These future stars didn’t shine much as high school classmates

Any chance you went to high school with someone who became famous? I did. Actor John Larroquette and Broadway and movie star Ann Reinking. Can you top that?

Larroquette now stars on “Boston Legal” but became famous for being the smart-mouthed, lecherous assistant DA in “Night Court.” He was a friend of mine when I was a sophomore and junior at Nicholls High School in New Orleans.

Our friendship was based on waiting for a bus. We were part of a foursome (Mary, Jane, John and Earl) who took the same public bus home after school. Now this was between 1964 and 1966, so the recollections are dim, but that school was in a tough neighborhood and one afternoon a white gang of thugs bloodied him while Mary and I stood by helplessly. Maybe John remembers the event more vividly since he was the one getting beaten. I just remember freezing and later being horribly ashamed of my do-nothing reaction.

I haven’t bumped into John since high school, but once found I had saved a photo of him from the school newspaper when he was in a school play. I remember he was funny in high school and I had a mild crush on him but nothing came of it.

When he became a television star in “Night Court” starting in 1984, I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t seem quite the same, until I realized he’d lost that distinctive N’Awlins accent. He trained himself in order to go into radio and there was no hint of accent remaining. Instead, he’d acquired that cultured nonaccent. That’s why he didn’t quite seem like the fellow at the bus stop.

My senior year, Boeing transferred the Morrison family to Washington, where I attended Bellevue High School and became friendly with Ann Reinking. We were more acquaintances than friends, but I was interested in dance, and we attended a ballet together once. After we graduated in 1967, I went to college and she went to Broadway and debuted as a chorus girl in 1969 in “Coco.” She later connected big time with choreographer Bob Fosse and became his longtime lover and starred in numerous Broadway shows.

I’ve seen Ann twice since we graduated. Once was at our 20th high school reunion where she was hit up for autographs because she was known to the masses from starring in two popular movie musicals, “All that Jazz” in 1979 and “Annie” in 1982. (It was the first time I’d seen someone asked for an autograph in a bathroom and I was appalled by this downside of celebrity.)

The second time was in Las Vegas when she was the choreographer for “Chicago” when Mandalay Bay opened in 1999. I saw her in the lobby and reminded her of our school days and she seemed to remember me, or perhaps she was simply well mannered. But she introduced me to her mother, husband and son, so maybe that old Bellevue Wolverine thing still meant something.

Anyway, because John Larroquette and Ann Reinking stayed in the public eye, I’ve remembered the times I spent with them and paid attention to their careers. When John won the Emmy as outstanding supporting actor in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988, I was delighted for him. When Ann won a Tony for choreography in 1997 for the “Chicago” revival, I was equally delighted for her.

But never once when we were in high school did I say to myself that either one of them was “going places” because they had talent. We were all still unformed and awkward. We didn’t quite fit into our skins yet. Ann had career goals even in high school. In our yearbook, when asked about her ambition, her answer was “You bet!” John talked about working as a disc jockey. I was clueless.

Watching the Thanksgiving episode of “Boston Legal” on Monday, the next to the last show of the five-year old series, I wondered what John will do next professionally.

I’ll miss seeing my high school buddy on television, and doubtlessly a lot of people will miss him when “Boston Legal” ends Dec. 8.

The power of television is that actors seem like your friends, and even if you didn’t go to high school with them, you feel like you did.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.