Of all the perks that come with stardom, Billy Ray Cyrus's favorite is this: Nearly every day is Take Your Daughter to Work Day.
Most mornings from March through September, the country-music star and his daughter Miley, 14, drive together to the Walt Disney Studios to tape Hannah Montana, Disney Channel's series about a girl who lives a double life as a normal teenager by day and — unknown to most of her friends — a pop star by night.
Miley stars as Miley Stewart. Billy Ray plays her father and manager, Robby. And they have what the title character describes in the show's theme song as "the best of both worlds" — success and togetherness.
"We get to spend a lot of time with each other, which I consider a major plus because life goes by so fast," said Billy Ray, 46.
Between concert tours and filming the TV series Doc (2001-2004) in Toronto, Billy Ray's family time has been limited over the years. "So to get to be with my kids is a real blessing," he said.
Miley, who labels herself "hyper" and "fun," speaks hockey-announcer fast in real life. "I love it, I love it, I love it," she said in describing what it's like to work with her father. But Billy Ray is more low-key: He describes himself as more of a friend-therapist-counselor-psychologist-playmate than a dad.
Although Hannah Montana is scripted, what fans see reflects some of the Cyruses' real lives — "a backstage pass," in Miley's words, into aspects as varied as performance preparation and how the two interact.
Off the set, the series has turned Miley into a bonafide pop star: She just embarked on a sold-out 54-date concert tour. The show also has opened up a new audience for Billy Ray, who's 15 years removed from his smash hit Achy Breaky Heart.
"We just found the right show at the right time, and we were both in the right spaces of our lives to fit in this whole thing," Billy Ray said. "It's a moment in time."
And if history is a guide, it's a moment they'll cherish.
David Nelson, who is retired and turns 71 on Wednesday, fondly remembers his years working with his parents and his brother, Rick, on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-66). The boys' father scheduled filming around their school activities, making acting "like an after-school job," Nelson said.
Early on, the boys only worked Saturdays. In later years, David walked the half block from junior high school to the studio where the show was taped. A driver picked up Rick, who was three years younger. They'd work until about 7 p.m., then head home for dinner.
Nelson said his father wanted the kids to have as normal a childhood as possible.
"I learned an awful lot," he said. "My father was a wonderful father and a great person to work with because he was always considerate of other people's feelings. I think it would have been a different situation if I had worked with other directors or directors who weren't in the family. It really was a family show on and off the screen."
Desi Arnaz Jr. has similarly warm memories of the years he worked with his mother, Lucille Ball, on Here's Lucy (1968-74). Arnaz had grown up around the Desilu Studios, so by the time he was a teenager, working there was second nature.
"It was kind of a 9-to-5 job, which was great," recalled Arnaz, 54. He and his wife, Amy, now run a live performing-arts theater along with the nonprofit Boulder City Ballet Company for children in Boulder City, Nev.
"We were pretty used to the schedule. So there wasn't a lot of bringing the work home. When mom got home, she wanted to relax, have dinner and not be thinking about the show, because you'd have to go back and do it the next day."
With his mother running things, Arnaz also got to play music with his band on the show.
"It was a good time for all of us," he said. "Mom wanted us to work with her. She thought it would be an opportunity for us. There was a little bit of, 'How's this going to work out, and is the audience going to accept this or not?' because we were playing characters as the Carter family, but we really were her children. But I thought it worked pretty well."
Posted on 22 Oct 2007
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