Times-Advocate from Escondido, California • 192

Fairy tales can still come true Tara Buckman discovered as hotel waitress If anyone believes that the storybook tales of Hollywood ended in another era, there's the story of Tara Buckman to sustain a belief in the mystique of show business. Tara, who stars as deputy Brandy in NBC-TV's "Lobo," was an "Army brat" who never lived in one house for more than two years until her midteens. As she moved with her family across the country, she existed in a fantasy world always with the dream that she would become an actress. Finally, her family settled in Virginia Beach, and Tara began to establish roots. But always she was aware of the struggle that had been an inherent part of her life and the thought of acting was a distant dream.

"My family didn't have a lot of money," she recalls. "There was little time for frills. I was busy trying to find security within myself, and concerned about discovering what the world was about. The 'outside' of a person had a diminished importance for me there wasn't a lot of time to look at beauty or assess its value." But someone else was destined to shape some life-altering decisions. While working as a waitress in a hotel dining room in Norfolk.

producer James Goldstone was stunned by Tara's good looks and talked to her about a career. He was scouting locations for a motion picture titled "Roller and one week later he asked if she would like a small part. She eagerly accepted. "Three months later, I sold everything and came to Los Angeles with $50 in my pocket," she sighs. "I slept on the floor in a mildewed sleeping She telephoned Goldstone, who helped her land a new talent contract with Universal Studios.

It was the beginning of a modernday show business miracle. "I'm a deep, serious person," she says softly. "Sometimes I PAGE 38 b9 Universal contract player Tara Buckman of "Lobo" was a waitress in a Virginia hotel when spotted by a Hollywood producer. have to perk myself up to be light Needham directed film and airy in a conversation. And, "Hooper," and will soon be in the I'm not happy with parts that motion picture "Cannonball," concentrate or focus upon my which stars Burt Reynolds and looks.

This goes back to my child- was also directed by Needham. hood where beauty wasn't im- "On 'Lobo' we're like a happy portant. family. That's important for me, "I push hard for substance in and I feel secure. I'm also in anmy life and in the parts I play.

In other type of 'family' with Hal I've been given the oppor- Needham who tends to use many tunity to do a little more each of the same actors in his films." week, and it's gratifying and edu- So, a dream has come true for a cational at the same girl who seemed an unlikely canFor the past several years, didate for stardom. "Life makes Tara's life has been falling neatly wonderful turns," concludes into place. She was in the Hal Tara. April 5-11, 1981.