A conversation with Nora Dunn

On Wednesday, May 25, CBS is scheduled to air “Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution.” The film focuses on Frey, who testified at the trial of Scott Peterson, who was accused and ultimately convicted of murdering his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child. Frey had been in a romantic relationship with Peterson for several months before Laci disappeared but was unaware that Peterson was married when they met. The film stars Janel Moloney (“The West Wing”) as Frey; Paget Brewster (“Huff”) as Frey’s friend Carol, who arranges Frey’s blind date with Peterson; and Nora Dunn (“Saturday Night Live”) as famed lawyer Gloria Allred, who fought to make sure the true picture of Amber Frey would be put before the public.

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Nora Dunn (“Saturday Night Live”), who plays defense attorney Gloria Allred in “Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution,” says Allred did what many would have considered the impossible, given the outrage people felt at Scott Peterson, who was charged with killing his eight-months-pregnant wife, Laci. When it came out that Peterson had a girlfriend — Amber Frey — the outrage could have turned on her as well.

But it didn’t. Frey, who could so easily have been painted both by the press and the public as “the other woman,” instead became “another woman betrayed by Peterson.”

As Dunn says, “Credit Gloria for that. She immediately got the truth out about Amber’s relationship with Scott, so there would be no room for speculation. The relationship was what it was: Amber met him on a blind date, and he told her he was unmarried, and she had no reason to doubt him. She was a single mother, and he seemed to love children, and that was important to her. She was attracted to him, and he to her.”

Dunn continues, “Women, who would have been especially hostile to Frey if they thought she knew the truth about Peterson’s marriage, instead became sympathetic to her. They understood,” Dunn says. “We’ve all been there. You meet someone who seems to have everything you’ve ever wanted in a man. And, maybe he’ll turn out to be the man of your dreams; if not, you score it up to experience and you move on.”

But for Amber, Dunn says, “The man of her dreams turned out to be the nightmare of her life.”

Gloria Allred (who, by the way, is one of the film’s producers) is also credited for advising Frey to apologize to Laci’s family.

“And from what I know of Amber,” Dunn says, “it was the kind of advice she was glad to get; she very much wanted to reach out to them.”

Coming up for Dunn is “The Trouble With Frank,” in which she co-stars with Jon Bon Jovi (“America the Beautiful”) and Cary Elwes (“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”).

In Focus

Ted Danson (the upcoming “The Moguls”) stars in Showtime’s “Our Fathers,” airing on Saturday, May 21. The film focuses on the sex scandal that rocked the Catholic church in Boston in 2002, when it was learned that pedophile priests who had sexually abused some 600 youngsters (mostly boys) over the years were simply moved around from parish to parish when their crimes were exposed.

Christopher Plummer plays Bernard Cardinal Law, who was accused of protecting the abusers and, after much pressure, was finally removed from the Archdiocese of Boston and transferred to the Vatican. Brian Dennehy also stars as a sympathetic priest. Danson plays Michael Garabedian, the lawyer who represented many of the victims when they sued the Church, and who refused to settle for anything less than full justice — including getting record damages payments for his clients.

P.S. I once asked Ted Danson what’s the best thing about being an actor. He said, “Being part of (a medium) that can change the world for the better.” He added that while he realizes an actor is, essentially, an entertainer, “Sometimes, you can find (a film) that can both entertain and enlighten. And that’s what I look for.”

Dial Tones

The Daytime Emmy Awards will air on CBS on Saturday, May 20, live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall. … “Everybody Loves Raymond” signed off on May 16. But, no sooner did the last scene fade to black than the Internet began to buzz with stories about when the “reunion” show will air.