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| Scene from wedding of David's father and Kelly's mother. |
| Salt & pepper hair at upper left of picture is mine. |
Over the 2-1/2 years I worked as an extra, I was cast 15 times on "Beverly Hills 90210" the most times on a single show for me. This resulted in my working 20 days on this show, the most total days I worked on any single show. It was an interesting show to work on, and although I didn't have much contact with the actors, who played high school and college age kids, I worked often enough to develop opinions of them.
The first time I worked on "90210" was the second time I worked as an extra, preceded only by "Tales from the Crypt". The call time was 4PM in Malibu, and the scene was to be a weekend in a resort town in Mexico for two of the characters, Dylan (played by Luke Perry) and Brenda (played by Shannen Doherty). I had never seen the show and didn't know who the actors were, although I had an idea of who Shannen Doherty was. My daughter later identified Luke Perry from my description of him. Since then I began watching the show and have become a fan and watch it to this day.
I had been told to bring a selection of casual beach type clothes for the wardrobe people to select from. They selected a Hawaiian shirt I had brought, but Peter, the 2nd AD (not the same Peter who was on "Dave"), apparently thought that didn't fit in with the Mexican atmosphere and didn't use me till the very end, and then in deep background where I couldn't be seen. I was used only when they asked for people who hadn't worked yet at the end of the evening. I was given a beer as a prop, and I was surprised to find it was real beer in a bottle that looked like Coors, but only had "Beer" on the label. It wasn't cold and it was taken away after each take of the scene and returned only when the next take was to be shot.
I spent most of the time hanging out with a gal who did work in a couple of scenes before I was finally used. When it first got dark she wanted to sneak away and go for a walk on the beach, but I was new and didn't want to get into trouble. So she went by herself and was back before she would have been missed. I'm sure I wouldn't have been missed either, but I wanted to be conscientious and not start my "career" with the reputation of being undependable.
The next time I worked on "90210" was in a wedding scene where the father of David (played by Brian Austin Green) and the mother of Kelly (played by Jennie Garth) were married. The wedding scene and a corresponding dream scene were shot in the back yard of a home in Altadena, just North of Pasadena. The exterior of that home has been used throughout as that of the Walsh family, the central family of the show. Another scene was after the wedding where many of us danced on the patio. It was interesting that we were filmed dancing with no music and wearing padding over our shoes so as not to be heard. This was so that the only sound would be the actors saying their lines. The music was dubbed in later.
The wedding reception scene was continued the next day, and I was one of a handful of extras selected by Peter to return. My car was selected to be one of the automobiles parked in front of the Walsh house when the bride and groom made their departure, so I got a "bump" (extra pay) for that. Reception scenes continued in the back yard on that second day, and by evening we moved to the front yard for the departure of the bride and groom. First we were lined up to provide a path for the bride and groom to go through and to throw rice. After the bride and groom passed through, we closed ranks and followed them toward the limousine. At that time Luke Perry's character (Dylan) pushed his way through the crowd as he angrily ran toward his car. He shoved me and told the director that it would be good if he "pushed this gentleman aside" while making his way through the crowd. Finally, we waived goodbye as the limousine pulled away. Over the two days I was seen in several scenes.
During the summer of 1992, quite a few scenes were shot in Santa Monica at the beach, at a location called "The Beverly Hills Beach Club". The story line was that several of the cast were members, and Brandon Walsh worked there on a summer job. Several extras I knew worked there for quite a few days. I only worked for two days at this location. Mostly just lying on the beach, but had such background scenes as sitting on a patio having a drink, looking out over the beach from a balcony of one of the cabanas, walking by one of the cabanas outside the door while tossing a football up in the air, and watching a volleyball tournament.
Off camera, I remember a few things about those two days. I remember trying to stay in the shade as much as possible, because I spent a lot of time in the sun while filming was going on. Early one morning, Jennie Garth and I were the only ones at the catering truck waiting for breakfast, so I mentioned to her that my youngest daughter, who was 15 at the time, would love to accompany me and work on this show, but that I would have to be there only as her guardian and not be able to work at the same time (industry rules for minors under 18). Though I meant as an extra, Jennie apparently misunderstood me and thought that I was wondering how to get my daughter cast in an acting role. She said there probably would be an opportunity for new actors, as the characters were graduating from high school in the show and she thought there would be a major cast turnover. As it turned out, the show followed the characters into college, and although there has been a gradual adding and dropping of characters, many of the major players are still with the show.
Also during the two days at the beach Cindy Crawford, who apparently had been shooting a commercial elsewhere on the beach, joined the cast and crew of "90210" for lunch. Although I was sitting at the next table, I didn't realize she was there until I was almost finished eating. I did know who she was by then, although I hadn't while working on "Body of Evidence". After lunch, as I was returning from the rest room, I crossed paths with her and Jason Priestley, who were taking a stroll.
Another anecdote from those two days that sticks out in my mind was when a young extra set off a whoopee cushion as Luke Perry was walking by, and then said "Luke, shame on you!". Perry waved his hand back and forth behind his butt without breaking stride or saying a word, but with a slight hint of a smile on his face.
My next several assignments on "Beverly Hills 90210" were at their studio in Van Nuys. Most of the scenes I was in were at the Peach Pit, which is a coffee shop that serves as a hangout for the characters on the show. The first time I was seen in the background sitting at the counter and walking toward the rest room. I asked Gabrielle Carteris, who plays Andrea, if she really knows sign language. This question came from the scenes at the "Beverly Hills Beach Club" where she was working with a deaf kid and using sign language. The kid who played the deaf kid actually was hard of hearing. Gabrielle said that yes, she had learned sign language as a kid. She was the friendliest cast member on "90210" and one of the nicest of the actors I worked with.
The next time I worked at the Peach Pit, Gabrielle Carteris was in a wheelchair. I learned she had undergone surgery on her feet since the last time I had worked on the show and that the wheelchair was written into the show by Andrea being hit by a car. I was seen fairly close up sitting at the counter right behind where the characters Brandon and Dylan were saying goodbye to each other.
A number of scenes were shot one day at the Forum in Inglewood, where the basketball Lakers and ice hockey Kings play. The story line was that Steve Sanders (played by Ian Ziering) won a drawing at a Laker game entitling him to take a shot at half time from mid court. If he made the shot, he would win $10,000. At this location the actors were escorted to and from the set by a security firm that included an actor, Norman, with whom I had worked on the "The Fifth Corner". I will discuss him further in Chapter 14.
I first became aware of the scene shortly before I was assigned to work on it as an extra. One of my sons is a sportswriter and had covered the Laker game the previous Sunday. He said that at halftime, Ian Ziering was filmed in front of the crowd shooting from half court, and then running around (after having "made" the shot) shaking hands with the crowd at courtside including regular Laker fan, actress Dyan Cannon. Coincidentally Dyan Cannon's daughter, Jennifer Grant, later joined the cast of "90210" for a period of time as Steve Sanders' girl friend. Jennifer Grant is also the daughter of the late Cary Grant.
Some scenes of some of the female characters and extras were shot in the ladies room, which were to be used as part of a prom scene in the episode, and had nothing to do with the Forum. While this was going on, Ian was practicing his half court shot. He took over 250 shots at the basket over three or four hours and actually made about eight of them. Although Jason Priestley is an accomplished hockey player and has good form on a basketball court, Ian Ziering is the best athlete on the cast of "90210". During lunch breaks on location he often plays basketball or touch football with crew members and extras. Ian took his shots as if he were throwing a baseball or football. Norman, who escorted Ian to and from the set, suggested he shoot more like a hook shot, but Ian was comfortable with his method and had already been filmed shooting that way.
After a while Priestley, Ziering, and some crew members started playing some half court basketball. When they finished, I went out to shoot around a little. I was always too short and too slow to be a good basketball player, but in my youth I was a pretty good shot, especially with the old fashioned two handed set shot from about 35 feet out. I had actually placed second in an intramural free throw contest while a freshman at Iowa State. No sooner had I started shooting around when Ziering, along with some extras and crew members came back and wanted to start another game. Since I was in my mid 50's and everyone else was in their 20's or early 30's, I decided not to push myself too hard. I nevertheless worked up quite a sweat in about 10 minutes of half court basketball.
Lunch time was here and I hadn't worked yet, having spent the morning watching and playing basketball. I had earlier seen Jennie Garth as a guest on the Joan Rivers show where she had been complimentary to the extras that she worked with. I had passed this on to Kathy who said to thank Jennie if I get a chance. My chance came standing in the lunch line, so I told Jennie that I had seen her on Joan Rivers and that Kathy asked me to thank her. She thanked me and asked me to thank Kathy for her kind words. Lunch was held in the parking lot of the Forum, and as I went back into the Forum after lunch, I was walking by Jim Eckhouse (who plays the father in the Walsh family) and a couple of the crew. A couple of pretty young extras that had been in the prom restroom scene walked by and Eckhouse quipped to the other guys "there goes dessert!".
After lunch we finally began shooting the half court shot and the events surrounding it. A scene where an usher tells Steve Sanders that he has won this opportunity as he sits with Brandon Walsh and Brandon's parents also showed me walking down the steps toward the court and then across between the camera and the actors. Extras were also placed in various places in the forum as background to different angles of filming. Ian actually made the shot during one take of the filming, but the one they finally used showed the ball going through the basket in a close-up as a crew member on a ladder dropped it in from above.
Finally, a few of us were asked to stay until dark, when a traffic jam scene was shot in the parking lot. We got paid extra for use of our cars. My car wasn't seen, but I was in the "traffic jam". The evening ended with one extra's car slamming into the open door of another extra's car. The effect on me was that it took me an extra ten minutes to get out of there.
After the interesting day at the Forum, my next assignment on "90210" was the scene where the characters graduated from high school. The graduation scenes were shot at a high school in Torrance, where all of the high school outside shots had been filmed. All of the cast members who were graduating wore blue and gold caps and gowns, as did many young extras. I was supposedly a parent and was dressed in a business suit. Two full days were used to shoot these scenes and I did a lot of sitting in the audience and walking around and congratulating my "son" after the ceremony. All that work and when the episode aired, I didn't find myself at all.
There was a bomb scare while we were there, and filming stopped while the bomb squad did their thing, and the cast, crew, and extras were all given a security orientation. The bomb scare turned out to be a false alarm, but it made the evening news. Another thing that happened was the AD's were looking all over for Ian Ziering, in his trailer, all over the set and couldn't find him. It turns out he was on the set all the time, but he was surrounded by a couple of dozen admiring female extras. He just blended in with all the blue and gold caps and gowns. He had been so busy flirting that he hadn't noticed that they were calling for him.
In the summer after graduation, the characters used a beach house for a going away party for Brenda. Scenes were shot in Malibu, and in this episode I worked for a relatively short day, eating lunch at 1PM and leaving immediately thereafter. I was seen in that episode standing in the background on the beach throwing rocks into the ocean.
In the Autumn, most of the characters enrolled at "California University", a fictitious school that apparently is modeled on UCLA, since it is public school whose football team is eligible to play in the Rose Bowl. The external shots are filmed at Occidental College, which is located in Eagle Rock, a community within the city limits of Los Angeles and nested between the cities of Glendale and Pasadena. Most of the scenes were filmed for later use to "establish" location for scenes that are to be at California University. Scenes of some of the characters registering for the fall session were shot plus many scenes of students and faculty walking about the campus. I saw myself in the episode that had the registration and have also seen myself in later episodes, and even to this day will occasionally see myself in a California University scene.
Two scenes were shot at a restaurant in Beverly Hills, and I worked in the first one, in which Brenda was having dinner with her new boy friend. Although I worked, I was not seen, but while on the set one incident occurred that I remember. Jim Eckhouse directed this episode, and told an extra that was playing a waiter serving the principals to "relax, she won't bite", referring to Shannen Doherty, who played Brenda. This reminded me how difficult she was perceived to be by many people. The other scene shot that day was a night club scene with a lot of young people dancing. I got to go home before that scene was shot.
One thing I remember about that day was that a few extras were contracted from a modeling agency, and of course worked at a much higher rate than the regular extras. They were used to add glamour to the night club scene. Also, before going on that call an extra named Patty, with whom I had worked several times, told me that her sister in law was going on the same call. The sister in law was named Rita and did not work regularly as an extra. As it turns out Rita works full time in the same school district where all of my five children had grown up. Patty had talked her into working as an extra during the summer break. Rita, her husband and kids only live about two or three miles from me, but I haven't seen her since that day, and have not seen Patty since.
I next worked on "90210" at the Van Nuys studio, the only time I worked at the studio where the scenes were not in the Peach Pit. The scenes were shot in the studio on a set for the interior of the Walsh home. The occasion was the 25th wedding anniversary of the Walshes. The scenes took two days to film. I was seen rather well in a couple of scenes, and one of them required a make up woman to touch up my face. That's because I would be closer to the camera than the principals and not moving. As the camera focused on the principals another man and I were in the lower corners of the screen.
The first morning, as I was standing around chatting with some other extras, a woman walked by and said good morning. She was without makeup and in curlers, and I didn't recognize her. She turned out to be Julie Adams, who had starred in the '50s in movies such as "Creature from the Black Lagoon", and was playing the mother of one of the Walsh parents. During these two days I talked with an extra who was a retired FBI agent. I still see him on the screen once in a while. While trying to walk through some equipment toward the set, Jennifer Grant and I approached a narrow opening at the same time, and she said, "I guess we better go around this". She resembles her mother, Dyan Cannon.
Scenes for another episode of "90210" were shot at Occidental College at a building which was a "chancellor's" home with a foyer, hallway, living room, library, kitchen, dining room etc. During the day some scenes were shot in the back yard depicting a garden party, and reception scenes were shot indoors in the evening. The evening scenes were scripted to take place before the outdoor scenes. I was seen pretty well in one scene outside and one scene inside.
I worked that day with Meg, whom I had met on "LA Law" and worked later with on "Weird Science", as I discussed in Chapter 11. During the outdoor scene, I initially was standing with Meg, but they had her walk down the steps with a younger man, and had me stand on the porch with an older woman. Meg was probably in her mid 30's, and I was about 20 years older. In the evening scene, however, I was Meg's escort as we walked into the room behind Jason Priestley's character.
About a week or so after I worked on the party scenes at Occidental College, I was once again cast on "90210". This time the scenes were shot at the La Canada Flintridge Country Club. The scenes centered around Steve Sanders and his father playing in a father son golf tournament. Their foursome was completed with baseball player Barry Bonds, playing himself, and an actor playing Bonds' father. I worked two days on the golf episode and was supposed to be paid extra for bringing my golf clubs. I did get paid the extra money the first day, but didn't the second day for reasons which I'll explain below.One scene I was in was an establishment scene where I was descending stairs from the clubhouse toward the golf course carrying my golf clubs. I have seen this scene at least twice in different episodes of "90210", and actually saw that scene a couple of years later in an episode of "Melrose Place", a show on which I have never worked. Both shows are produced by Aaron Spelling.
Other scenes I worked on included standing with my clubs along side a green where the principals were putting and a locker room scene where I walked across behind where Steve Sanders and his father were sitting at their lockers talking.
Barry Bonds came to the set each day in a limousine. I didn't see any signs of his controversial reputation, except for the limousine and a couple of girls hanging around him. He was courteous to kids seeking his autograph. Between takes of one scene, I was standing across the green from Bonds and threw a pantomime baseball pitch toward him. He apparently saw it because he swung his putter like a baseball bat at my "pitch".
On the first day I brought two golf shirts so wardrobe could select one for me to wear. They didn't like my plum colored shirt because it was too close to what Ian would be wearing, and they didn't like my green shirt, because tournament officials would be wearing green shirts. So they provided me with a blue golf shirt. As is customary, wardrobe kept my voucher until I returned the shirt at the end of the work day.
The problem came on the second day. I went to wardrobe to pick up my shirt and give them my voucher. They also agreed to keep the shirt I had worn to work, as I had no place to keep it. At the end of the day I went to wardrobe to turn in my shirt and get my own shirt and my voucher. It was late and the trailer that had my shirt and voucher had already left to return to the studio in Van Nuys. Of course they let me wear their shirt home, as I had nothing else to wear. There was some hassle getting the 2nd AD to give me a duplicate voucher until the wardrobe people explained to him what had happened. Since I had no plans for the next day, I agreed to drive to the studio in Van Nuys (a round trip of 100 miles) to return their shirt and pick up my shirt. I felt I was going out of my way, but it was the easiest solution and I was happy to do it. The wardrobe people seemed to appreciate my effort. The end result was when I was paid, I was not given the extra $15.00 for bringing my golf clubs for the second day. The 2nd AD had not included that on my voucher. This is another example of how extras are given short shrift and not appreciated when they go out of their way to be helpful. By my going out of my way to be helpful and not raising a stink about their mistake, I was rewarded by getting short changed on my pay.
My final casting on "90210" was once again at Occidental College. The first part of the day was typical. I was seen in one scene entering the administration building as Jason Priestley's character (Brandon Walsh) was leaving the building. As we were setting up for the scene, I was standing about ten feet from Jason. I adjusted my tie and he laughed and said "be sure to get that tie straight!'. I think he was amused that I was doing this even though my back would be to the camera.
The rest of the day was slow, as I sat around and watched a few scenes that I was not in. I was looking forward to going home. However, I was one of several extras chosen to stay for a night scene. The scene was of paramedics at a dorm going to the aid of a girl who had tried to kill herself. I was seen as a school administrator at the scene following the paramedics and patient down the steps and toward the ambulance. That was the last time I worked on "90210".
This page was last updated on September 14, 2003
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