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Jenny Maxwell

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The Amazing Marlee Matlin

Jenny Maxwell - Columbia Editor

I had the incredible good fortune to see Marlee Matlin speak today.  Her ability to communicate is, well, awe-inspiring.

She gave her entire speech in sign language, with her longtime interpreter Jack Jason narrating.  Her face is so animated, and she signs in such a way that her message comes through even if you don’t know sign language (which I don’t).

I remember having that same feeling when I saw her in Children of a Lesser God.   Today, she talked about her struggles after winning the Academy Award for that performance, how she had to convince people that she wasn’t a one-role actress. 

It was The Fonz, Henry Winkler, who helped her keep going.  She first met him when she was a little girl, acting in Chicago community theater and he, the star of Happy Days, came by to see a show. 

Matlin lived with Winkler and his wife for two years after winning that Oscar.  With the Winklers’ encouragement, she worked to build her career and ultimately started producing, so that she could create roles for herself.

Dancing with the Stars fans will want to know that she brought along her partner from the show, Fabian Sanchez. Here’s my fuzzy photo of the two of them, in center at left.

Matlin invited Sanchez onto the stage to take questions from the audience. 

She told us that her own son was rooting for Priscilla Presley and that the worst part of preparing for the show was not the practice schedule, but the all-over tanning spray.