ner
in my gym is also an actor. (I know – knock you over with a feather).
He recently appeared on the Showtime series CALIFORNICATION playing the
fan favorite, “Hollywood Asshole”. And knowing him, I bet he was good
in it. Some of his previous roles included “Jerk at the Bar”, “Thug #2”,
and to prove he has range – “Jogger”.An actress I know has these impressive credits: “Vegas Showgirl” on CSI. Also “Bikini Girl”, “Sheik Girl”, “Cute Girl”, and “Homewrecker”.
Another actress friend boasts these credits on imdb: “Waitress”, “Saleswoman”, “Assistant Candidate #1”, and the part she’s best known for -- “Desperate Woman”.
And one of the most talented comic actors I know lists these on his resume: “Caterer”, “Waiter”, “Delivery Boy”, “Great Great Grandfather” (he was in his 30’s at the time), “Husband”, “Exterminator”, and my personal favorite – “Squid”.
Forget being a star, most actors in Hollywood would be thrilled for a role that actually had a name.
Usually these parts are one or two lines, usually day player roles. But not always. Remember the old guy who used to sit at the bar at CHEERS. His name was Al Rosen. He became a semi-regular. He had lines in probably thirty episodes. His name on the show was “Man Who Said Sinatra”.
“Sinatra” was the first line he was assigned, he got a good laugh, and a few weeks later the writers were looking to give a line to a bar patron and someone suggested, “What about the man who said Sinatra?” And thus a legend was born.
It’s not easy being an actor. And for every one who gets a part as “Punk #2” and “Guy in the Sewer” just remember – there are five others who auditioned for those parts and didn’t get them.
Yours truly,
Schmuck with blog
This was a re-post from 5 1/2 years ago.
Russell T Davies, the man who brought Doctor Who back from the dead, has said that he tries to give a proper name to every role in the scripts he writes so it looks better on the resumes. I guess a lot of struggling actors must like him!
ReplyDeleteBest recognition ever paid to such actors came in the movie "Galaxy Quest"; Sam Rockwell as "Crewman #6" aka Guy Fleegman.
ReplyDeleteKen, I met Jan Smithers at a memorabilia show in Burbank Friday, using you as an introductory reference. She still talked to me, and was delightful. (And that was before I paid $20 for an autographed picture.) One thing I learned from Jan is that she's no longer getting "WKRP" residuals; for a potential Friday question, for actors (and writers) how long do residuals tend to last for series that sustain themselves into syndication?
ReplyDeleteMet all sorts of good people from both film and TV at the show, including Sally Kirkland, Judy Tenuta, Dyan Cannon (somewhere, there's a Dorian Gray-like portrait of her), Nancy Kwan and Beth Broderick (yes, Aunt Zelda in the flesh!).
I don't begrudge any celeb who goes to these shows for a little extra pocket money, just as I've never faulted ex-ballplayers whose MLB salaries rookies would laugh at today for appearing at their sports equivalent.
What do you think about this?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-CHEERS-TV-Series-First-Season-Finale-Showdown-II-Paramount-Script-/371148722444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item566a30110c
I remember seeing a headline in one of the supermarket tabloids that read "Cheers star's wife mad that no one from Cheers came to her husband's funeral." Turned out it was Al Rosen's wife.
ReplyDeleteMy God, this thread has been hijacked.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, Al Rosen was a very notable pro baseball player during the 1940s and '50s.
ReplyDeleteI met a charming old lady on the bus a couple years ago who made her living as an extra. Without having to ask, she whipped out her scrapbook and showed me photos of her appearances.
ReplyDeleteShe was "old lady pushing shopping cart," "old lady waiting for bus," "old lady using walker," "old lady crossing the street," "old lady in hospital bed" and on and on and on. I amazed at how many times I'd seen her in different movies and tv shows.
She said it was the best job ever. She spent the day with her other old lady actor friends, ate craft service (snuck some home), and made a few dollars to supplement her Social Security. Spike Lee was her favorite director.
It made me think that I should do that in my declining years, and I held that thought for a good 10 minutes until reality set in, but my hat's off to her and countless other who slave away on obscurity.
ODJennings, here's something I wrote back in 2010 about arguably the most famous Hollywood extra of all: http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/299210.html
ReplyDelete"I was 'Panicky Idiot Number Twelve' in 'The Poseidon Adventure'!"
ReplyDeleteQuotin' "The Simpsons", just keepin' my apostrophes straight on a Sunday mornin'.
My best friend growing up played 'Robber' in an episode of Becker directed by..... Well.
ReplyDeleteHe's gone on to play roles like 'Mechanic', 'Witness', 'Process Server' and 'Policeman/Cop'.....
It's always fun when you're watching an old movie and spot a very familiar face in one of these bit parts. Like Jeff Goldblum as "Freak #1" in Death Wish. Or Anjelica Huston as "Lady on Pier" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Gig Young as "Marching Soldier" in Sergaent York. It's usually a Holy Crap! moment when you spot them.
ReplyDeleteCuckoo's Nest is also good for spotting familiar faces. It seems like half the "Taxi" gang is among the inmates. I'd read that Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson wa in Fellini's "Roma" but failed to spot her, even though I was looking for Tom Waits- album-cover-Peterson, not the Vampirella babe.
ReplyDeleteDifferent Al Rosen, Scotty. The ballplayer is still living. And if you were just pulling Ken's leg, touchet.
ReplyDeleteA stage actress friend, a VERY attractive woman in her 20s, played a "Fantasy Girl" in the Robin Williams movie "World's Greatest Dad". Williams' character at the start daydreams about reading from his new bestselling novel to a room full of hot young babes in little black dresses (including her), who then envelope him in hugs and kisses.
ReplyDelete"Frightened Inmate #2." lol
ReplyDeleteI thought that Bailey was much prettier that Jennifer on WKRP. I really liked her character, also.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tobolowsky talked about this in his podcast a lot, and that even as an established actor, he still had to take a role named "butt crack plumber".
ReplyDeletePS: My favorite Al/Man Said Sinatra moment was from the episode where Diane was trapped in the below-floor heating duct. Without going into the details, we see Al from Diane's perspective where he leans down towards the camera (and Diane) and says, "Pucker up, Baby!" One of these days I'll have to upload that scene to my own YouTube account. But, he was great no matter what line he was given, just because he always sounded like he was really soused.
ReplyDeleteCheerio (again),
Jeffro
I went back and checked, and actually Al Rosen is credited as "Al" from the first episode he appeared on ("Fortune and Men's Weight"), and every other one after that.
ReplyDeleteThe next time you watch "Man of a Thousand Faces" (that's the Cagney biopic of Lon Chaney), look fast and you'll see an unbilled extra named Charles Durning. Extra work can lead to a real career.
ReplyDeleteI've always admired the next rung up on the ladder--the actors who land a small but steady role on a series and make a career out of it.
ReplyDeleteSam the Bartender on Gunsmoke is the poster boy for this. He was in almost every episode, about all he ever said was the occasional "Should I go fetch the Marshall, Miss Kitty?" he cashed two decades worth of paychecks doing it, and as far as I recall he never had to get on a damned horse once.
Maybe the best current example is the woman who plays the Medical Examiner on Law and Order. She's spent years doing her one scene per episode next to an extra under a sheet, and delivering her one line ("She was already dead when she went into the river. This is murder!").
Forget fame, give me years of steady work on a series--that's my Hollywood fantasy.
If you watch The Verdict with Paul Newman, you will plainly see a young Bruce Willis as one of the spectators in the courtroom. He's especially obvious during Newman's final summary to the jury. (A great movie, by the way.)
ReplyDeleteGlenn Strange was actually at the END of his career during his "Gumsmoke" stint. He had played the Frankenstein Monster three times in the 1940s: "House of Frankenstein," "House of Dracula" and "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein." Otherwise, in the '40s, '50s and into the '60s, he portrayed countless bad guys (and some good guys) in B-movie Westerns and other TV Westerns. So, I'd argue he's NOT actually the best example for poster boy of minor actors making a career of a minor TV role.
ReplyDeleteStrange had already had a long career. "Gunsmoke" was merely its finale.
Well, it's not supposed to be "Gumsmoke" in line 1 of my note, but, naturally, "Gunsmoke."
ReplyDeleteI need to get a LARGER font when I type. I'm old.