'Beverly Hillbillies' Star Brings Experience To Warsaw Youth
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
For two years, from 1969-71, she was known as Helen Thompson on "The Beverly Hillbillies."
Helen was the beautiful blonde Brit who became Miss Hathaway's secretarial second-in-command.
Her real name then was Dannielle Mardi. Today, she's Dannielle Robertson, and she wants to help provide Warsaw area youth with year-round acting opportunities.
Robertson's experiences aren't limited to her role on "The Beverly Hillbillies." On television, she worked with Dean Martin, Carol Burnett and others. Her film credits include "My Fair Lady," "Paint Your Wagon," "Oliver" and others.
She was a prop builder on "Stuart Little 2," and worked on "Edward Scissorhands" with Johnny Depp.
She's served as a producer, creator, writer, director and assistant director for television commercials and specials, including PBS specials. She's taught elementary school-aged children various aspects of entertainment, and served as the festival director for the World Animation Celebration in Hollywood, Calif.
In theater, she's also performed with the national tour of "Company" as Amy, and appeared in the last couple of years on the Wagon Wheel Theatre stage.
In an interview May 29 at Debra Collier's School of Dance, Robertson talked about her resume, how she ended up in Warsaw, and what she hopes to do for the youth in the Warsaw area who want to act.
The California Robertson grew up with and knew so well has changed, she said. She had visited Indiana before, so when her children started talking about starting their own families, she suggested they check out Indiana.
They came out to Indiana for four days and moved to the Hoosier state within a month. Not wanting to be outdone, Robertson moved here, too.
"I bought my house online site unseen," she said.
She has traveled around the world. While the places are the same, it's the people that make a place, she said. Robertson said, with a laugh, she is so fast-paced, and people here have so much peace and serenity, they can't always deal with her. The only person she found like herself is Debra Collier.
After arriving in Warsaw, Robertson ran the drama club at Lakeview Middle School for two years. She also is planning to do a series of classes for the Chicago Dance Masters in July.
While the Wagon Wheel offers its own theater summer camp, Robertson will be teaching acting at Debra Collier's this summer. The camp will be offered June 19-20 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days.
"Hopefully," Robertson said, "I want to have something all year round" for local kids to learn acting. So many children auditioned for Wagon Wheel's "Wizard of Oz," she said, that there's obviously an interest.
Robertson likes to write her own material geared toward children to teach her classes. At the end of the camp, Robertson said the children will do a production of her material. She said she wants the children to find their voice.
Then, in the fall, Robertson said, she will teach another class at Debra Collier's.
"I'm looking at creating more performing opportunities year-round," Robertson said.
"If you build a good youth theater," she said, "you're going to feed into the Performing Arts Center, Wagon Wheel Theatre and we're close to Chicago."
For information about Robertson's classes offered at Debra Collier's School of Dance, call 574-267-7055, or visit online at collierdance.com
