Once and Again's Special Guest Star

One of this season's most critically acclaimed series "Once and Again" was honored Saturday night by the 17th Annual William S. Paley Festival held at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.

Series creators Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick were joined by series regulars Billy Campbell, Sela Ward (who made a fashionably late appearance due to a prior committment at her children's school), Julia Whelan, Susanna Thompson, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Nordling, Marin Hinkle, and Meredith Deane as well as many of the writers of the show.

The evening was kicked off with a screening of tonight's poignant episode screening, fans were left speechless by the sudden death of Lily's father Phil (Paul Mazursky). Mazurksky was preparing to shoot a movie in Italy for 18 months and would be unavailable to continue in his "Again" role so producers wrote him an unforgettable exit.

Herskovitz and Zwick told a story about how Mazursky had circulated a petition around the set asking for Phil's reprieve and had gotten every single person associated with the show to sign.

Zwick was asked by a member of the audience how he landed his partner Herskovitz in the role of Phil's docotr. "Marshall keeps asking for a role and in fact whenever one of the cast isn't at one of the table readings or rehearsals, he wants to play their role." , Zwicks jokes. "I wanted Marshall to play the doctor and when I asked him, he said 'I want to audition'. So he auditioned in front of me and the casting directors and read for us and he immediately got the part."__UltimateTv.com (March 6, 2000)