I guess most high schools in the U.S. can produce a list of well-known alumni. My own high school, Lee of Huntsville, is no exception. As you would expect, many are athletes but two are film and television actors of some success. And that brings us to our blog post today...
Kim Dickens graduated in 1983, a few years after I did in 1970. Her father Justin finished there before me, in 1964 and her mother Pam in 1966. She did no acting at Lee, opting for several sports and the National Honor Society. Dickens made her stage debut while attending Vanderbilt University, and after graduation she headed to New York City. By 1995 she appeared in her first film, the crime comedy Palookaville.
That list barely touches Dickens' regular work on television. She has appeared in multiple episodes of many other series, including Briarpatch (2019-20), Sons of Anarchy (2013-14), Friday Night Lights (2009), Lost (2006-9), 12 Miles of Bad Road (2008), Numb3rs (2006), Out of Order (2003), and Big Apple (2001).
One of my favorites among her movies is Zero Effect, released in 1998. Dickens is the female lead in the film that also stars Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller. It's a pastiche loosely based on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia." Bill Pullman plays the title character, Daryl Zero, the "world's most private detective" and it's greatest; Ben Stiller is his assistant. Dickens is Gloria Sullivan, who's behind the blackmail of Zero's new client and is, I suppose, the Irene Adler of the case. Daryl and Gloria meet, and he falls for her; things then get crazy. The film is layered with lots of acerbic humor, especially as Zero and his assistant bicker throughout.
Kim Dickens in 2018 about the time of her exit from Fear the Walking Dead.
Ned Vaughn started acting early; he appeared in a community theater production of the musical Oliver! at the age of ten. He continued acting in high school and then at Birmingham-Southern College. After graduation he headed to New York with $600 hoping to begin a professional acting career. He worked as a hotel doorman while taking acting classes and heading to auditions.
The Internet Movie Database has 83 film and television acting credits listed for Vaughn. The first appearance is a 1984 science fiction film What Waits Below, also known as Secrets of the Phantom Caverns. Timothy Bottoms and Lisa Blount were two of the leads; Vaughn is credited as "American soldier." Interestingly enough, some filming was done at Cathedral Caverns in north Alabama.
Since then Vaughn has appeared in a number of films and TV shows. The movies include The Hunt for Red October (1990), Apollo 13 (1995) and The Best of Enemies (2019). He has made multiples appearances in such TV programs as China Beach (14 episodes, 1989-91), Murder One (12 episodes, 1995-6), JAG (1996, 2001, 2004), 24 (4 episodes, 2005), Cane (8 episodes, 2007) and The Event (3 episodes, 2011). His single-episode guest roles include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Criminal Minds, Boston Legal, NCIS, Desperate Housewives, Mad Men, Bones, The Mentalist, Grey's Anatomy, Castle, and Hawaii Five-0.
According to his Wikipedia entry, Vaughn and his wife Adelaide and their five children live in Augusta, Georgia. He has a Facebook page.
Many Lee High School of Huntsville graduates have succeeded on their chosen paths, and these two are no exceptions.
Ned Vaughn
