The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page A7

Tuesday, October 15, 2013 THE TownTalk A7 the table that Mike and I share," Watson said. But they have their differences, too. Mike Franks is so selfish and wrapped up in his work that he can't keep a relationship, and that's just not Watson. "I got a 12-year-old daughter with autism," he said. "My whole life is about her." Watson is active in autism fundraising, but he carefully guides the privacy of the identities of his wife and daughter.

They are not mentioned by name on his official biography on his website, and he asked that their names not be included in this story. "They didn't choose this (acting)," he said. On the screen, the character of Mike Franks has grown in recent seasons, with the introduction of Mike Frank's son, daughter-in-law and grandchild. "I became very excited about the fact they might let Mike grow a little," Watson said. The character was killed in Season 8 but returns in Gibbs' memories in later episodes, including tonight's episode, "Anonymous Was a Woman." At 65, Watson has enjoyed many years in Hollywood, appearing in more than 60 movies and more than 50 television episodes Although he intends to keep acting, he said he's considered leaving Los Angeles.

His family also has a home in the Smokey Mountains. "It's been a wild ride," he said. While in town for "Barry Avenue," Watson took the time to drive by his alma mater. He said old live oak trees are missing from his time at Bolton High School 45 years ago. "We used to stand underneath those live oaks to wait for the bus," he said.

Watson Continued from Page A1 first acting part. Although he was a junior, Watson was required to take a freshman speech class, which was doing a production of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew." He went for the lead role Petruchio after an interesting night of rehearsal. "I got about half-drunk and went to audition," he said. "And I got Petruchio. My first time on stage was the lead." Watson said he got one of his first and best acting lessons during that show.

He was nervous about wearing tights in the Shakespearean play. The teacher calmed him with some advice. "He said, 'If you're good enough, nobody will look at your Watson said. The second best acting advice he ever got had to do with another body part. "He said, 'Keep going and you stay in character if you can't act with your butt, you can't Watson said.

"I've been trying the rest of my career to act with my butt." Watson recently returned to Alexandria to shoot "Barry Avenue," a 22-minute short filmed by Alexis Crew Productions, a company owned by Pine-ville actress Faith Ford and her husband, producer Campion Murphy. "It's crazy to be back," Watson said. Watson was known as Robert Gravel his friends called him Bob when he grew up in Alexandria. He is a 1966 graduate of Bolton High School, where he played clarinet in the band. Watson adopted his screen name because there already was a Robert Gravel, a Canadian actor, registered with the Alexandria native Muse Watson (right) has a recurring role with series star Mark Harmon and guest star Nikka Far in a SONJA FLEMMINGCBS on the CBS series "NCIS" as Mike Franks.

Watson is shown scene from tonight's episode "Anonymous Was a grandpa was more like my daddy. He was a huge influence on me." When Watson learned of the other Robert Gravel registered with the Screen Actors Guild, he asked his mother what she thought of using his grandpa's name. "She said that would be a wonderful tribute," he said. Watson already had credits as Robert Gravel as a stunt driver he drove the truck onto the Natchitoches riverbank at the end of "Steel Magnolias" and drove on "Mississippi Burning" so he figured out a way to decide between his two names. "I said, 'Whoever makes the most money, that's who I'm gonna Watson said.

Then Watson got cast in some big movies like quel a year later. He said that part was his way of proving he could play the bad guy. But then he became known as just the bad guy, he said. He's had other long-term and popular roles like Charles Cooper in the Fox TV series "Prison Break" from 2005-08. But lately he's known as Leroy Jethro Gibbs' former partner and mentor on "NCIS." "I'm not like the character on NCIS," Watson said.

"I'm an actor. I became Mike Franks when I walked through that door (to audition)." He said he had decided Mike spoke with a gruff voice, so that's the way he auditioned. And the voice fit any NCIS fan would recognize that voice calling Gibbs "Probie." "There's a lot I bring to new round of automatic federal spending cuts scheduled to begin in January. While the current round of these cuts fell on both domestic programs and the military, the new reductions would hit primarily the Pentagon. Democrats were resisting a Republican-backed proposal to suspend a medical device tax that was enacted as part of the health care law.

AIRLINE CAREERS BEGIN HERE White House announcement that Obama was calling them and the party leaders in the House for the second time in less than a week to discuss the economy-threatening crises. The meeting was subsequently postponed and it was not clear when it might be rescheduled. Any legislation would require passage in the Senate and also in the House, where a large faction of tea party-aligned lawmakers precipitated the shutdown two weeks ago despite the efforts of both McConnell and Republican Speaker John Boehner. Coming up? Boehner met with McConnell during the day, then with other for all Central Louisiana students seeking quality higher educational opportunities," Coreil said. LSUA officials plan to release details of their proposal next week.

"We look forward to Budget Continued from Page A1 the stock market turned positive on bullish predictions from the two longtime antagonists at the center of the talks, Reid and McConnell. Though McConnell expressed optimism about an agreement, his words were not as strong as Reid's. "We've made substantial progress, and we look forward to making more progress in the near future," he said as the Senate adjourned for the evening. Visiting a charity not far from the White House, President Barack Obama blended optimism with a slap at Republicans. "My hope is that a spir Partnership Continued from Page A1 lieves it can offer include added efficiency by sharing facilities, including Screen Actors Guild.

The Canadian Robert Gravel, who died in 1996 at the age of 51, was influential in the Canadian theater scene and appeared in several French-language television shows. Watson said most people are wrong about how his stage name came about. "It's not the little girls that inspire you," Watson said. "Muse is a fairly common German last name." And that's how his maternal grandfather came by it. He was named after his father's German business partner, whose last name was Muse.

That grandfather was named Muse Watson Keller. "My dad was an accountant here in Alexandria and died when I was 5," Watson said. "My it of cooperation will move us forward over the next few hours," he said. And yet, he added, "If we don't start making some real progress both in the House and the Senate, and if Republicans aren't willing to set aside some of their partisan concerns in order to do what's right for the country, we stand a good chance of defaulting." Stock prices, which had risen strongly late last week on hopes of an agreement, were down at the start of the day but then pushed higher as the Senate leaders voiced optimism. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 64 points.

Reid and McConnell met twice before midaf-ternoon, their sessions sandwiched around a classroom space, and resources such as faculty. "During these challenging economic times, we must consider new ways of doing business that save money and provide a sustainable future muiuocir; "Something To Talk About" in 1995 and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" in 1997. Watson legally changed his name to Muse Watson Gravel not long after, keeping his last name for his mother. As the roles came, Watson battled the Hollywood tendency to pigeonhole actors into a certain types of characters. After playing Hank Corrigan, the good-natured horse trainer in "Something To Talk About," Watson said he was seen as "only the good guy." "They wouldn't let me audition as a bad guy," he said.

But he fought that and eventually got the part of Ben Willis the killer in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and its se House GOP leaders. His spokesman, Michael Steel, later said, "If the Senate comes to an agreement, we will review it with our members." A closed-door session was set for Tuesday morning. One conservative with a seat at the GOP leadership table, Oklahoma Rep. James Lankford, said that based on what he had been told, the emerging package contained no policy victories for his party. As for raising the debt limit until February, he said, "That's a lot of dollars." In addition to other elements of any deal, the two Senate leaders are expected to announce that House and Senate negotiators will seek a deficit-reduction agreement that could ease or eliminate a strengthening our relationship with LSUA," Ellis said, referring to the agreement signed Monday.

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