Personality: a little flightly, very sweet, motherly, but with an air of the past beauty that she once was, still takes care of herself as best she can under the circumstances, never losing her precious make up bag. Rudy is never seen without her *face* on.
Any special skills: She makes a mean gin and tonic .
History: was a small bit player in Hollywood "B" movies, playing mostly the steamy sexy gangster moll, supported herself as part time model and part time waitress, quite the "looker" during the 1940's and '50's, enjoys talking about the big time *stars*, dated some of the lesser known studios stars. But her most precious memory is of her experience as an extra on the 1946 movie "Till the Clouds Roll By" when she was 18. She barely had a walk on role but the experience of her life happened when Van Johnson, one of the stars, asked her out for dinner. That was their one and only date, a genuinely sweet and fun one at that, and by the next year he was married and so was she, but it was one of the greatest highlights of her entire life.
Three weeks after the movie debuted, Rudy Harmony met Harry Wilson and even Van Johnson faded from the personal limelight of her life. Harry was a lighting technician on one of the major studio sets and he didn't have a lot to offer a young, beautiful "actress" other than a man who worked steadily, was honest to a fault, didn't drink or chase other women, and one who loved her with the pure, devoted abandoned that Rudy had thought only lived on the silver screen. Within five weeks, they were married and Rudy put away her dreams of becoming a Hollywood starlet and donned an apron and waited for their "picket fence" life to be finally completed with the birth of their first child.
It was not to be. The child, a girl, was stillborn, and Rudy was heartbroken, but not defeated. She was soon pregnant again. And again, carried a daughter to full term only to lose her before she took her first full breath of air.
Harry, terrified that he would lose the wife he adored, begged her to give up that dream for fear that he'd lose her too. Reluctantly, Rudy did, and they never had any children of their own. That was the biggest regret of her life, losing her two unborn, unknown, daughters.
When Harry retired from his own version of a film career, having risen from lighting tech to what he had always laughingly referred to as the *I no longer have to pack my lunch in a pail* jobs to a studio head in his own right, he and Rudy bought a tricked out motor home with all the conveniences and hit the road. They were halfway back from their cross country road trip when Captain Tripps ended retirement for the entire world.
Rudy survived. Her beloved Harry did not.
Devastated, she floundered where they had parked, not sure how to go on, or even if she wanted to. After all, she was 72 years old, where was there for her to go and what reason did she have *for* trying to go anywhere when she was all that was left.
And then the dreams started, urging her, first gently, obliquely, then more urgently. So, Rudy slid behind the wheel, Harry's usual seat, imagined his strong arms around her, and put the huge vehicle into gear.
Character's full name: Darlene Rudy Wilson
Any special skills: She makes a mean gin and tonic .
When Harry retired from his own version of a film career, having risen from lighting tech to what he had always laughingly referred to as the *I no longer have to pack my lunch in a pail* jobs to a studio head in his own right, he and Rudy bought a tricked out motor home with all the conveniences and hit the road. They were halfway back from their cross country road trip when Captain Tripps ended retirement for the entire world.
Rudy survived. Her beloved Harry did not.
