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Scene from "Sisters" episode.". |
| Giuliana Santini, a regular cast member on "Homefront", has a guest role on this episode. Her character, a rape victim, is about to shoot and kill her rapist outside the courthouse. She is about to shove me out of the way to get an open shot. |
I enjoyed working on TV dramatic series for a number of reasons. Many of them I had watched, and I had a general idea of the story lines and the characters. Days were usually shorter than on movies, and scenes were not shot over and over again as many times. The atmosphere was somewhat more relaxed than on movies. For these reasons I preferred working on TV dramas to movies, even though the payday was usually a little less per day worked.
TV dramatic series I worked on were almost always made for commercial TV, but a couple of them were made for cable. I worked on the following TV dramas: Nearly all of the TV dramatic series were one hour in length, but occasionally there would be a two hour special. "Tales from the Crypt", "Danger Theatre", and I believe "Weird Science" were only a half hour in length.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT As I mentioned in Chapter 2, Prime Casting cast me on "Tales from the Crypt", which was my first job as an extra. It was a somewhat short day, beginning at 1PM and ending at around 9PM, with an hour break for dinner at 4PM. There were only about 12 extras cast on this job and all were prominently featured on the show. I was one of three advertising executives interfacing with the leads in the first scene of the show, and was seen in a close-up. Mimi Rogers was the guest star, and I was surprised when she was nearly topless at the beginning of the scene. As I said before, I accidentally erased a tape of that episode, so don't have it in my archives.
Since it was my first job, everything was new and I didn't know quite what to expect. During the meal break, five of us went to a nearby Burger King in my car. I remember one of the extras was a vegetarian, so he only ordered fries and a drink. Another was a singer who had moved from New York and worked in a Van Nuys night club. She was interested in making it in show business, and when I mentioned it was just a hobby for me, she said "You're probably the one who will make it big". Obviously that didn't happen, nor did I expect it. We all had a laugh about the "luggage commercial" ruse that I mentioned in Chapter 2. Except for the guy who was a vegetarian, I never saw any of these people again. The only time I saw him was on "Dave" one time.
BEVERLY HILLS 90210 My experiences on "Beverly Hills 90210" are discussed in Chapter 12.
MATLOCK My experiences on "Matlock" are discussed in Chapter 13.
THE FIFTH CORNER My experiences on "The Fifth Corner" are discussed in Chapter 14.
PICKET FENCES My experiences on "Picket Fences" are discussed in Chapter 15.
FRESHMAN DORM "Freshman Dorm" was a short lived series about a group of kids beginning their freshman year in college. The kids were an attractive young group of actors, who were largely unknowns. I watched the show and enjoyed it. I was sorry when it was cancelled.
I was told to report to the VA hospital in Westwood at 10AM on a Sunday morning. When I arrived, I learned that there were only five extras total cast for that day. Three of them were college age and two of us were to be parents and/or faculty members. Besides me, there was a woman named Judy, with whom I had worked before and who was known for her resemblance to the actress, Teri Garr.
As it turned out, Judy and I didn't weren't used at all, and were released at 6PM, although the three younger extras worked quite a bit. Nevertheless it was a pleasant day, much like a picnic in a park. The extras and the actors all ate at the same table, with the crew at another table. T-bone steaks were served, and the actors (three or four guys and three or four gals) were all quite sociable. I found them a more down to earth and better looking group of young people than the cast of "Beverly Hills 90210", though they haven't had the success.
I brought a radio along so I could listen to the California Angels pregame show on which my son, a sportswriter, was to be a guest. Later in the afternoon, a squirrel kept raiding the craft service table and taking food. One time he actually made off with an entire loaf of bread. All in all, I considered the day a pleasant experience, like a picnic with T-bone steaks, pleasant company, and I earned $40 to boot.
LA LAW I worked on LA Law three times, once each in 1992, 1993, and 1994. Each time was one day's work. The first time I reported to the Fox Studios on Pico Boulevard in Century City. I recall working in two hallway scenes, supposedly in the hallway of a courthouse. When I saw the show I couldn't find myself. Other than that the day was uneventful.
The next time I worked on LA Law we also reported to the Fox Studios, but traveled by van to other locations for filming. This was somewhat annoying to me because it was a significantly shorter drive for me to go to the actual site of filming than to go all the way to the studio. Scenes during the day were shot outside on Sunset Boulevard, and the story line was that two of the characters from the show "Civil Wars" had moved from New York and had joined the firm in "LA Law". I was seen briefly walking on the sidewalk
In the evening of the same day, scenes were shot in a restaurant. I was placed in the scene, but was not seen when the show aired. While not working I spent some time visiting with the medic. She was an RN who had worked for the same medical clinic as my wife, and we had some mutual acquaintances. Medics are usually present on location and provide first aid, aspirin, and are available for emergencies.
The final time I worked on "LA Law" was once again at the Fox studio. One scene was in the law offices and I was seen briefly in the background walking across the lobby as the main action was going on in one of the offices. The other scene was in the hallway where I was one of a small group of journalists questioning some lawyers about a custody case between a birth father and an adoptive mother. I was seen in a circle surrounding the lawyers and then following them down the hallway. The hallway scene was shown at the beginning of the episode. I met a woman on that show named Meg with whom I later worked several times. She said she began working as an extra to supplement her family income after the business she was in with her husband had gone bankrupt due to embezzlement by their accountant. I was always interested in why various people became extras.
HOMEFRONT I enjoyed working on "Homefront" for several reasons. First of all it was in the middle of the time that I worked on "Dave" and it was nice working with human beings for a change. Also I watched the show regularly and enjoyed it a lot. I thought all of the people were congenial, including the AD's, actors, and crew.
It was set in the late 1940's in post World War 2 Ohio. I worked for two days on the show, and had to wear suits from the 1940's that the wardrobe department provided. The Emmy's were held around that time, and the wardrobe department had won an Emmy for best costume design. Early on my second morning on the show one of the wardrobe gals had the Emmy and was showing it to a few people who happened to be there, including myself and another extra, a couple of cast members, and other crew members. I actually got to handle the Emmy for a minute.
On the first day I had a brief visit with Ken Jenkins, who was one of the lead actors on the show. He had some interesting stories about the acting profession over the past 30 years and some of the people who work regularly as actors but never become major stars. These are the people whose faces are recognized, but not always their names. To me they are the backbone of the film industry. I worked with Ken Jenkins later on "And the Band Played On".
The first scene I worked on was walking between the cameras and the actors as they were standing outside a radio station talking. When that scene aired, I saw myself from the neck to the knees walking by, as is typical in that type of scene.
The next scenes I was on took place in a train. The train went from Cleveland to Detroit and back to Cleveland from Detroit. The main characters were played by Ken Jenkins and Kelly Rutherford. The story line was that he, an older man, and she, a young woman were going to see the Cleveland Indians play a baseball game against the Tigers in Detroit. They were not having an affair, but the scenes imply a mutual attraction. On the trip to Detroit, I was seen entering the train directly behind the two actors and then after we were seated, the back of my head was seen prominently over Kelly Rutherford's shoulder.
On the return trip, I was seen facing forward about three seats behind them. I was sitting next to a young woman and we were told to be animated. At one point I leaned over and whispered in her ear. When the show aired, my wife said, "you kissed that girl", and indeed that's the way it looked on film. At the end of the return trip I was seen retrieving luggage from the overhead for myself and the young woman and then proceeding down the aisle.
It was interesting how they made the interior of a train in a studio look realistic. Lights were shining in the window simulating daylight, and crew members were rocking the car back and forth. Sound effects completed the realism.
While waiting with Kelly Rutherford to enter the train, I noticed she had on a pants suit. I questioned whether pants suits were worn in the late 1940's and she replied that yes indeed they were and that people such as Lauren Bacall wore them all the time. I also complimented her on a particularly poignant scene shown on an earlier episode of "Homefront", where she was relating the death of her husband during the war. I was surprised when she said that they all were laughing between takes of the scene. Yet it was very realistic when I saw it.
On "Homefront" Kelly Rutherford wore her hair in sort of a permanent wave typical of the late 1940's. For each scene she had to have her hair reshaped as it went limp as soon as a scene was over. To summarize, I enjoyed my two days on "Homefront".
MURDER, SHE WROTE My experiences on "Murder, She Wrote" are discussed in Chapter 16.
DANGER THEATRE "Danger Theatre" is being included in this category rather than as a sitcom because it wasn't filmed before a live audience. Even though it was only a half hour program, it is considered drama. There was some humor, but it was very tongue in cheek. The star of the show was Adam West, best known for the role of Batman in the old television series "Batman". The guest star for this episode was Peter Haskell. There was a lot of action in the show and several stunt men were used. It was fun to work on.
I was seen very prominently in one scene as a reporter at a press conference held by the Governor of Hawaii, and later seated at a table as a fight broke out and then walking out from the banquet room. I was placed in another scene, but the director asked "is this guy twins, he's been in all the scenes?" so I was replaced in that scene.
The young woman next to whom I was seated in the restaurant scene, and whom I sat across the table from at lunch, turned out to have a sister with a Graphic Arts business in my hometown of Covina, located next door to the local office of Congressman David Dreier. She sometimes helped out there doing the bookkeeping, and I stopped in and said hello one time. The business eventually moved to Brea, a city about 15 or 20 miles away.
One thing I noticed when I saw that episode of "Danger Theatre" was a scene where one extra was seen as a cook in the kitchen, and the same extra was seen sitting at a table in a suit when the scene continued into the dining room. Occasionally, things like that happen, but usually it's not noticed. I've heard stories about a red sports car being seen in the distance in a scene from "The Ten Commandments" and also an extra with sunglasses. Usually things like that are caught in editing.
CIVIL WARS I worked on "Civil Wars" for one day. The scenes were shot at an automobile dealership in Hollywood that was not in business at that time. As I often did, I got to the set early to make sure I didn't get caught in traffic and wind up being late. There weren't very many people around when I got there, and I was visiting with a man who I thought was another extra. We were talking about the traffic coming in from Covina, which I did, and coming in from Woodland Hills, which he did. I was surprised later when I learned that the person whom I thought was an extra was Shelley Berman, a comedian who was a guest star on this episode.
The first scene I was in was in the show room of the automobile dealership and showed Shelley Berman's character, a salesman, showing Peter Oranati's character, a lawyer who was a co lead on the series, a car. I was in the background as another customer being shown a car. Later I was used outside as one of several people walking by outside of the dealership and then looking at a car that was outside. Except for the showroom scene, I was not seen prominently.
While waiting to shoot one of the scenes where I was outside, my starting point was about ten feet from Peter Onorati's starting point. I commented that he wasn't as short as he appeared on the show. He replied that this was because Mariel Hemingway, his costar, was so tall. She wasn't in any of the scenes that day.
Other regulars on the show that weren't there that day included Alan Rosenberg and Debi Mazar, who continued their same roles later on "LA Law", and David Marciano, who was later on an episode of "Reasonable Doubts" and subsequently became a regular on "Due South".
The extras' holding area was in a garage behind the showroom of the car dealership. Also our cars were parked on the roof of that garage. I talked with an extra that had had an interesting experience on "Melrose Place". He told me that he and some other extras were having lunch at the El Torito restaurant when Heather Locklear and her mother came in. It was crowded and Heather recognized the extras from the set, so she asked them if she and her mother could join them. She wound up picking up the tab for everyone. That was one of several stories I've heard about how nice a person Heather Locklear is.
At mid afternoon, extras were asked who wanted to stay for some scenes to be shot in the garage that were to depict a wrecked car being towed into a police impound lot. Of course, I didn't, since I always enjoyed getting off early. So those of us who wanted to leave were released. It took a while to get away though, because I had to drive down a ramp from the roof through the garage where the scene was being shot. I had to wait until there was a break between scenes, but still got away in time to beat rush hour traffic home.
SISTERS I worked twice on "Sisters". The first time was an evening call at Warner Brothers in late November. It was cold and I was dressed in a light weight suit. As it turned out, the extras' holding area was outdoors in a patio near the commissary. The scene was filmed in the executive dining room that was upstairs over the commissary. While waiting, I got very cold and wound up catching a cold that night. I was in a restaurant scene, but was seated at a table that turned out to not be shown. However, I was only about 20 feet from where the actors did their dialogue. My table mate was a woman in her late 60's who had moved to California from the South when her husband retired. She worked as an extra, and he stayed home. I've seen her since on the screen several times, mostly as a nurse in hospital scenes.
The other time I worked on "Sisters" was much more interesting. It was a long day, and during the day I worked in several scenes on the steps outside of a courthouse. I was seen briefly in one or two of those scenes. In one scene, I was to enter the courthouse as George Clooney's character came out. I held the door and he said "Thank you!". As far as I know, "Sisters" was Clooney's first major TV series, and he's become much better known since then as Dr. Ross on "ER" and as Batman. He was one of the friendlier actors with whom I've worked. Between scenes, he talked golf with Ed Marinaro, another regular on "Sisters". Marinaro had been a record setting running back in college football and played several seasons of professional football before becoming a successful actor. Before one of the scenes, another regular, Sela Ward, noticed a University of Alabama sweatshirt on an extra. She wanted him to wear that sweatshirt in a scene. It turned out that Sela Ward is an alumnus of Alabama, and I believe was a cheerleader while there.
But the most fun I had, as so often seemed to happen, was in the evening when I was tired from the long day and didn't want to work any more. I tried to sit in an inconspicuous place, but they found me. I was placed in a crowd on the sidewalk outside the courthouse for a scene that showed the people exiting the courthouse at the end of the trial. The trial was a rape trial where one of the regulars on the show was raped by an acquaintance. The scene was another girl who had earlier been raped by the same man, shooting and killing him with a handgun.
The scene was shot from two angles. In late afternoon the camera focused on the victim of the shooting. In the evening, it focused on the shooter, an actress named Giuliana Santini, who was guest starring on this episode. Since the first shots were in daylight and the later ones in darkness, I wondered how this seeming inconsistency would be resolved. When the show aired, it all appeared to be in daylight. That shows what skilled lighting technicians can do.
Giuliana Santini had been a regular on "Homefront" as an Italian war bride. Although she didn't work in the scenes I worked in on "Homefront", I had watched the show regularly and knew who she was. I visited with her briefly in the afternoon of "Sisters" and told her that I missed "Homefront", which had been cancelled. She was a very nice and congenial person. Most recently she has been a regular cast member of the TV series "Moloney".
The scene showed Guiliana's character fighting her way through the crowd and shooting and killing the rapist. I told her that she could shove me hard for realism as she pushed her way by me. For a little gal, she could belt you pretty hard and did just that through a couple of rehearsals and the filming. I was right next to her and a little behind her as she pulled the trigger. When the episode aired, she was in focus, and the rest of us were somewhat blurred. Cotton was provided for the ears of everybody that would be near the gun, and the makeup man swabbed the cotton with a skin colored cream so the white of the cotton wouldn't show. I was seen quite a bit throughout this scene, being belted by Guiliana, ducking away, and looking back over my shoulder.
LIFE GOES ON "Life Goes On" scenes that I worked on depicted the graduation of several of the characters from high school. The scenes were filmed on the campus and in the auditorium of an intermediate school in Burbank. The school was actually in session, but the filming and the operation of the school coexisted rather well. Tables were set up on the campus for the cast and crew to have lunch, and during lunch, several students, who were also on a lunch break, recognized Kellie Martin, one of the stars of the show. She was very gracious in signing autographs and visiting with the kids. She is another of the actors that I found to be a very nice person. Two of the other actors who were on the show as graduating seniors were Chad Lowe and a young man named Chris, whose last name I can't recall. Chris was a remarkable actor as he was afflicted with Down's Syndrome. He was pleasant, cooperative, conscientious, and hard working. The only accommodation they made to his Down's Syndrome was that he only had to memorize one or two lines at a time.
The majority of the extras on this call were graduating seniors and were dressed in caps and gowns. I was the father of a graduate, and two women, one in her late 30's or early 40's and the other in her late 60's were to be the mother and grandmother, respectively. In the scene I shook hands with the graduate, and the two women gave him a hug. I then hugged the two women. Other than sitting in the auditorium during the graduation ceremony, which was the only scene that I worked on, and when the episode aired, we weren't seen.
The younger of the two women was either the fiancée or wife of Johnny Crawford, who had played the son on the 1960's series, "The Rifleman". He was now a bandleader specializing in music from the 1930's and 1940's. She got my name and address and put me on a mailing list, so now I get occasional mailings announcing where his band will be playing.
One incident happened while I was on the set of "Life Goes On" was a manifestation of the fact that extras often have inadequate dressing areas. I walked into a room where the spare clothes I had brought were hanging. A girl was in there changing clothes, and she and a couple of other gals screamed as I walked in the door. I merely retrieved my clothes and went back out. Nothing further happened, but I was a little annoyed at the reaction I got when I entered the room, since it hadn't been designated as a dressing area.
REASONABLE DOUBTS "Reasonable Doubts" starred Mark Harmon and Marlee Matlin as an investigator and a prosecutor for the Chicago District Attorney, respectively. I worked one day on the show on location in East Los Angeles. When I got to the set I saw David Marciano, who had been a regular on "Civil Wars", and for a minute thought I was on the wrong set. It turned out that he had a guest role on that episode of "Reasonable Doubts".
I worked on basically two scenes on "Reasonable Doubts", one in the afternoon and the other at night. The afternoon scene was the one I mentioned in Chapter 5 where I crossed paths with Mark Harmon's character on the sidewalk as he was about to enter a coffee shop. I also was in seen at a great distance in a scene crossing the street during the same time frame.
At night a scene was shot that depicted people outside a prison picketing either for or against capital punishment and either protesting or supporting an execution that was to take place at midnight. I was seen carrying a sign supporting capital punishment.
Off camera was a pretty routine day. I remember two things from that day. One was the incident in the lunch line that I described in Chapter 6 where Mark Harmon insisted on not going to the front of the line. The other is about an extra named Bob, with whom I worked many times. Bob was a tall, white haired, distinguished looking man who works a lot as an extra. I still see him on screen to this day. His most featured role was in the original "Wayne's World" movie. He was in a luxury car when another car drove up and the rider asked "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?". He responded by turning up his nose in an aloof manner. Anyway, he spent his morning hours with earphones listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio.
LOIS AND CLARK My experiences on "Lois and Clark" are discussed in Chapter 17.
NYPD BLUE I worked once on NYPD Blue. It was either the pilot or at least one of their earliest shows. It was a courtroom scene, and I was an attorney walking across the courtroom and checking the calendar with the court clerk while a witness was being questioned. One of the stars of the series at the time, David Caruso, was seated a couple of seats ahead of me, but I didn't know who he was at the time.
That was the only scene I recall being in, and it was a relatively short day. I don't recall too much about the day off camera except a lot of extras dressed in police officer uniforms.
BRISCOE COUNTY "Briscoe County" is the name of the main character of the show. I, of course, at first thought it was the name of a county, but the man's name was County. The scenes I worked on were set in the 19th century in San Francisco. We were dressed in wool suits that were in fashion in the 19th century. The scenes were shot on a San Francisco street and there were a lot of horses and horse drawn carriages. I worked on a lot of scenes, mostly walking on the street or across the street but didn't see myself when this episode aired.
Early in the day ambulances and paramedics were called to the set, which was at the Warner Brothers studio. A stunt woman had been injured. The scene was a woman jumping out of a second floor room and sliding down an awning into a waiting carriage. During one of the takes, the awning tore and the stunt woman fell through landing hard on the ground. I talked with her later, and she was not badly injured. She said she had a bad bruise on her tailbone, but would be able to continue working.
About half of the extras, including myself, were released about noon. This had been a short but interesting day. I was glad to get out of the uncomfortable clothes and to be able to go home early.
MY FATHER'S SON "My Father's Son" was the production name for the pilot of a TV series that went on the air under a different name, which I don't recall since it was a short lived series. Lloyd Bridges and Beau Bridges starred in the series. Beau was in the scenes I worked on and had slimmed down considerably since his role on "Elvis and the Colonel". The scenes were shot at the Media City Center Mall in Burbank. I had worked there before the mall opened, but the mall was open now and the filming coexisted with shoppers. In fact some shoppers were used in some scenes if they gave permission.
I worked in a scene where I was briefly seen walking past a store while the camera and the main action were inside the store. I was also originally set for a scene riding down the up escalator as Beau Bridges was running up the down escalator. When that scene was finally shot, about three or four extras were removed, including me. The escalator had been too crowded.
For the most part, both on and off camera, I spent much of the day with a young woman who was a singer currently working in a musical called "Nunsense". She was supplementing her income by working as an extra. Lunch was served in the parking structure adjacent to the mall. We were released in late afternoon, so it wasn't too long a day.
SECOND CHANCES "Second Chances" was a short lived series which starred Connie Sellecca and a talented cast of actors. I worked two days on this show on a wedding scene which was shot in a chapel on the Mount St. Mary's campus in the hills overlooking Brentwood. Jennifer Lopez played the bride. She has since been selected to play the title role in a movie about the murdered singer Selena. In spite of the fact that they reneged on a promise to pay mileage to non union extras as I mentioned in Chapter 4, I enjoyed the two days on that show.
The wedding scene depicted the bride, under the mistaken belief that that the groom had had sex with a stripper at his bachelor party, walked away from the altar in the middle of the wedding. I was seen in the row behind the groom's family, watching in shock as she walked by my pew crying, and again in a group of people following the crowd out of the church and down the steps.
On both days we had excellent breakfasts and lunches. I hung out with several extras who I knew from before, including a guy named Jerry, who was a retired Air Force Master Sergeant with whom I worked many times. On one of the days at lunch I was seated next to Jennifer Lopez, who was wearing her white wedding gown, and across the table from Pepe Serna, who played her father. They were both boxing fans and were talking about boxing during lunch. Apparently Pepe Serna had been a fighter before becoming an actor.
I also visited briefly with a gal named Joli Lallo, who was the maid of honor. In Chapter 18 I'll discuss a bet I made with Joli concerning basketball player Michael Jordan. Joli is also a model. Click here for a picture of her I found on the Internet.
Several students from the university hung around during the late part of the day asking questions about the filming.
WEIRD SCIENCE "Weird Science" is a show that I know nothing about as, I've never seen it, partly because it's on cable. The scene I was in was shot at Universal Studios high in the hills where many outdoor scenes are shot. Apparently it was a light hearted science fiction show, as the scene I was in was a press conference by one of the characters, a young guy who had been "transformed" into the President of the United States. Since I have never seen the show, I don't know how well I was seen.
I got to the location early and it was quite chilly. I kept warm by staying inside of one of the trailers. Meg, the extra I mentioned in the description of LA Law, was there, and this turned out to be the last time that I worked with her. As the sun rose it got warmer. During the day the extras hung out in chairs on the grass atop the hill. At lunch break we were bussed down to the commissary at Universal Studios, and then back up to the set.
As the extras were sitting on the hill in the holding area, some trams carrying tourists on the Universal Cities tour drove by. The tourists, apparently mostly from Japan, had cameras and took our pictures. We laughed about that and wondered if they had any idea who we were or what we did.
ER I worked on the pilot for "ER" on a hospital scene that was shot at an out of service hospital in East Los Angeles where I had worked on the movie "Switch". Subsequently, a set was built at Warner Brothers replicating the hospital rooms. The scene I was in was as a doctor coming in out of the Chicago cold and changing from my overcoat into a lab coat at a locker in the doctor's locker room. I was seen in the background as the actors had a scene in the foreground. I also had a scene walking across the hospital lobby.
At the time I worked on "ER", I didn't know who most of the actors were, as at the time they were largely unknown. The only ones I recognized were George Clooney, with whom I had worked on "Sisters", and Sherry Stringfield, who had played a deputy DA and the ex wife of David Caruso's character on "NYPD Blue". At the craft services table, George Clooney talked golf with an extra that was also a teaching golf pro. I told Sherry Stringfield that I had enjoyed "NYPD Blue" and thought it was a good show. She thanked me and said that "ER" would be even better.
Our holding area was a dark hospital hallway, and the craft services table had plenty left over when the day ended. Along with one or two other people, I was given a left over cake to take home. When I worked on "ER", I didn't realize what a hit it would become. Sherry Stringfield was right.
SWEET JUSTICE "Sweet Justice" turned out to be the last TV drama I worked on. I worked two days on the show. The scenes I worked on were shot at the Sony studios in Culver City. They were courtroom scenes and starred Melissa Gilbert and Cycely Tyson as attorneys in a New Orleans law office specializing in helping down and out clients. In addition to the usual crossing scenes and some background scenes seated in the courtroom, I was seen prominently standing in the doorway as Melissa Gilbert, Cycely Tyson, and Marion Ross exited the courtroom. I was also supposed to exit an elevator as a couple of the principals entered, but it was too crowded so about three of us were removed from that scene.
Marion Ross was the guest star of the episode I worked on. She is probably best remembered for her long standing role as Mrs. Cunningham on "Happy Days" and on "Brooklyn Bridge". During a break I commented to Ms. Ross that "Brooklyn Bridge" was one of my wife's favorite shows, and that she was sorry when it was cancelled. She replied that I should tell my wife that she loves her and that she also was sorry when it was cancelled.
Another guest star in this episode, as an opposing attorney, was Stanley Kamel. My observation of him was that he was very intense and easily irritated. He seemed to go ballistic at three day players who were playing witnesses in the trial because they were whispering while Kamel was discussing the scene with the director. But I've admired him as an actor in many TV shows, and I guess everybody can't be easygoing. Some people do overreact to minor annoyances.
SUMMARY In some ways TV dramas were my favorite shows to work on. I watched many of them and knew the characters and the general story lines. They were also shorter and less stressful days than movies, although on average they didn't pay as well. The hours were usually in the daytime, unlike sitcoms, which were shot in the evening before a live audience.
This page was last updated on September 14, 2003
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