For years I'd always heard that Billy Crudup -- you know, the Golden God from Almost Famous -- had attended Hillcrest High School. There are references to it in various Interweb bios, which are, ya know, super-trustworthy; here's one, for instance. But I can't recall ever hearing Crudup confirm this extremely crucial bit of info, which would, like, make him Hillcrest's most famous graduate (well, except for my dad...and brother). So, today, I saw him at the Sundance Film Festival, where he's promoting his new movie Dedication (snatched up by Harvey Weinstein), and, like, asked him.
"Oh, yeah," he says. "We lived in Dallas for six years, at Park Lane and Hillcrest. I went to Preston Hollow Elementary School, E.D. Walker Middle School and Hillcrest. But I only went there my freshman year; my brother went for two." He grins beneath his 1970s 'stache. "Go Panthers."
Crudup said he ended up in Dallas because his father "had heard of some business opportunities there"; he wasn't more specific. Said he was there as a freshman in 1982-'83, same time I was starting Thomas Jefferson High School. "I'm in the yearbook," he says. So, Friends of Unfair Park, anyone out there with a Hillcrest yearbook is welcome to send us the pic. Happy to run it. I am sure Jesus' Son would be pleased. One other local discovery of some note, or not: Keri Russell (ya know -- Felicity) says her sister lives in Dallas. So, ya know, hi Keri Russell's sister. --Robert Wilonsky
