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Richard Long corrected a Big Valley script over the way his character preferred his eggs
After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Everything is a matter of perspective. What some view as nitpicking, others view as tireless dedication. What some actors may view as "going a bit overboard," others simply chalk it up to "just another part of the job."
Richard Long fell into the latter category of actors, as he seemed to take his role of Jarrod Barkley very seriously.
Long wasn't alone in his dedication. Because The Big Valley takes place in the late 1800s, producers worked hard to ensure that the Barkley family was an honest depiction of their time. "Our people spent almost a year researching California history," said Big Valley producer Jules Levy in an interview with the Fort Lauderdale News. "I won't say we based the series on any one family or even on one person — but there were people like that around — people who made the state the great place it is today."
However, one attentive fan caught a mistake in the series that had blown past The Big Valley crew. "We spend a great deal of effort on research," said Levy. "Was the dress Audra wore to a ball in one sequence in vogue at the time? Our people said it was, as Audra explained to her beau that it had come from New York. After we finished the scene and Audra was alone in her room about to change — she pulled down a zipper. They didn't have zippers, only buttons in those days — as a sharp-eyed viewer later wrote to us. But we try."
While Levy relied on "people," Richard Long felt that he was the best expert to advise on his own character. In fact, he even made a change to a Big Valley script that might seem minuscule to some but made a great deal in the believability of the character.
"I received one from a new writer," Long said. "Something about it bothered me. It was a breakfast scene. I was asked how I like my eggs and I said sunny side up. I went to research and we came back with an earlier script in which I told a young lady that I always had my eggs scrambled, never any other way. A small thing, sure, and probably not one person in a million would have noticed it, but..."
Of course, these small moments add up in the end, and with four seasons under its belt, The Big Valley did an excellent job of depicting a realistic and consistent family that loved each other dearly.
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