After having worked on "Murphy Brown" in August of 1994, I had no idea that that would be the last time I worked as an extra. I really didn't make a conscious decision to quit. At about this time I was getting tired of having to call in when I wanted work and to usually talk to people who didn't know me. I guess I had been spoiled by having casting directors who knew and liked me and would place me in good roles. When Kathy left, she introduced me to a casting director named David, whose father had been Chief of Police in my home town of Covina. He placed me in my last several jobs, and even called me for a job one time. But I was just tired of having to call in. I also had a cabinet full of video tapes and had no room for more, and figured that nothing I worked on would be better than things I had already done.
Another clue that I was tiring of working as an extra occurred several weeks before my last job. I had been cast on a show called "SeaQuest" and the call time was 7AM. When I arrived at 7AM no one was around. Finally someone showed up and said the call time had been changed to 11AM. I was angry and called Cenex to vent. Louie said that my wife had been told of the change. I was embarrassed when I found out that she indeed had been told and forgot to leave a message for me. She had been called late at night and wasn't fully awake. But after having driven to Warner Brothers, a distance of 32 miles, and back, I really wasn't in the mood to go back. So I called Louie to apologize for not getting the message and told him I was ill and wouldn't make it. He said no problem, he would find a replacement. I had a good reputation for being reliable, but still this was not a good thing to do. Had the same thing occurred a year earlier, I would have gone back. This showed me I was tiring of the hassle.
Being in the state of mind described in the previous paragraphs, I was susceptible to focusing on new interests. The Christmas season was approaching. I had purchased a personal computer in May and subscribed to an on line service in October. The O. J. Simpson trial was in the news, and I became addicted to watching the hearings and the trial. I wanted to get more active by playing golf and senior softball. I haven't followed through much on that, but I've kept busy because of all the other things, and before I knew it, a year had passed since I had last worked. By this time, I just wasn't ready to get back into a routine of calling in for work every day.
I never lost interest in the work, however, so when filming is going on nearby, I usually will visit the set and watch for a while. I look for extras I know, and occasionally have found some. Most of the non union extras I know who are still working have become members of SAG. I mentioned earlier that I visited the filming of one of the final scenes of "Picket Fences" and visited with a wardrobe woman who I recognized. I've watched a couple of other shows being filmed but don't know what they were and didn't recognize anyone.
Most recently I've visited the set of "Pre" several times. Some scenes were being shot at Citrus College, about four miles from my house, and other scenes at a half empty shopping center about a mile and a half away. The movie is about Steve Prefontaine, a distance runner who fell during a race in the 1972 Olympics and did not place, was working hard to make a comeback at the 1976 Olympics when he was killed in an automobile accident. I was told Donald Sutherland was in the movie and that Tom Cruise was one of the producers. I visited with three extras I had worked with and saw others that I recognized. One was Judy, who commuted from Ventura, another was Ken Norton, whose name I remembered because it was the same as a former boxing champion and his son, now a professional football player. The other one was one who often worked with his wife, but she wasn't with him on this day.
I've come away with some impressions after having worked as an extra. My son who is a sportswriter once told me that professional athletes were like any other people, some real nice and some not so nice. I found the same thing to be true in the film industry. Hopefully this book has touched on some of my observations of people in show business.
The language used in the military and on sports teams is usually rougher than that used in polite society. I've found the same to be true on a set, the difference being that the military and sports team environments that I've observed are all male, while both genders are on movie and TV sets. Whenever children are on the set, however, cast and crew are very careful not to use bad language. As is true in the world at large, some people use more profanity than others do. Besides Madonna, one person sticks out in my mind as using one particular word more than usual. It seemed that Jason Priestly, of "Beverly Hills 90210", rarely said anything off camera without sprinkling his comments with the word "fuck" or "fucking", not seeming to care that dozens of people, including elderly women, could hear him. Don't get me wrong, I respect his talent, and believe him to be a well rounded and down to earth person, but this one trait does stand out in my mind.
To summarize, I enjoyed working as a Hollywood extra, and believe I learned a little about show business while doing this. There were the bad times, such as working on "Dave", and the good times, such as "The Fifth Corner". There was some boredom and some excitement, but always interesting. I think I've gained respect for the talent required to be an actor, director, cinematographer, sound technician, lighting technician, screen writer, editor, and all the other creative people in the industry. I also respect the hard work put in by these creative people as well as the grips, makeup people, prop people, wardrobe people, ADs, PAs, and, yes, even extras.
This page was last updated on September 14, 2003
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