WEBVTT - Starring Ed Begley Jr. as Warn Van Dusen 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.640 Welcome everybody to this park Opper episode of Magical Rewind. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.079 And I know I say every week like, wow, do 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:21.720 we have a special one for you? And they are 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:23.840 all special because we're so excited when we get to 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.320 talk to all the people that we've been watching and 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:30.160 crushing on and enjoying and mocking maybe a little bit 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:31.720 their films and then they come on and tell us 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.520 why we're jerks because their film was awesome. We love 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:36.479 all of this stuff and everybody we get to talk 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:38.080 to is so special and they take the time to 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:38.640 come on the show. 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.279 But occasionally we. 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.840 Have somebody who just we're amazed that they would even 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.120 sit down and talk to us. And today is one 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.080 of those days. We are so excited we're not going 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:53.360 to wait any longer. Please help us Welcome the unbelievable, 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.080 the incredible, the redoubtable at Bagley Junior. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:04.400 Hello, how are you very good in yourself? 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.000 I'm doing well. Thank you so much for taking the 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:07.880 time to talk to us. 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.640 You remind me your name My name is Will, Will Sabrina. 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:14.640 How are you Sabrina? 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:15.960 So good? 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:18.720 It's so nice to meet you. Thank you so much 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:19.760 for joining us. 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.560 My pleasure. We did a lot of Disney movies when 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.400 I was young, and I love the whole Disney franchise. 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:26.280 You did. 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:26.720 This is me. 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.200 I want to just remind you you and I were 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.640 just together in Oh geez, where were we Idaho or 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.959 Iowa or something? At a convention in Indiana. 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:37.480 That's what I was. 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:41.479 And we talked about Bill Daniels the whole time we did. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.039 The face was familiar. I didn't know from where. That's 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:45.520 exactly where. It was really good. 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:47.440 We had We had a lot of fun. But thank 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:49.840 you so much for joining us. And we know that 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:53.480 your career has been so incredible and so we don't 0:01:53.520 --> 0:02:00.400 know if you've ever had a conversation about hounded on Disney. Uh, 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:04.760 and we figured as much. And so before we get 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:06.960 into that, the first thing we always like to ask 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.440 everybody is what attracted you to show business? 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:12.440 How did you get to be an entertainer? 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:15.720 My father was an actor. He had won a Tony Award, 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.400 and then when I was about thirteen, he won an 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.880 Oscar for Sweet printer View Best Supporting Actor. So I 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:26.040 was very smitten with the business early on. I think 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:27.960 if he was a plumber, i'd be fitting pipe. Now. 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.919 I just wanted to do what my father did. Oh wow, 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:32.520 And he was so good at it. He made it 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.399 look easy. So I had it all wrong for those 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.200 early years and when on lots of interviews, and I 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.840 never got any work. Why because I hadn't trained. Imagine 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:41.880 the son of a plumber saying, I'm going to take 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.520 the truck today, Dad, I'll go the copper goes to 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.200 the copper and the galvanized thes together, right, I think 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.200 I can figure it out. You could never do it. 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.760 But people who think their actors are acting as easy, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:54.720 you know, And I was a son of a famous actor. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.120 I thought it was. I just thought you just walked 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.040 on set and started doing it. I didn't know there's 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.680 any training. So I never got me work. And finally 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.079 I got one day on a show after I did 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:05.120 a little bit of training. 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.600 Nice which show was the first one you got? 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.600 It was my three sons. Freden McMurray. I worked with 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.720 him over Disney, of course, on Charlie and the Angel, 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.120 not Charlie's Angels, but Charlie and the Angel and Henry 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.680 Morgan I think was the Angel and Charlie. I think 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.200 it was fred McMurray. Kurt Rushy was in it too, 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.400 So I did a lot lot of movies with Kurt there. 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:30.880 That's right, another Disney I mean one of the original 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:35.360 Disney kids was Kurt Russell. Correct, oh man, Okay, so 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.960 you found you you you get you find that. This 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.280 is what you have to do. You get into the industry. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.880 Now you start auditioning and working. When did you first 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.560 join the did the world of Disney? What was your 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.760 was that your first Disney project? 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.480 My first movie might have been The Lot of Here, 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:54.640 might have been a Disney movie. I can't remember the 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:59.480 exact chronology, but the movie was definitely, uh, the Computer 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.880 War ten Shoes, And I was on a panel of 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.400 kids who were like the College Bowl kind of a thing, 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.880 kids of a high school age praps, maybe a little 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:13.000 bit older, who were part of this you know, science 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:17.560 kind of you know, what would you call it a 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:18.920 science marathon or something? 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:22.320 Yeah, oh yeah, whatever, that would be a yeah, college 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:23.400 Bowl exactly. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.880 Yeah, right, And Kurt Russell was on a team, but 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.200 he'd been zapped by a computer. He was out at night, 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.200 it was raining, and he got zapped by a computer. 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:32.880 Everything was computer in those days. There was a new 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.800 thing due to a tennis shoes. And the episode I 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:42.839 did of my three sons was about computer dating. Oh wow, 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.400 trendy and it, and so they started writing lots of 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.239 shoes about computers. She was funny. 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:50.239 Oh that's so fun. 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:51.960 So then you, I mean, you had a very long 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.440 career with Disney. I mean we were looking at some 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.120 of the things that did. The nineteen eighty two was 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:01.520 Tales of the Apple Dumpling Gang. Correct, And so I 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:06.920 mean did you enjoy working on projects that were more 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.760 geared towards young people. Was that something that you wanted 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.040 to do or was it kind of like I'm working 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.960 with Disney until I can get my big break in 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:16.360 other big films. 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:18.560 I just took whatever work was offered me, and the 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.960 thing and everything a commercial and not very little what's 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.600 offered me, but what little work, you know, I could 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.400 get by auditioning and getting the part. And actually Apple 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.760 Double Gang, the one I did was the TV that 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.080 was in Uh. I think that was did you did 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:35.480 you say eighty two? Yeah? 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:36.760 I think that said it was eighty two. 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.680 Sorry, eighty two was correct. I thought it was a 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:42.560 little bit different. No, that was right, And yeah, and 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.640 then I did uh and I did hounden in two thousand. 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:50.440 Yeah, that's the what. So we literally just watched it 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.400 and we we broke down. So this is what we 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.479 do on the show is we watch every Disney Channel 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.960 original movie and we break them down. 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:58.960 We were we are over one hundred. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.400 Movies in now Fantastic that we've watched, and so how 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:04.840 Did was the last one. But what was interesting is 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.560 that with the research we've done, How Did? Wasn't the 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.960 first movie you did based around working with a dog? 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:12.320 Was it? 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:16.080 Right? I did? What did I do? I did? 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:18.760 Was it the shaggy dog? 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:21.240 Shaggy Dog? Was Shaggy Dog? Exactly right? 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.719 Yeah? 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:27.239 And that was also working with kids, you know, working 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.720 with young actors, and it was. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.800 It turned out very nice. I can remember the kid's name. 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:34.400 We played the league, but it was very good. And 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.520 Sharon Lawrence played my wife. That's right? Was it? 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:41.320 Was it? Jeremy Sisto and Scott Scott Weinger was in it. 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:42.680 Jeremy Sisto was in it. 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:44.560 Jeremy was not the lead. 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.640 I don't think that might have been Scott then Scott Weiner. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.159 Yeah, he was a wonderful kid. So was Jeremy of course. 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.719 So what it seems like maybe you you never got 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:57.400 the acting memo of never to work with kids or animals. 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.240 No, I never got that. I wish I had, but 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.479 I didn't mind back then, being upstate. I just wanted 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.839 to keep getting work. And if I had, you know, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.120 lurk in the background with a kid or the dog 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:09.279 did all the work. I didn't mind. 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:13.000 When Ben, when you so, when you were younger and 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:15.280 you started acting, you saw what your father was doing. 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.040 Did you, in your mind picture yourself going that same 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:20.360 route of more of the drama. 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:22.920 Uh kind of Academy Award winner? 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.200 Or were you always attracted because you know, while you're 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:30.080 a phenomenal dramatic actor and you've seen that from your 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.200 six Emmy nominations and Saint elsewhere, and we'll get into 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:33.800 all that. 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.880 You're also a wonderful comedic actor. Is it is that? 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.240 Did you have one poll in the industry that you 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.360 were more interested in if you had the choice of 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:44.200 which path to take? 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.480 Nothing is right or as detail was out, I had 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.400 no plan whatsoever, just whatever work I could get, comedy drama. Indeed, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.720 when I did that my three sons, I had a 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:55.600 paper out at the time, and I kept my makeup 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.640 on and went out in my paper out hoping someone 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.480 would recognize me. I hadn't even been developed yet my 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.840 lone Friends and cut together or aired. So I thought, wow, 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:06.760 I'm famous. Now I'm on the TV show. I wanted 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.640 to be famous, you know, I wanted to be on TV, film, anything. 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.360 And the authors did not come rolling in after the 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:15.800 paper other at any point. So I thought, well, I 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.720 got to work. And so I worked for several years 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.520 as a camera assistant, you know, the guy that doesn't 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.400 followup focus and loads of magazines and what have you. Sure, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.200 wow in the days of film, and so I did 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.200 that for a while, and I was very happy that 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.560 my fate was going to be a little different than that. 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:34.720 I wanted to be an activate, but nothing happened. I 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:38.360 was content, one hundred percent content to be a camera assistant. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.880 And then I got a job on A Room two 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.760 twenty two. It was the original pilot, was written by 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.440 James L. Brooks. Yeah, And so I worked on that 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.480 and that gave me. It got me a second episode 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.440 in the third and fourth. I did about seven of them, 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.960 and so I then had the regularity of being on 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.319 a set with people that were familiar with and I 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.680 I lost all my fear of the camera before that, 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.720 I had kind of most people do it starting out 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:06.400 there with fear, Oh my god, the cameras right here, 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:08.160 right next to my face. But of the scene we 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.520 got the too quotes. But after that, after work with 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.680 the getting to know the camera assistant, the cameraman and 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.760 the gaffer and the actors and everybody, I got very relaxed. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.080 So the camera could be in a snorical camera go 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.840 around anywhere, and I didn't mind it one bit. You know, 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.280 I lost all my fear of the camera. I became 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.320 totally relaxed in front of the camera. That's a good 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.199 thing and also bad thing, because in the next decade 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.760 I was relaxed in front of the camera, so relaxed 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.520 on putting people to sleep. They have to have some zips, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.000 some spice and something going on, and I didn't have it. 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.000 I had my vacant eyes and nothing more. You know, 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.440 when I was acting, I just I just didn't want to. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.640 I was relaxed with too relaxed. So then I finally 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.040 started to study again and studied with Peggy Theory. I 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:56.239 studied with still Adler with Lee Strasburg at the Strasburg Institute, 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.120 and I started to, you know, implement some one of 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.680 those things. Thanks for my friend Bruno Kirby was a 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:04.760 much better actor than me, and a dear, dear friend, 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.920 and he was doing all that kind of important work 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.360 to become a better actor. So I started doing it 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.760 myself and it worked. I got more employment. 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:15.400 That's amazing. 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.040 So that was one of the William Daniels, who we 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.120 have a friend in common told me, used to tell 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.080 me stories about acting class and how he was in 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.360 with Marilyn Monroe and all these people, and then he 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.240 was constantly telling us about the different people that were 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:32.720 in classes with them and how. 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.800 You would form a camaraderie and a friendship. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.040 Did you find that to be the case when you 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.200 said Bruno Kirby somebody there and I know that he 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.400 and Billy Crystal were friends for a long time. I mean, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.720 were you part of kind of that crew of the 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.040 up and coming actors and comedic actors, especially at the time. 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.880 I was, Yeah, I became friendly with Bruno and we 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:54.319 found ourselves for like the third time, in a waiting 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:58.000 room outside an interview, waiting to go in and be recorded, 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.480 or just the audition down and recording device before a 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:06.000 casting director and somebody else. But I remember you. I 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:07.920 spent you a few times before, and I realized he 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.480 was a junior too, and we were about the same age. 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:12.360 He was a great guy. He gave me a ride home, 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.160 so I went, this is a palful life. And I 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:17.160 had a very good friend in Bruno until he passed 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.400 in two thousand and six. But he was also he 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:23.520 was definitely my inspiration to go back and study and 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.920 not just settle for half measures, to really become serious 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.200 about acting. And he went on to do Godfather too, 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.319 and Donny Brasco and you know. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:34.960 Yeah, a ton of things. 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.080 City slickers and sleepers, and I mean, he had a 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:39.960 wonderful career. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.720 Wonderful career, passed too early. He was in his fifties. 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.320 But we were very good friends. And Billy was part 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.960 of that too, and the wonderful Rob Ryner, who we 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.280 miss every day. Those who woe loved him. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:53.280 Well, I was going to ask you about that, so 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.320 one of I mean, you've been in some of the 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.719 literally some of the greatest films in the history of Hollywood, 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.800 and in with a group of actors that are arguably 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:08.440 one of the best companies of comedians and of improv 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.880 artists ever, and that's the kind of entire Rob Reiner 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:17.600 Christopher Guest group. And so how did you get involved 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.120 with that group of people which then led to this 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.920 is Spinal Tap, which is the start of the mockumentary. 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.080 It was through the National Lampoon, the magazine the Lampoon 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.760 there was also which started with the Harvard Lampoon, became 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.440 the National Lampoon. Saw that magazine starting in nineteen seventy 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:38.040 a monthly magazine. Became addicted to that and somehow I 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.240 had a friend of a friend and I met Michael 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:44.880 Adoni who worked there, and I met I met a 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:46.480 whole bunch of people. I won't listen them all, but 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.240 I met Christopher Guest because he was in a recording 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.800 studio one night and Tony Hendra, that's right, he was 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.559 the editor of the magazine for a while. Tony Hendra 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.640 went into this recording session, which was a Lampoon recording 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.840 session now for the Radio Dinner album that had already 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.719 come out. There's another album, I can't remember what, some 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.679 thing and there was Christopher Guests why idolized from the 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.880 Radio Dinner album and he and I realized I knew 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.800 his sister alyssa guest, and through Harry Didnis, and the 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.320 connections are many. I won't listen them all. But I 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.880 became friendly with Chris, and I was friendly with Jeff Goldblum. 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.800 Came close with Chris, but they did between the lines 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:29.120 of some movie like that together. And then when Chris 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.800 moved to La he became friendly quickly with Rob Reiner 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:33.920 and a bunch of them in Bruno because they had 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:38.960 a softball team. They gathered and played ball. I was 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.120 no good at sports, but I hung around the background 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.400 and took pictures. I was like the team photographer. 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:45.880 I love that. 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:49.480 It was great. It was great fun, and I met 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.480 all those guys. So then when they were doing planning 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.679 to do spinal Tap, when Ed plays the drums happened. 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:57.839 Come in and play the drums in this sequence. It 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.840 would be like an old kinescope looking thing, so it 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.560 didn't have to be fancy cameras recorded look kind of crappy. 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.679 That's a that's not a bug, it's a feature. So 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.840 we did that. It was part of the way. I remember. 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.280 It was part of the fundraising effort to raise money 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:17.760 to do the movie. That scene in a few others, 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.520 and it was so perfect that kinderscope looking poor quality 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:22.760 that kept it in the movie. 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:24.040 Oh it looked great. 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:26.440 So that's how I got in there. Through Bruno and 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:29.520 all those guys introduced me to Christopher the second time 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.080 I'd met him the first time in New York. 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:36.320 And this was mister Reiner's first directing directing a job, 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.600 wasn't it. This is his directorial debut, was the first. Yes, 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.040 could you tell right away what he was going to be? 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.080 No question? He had it, you know. I'd seen him 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:48.320 do a bit of improv work on stage for the 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.520 Committee on Sunsett Boulevard. He was friendly with that group, 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.320 as was I, and I knew he was very talented 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.720 from all the family and other stuff. He did a 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:01.360 TV movie with his wife Penny at the time, did 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.800 lots of stuff, but it was very high quality as 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.560 an actor, and so when I heard he was directing something, 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:10.600 I wanted to be part of that. And certainly the 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.760 same with Chris. So I got to work with them 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.040 both in many films, and I feel so lucky to 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.720 know them still, and the ones that have left us. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:21.720 I miss him every day. 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.000 Sure well, Bruno was in it as well. He was 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:25.880 had a wonderful both of you. 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:27.920 I mean, cameo is not the right word because you 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.000 weren't cameo and you just had these great bit parts. 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.400 Right. It was great as the limo driver. 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:40.640 Wonder So is is working with that crew? 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:42.720 Is that one of those things where every time you 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:44.520 get a call from Christopher guests and say, hey, we're 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:45.960 doing a new one, you kind of perk up. 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.640 Definitely. I always wait for that phone call, and it's 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.600 just I wasn't in the last one. The last final tappened. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.120 It was very funny. Everything they do is funny. I 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:58.760 just I love that gang, watching it or being in 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:00.000 and I'll take anything I can. 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:11.040 Wow, they are absolutely amazing. So we go from there. 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.280 Now I have to ask because then you hear or 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.880 I guess I should say, how did you hear about 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.800 a little project on television called Scene Elsewhere? 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:24.160 Oh, that I auditioned. I was about to sell my 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.120 house in la I'd lived there my whole life, and 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.240 I was ready to move sell my house and move 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.320 to Atlanta. I figured it'd be a good spot to 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.440 be a big fish in a small pond, not that 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.040 big a fish, but not that small a pond, but 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.640 I wasn't after fifteen years, I wouldn't be kind of 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.920 working actor I wanted to be. So I was gonna 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:45.480 I propose because we were behind a little bit in 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.240 some credit card payments. My first wife and I Ingrid 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:50.520 and I and I said, here's the solution. We'll sell 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.160 the house, moved to Atlanta, and we'll be able to 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.840 afford a place there pretty easily. It's much cheaper lived 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.560 there than here. So let's do it. Let's lifts the home. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.360 My phone rings. I pick up the phone. It's my agent. Hey, Eric, 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:07.159 how you doing? He said, good? An audition for saying elsewhere? 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.160 I said, saying, what, what are you even talking about? 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.320 I don't know what those words meant. So I went in 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.080 the auditioned for a character that was a regular character, 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:19.040 doctor Peter White. I read Burt and I did very good, 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:20.880 so I was sure i'd get the right kind of call. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.040 My agent called me and said, sorry, you're not going 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.159 to get this one. You didn't You didn't do it 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.199 what they wanted. And I couldn't believe it because I 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.160 thought I read great and I didn't get that part. 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.119 It was a regular part. So they threw me a bone. 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.080 Offered me a character apart that had like two or 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:40.439 three lines, three at the max, maybe just two, and 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:42.280 I wanted to be in the show so bad I 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.720 said yes to that. This big part, Peter White, the 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:47.800 part that I wanted, went on to be a regular, 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.960 of course, but it only lasted a season and a half. 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.399 He was shot dead. He was a hospital rapist and 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.200 shot and killed after the you know, first year and 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.440 a half or something, and I the character had two 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.760 lines maybe three, but on to be one of the 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:07.920 more popular show popular characters in the show. So everything 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.680 that I wanted has never been nearly as good as 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:16.400 what I've actually gotten. I'm very lucky. Will definitely Sabrina, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.040 I'm blessed as a message to takeaway from this. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.399 And yes, so I have to ask because he's so 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.960 important in not just my acting life, but just in 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.280 my life in general. So I met William Daniels when 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.040 I was sixteen, and we were together on a show 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.680 for seven years, and he's still very important in my life. 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.879 What was and I think he was probably you know, 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:41.639 late sixties when I met him, What was younger? 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:43.640 What was working with a younger Bill Daniels? 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.639 Like it was so exciting for me will because I 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.000 had seen PARALLEXX View, I'd seen Two for the Road, 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.240 I had seen all these wonderful movies that he did. 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.680 He was so good the graduate playing the dad of 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.920 the graduate, Dustin's father. Yeah, and he was as led. 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.760 You know, a Broadway legend and a you know, film legend, 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:05.760 and now dagn to do a TV show must be 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.000 a good show if we can lure William Daniels and 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.679 Ed Flanders for God's sake into the mix. And so 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.679 I was just blown away with with Bill as a 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.520 person as an actor and his wife Bonnie a great actress. 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.800 So to get the two of them in my life, 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.040 I just was walking on air every day and he 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.439 really took me under his wing and explained some things 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.280 but I didn't quite figured out yet, like maybe not 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:30.600 to learn my lines in the makeup chair before I shot, 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.520 Maybe look at them the night before a good idea 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.320