LIVE Magazine TV June 2018

y Steven Roche
DYNAMIC DUO:
Karen Sharpe-Kramer
& Katharine “Kat” Kramer
Levvy Carriker, Tony Marchase, Juli Ragsdale,
Katharine Kat Kramer and Karen Sharpe
Golden Globe award-winning actress Karen Sharpe-Kramer
and former Miss Golden Globe actress/activist/producer
Katharine “Kat” Kramer are teaming up for the first time in the
movie TURNOVER; writer/producer/director Linda Palmer’s
latest film project that is set to shoot in August.
I recently attended a fundraiser dinner for the film at the
amazing Cafe Piccolo in Long Beach with my Disney animator
and artist friend David Woodman. We were honored to
be asked to attend by long-time friends Karen and Kat, and
wanted to support this special project.
Karen is my “adopted” Mom, and Kat and her sister Jennifer
(a very gifted concert pianist) are my “adopted” sisters. When
my husband Paul and I got married in 2014, Karen stood in
for my Mom and my great friend, designer Robert Nesbitt
stood in for
my Dad. I lost both my parents in the mid-’90’s, so I was very
blessed to have these two amazing individuals walk me down
the aisle. It’s a memory and a day I will treasure forever!
Karen, Kat and Jennifer are truly a part of Hollywood royalty.
Karen is the widow of acclaimed social issue master filmmaker
Stanley Kramer. In a career that spanned over 4 decades
Stanley received nine (!) Academy Award nominations as
a director and producer; winning the prestigious Irving G.
Thalberg Award in 1961 for JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG.
His other landmark films include GUESS WHO’S COMING
TO DINNER, SHIP OF FOOLS, HIGH NOON, THE DEFI-
ANT ONES, ON THE BEACH and IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD,
MAD WORLD. Steven Spielberg famously said “Stanley
Kramer was an incredibly talented visionary, and one of our
great filmmakers.
Not just for the art and passion he put on screen, but for the
impact he has made on the conscience of the world.”
A long-time lover and frequent visitor to Palm Springs, Karen
recently did a book signing for New Zealand author Jennifer
Frost’s “Producer of Controversy: Stanley Kramer, Hollywood
Liberalism, and the Cold War” at Just Fabulous. Karen and
Kat had the audience in rapture, as they recounted behindthe-scenes
tales of how Stanley was able to go around and
behind the studio system to put his before-their-time
stories on the big screen.
Karen felt so strongly about the positive messages in Linda
Palmer’s TURNOVER screenplay, that she has come out of
retirement after 25 years to play the featured role of Pat - one
third of a trio of “Ladies who Lunch” at the cafe that’s at the
center of the story. She also saw an opportunity to appear
for the first time in a feature film with Kat, who has one of the
leads in the film, playing the devious and cunning Fran. the
multi-ethnic and handi-capable cast also includes entertainment
legends Bill Macy (TV’s MAUDE) and Lainie Kazan (MY
BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, MY FAVORITE YEAR and the understudy
to Barbra Streisand in FUNNY GIRL on Broadway).
TURNOVER’s top-notch producing team includes the Coachella
Valley’s own Martina Webster, Linda’s frequent producing
partner and radio co-host Rae Davis, Brian McCormick
and Kat Kramer - following in her Dad’s footsteps.
* To learn more about the movie TURNOVER, or to make a
tax-deductible donation to help produce it - visit www.TurnoverMovie.com
* To purchase a copy of the book “PRODUCER OF CON-
TROVERSY...” - visit wwwbjustfabulous.com
* For more information about Kat Kramer and her ongoing
screening series Kat Kramer’s Films That Change the World -
visit
www.katkramersfilmsthatchangetheworld.com
STEVEN ROCHE - is an award-winning writer/producer with