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The F Stops Here
Billie Harris worked in administration with UCSC's History of Consciousness program. She has read children's stories on KUSP every Saturday morning for the last 21 years and has produced three radio plays for the station. Harris has acted with both Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Cabrillo Stage.
Billie Harris
For someone as dedicated to the creative spirit as Billie Harris, her suggestion for final details would not sound surprising: "Sell the body and use the money for the arts!" she giggles. Beloved by youngsters (and former youngsters) for the magical stories she's been weaving for two decades on KUSP radio's Castle Cottage, Harris' delivery can move from a toddler's lisp to a honeyed Southern drawl in the flick of a script.
In fact, Harris would most like to "go out" as one of her most recent characters, Nanny Buttoncap. Buttoncap, Harris explains, is a good fairy in the newly released movie Fairy Tale starring Harvey Keitel and Peter O'Toole. The talented Santa Cruz actress will not actually be in the movie, but doing voice-over on the accompanying children's CD-ROM game.
"I'm not a great believer in the other side," Harris says. "I think you have to be as good as you can on this side."
She says she really doesn't much care about the final ceremony, as long as it's what her children would like. "I would want them to know by the people there that their mom did a good job."
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From the Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 1997 issue of Metro Santa Cruz.