PERREAULT Magazine November 2014 | Page 73

And the experience was obviously a prelude to the chosen way of work for myself and Gene that eventually became ACTING FOR LIFE, completely based on mind body and spirit.

SK: Right after high school you got an agent, Ann Wright (the same agent James Dean had). You got the role as Tess Krakauer on CBS’s LOVE OF LIFE. America watched you fall insanely in love on screen and off with Gene Bua. Was it a miracle?

TB: It was destiny. I was cast to star as Princess Anne in the feature THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER with Gene a year before, but my dad wouldn’t let me travel alone to where the film was being shot, in Ireland. I was on LOVE OF LIFE six months before Gene. They hired him to become my boyfriend. The moment Gene and I were on camera, an electrical force went through not just Gene and me, but the cast and crew, and indeed the entire audience of millions out there. It was kismet from the start. We were married three times on TV and once in real life! They said it would never last. Gene and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary before he passed.

SK: In 1984 you and Gene opened The Gene Bua Acting for Life Theatre in Burbank. Classes grew and exploded. You and Gene created a charity named “Here’s To Life Foundation” to sponsor at-risk teens, people in recovery, and others thorough art and entertainment. Our readers would love to know more about your foundation and its mission.

TB: We have sponsored thousands through the years, bringing self-esteem and hope to at-risk teens and others through art and entertainment. It all started with our musical PEPPER STREET, which I wrote and Gene composed and directed. It ran five years and was optioned for Broadway. We would bus in teens from outreach programs, and even prisoners with their guards, sometimes. It's about a young girl who thinks she’s the only one on Pepper Street who isn’t perfect and attempts to take her life. She meets her guardian angel and they return as invisible peeping toms and see the truth behind each “perfect” person. It is outrageous, hilarious, and touching, to the point it changed almost everyone’s life who saw it. The girl learns to love herself just as she is, and at the eleventh hour decides to return to her mother and the very imperfect people of Pepper Street.

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