Fred was discussing the life of a perennial Guest Star in Hollywood. (Something I have some experience with!)
It takes great courage and candor to discuss the actual workings of a career in this business where most of the time Brand Management is the top priority.
In any event Fred's take on his work inspired me to do a little reflective thinking. I'm usually the kind of guy that's always looking forward.("What's Next." Is my Motto) My career has never overly impressed me. But I do Love to Act and still get a kick out of being on sets and working in front of the camera. (And Hope of course springs eternal! I will get to my experience with Pilots in another post.)
Although I've been lucky enough to have worked frequently, many times with interesting parts in association with very talented artists, I always felt that this kind of work-a-day Hollywood stuff was kind of boring. The life of a Character Actor (And I'm proud to call myself one) is more a life of usefulness to projects rather than being the heartbeat of a project itself. (I'm seeing at this point that I will have to explore this at length in another post also or we'll be here all day. See I already think you're bored.)
Anyway-at one point Fred mentioned Guest-Starring on The Naked Truth this is a show I Guest-starred on as well, playing one of my mainstays a bully named Doug Keller. (So I went to the script pile I keep in the corner of my office and pulled out my script from somewhere near the bottom.) Flipping the pages brought back fond memories of this experience not the least of which was meeting the fantastic character actor Norman Fell and working with the charming, beautiful and whip-smart Tea Leoni. The episode was also directed by Robby Benson. (Who I found to be unusually gifted in getting to the kernel of scenes-not easy to do in the fast-paced world of Sitcoms.)
I have enclosed a pic I had snapped with Norman as well as the cover and cast page from the episode I Guested on.
Here is Fred's book.
Later,
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