<str<strong>on</strong>g>Cynthia</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> worked with many big names dur<strong>in</strong>g her <strong>30</strong>-<strong>plus</strong>-year career <strong>in</strong> show bus<strong>in</strong>ess, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g: • Pat Benatar • Bill Cosby • Kev<strong>in</strong> Costner • Sammy Davis Jr. • Hill Harper • Michael Jacks<strong>on</strong> • Michael Land<strong>on</strong> • Fleetwood Mac • Dean Mart<strong>in</strong> • Tom Petty • River Phoenix • Burt Reynolds • Li<strong>on</strong>el Richie • Steven Spielberg • Ors<strong>on</strong> Wells <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong>: Michael Jacks<strong>on</strong> “I worked with Michael <strong>on</strong> Billie Jean and must say he was the nicest guy. He would always <strong>in</strong>vite us over to his house to play after work. I th<strong>in</strong>k there was a lot of misc<strong>on</strong>cepti<strong>on</strong> about him <strong>in</strong> the <strong>com</strong>munity because of his immature behavior. There was never any way he molested any child.” Kev<strong>in</strong> Costner “Kev<strong>in</strong> and I were act<strong>in</strong>g school partners. He was the quietest, shyest boy; he was such a wallflower he would blend <strong>in</strong>to the wallpaper. However, he had drive.” At the time <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> lived <strong>in</strong> Mar<strong>in</strong>a Del Ray, and Costner would <strong>com</strong>e to her house every day to use her ph<strong>on</strong>e to call cast<strong>in</strong>g directors. “He just kept call<strong>in</strong>g and kept gett<strong>in</strong>g turned down until <strong>on</strong>e day he landed a job. I th<strong>in</strong>k they just hired him so he would stop call<strong>in</strong>g.” Ors<strong>on</strong> Wells <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> first met Wells when she applied for the role of an extra <strong>in</strong> <strong>on</strong>e of his films. “I never played an extra <strong>in</strong> a film, but I did this time just to meet the great Ors<strong>on</strong> Wells,” she says. <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> says Wells was very demand<strong>in</strong>g dur<strong>in</strong>g film<strong>in</strong>g and would often fire every<strong>on</strong>e <strong>on</strong> the set, go to his trailer, then return several hours later angry that no <strong>on</strong>e was work<strong>in</strong>g. Two memorable shots from <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g>’s wide-rang<strong>in</strong>g model<strong>in</strong>g career. Photos courtesy of <str<strong>on</strong>g>Cynthia</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> talents such as George Clo<strong>on</strong>ey and Denise Richards. She also branched out to help teach musicians, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Michael Jacks<strong>on</strong> and David Lee Roth, how to transiti<strong>on</strong> stage performance to video performance. “I was there dur<strong>in</strong>g the birth of music videos,” she says. <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> attributes the l<strong>on</strong>gevity of her <strong>30</strong>-<strong>plus</strong> year career <strong>in</strong> the enterta<strong>in</strong>ment bus<strong>in</strong>ess to advice she received from her first agent, Richard Brander. “He told me when I go <strong>in</strong>to auditi<strong>on</strong>s not to dress reveal<strong>in</strong>gly and to stay away from the party scène. If people were go<strong>in</strong>g to hire me it would be for my talent and not my body. It is this mentality that earned me respect <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry and kept me employed for so l<strong>on</strong>g.” MarrIAge, Ariz<strong>on</strong>a and MORE While much of <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g>’s professi<strong>on</strong>al life plays like a Hollywood movie, and her pers<strong>on</strong>al life is not much different. St<strong>on</strong>e met her husband <strong>on</strong> a tra<strong>in</strong> from San Diego to L.A. <strong>in</strong> 1993. “I was head<strong>in</strong>g home from work and prepar<strong>in</strong>g to go to d<strong>in</strong>ner with Sammy Hagar when I bumped <strong>in</strong>to him <strong>on</strong> a tra<strong>in</strong>,” she says. “We talked for a while, and I got off at my stop, but, later <strong>in</strong> the even<strong>in</strong>g when Sammy and I were d<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, I just couldn’t get him out of my head, and I told the rock star I had to leave because I just met my future husband.” <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> and the man <strong>on</strong> the tra<strong>in</strong>, Steve <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g>, married a year later and eventually moved to Ariz<strong>on</strong>a to be close to his mother dur<strong>in</strong>g a difficult time. After his mother passed away <strong>in</strong> 2006, the couple sold their Phoenix home and moved to Maricopa. “When we left Phoenix, I told my husband I wanted to move to <strong>on</strong>e of those 55-<strong>plus</strong> <strong>com</strong>munities, and the moment I saw Prov<strong>in</strong>ce I knew I had found my new home,” she says. Though <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> lives <strong>in</strong> a retirement <strong>com</strong>munity, that doesn’t mean she is ready to throw <strong>in</strong> the towel <strong>on</strong> the enterta<strong>in</strong>ment bus<strong>in</strong>ess. For the past three <strong>years</strong> she has run a local d<strong>in</strong>ner murder mystery theater, someth<strong>in</strong>g she started <strong>in</strong> San Diego <strong>in</strong> the ‘80s. She is also work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>on</strong> gett<strong>in</strong>g a series she has penned called “Ventura” <strong>in</strong>to producti<strong>on</strong> and has produced a melodrama the last three <strong>years</strong> at the annual Maricopa event formerly known as Founders Day. “If I looked like I did back then with the knowledge I have now,” <str<strong>on</strong>g>Morgan</str<strong>on</strong>g> quips, “I would own the world.” MurderIn.<strong>com</strong> 26 <strong>InMaricopa</strong>.<strong>com</strong> | Vol. 5 Issue 3
Vol. 5 Issue 3 | <strong>InMaricopa</strong>.<strong>com</strong> 27
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