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James Victor, the actor best known for portraying the buffoonish Sgt. Jaime Mendoza on the popular 1990s Family Channel action-adventure series Zorro, has died. He was 76. Victor, a protege of famed independent auteur John Cassavetes, had heart disease and died June 20 in his apartment in Hollywood, his longtime friend Joe Perez told The Hollywood Reporter. Duncan Regehr starred as Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro on the Family Channel adaptation of Zorro, which aired in several countries and for three seasons (1990-93) in the U.S. At first, Victor's Mendoza, who always enjoyed a good meal, tried

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Aside from the lead being a young woman with a questing soul and loose agenda, the upbeat "Love Always" is only fitfully involving as it reworks the road-movie genre along gender lines but is short on engaging humor or compelling drama.

Lead Marisa Ryan ("Slaves to the Underground") has plenty of energy and presence, but debut filmmaker Jude Pauline Eberhard only partly succeeds with the episodic scenario based on co-writer Sharlene Baker's novel "Finding Signs". Released by Legacy, "Love Always" needs strong word-of-mouth and good reviews to make an impact, but the forecast is not promising.

Julia Bradshaw (Ryan) has a serious boyfriend in Spokane, Wash., but she's not ready to settle down. On the loose in San Diego, she goes on acting auditions with best friend Mary Ellen Moon Zappa) and the latter's boyfriend (James Victor). Into taking chances and seeking adventure, Julia hits the trail again with the goal of seeing her lonely beau Michael Reilly Burke), who sends her a postcard and proposes.

She hitches a ride with a speed freak (Doug Hutchison) who abandons her at a rest stop, where she's helped out by a middle-aged woman (Beth Grant) who is transporting life-size ceramic cows to a farm near Spokane. Impish but guileless, Julia accidentally breaks one of the cows and reluctantly agrees to fetch a replacement in Las Vegas.

So near to her potential future, Julia is now far away when she's stranded in Vegas. She makes a few calls and learns she's to be maid of honor at Mary Ellen's wedding in Boston. As luck would have it, she makes the next leg of her journey in a van with members of an all-woman rock band, the Virgin Sluts.

After the wedding, Julia once again sets out for Spokane, but her first ride is a friend's older brother (Jerry O'Donnell), who makes a lunge for her. Julia's woes are short-lived. She's rescued by an AWOL Marine (Aaron Kuhr) and they soon get in an accident, but through this calamity she meets David (Tracy Fraim), a genuine catch who soothes her and makes love to her.

Faced with a lifetime of such adventures or the love of a good guy, Julia is a free spirit and touches the lives of those she meets, but her own transformation is barely noticeable. Ryan is equal to the overall buoyant mood of the work, although there are several overlong sequences cut to music in which she's merely along for the ride.

LOVE ALWAYS

Legacy Releasing

Persistence of Vision Films

An Isaac Artenstein Production

A Jude Pauline Eberhard Film

Director Jude Pauline Eberhard

Producer Isaac Artenstein

Screenwriters Jude Pauline Eberhard,

Sharlene Baker

Based on a novel by Sharlene Baker

Executive producers Ken Branson,

Coop Cooprider

Director of photography Xavier Perez Grobet

Production designer Mauricio de Aguinaco

Music Jaime Valle, Anton Sanko

Editor Joel Goodman

Color/stereo

Cast:

Julia Bradshaw Marisa Ryan

Mary Ellen Moon Zappa

Mark Righetti Michael Reilly Burke

Sean James Victor

James Doug Hutchison

Stephanie Beth Grant

David Tracy Fraim

Running time -- 91 minutes

MPAA rating: R...