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Since a number of you had expressed interest in hearing the Memorial
event held last Saturday for Richard Biggs, I thought I would send
along a report submitted by Ranger Jan. Be sure to visit the
websites mentioned at the bottom. You'll find some wonderful photos
of Babylon 5 cast members enjoying a day together.

Take care.
Sandy

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Hi, Sandy,
I thought the Zocalo readers might be interested in a 'con report'
on the Richard Biggs Memorial event this past Saturday:

What an altogether NICE day! I wasn't staying at the hotel where the
benefit was held so I took a cab and arrived about 15 minutes before
the breakfast was due to start. Met up with SciFiRanger, the
webmaster for the KeepB5Alive.com site and headed on over to the
ballroom. SciFiRanger, another online friend, David and I were all
at table #1 with a few other SF and soap fans. The room was set up
with several round tables for the breakfast, the buffet at the back
of the room and stage in front. Near the stage were some large
photos of Rick - alone and wearing a grey pullover, a studio shot of
Rick and the boys wearing matching outfits and one of Rick and Lori
in formal dress. Around the walls were long tables where the actors
did the autographing later on. Lori Biggs is a beautiful woman and
lovely person. She and her friend Caren were everywhere at once! The
little boys, RJ and Hunter are adorable and strongly resemble their
dad. Neighbors, friends and family members were all helping out and
everything ran smoothly.

Available to look at and bid on were some cool things for a silent
auction including a cast signed Days of Our Lives T-shirt and hat, a
3rd season script (nope, I had it already), a 'background' Narn mask
signed by Andreas, signed photos and posters of the B5 cast,
including some signed by Rick. There were also items for raffle like
copies of the B5 cover TV guide, an entertainment utility, and more
photos.

During breakfast, a few people got up to share memories of Rick. I'm
afraid that these were soap stars so I don't know who they were.
Each mentioned the complete attention Rick would pay to each person
he was acting or talking with, something I'd noticed when meeting
him at cons, as well as his utter lack of pretension. In addition,
John Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, came and spoke for a few minutes
about aortic aneurysms, which was Rick's cause of death. Unknown to
many, they can be discovered by a simple scan and there's often a
family history of them. If you have a family member who might have
passed away due to a 'massive heart attack', she urged that you get
it checked because they *can* be detected and repaired, a fact that
even many doctors don't realize yet.

For anybody interested in more information about aortic aneurysms,
check out http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2004/explanatory-
reporting/works/ for the award winning articles by Kevin Helliker
and Thomas M. Burton. These are highly readable articles, not dry
medicalese. Later on, Melissa Gilbert mentioned that people who are
adopted and who have no family medical history to call on, should
especially consider getting the scan for possible aneurysms.

A space was left at each table for an actor but none came to our
table. Bruce, Melissa and Jerry were the B5 stars who attended the
breakfast and many fans went and talked and got pictures taken.
Toward the end, several of the 'afternoon session' actors came in
and were guided to the 'Green Room'.

After breakfast, the room was cleared for about half an hour while
the staff cleaned the room and we set up the tables for
autographing. Autograph tickets were sold at the door and each
actor 'charged' so much per autograph. I was assigned to help out at
the table with Jerry Doyle and Stephen Furst. There were some
changes from the flyer so let me list who was there from B5:

Pat Tallman
Jeffrey Willerth
Bruce Boxleitner
Melissa Gilbert
Jerry Doyle
Stephen Furst
Jason Carter
Marjorie Monaghan
Bill Mumy
Ed Wasser
Joshua Cox

Unfortunately, some who originally were scheduled to be there, Mira
Furlan (filming Lost episodes in Hawaii, I understand), Stephen
Austin, Tracy Scoggins and Andreas Katsulas didn't make it.

After the main rush of autographing was done, a photo opportunity
was held with all the stars on stage and people began to drift
around and mingle. They held the drawings for the raffle prizes and
I never had a chance to check my tickets but since I didn't see any
leftover prizes, I guess I didn't win. Different sets of actors did
live auctions for some really cool things. I know there was a poster
signed by the cast, one of the Lightspeed lithos and a Season 5
jacket. I had SciFiRanger take my place as ticket-taker at Jerry and
Stephen's table while I rushed to get some autograph tickets and
pick up a few of the autographs I needed.

A fair number of fans had brought 'Little House on the Prairie'
items for Melissa to sign. At one point, a fan asked her to
autograph a sunbonnet. Melissa offered to donate $100 to the
fundraising if Jerry would put the bonnet on and tie it. Jerry
finally agreed and played around figuring out how to put the bonnet
on (trying to cover his face), then finally put it on, tied it and
allowed pictures to be taken while he held up a sign "It's for
Charity".

When Melissa was onstage telling a memory of Rick, she talked about
how, while she was familiar with the set and people from
playing "Gladys the set-wife", she was nervous when she actually got
the role of Anna since that was her first acting job after the birth
of her son and she was still nursing him in her trailer between
scenes. In her first scene, she was in the isolab with Dr. Franklin
as part of the background to what Sheridan was doing in the
foreground and they were supposed to adlib/pantomime a Dr/patient
conversation. Melissa said that Rick put her at ease immediately by
complimenting her breasts and asking her bra size. Melissa said that
if we watch the scene carefully, we can probably see her turning six
shades of purple while she tried to continue the scene. I've got to
check my DVD for that scene!

As things were breaking up and the stars were saying good-bye to
each other, Bruce was broaching the idea of doing something similar
on an annual basis to benefit the family. The idea seemed to get a
good reception from what I could tell. As Pat said, Rick would have
been the first to do something like that for any of them. I hope it
turns out to happen. They all seemed happy to see each other.

Like I said, an altogether NICE day. While there were a few tears
all around, it wasn't a sad event in any way. Some pictures taken by
SciFiRanger can be found at
<http://www.keepb5alive.com/gallery_1/gallery_1.htm> and more at The
Galactic Gateway <http://www.thegalacticgateway.com/rickmem.htm>.

Your intrepid reporter,
Ranger Jan