The Gift of Memories

The holidays provide abundant material for a multitude of plots on television series. And many a movie you’ll see on the tube this week turns on the holidays’ full range of emotions, which strike chords in almost everyone. We asked several television performers to share their most memorable Christmas past.

Loni Anderson (Casey on NBC’s “Nurses”)

At age 5, living in Wisconin in a duplex with my mother and father, my paternal grandparents and my paternal great grandmother, I had a Christmas I shall forever remember. Amongs all the toys and clothes that were lavished upon me, there was a pair of black patent leather shoes. That pair of shoes proved to be the most wonderful present I could have gotten. I wore them to church on Christmas Eve, and I don’t think I took them off, except to go to bed, for the next three weeks. Those shoes must have triggered something in me, as I can’t, to this day, pass a shoe store without stopping to buy.

Crystal Bernard (Helen Chappel on NBC’s “Wings”)

When I was young, my parents, who are incredible artists, designed a miniature village out of cardboard in our garage. Santa appeared to present the gift to me and my sister Robyn. I’ll never get over how detailed it was. There was a restaurant complete with Coke machines and small boxes of cereal and canned goods, as well as play toys where we could cook and wash dishes. We were so happy we cried, and we played in it for hours on end for months and months.

Big Bird (Star of PBS’ “Sesame Street”)

My favorite holiday memory is when I waited and waited on the roof to see Santa Claus, but I fell asleep. When I woke up I was covered with snow, and I thought that Santa never came. But I went downstairs, everybody was there, and they were all so excited because Santa had come, he had decorated the tree, hung up all the stockings, and left us lots of presents.

Eric Braeden (Victor Newman on CBS’ “The Young and the Restless”)

One of my favorite memories was in postwar Germany when I received a pair of ice skates--it was an extraordinarily luxurious gift considering the difficult economic times. Usually one would get a much needed article of clothing for Christmas and that was it.

Macdonald Carey (Dr. Tom Horton on NBC’s “Days of Our Lives”)

Now I am old enough to have a past, I’m old enough to have the present. It’s this Christmas that is the most meaningful. My children are old enough to know me and have the good grace to accept me, as I have the grace to accept them. I am old enough to realize each day is a gift and that makes this my most memorable Christmas.

Michael Chiklis (Tony Scali on ABC’s “The Commish”)

When I lived in New York a few years ago, on Dec. 23, I was walking down Fifth Avenue. A man suddenly ran by me and almost knocked me over. He jumped into a double-parked truck and sped away. A few seconds later, another man ran out of a nearby store shouting, “My truck, my truck has been stolen.” All of his Christmas gifts were inside the vehicle. I spoke to the victim, waited until the police arrived, left and looked down the block where the truck had turned. I couldn’t believe it was at the end of the street, so I ran after the culprit, who had stopped to use the pay phone. I flagged down another police car, explained what happened and the man was immediately arrested. I ran back to the victim, told him what happened and he was overjoyed I found his truck and saved his Christmas.

Richard Cummings Jr. (Bernard on CBS’ “Northern Exposure”)

Having grown up in Manhattan, I have a lot of great memories of Christmas in the city. However, one Christmas Eve it snowed, and even though everyone was scrambling with last-minute shopping, everything seemed calm, even quiet in the city. And for New York, that calmness is as rare as is snowfall on Christmas.

Bob Dorian (Host of American Movie Classics movies)

The most memorable Christmas I ever had took place with my teen-age daughter Melissa in Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1978. We were working together in the circus and although we were far from home, feelings of peace on Earth and love and family were everywhere.

It was an international circus, so there were Christmas carols and stories and decorations from Germany, Poland, Russia and France as well as America. We exchanged presents around a small Christmas tree that took on the majesty of Rockefeller Center. There was a fresh blanket of snow outside at midnight, we had a visit from Father Christmas, who for the other 364 days of the year, enjoyed walks with his family on a half-inch steel wire high above the center ring.

Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf on KCOP’s syndicated series “Star Trek: The Next Generation”)

I’m from Pasadena and I’ve spent all my Christmases there, which is great if you want to spend Christmas morning roller-blading down the street in cutoffs. But I had my first Norman Rockwell holiday just last year when I spent it in Idaho and believe me, chestnuts roasting on an open fire take on a whole new meaning when Jack Frost is nipping at your nose.

Greg Gumbel (CBS Sports)

It was the Christmas of 1979, just prior to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. I was sent by my station in Chicago to do a Lake Placid preview the week before Christmas. We (the crew) were to fly back on Christmas Eve but a huge snowstorm came to the Northeast and all the roads were blocked. So, on Christmas morning we decided to take a bus to Montreal. We got to the station at 8 a.m. to buy tickets but the salesperson said, “Not today.” We had to wait two hours for the next bus to Albany. We got on and a mile and a half out of Lake Placid the bus breaks down. We didn’t get another bus until 3:30 and we finally took off from Albany at 5 or 5:30. We got to Chicago at 6:30 in the evening and I got home at 7:30 or a quarter to 8. I climbed out of the elevator--we lived in a big, old high-rise then--and my wife and daughter ran to me. I had made it back on Christmas Day and I was never so glad to be home.

Charlton Heston (“Ben-Hur” Oscar winner and star of A&E;’s “Charlton Heston Presents the Bible”)

My favorite Christmas memory has always been the look on my children’s faces (and now my grandson’s) when they see the tree on Christmas morning.

Huell Howser (Host of KCET’s “California’s Gold”)

I was given a last-minute leave while I was serving in the Marine Corps and literally walked in and surprised my family on Christmas Eve. It was like one of those television commercials. I’ll never forget the excitement I felt walking through the front door and seeing the look on my parents’ faces.

Ella Joyce (Eleanor on Fox’s “Roc”)

My fondest Christmas memory is the Christmas I spent with my husband Dan in Paris the first year we were married. It was snowing out and Dan bought a little Christmas tree to put in our hotel room where we exchanged gifts. We were still newlyweds, so I gave him some sexy silk pajamas and he gave me a silky “almost nothing” negligee.

Richard Karn (Al on ABC’s “Home Improvement”)

When I was a kid, every Christmas our family would plan a special day to drive into Seattle and shop the two biggest stores, Bon Marche and Fredericks. We’d go through all of the departments, and then visit with Santa Claus. But my favorite part was this huge train set at Bon Marche, which I’d get to operate. It was a great tradition I plan on sharing with my son, Cooper.

Swoosie Kurtz (Alex on NBC’s “Sisters”)

Last year on Christmas morning, I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. In fact, I thought it was a fantasy. A charming man showed up on my doorstep, dropped to his knees and draped a diamond bracelet around my wrist. I don’t want to be greedy....but this year, I’m hoping for the matching necklace. (Hint! hint!)

Greg Lee (Host of the PBS series “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?”)

As everyone knows, days are a lot longer when you’re a kid. A month is the equivalent of about three adult years. That’s why the time between the first of December and Christmas Day was so terrible for my sister and me to endure. So to help get us through that treacherous time, my mother put 24 pieces of candy on a long strip of red ribbon on the wall. At the bottom of the ribbon was a small bell. Every day we were allowed to eat one piece of candy from the ribbon. When we got to the bell it was Christmas. It was a wonderful tradition and one I keep to this day. I still eat my way to Christmas, although now I start around Thanksgiving.

DeLane Matthews (Beth on CBS’ “Dave’s World”)

The week before Christmas in 1974 our house burned. We spent Dec. 25 in a Holiday Inn, which seemed appropriate. That Christmas buffet wasn’t as good as mom’s cooking but I didn’t have to make my bed that morning, thanks to Myrtle the housekeeper. We were alive, together and very very grateful. That was a darn good Christmas.

Martin Mull (Comic/actor--”Roseanne,” “Fernwood Tonight”)

There are a number of Christmases I remember--I think I’ve screened out all the bad ones--but the one in my most recent memory, would probably have to be the first year that my daughter was born (1985). My wife and I had waited long and hard for her and she was born in November so during Christmas, she was still very new and was a great gift. I think it was the idea that we were an actual, real family.

Helen Mirren (Jane Tennison on the upcoming PBS “Mystery!” series “Prime Suspect III”)

The stockings at the end of the bed were lumpy, bumpy ones, stuffed with bits of cheap magic, one of which was always a small tin torch and stuffed in the toe, a tangerine--a rare fruit in postwar working-class Britain, only ever tasted at Christmas. So I remember the blackness of an English winter morning in an unheated bedroom, three torches and six hands making spiders on the dark walls and the heavenly taste of tangerine.

Moose (Eddie the go on NBC’s “Frasier”)

I’ll never forget all those snow-white Christmasses sitting around the fire with the family singing “Deck the Halls With Bow-wows of Holly”

Daphne Maxwell Reid (Vivian Banks on NBC’s “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”)

My most memorable Christmas happened right after my family moved into our Virginia farmhouse. We didn’t have any furniture except for beds and blankets. The heater was broken. It was 12 degrees outside and the warmest it got inside was 53 degrees. But we had a fabulous home-cooked dinner and the holiday was really special because it signified what Christmas is all about: a gathering of family and having a joyous time regardless of the circumstances.

Harold Reid (Member of “The Statler Brothers” on TNN)

One year when I was young and foolish, I thought I was going to get a bicycle. It turns out that Santa didn’t bring it, and like all little snotty kids, I was disappointed. Well, my mother and I have laughed about this every Christmas since it happened. I always asked her, “Is this the year I get a bike?” She laughs and says, “You never can tell.” We’ve had more fun with the thought than I ever would have had with the bike. This year, I think I’ll get her a bicycle.

Fred Rogers (Host of PBS’ “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”)

The happiest Christmas I remember was the first year our young sons could help decorate the tree. All of their decorations were way down low on the tree at their eye level. They couldn’t reach any further up. And we were all so thrilled with what they had done, we didn’t add anything above the bottom branches. We just left it that way.

Kenny Rogers (Recording artist and star of upcoming “NBC Mystery Movie: McShane”)

When I was 6 years old, my mom gave me a bow and arrow. We were very poor and that was all my parents could afford. We always opened our gifts Christmas Eve. I was so excited when I opened my presents that I ran outside that night and promptly shot all of the arrows into the air. Unfortunately, they went up, but never came down. I have no idea where they landed and never found them.

Theresa Saldana (Rachel Scali on ABC’s “The Commish”)

Last year, I took my 3-year-old daughter, Tianna, to see “The Nutcracker.” We sat in the Dress Circle and Tianna, who was in the first year of dance class, got up and danced in the aisle. Instead of being annoyed, the people sitting next to us were clapping for her. It has always been my dream to have a little girl and take her to see the “Nutcracker” at Christmas. It was a wish fulfilled.

John Shea (Lex Luthor on ABC’s “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”)

While I was shooting a film in Israel (in 1987) I went to midnight Mass on Christmas in Bethlehem, a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank. During the Mass, Nativity Square was surrounded by Israeli tanks, armed forces and machine gun nests all designed to enforce peace. After clearing the final security checkpoint, my wife Laura, who was very much pregnant with our son, and I arrived on this surreal, combustible scene. I put my arm around her like Joseph probably did to protect his pregnant wife and thought: “The Birthday Boy certainly has a sense of humor ...”

Lesley Visser (CBS Sports)

As a working girl in 1982, it was the first year Dick (Stockton) and I dated. We both spent Christmas in Kansas City, working at a Chiefs-49ers game. It was during the NFL strike and here we were in Arrowhead Stadium with about 20,000 people and Dick had a sweatshirt made that said, ‘Merry Me.’

Jane Wallace (Co-host of CNBC’s “Equal Time”)

My favorite holiday memories are the first holiday season when I adopted my first child (Zach). He was born right before Thanksgiving and he was only 5 pounds. I remember buying a ham that weighed 2 more pounds than he did! That same year during the Christmas season I remember sitting in the dark with only the tree lights on and him in my arms listening to Christmas carols. I felt absolutely blessed by God.

Carl Weathers (Hampton Forbes on CBS’ “In the Heat of the Night”)

Actually, one of my most memorable Christmases was last year. I was shooting “Street Justice” up in Vancouver and didn’t wrap until about a week before Christmas. Since I didn’t have a lot of extra time to buy gifts, I decided to do something different--I adopted 20 families through a community outreach center in South Central. I felt very fortunate and I wanted to specifically help single parents, minority families and/or handicapped families. I literally came home on a Friday night, and Saturday morning I rented a U-Haul of food staples, baby items, toys and filled up my garage. I put together care boxes and Christmas bags filled with a little bit of everything. Each family received two boxes. I went out and bought a Polaroid camera and film so that I could take pictures of each family so they could have some kind of keepsake. I have to say that the emotional experience of watching the faces of these families as they opened up their packages made it one of the most gratifying Christmases I have ever had and a memory I will never forget.

Times Staff Writers N.F. Mendoza and John Scheibe contributed to this collection of holiday memories.