Dear Richard Dean Anderson (Jeff, "General Hospital")

I am a loyal fan of "General Hospital" since it began in 1963. I like the way you play Dr. Jeff Webber. My questions are: How old are you, what kind of hobbies do you have, do you have any brothers or sisters, do you like rock music and what are your favorite shows? Say hi to everyone on "GH" for me.

Thank you,
A.H., Huntington Beach, CA

Dear A.H.,

Jed Allan once told me never to reveal my real age for fear of losing my appeal to the younger ladies, etc. So, with that in mind, I won't tell you I'm really 29 years old chronologically and about 18 every other way.

Music has just recently become a serious hobby for me and I've been fortunate enough to fulfill some boyhood fantasies by performing "live-and-in-color" for several soap variety shows. Since my career as a pro-hockey player was short-lived, my athletic energies are zapped up in dirt-bike riding (MX, if you will), scuba diving, snow skiing, this that and the other thing. I'm also a pin-ball fanatic and part-time wizard.

I have three younger brothers. Jeff (believe it or not), who is 28, Tom, 25, and James, 21 and disco king of San Diego.

I'm not real stimulated by rock music, no. My father is an incredible jazz bassist with an intelligence and a consciousness of music that is overwhelming. I grew up in a house filled with the sensitive sounds of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Pilhoffer, Brown, Bob Crea, etc. I just recently bent my interests to country-western, a simpler form that I can not only perform (since I do not tout myself as a fine musician) and can identify with peripherally. "Rock music" is not a sensitive mode... it makes my blood nervous.

I watch very little television. The only shows I will make an effort to watch are "60 Minutes" and the "Stanley Cup Finals"... Do we all know what the Stanley Cup is? It's the best show in town, and it's on once a year.

Love! Rick