‘Dukes of Hazzard’s Lindsay Bloom Talks Favorite Moments, ‘Mike Hammer ‘(Exclusive)
Lindsay Bloom is a familiar face to ’80s TV fans — she played Mabel Tillingham, the switchboard operator and Boss Hogg’s cousin, on three seasons of The Dukes of Hazzard. She also starred as Velda in the 1984 The New Mike Hammer series and Bonnie Robertson on Dallas.
Bloom was on hand to help unveil the General Lee at the opening of the Hollywood Museum’s new exhibit, ICONIC RIDES: A Drive Through Time. She chatted with ReMIND about Dukes, being surprised by her young fans, and replacing Charlie’s Angels‘ Tanya Roberts.
Tell me about your character on The Dukes of Hazzard?
Lindsay: I played Mabel Tillingham, the switchboard operator, for the three seasons, and I knew all the gossip in Hazzard County because I was always on the phone in the phone office.
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What was your favorite episode?
My favorite episode was when the two boys rescued me in the phone office after the bad guys had tied me up in a chair and threw me on the floor.
So, that was quite a thing to film, I tell you. Lots of bad guys would come into the phone office trying to find out where the Duke boys were. The bad guys would always be trying to pay me off. It was so fun. The directors and everybody were great, like a family, really. It really was a fun show to do.
How did you get the part?
What’s kind of interesting is Vivian McRae, who is the casting director of the first season, called me in to come and audition. It was a one-day job. My agent goes. ‘No, no, no. You don’t want to do that one day.’ I said Vivian McRae likes my work. She asked me to come in. I’m going to go. So that one-day job turned into three seasons on the show. So, you never know, that’s part of the fun back in those days in Hollywood.
How are the fans of The Dukes of Hazzard?
I’ll tell you one other thing I’ve learned in the last about 10 years ago, I started doing the autograph shows for The Dukes of Hazzard fans. Goodness gracious, these fans of The Dukes of Hazzard blew me away because they’re like the fans for Star Trek. There are 3-4 generations of them now. I had a 7-year-old boy come up to my table and it was the first autograph show I did, and he said, ‘Hi Mabel, can I get your autograph?’ I said, ‘How do you know who I am?’ It just blew my mind. Parents share the show with their kids and their kids share with their kids. It’s fun to be a part of that legacy.
Was there a favorite project you’ve done other than The Dukes of Hazzard?
Yes, I call it the Velda marathon. I read it 9 times. I lost 22 lbs and dyed my hair brunette to become Velda on Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer with Stacy Keach. I did 55 episodes of that show. So yeah, that was a lot of fun.
/Courtesy: Everett Collection
That’s wonderful. I knew Tanya Roberts very well, who was in the first episode.
Oh wow, it’s a small world! Oh yes, she did the pilot. There’s a funny story there, because when they kicked it off and wanted to do a series, she [Roberts] was in Africa filming Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, and had bleached her dark hair blonde. I ended up having to dye my blonde hair brunette to replace her. I said, “Well, you want to see Tanya Roberts? OK. I can do that. Makeup! Hair!”
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April 2018
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