,” said Struthers. “Luckily, the phone always rings, and someone always wants me to come for a play or a musical. ... It’s always an adventure. I always meet the craziest, greatest people. My phone number book is exploding from all the friends I’ve made all over the country.”

Now, perhaps, she’ll have the chance to make new friends right here in Pulaski County.

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