Sam-I-Am: Interview with Sam Harris

At 22, this gutsy young guy donned an oversized tailcoat, Converse sneakers and created his own pop, gospel and theater brand of emotionally charged performance week after week to win the grand prize on Star Search, as well as the hearts of America.

Sam Harris has pretty much done it all...from singer/songwriter/stage/film and television actor to writer/producer/director. He put in his dues and his time and he has been richly rewarded. I recently sat down with Sam to recap some of the many highlights of his life.

Pati Buehler: What a pleasure to spend a bit of time with you. Please take us back to UCLA... When and where did all this creativity begin?

Sam Harris: Well, I'll take you back further than that. Growing up in Oklahoma where 90% of the neighborhood kids play ball, skate board, whatever...and here is little Sammy. I was 10 years old; producing, directing and of course starring in his own productions in his basement with the concrete walls because the acoustic are just so great down there! (laughing)

I'm thinking who is gonna to come to my show. So, I did the next best thing. I plastered flyers at every corner that read 'Show and Bowling'. I set up 2x4's and bowling balls and everybody came! Do you like that? (laughing). I was writing musicals since I was about 5 years old. My mother took me to see these revivals in Tulsa like Singing In The Rain, and Gigi. I just loved it, and I knew then that it was what I wanted to do. So, then I was writing plays in high school and then when I went to college and teamed up with Bruce Newberg, who was as deeply sick as I was, we started writing musicals and then a televison show. I still love writing and a good part of my show is comedy and political satire.

Sam seems comfortable traveling between the worlds of writing, producing, directing but it seems his passion for the stage shines through his glorious voice and emotion packed live performances and recordings. From several CD's to Carnegie Hall there is no denying this guy is one dynamic artist who seems to be building momentum as the years accumulate. Harris has had guest appearances on every talk show including the Tonight Show, The Today Show, Rosie, Arsenio,Geraldo, Barbara Walters and even Oprah.

PB: You know you are hot when you do Oprah! How do you feel about all of this?

SH:Yes! Oprah's the best. I am grateful, for one thing. Terribly grateful. I was on Oprah twice, and the second time was a few days after 9/11. I had moved from New York to LA on Sept. 9^th. 2001, and I felt like I had left my home. Then came 9/11, and it was so horrifying. Like most of us I was glued to the television crying bitterly. Then I get this call from Oprah Winfrey asking me to come on her show, which was called "Music To Heal Our Hearts". By coming back and being on her show, it put me back in action and made me feel like I was doing something. That was really powerful for me, and I really felt grateful.

PB: Please indulge me for a few moments to remember someone who created wonderful memories with you, the late and equally amazing Laurie Beechman.

SH: Oh! my girl Laurie. She was one of my dearest "bestest" friends. The last years of her life we were performing a lot together. We recorded on each others records and we performed together in concerts. We were actually putting together a new show when she got sick for the last time. What an incredible soul; an amazing performer and singer. The most amazing thing to me is that after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer for 9 years she did more shows, she toured, she got married. Her middle name was Hope and if ever a moniker fit a person that was it. She had a great sense of humor too. When she was going through treatments and her hair was barely there, she was wearing wigs. She would come up to my house, plop the wig up on a lamp and we would sing together for hours. She dealt with her illness with humor and honor, and she changed my life.

Sam has played in some diversely interesting roles from his early days of writing, most notably, Hard Copy, in which he portrayed six different characters frequenting an all night newsstand. He moved to New York when Broadway called , where he received a Drama Desk nomination for his role in Tommy Tunes's Grease. Immediately following, he toured for 15 months in the Broadway National tour of Andrews Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, then on to Cy Coleman's The Life, where he received a Drama-League Award as well as a Tony, Outer Critic's Circle Award and Drama Desk nomination

PB: What vocalists and actors impress you?

One vocalist that I grew up with that impressed me was Aretha Franklin. I learned how to sing by listening to her. But, the people who impressed me the most were the story tellers like Bob Dylan. I know that sounds eclectic but I have always been attracted to content over sound. I love great story tellers who embrace a lyric and tell you a story as if it's a little play. Those are the people that have taught me the most.

PB: Sam, what do you say to those who, like you at 22, want to succeed in this business?

SH: I think if you've got the bug, whatever it is, whether it's show business or to invent or play basketball you have to do it. If you don't "have to do it" then you probably shouldn't. I hope that makes sense. It is a difficult business based on a lot of levels and ups and downs but if it's what feeds your soul, then you do it. I've been around this quite a while, long enough to realize it's a business of service. It's a business of trying to understand human conditions and putting it in front of people so that they can relate to each other. That's really what it is. It's not rocket science or a cure for cancer. I think that its value is in its service. When I'm going out there it isn't about me, which is easy to do, with egos and all, but it's terrifying to walk out on the stage! When I go out there to be a mirror or be of service that's when I'm at my best.

PB: Well your best is grabbing attention. How does it feel to have people like Liza Minnelli react to you as she does when she says, "When Sam sings, I'm perfectly all right, except for the fact that I can't breathe! I find myself crying and laughing and applauding and knowing why I went into this business."

SH: Liza is one of my best friends in the world. We've been through a lot together. We've been there for each other. She's an amazing person, and she's a phenomenon. She's also a mench and I love her like a sister.

Sam has just recently been cast in the upcoming CBS half hour comedy "The Class" A new pilot show about a group of former grade school classmates who are haphazardly thrown together in their adult lives. "The Class" is created by "Friends" creator David Crane and directed by the legendary James Burrows of "Friends, Will & Grace, Fraser, Cheers, Taxi" fame.

PB: Congratulations! Tell us about that.

SH: Thank you! I am so beyond excited. I love singing and writing, but I also love acting without singing and I love comedy. I am so blessed because this group of people, including some of the greatest creative people in television history have come together to write this very funny, smart piece. I have a wonderful character and it's just thrilling for me. It's like my wildest dream.

PB: With such talent I'm sure it will succeed, and we will be watching for it.

SH: Please do and I hope you're right.

PB: If you had to choose between one of the many careers you have embarked on, what would you see yourself happily doing on when you are say, 80 yrs. old?

SH: Hopefully resting and looking back at a great time. Though I think I'll never really rest.

PB: You can't ask for more than that. Thank you for sharing some great thoughts and memories with me.

SH: Thank you so much.

Photo credits: SamHarris.com & LaurieBeechman.com