For anyone not familiar with you, why do you not provide your own
introduction and tell people about yourself for the first question?
I
was born near the shores of Lake Erie… actually in a hospital, but
my two older brothers, younger sister and I lived our happy childhood
not far from the lake. During
all the years of my youth, the health department posted signs along
the beach which read Dangerous Pollution: No Swimming, not that
any of us were ever tempted to brave the stench of dead carp and
charge into the foamy mud-colored surf.
Both the lake and I made out pretty well over the past 50 some
years. Nowadays, it’s a
lovely Bahamian blue; swimmers are wooed and pampered, as are game
fishermen and all water sports enthusiasts.
I now anchor in the dusty plains of Oklahoma and only
occasionally visit my Buckeye beachfront roots. Somewhere along the
westward trail, I stepped into a pile of acting and I can’t shake it
off.
Accounts in print show your family was in oil and other business.
What made you decide on acting instead?
For
me, acting was sort of mid-life response.
I began participating in skits at church fun nights.
Then I auditioned for a community theater and was cast in a
lead role. That set the
hook. Next, I sought out
some training, got noticed by an agent, landed my first professional
audition, and the trend has remained quite steep and steady over the
past 25 or so years. I
spent some time in LA studying with Al Mancini at the Beverly Hills
Playhouse, and began collecting agents for different regions like a
hobby. These days
however, I’m pared back to two: Tulsa and Houston.
They keep me busy enough without spending all my meager income
on airline tickets. I
also wrote and produced and starred in my own movie, Treasure
Blind, which introduced me to a facet of the industry that
interests me most these days.
Making movies with my wife of 38 years, our two boys and
their wives is now my what-I-want-to-do-when-I-grow-up goal in
life.
The Rookie would have been one of your first major roles?
It
was my first role in a major pic.
I can’t say it was a major role.
However, it was a real role in a real movie.
Ironically, The Rookie is the story of the oldest rookie
in major league baseball, and it represented this old rookie’s first
major also. Almost poetic
ain’t it?
You have also played an attorney or a politician several times? Is
this what you prefer or do you simply go where you might find a
role?
Yeah,
I love to act, and I don’t mind eating.
If I can do both, I’m in.
And if there is also the excitement of another role, then
great. I have been a
senator, a detective, a
bad guy, a bum, a dad, a rancher, a public relations executive, a
priest, a fireman, a doctor, and on and on it goes.
Each is exciting because it's not me… exactly.
I get to hide inside some other guy’s experiences.
You have also gotten involved in directing?
I
have directed many plays, a couple commercials, and one movie… so
far. I’ve found that
plays are much different from movies not only for the actor, but also
for the director. In a
play, especially a non equity play such as I directed, I spend a lot
of time helping the actors act. There
was much talk about motivation and subtext and so on.
In my movie, I was telling the story with pictures.
I was worried about having enough of the right pictures to
string together when I would sit down with the editor.
I tried to cast actors – at least for the major roles – so
that those artists would come to the set prepared, concentrating on
what they had to do, and I could concentrate on what I needed to do.
Very different. Very
collaborative.
You just finished some shooting in Israel?
I
did. I was King David,
obviously in his older years, revisiting the sites of the major events
of his life and quoting the psalms that he wrote as a result of those
experiences. Amazing
opportunity.
Being one who makes no denial of his Christianity, did you find being
in this area an added thrill?
Unbelievable.
I knew it would be thrilling, but I couldn’t have known just
how thrilling. To see the
connection between Old Testament and New, to see the actual places
where the events of the Bible took place… I was deeply impacted.
Someone has said that after visiting Israel, you begin reading
the Bible in color for the first time.
I know what they mean. I
was sitting on the Mount of Olives from where Jesus ascended back to
heaven, and I read what he was saying to those disciples just before
that happened. Acts 1:8
“…you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem,” (and I looked across
the Kidron valley at the walls of Herod’s temple) “and in all
Judea and Samaria,” (the whole region we had just been driving
through and visiting), “and to the end of the earth.”
And that’s when it hit me: from where I was sitting, the end
of the earth was Oklahoma. It
was because those disciples were faithful to His charge on that day
– all of them till their death – that a kid growing up on the
shores of Lake Erie could hear about Jesus: the Way, the Truth, and
the Life, and have any hope of eternal life.
It was a goose bump moment I’ll tell ya.
Faith based or Christian films seem to be in some demand now. Would you
prefer to work in this realm rather than in the secular?
You
know, in the past, I have cringed and tried to reword that label or
make some other lame explanation for what I wanted to do, but the
truth is, yes. I want to
make faith-based movies. In
fact, I don’t think I could make any other kind.
When you write, you must draw on your personal world view, and
whether you’re writing comedy or drama or horror, your guts are
gonna show eventually. So
yes, I want to keep making faith-based movies.
There. I said it.
Does your faith then, ever lead to conflicts in your acting
profession, i.e. what you can or cannot allow yourself to do on screen?
This is such an interesting dilemma for Christian actors, and it
has as many answers as there are Christian actors I think.
My answer is… I don’t know.
Certainly, there are things that I won’t do.
Even though there’s the whole it’s not me, it’s the
character-explanation, which is legit to a degree, I think there still
is a limit.
And the interesting thought is, if there’s any limit, why
is it any different than your real life limit?
I honestly haven’t got all the way through that one.
Don’t know yet.
It just is… for now. I
don’t have a list of things I won’t do if that’s what you’re
asking. And I have an
advantage of many believers in the industry, I’m an old bald guy.
Nobody’s going to want me to take my clothes off or be in a sex
scene or any of that stuff. At
least not in any movie the public would look at.
I really feel for young Christian actors nowadays. It’s only going to get tougher too. That’s another reason I like to produce and perform in what
I write. Problem solved.
What are some of your other past acting roles?
I
was a district attorney opposite Kelley Preston and Aiden Quinn.
I was a partner in crime with Michael Dorn.
Our characters didn’t get along at all and he was always
yelling at me, which I found quite a trip.
Dude, I’m getting chewed out by Worf!
I was a Kansas rancher with Sandra Bullock and Toby Jones. I was the father of a prize fighter with Gary Busey.
I was a State Senator with Rex Lynn and Wilford Brimley.
I’ve been a bar owner, a doctor, a mob boss, a parish priest,
and many others. They’re
all my favorites. I love
to remember each one.
Future plans?
I
just got back from Canada scouting some sites for an idea we’re
kicking around for another feature that takes place a few years into
the future. A future
feature. Don’t worry,
it’s not another Left Behind story.
Any interesting behind-the-scenes stories you would like to share from
any of your past film experiences?
It’s
all such fun. Boring as
all get out, and fun. If
that makes sense. One
time, I was filming in a little bitty Oklahoma town with stars flown
in from LA and New York. The
film company had shut down one little street, built a bar in a store
front, make a video store into a small church, and we used the library
as our green room. It
was December, and one day, it was time for this little town to have
it’s annual Christmas parade. So
they did. It pretty much
shut down the shooting, but nobody cared.
They got such a charge out of watching this pitiful little
parade. Honestly, there
was like one farm wagon with a couple crepe paper streamers on it. They had a lame nativity scene on one end with bathrobes
and towels and Jesus on the cross on the other end of the float.
In a diaper. It was so festive.
Then they had the local school’s marching band – all 35
members – marching by playing Christmas carols to marshall drum
cadences. Then they had
the local car club - which consisted evidently of anyone in town who
owned a car. And by the
way, washing your entry was not a requirement.
Then the saddle club and on and on it went.
It was just a hoot. And
of course, all the coasters were just mouth agape, snapping
pictures frantically because no one back home is going to believe this
otherwise. It was great
fun. That movie starred
Mark Boone jr of Batman Begins and Memento, and also Toby
Huss of King of the Hill.
Do you have any favorite director you enjoy working with?
I’ve
worked with academy award winner,
Bille August, and while that was a trip, he wasn’t my
favorite. My fave is
probably Douglas McGrath. He’s
an actor also, so he speaks the language and understands both ends of
the camera. It was just
real comfortable. Plus he
liked me. That made it
even more comfortable.
What are your interests away from film?
I
love to fly, I’m a licensed pilot, but I can’t afford to
because… I’m an actor. I
enjoy writing. Screenplays
of course, plays, and poetry. Of
course, these days, my two grandkids are my first choice for passing
the time.
Do you still live in your native Ohio?
I
moved to Oklahoma nearly 30 years ago.
My boys turn one and four respectively our first year here.
I have no trace of the nasal Ohio accent left.
Honest.
I ask this because it seems liek there are a number of Indy film
fests and production companies that oddly enough keep popping up in this
state? Do you think it might be a place for new actors to try first rather
than California or New York, for example?
I
still think if an actor is serious about making a career in this
business, they still need to get to LA. However, if that ain’t happening, there’s a
multiplication of new film companies in virtually every state where
good experience can be acquired.
Be careful though, because you can also develop some bad habits
from less than knowledgeable actors or directors.
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Speaking of film festivals, do you ever attend these?
We
took Treasure Blind to a few festivals in Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa,
New York, and California. It
was nominated numerous times and won three outstanding awards.
I’m not sure if that helped land our distribution deal, but
it surely didn’t hurt.
Do you have any web pages where fans or business people may find out
more about you?
www.treasureblind.com
is the movie web page. Other
than that, I have a page on IMDB, and on several casting service web
pages, but they all say about the same thing.
Anything else you would like to touch on before closing?
Thank
you for taking the time to ask me these questions.
Thinking back over my career is always a satisfying activity,
and makes me truly thankful.
Final comments?
Adios!
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