There's
one thing the producers of Beverly Hills, 90210 don't want
you to know about Jason Priestley. It is not the fact that he
apparently has a death wish, since one of his favourite pastimes
is bungee jumping off bridges. And it is not that he loves to
swill a pint of beer, or that he once swilled so many pints he
pushed his face though a window and earned some of the scars that
makes him spend extra time in the make-up chair to cover them up.
(The other scars, 13 in all, come from another suicidal past-time,
playing on a celebrity hockey team).
What the
producers don't want you to know is that Priestley adores
older women. Before 90210 made him a superstar, the
22-year-old actor co-starred on the short-lived 1989 sitcom,
Sister Kate.
Dynasty
supervixen Stephanie Beacham was amusingly miscast as a nun who
ran an orphanage. Jason played one of the teenage orphans. And
despite the unflattering habit Beacham wore on the set,
Priestley found himself having, well, un-Catholic thoughts.
"Man, I had
to fight that Oedipal thing all week," Priestley says,
mentally taking a cold shower as he reminisces about working
with the fortysomething Beacham.
Teen heart throbs
like Priestley are not supposed to like older women. They're
supposed to be fantasy boyfriends for teenagers who pour their
hearts out in the passionate letters he receives.
Who are
Priestley's other dream women? He immediately volunteers Terminator
2 star Linda Hamilton, American newswoman Jane Pauley, and
Stephanie Beacham, who never seems to be out of his thoughts.
"Stephanie
and I were the only adults on Sister Kate. She's the
only thing that kept me sane," Priestley says sighing.
Beacham remains
close to Priestley, but just how close she won't say. "Jason's
got such an ease about him. I think Jason's attitude towards the
whole thing is the same as towards sports. You plays your best,
you have fun, and when the game is over, you go home."
Whatever Beacham
and Priestley mayor may not feel about one another, the dramatic
age difference between the two keeps getting rubbed in their
beautiful faces.
Earlier last
year, Priestley called up 90210's executive producer,
Aaron Spelling, and demanded Beacham be hired for a guest spot
on the show. "It was so sweet of Jason. He's an angel,"
Beacham coos. Well, she got the gig, but Stephanie ended up
playing Luke Perry's MOTHER!
As Priestley
says, "This Oedipal thing is really something I have to
fight." In general, Priestley seems to identify with older
folks. His favourite actor is Peter O'Toole, whom he saw in
London on stage, and admits he was transfixed by O'Toole's
performance. "I get very inspired by that kind of actor.
They're not celebrities, they're not stars. They're just actors.
That's what I want to be."
Priestley's also
a big fan of fiftysomething Tom Jones. "Tom, Luke Perry and
I had dinner some time ago. I was questioning his knowledge of
Elvis trivia and he knew an obscure song, 'I Was The One',
and started singing it. What recourse did we have but to jump in
and sing with the Tomster? I can now go to my grave saying 'I
sang with Tom Jones'." No one needs to introduce Priestley
to his favourite brew - beer. Born and raised in Vancouver,
Canada, Priestley can't fathom Southern California's
preoccupation with clean living.
The best thing
about Vancouver, he says is its beer. "It is unbelievable
how you get viewed as an alcoholic in LA if you say you're going
out for a beer."
One of his 13
facial scars occurred when he got drunk in Vancouver and pushed
his head through a store window. The rest of the scars have come
from unfortunate encounters with hockey pucks. For the past six
years, he's played on a second- division celebrity hockey team
in LA. "The puck hit me right above the lip," he
recalls of one too-close-for-comfort encounter. "I didn't
even feel it, but then I licked the inside of my upper lip and
my tongue went right through - ugh!"
That Priestley
does not care about what hockey does to his matinee idol looks
is in keeping with the fact he doesn't want to be a
matinee idol. He shuns celebrity. He's the only cast member of
90210 who doesn't do personal appearances at shopping
malls, and co-stars Luke Perry and Brian Austin Green are
following suit after recent terrifying brushes with fans in
shopping malls.
Priestley in
fact, wishes his 15 minutes of fame lasted only that long. It IS
a nightmare. "What worries me with all this merchandising
stuff - all these dolls and paperweights and pencils - is that
they will become the perception of me. And the ramifications of
that are absolutely terrifying." Priestley may want to
avoid all this idolatry because underneath the pretty boy
features, he's something of an intellectual. His favourite
past-time, when not bungee jumping or riding his Yamaha
motorcycle, is curling up with a good history book. "I'm a
history buff. I graduated from high school. I'm the only actor
in town who has!"
Priestley hates
hype. The publicity machine for the show has tried to generate a
feud between him and co-star Perry. It is true Perry was added
to the regular cast when it seemed Priestley's Brandon was too
mild mannered and the drama needed a more dangerous, James Dean
type- brooder.
Priestley
practically bares his teeth when their alleged animosity
mentioned. "I want to dispel that. Luke is my partner in
crime. I hang out with him four, five times a week. I mean, what
do I have to do, get up there and kiss him on the mouth so
people will know we are good friends!" But Luke does not
mind ribbing his good friend and says, "Well, you can
definitely say that Luke sleeps with a pig." Charming!
Perry has a pet
Vietnamese potbellied pig named Jerry Lee after the famed rocker
Jerry Lee Lewis. Adds Priestley admiringly, "Luke's house
really has a good pig odour to it, which I appreciate."
Although he is a
reluctant superstar, acting is in Priestley's blood. His mother
was a dancer/choreographer/singer. (She's now a real estate
agent and his father sells furniture and textiles). When Jason
was only four, he begged her to set up a meeting for him with
her agent. Soon he was hawking products on Canadian TV
commercials. By the age of eight, he was starring in a Canadian
TV movie.
In 1987,
following the lead of so many other Canadian actors, Priestley
decided to try his luck south of the border. Almost immediately
his intense but boyish looks landed him guest roles on 21
Jump Street, Quantum Leap and Airwolf.
Priestley's
attraction to teenage girls earned him the biggest break of his
career. Producer Aaron Spelling's daughter, Tori, who plays
Donna on 90210, saw him on Sister Kate and
started promoting him to her father.
"Oh Daddy, I
just saw the sweetest guy," she said. "He's soooo
cute."
Too bad Tori is
only 18. Maybe when she is in her 40s, Priestley will repay the
favour and take her out for a pint. But by then, who knows, he
maybe into sixtysomething women!
Stephanie
Beacham, stay by the phone!
