James DuMont
By Cindy Elavsky
Q: I have a question about the actor who played Jared Leto’s father in “Dallas Buyers Club,” which I saw over the holidays. He looks so familiar, but I can’t quite place him. — Kyra T., via email
A: You’re thinking of character actor James DuMont, who’s been on tons of TV shows like “American Horror Story,” “Treme,” “Nashville” and “Bonnie and Clyde,” and on the big screen in “The Butler,” “Ocean’s Thirteen,” “War of the Worlds” and “Along Came Polly,” to name just a few.
James was thrilled to be in “Dallas Buyers Club,” which centers on Ron Woodroof (played by Matthew McConaughey), who works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease. James plays the estranged father of Jared Leto’s character, Rayon, who’s transgender and HIV positive.
When I recently spoke with James, he told me about working with Jared: “It’s a really powerful scene we share. Jared does powerful work in this; as soon as we finished our scene, I tweeted that Jared would get an Oscar nomination for this role. And he seems to be the frontrunner at this point. I’ve worked with Oscar winners, and I can see and identify Oscar-caliber work. I get tweets and emails from all over the world where people tell me that our scene is so powerful, poignant and heartbreaking. It’s nice to have a little breakout scene like this after doing so many projects. It’s tough for a character actor.”
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Q: This past summer I got involved with a series called “Mistresses.” Can you tell me if it’s going to return, or was it just something they put on for the summer? — Liz R., via email
A: ABC has renewed “Mistresses” for a 13-episode second season, which is scheduled to air in summer 2014. The show, which is based on the British series of the same name, stars Alyssa Milano, Rochelle Aytes, Jes Macallan and Yunjin Kim. The show centers on the lives of four female friends, and their involvement in an array of illicit and complex relationships.
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Q: I really enjoy “The Glades,” but I think I read someplace that it is being canceled. I truly hope this is not so. Can you please find out its status? — Diane, via email
A: The A&E network decided this past fall to cancel “The Glades” after four seasons. The police procedural broke records for A&E when it debuted, but slowly and steadily it lost more than one-third of its viewers throughout the series run, so the network canceled it.
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READERS: I told you I’d let you know when I had an exact date for the season two premiere of “Vikings,” and I’m a woman of my word. “Vikings” returns to the History channel Thursday, Feb. 27, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. So don’t forget to tune in!
Write to Cindy at King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475; or e-mail her at [email protected]
© 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.