Speaker 1: I am all in you. I Am all in with
Speaker 1: Scottison and I Heart radio podcast Everybody. Scott Connerson one
Speaker 1: on one interview with the fella who played David Baron's
Speaker 1: Alan Blumenfeld has appeared in over three hundred shows during
Speaker 1: his lustrous career and a dozen films, most recently In
Speaker 1: The Patient and in al Pacino Prime video series Hunters.
Speaker 1: And you want to know some important Gilmore facts, heck
Speaker 1: I sure do. For the New Year, um, he was
Speaker 1: in four episodes Gilmore Girls. His first appearance was in
Speaker 1: season three, episode six, Take the Deviled Eggs. His last
Speaker 1: appearance with season six episode Dry Think Miss Gilmore. Let's
Speaker 1: bring him in. The distinguished Alan Blueman felt, Hi, how
Speaker 1: are you. I'm doing very very well. So look, let's
Speaker 1: just jump right out of the gate here. Take us back.
Speaker 1: You've been acting since the eighties and your incredible career
Speaker 1: still growing strong. When did the passion for acting start
Speaker 1: with you? I've been acting since the eighties. No, I
Speaker 1: just turned seventy. I've been acting for forty six years.
Speaker 1: I can't do the math, but you don't have to.
Speaker 1: When I got the time I was fifteen, I knew
Speaker 1: this is what I was gonna do with my life. Uh.
Speaker 1: I grew up on Loon and uh back east and
Speaker 1: uh I had a wonderful theater program at high school.
Speaker 1: We did big shows every year, and I went to
Speaker 1: a summer camp that had a very uh strong theater program.
Speaker 1: So I did plays for six or seven years every summer.
Speaker 1: And then after I decided to go to school and
Speaker 1: went to a college that had a good theater program
Speaker 1: and left there and went to the American Conservatory Theater
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, and I haven't looked back since you
Speaker 1: um do you do you remember your first role? Paid role?
Speaker 1: That's interesting. Um, well, my first job for Screen Actors
Speaker 1: Guild were three commercials for Foremost Dairy. That's how I
Speaker 1: got my Screen Actors Guilt car. And then I think
Speaker 1: the first job on television was Alan Funt, who used
Speaker 1: to do he relaunched a Candid Camera reboot and I
Speaker 1: did that. So my that was probably forty uh one
Speaker 1: or forty two years ago. My oldest son is that
Speaker 1: forty three was a baby at the time, so that
Speaker 1: was my first That was my first television job. Wow. Um,
Speaker 1: I was living in San Francisco, so h there was
Speaker 1: some great filmmakers up there other than Copelo Puss was there,
Speaker 1: but John Cordy, who just died. Actually, uh, he was
Speaker 1: up there. I did some things with him and Philip Haufman,
Speaker 1: who e bectually went on to do uh right stuff.
Speaker 1: He was up there. So there was a lot of
Speaker 1: film and a lot of theater in San Francisco back
Speaker 1: in the seventies. Yeah. Coppola took that whole gang up
Speaker 1: to San Francisco. He got out of Hollywood. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: so let's get to Gilmore Girls. Is Rabbi Rabbi David Barnes.
Speaker 1: How did you get the role? Was the Jeff auditioner?
Speaker 1: Was it just an offer to the agent? Everything is
Speaker 1: an audition. Uh, I don't know, Scott. You know, my
Speaker 1: career has never been uh my my career has been
Speaker 1: wonderful and steady. But no, uh no, like medioric an anything,
Speaker 1: everything is an audition. Uh it was. Uh. I had
Speaker 1: a broken arm I had. I was writing past because
Speaker 1: I had a torn bicep tender and I was very
Speaker 1: concerned about what am I gonna wear because you know,
Speaker 1: I couldn't move my arm, So I had like a
Speaker 1: sweater vest. So I was so concerned about that. Uh.
Speaker 1: The audition was great. The casting director and god forgot
Speaker 1: her name, she was wonderful. Uh. And I think you
Speaker 1: know Amy Palladino Sherman Panzino is a brilliant writer. Um.
Speaker 1: And the castre to came out and said, it's it's
Speaker 1: very fast. It's fast talking. Don't don't you know what
Speaker 1: they say to actors is don't make a meal out
Speaker 1: of it. Just moved through it. So, Uh, I was
Speaker 1: very concerned about this cast on my arm. I got
Speaker 1: cast in the role. I showed up and they said, okay,
Speaker 1: we have a suit we want you to try on.
Speaker 1: I said, I can't wear a suit because I have
Speaker 1: my arm in a No one noticed that. That was
Speaker 1: the last time I ever worried about what am I
Speaker 1: gonna wear it to an audition. We don't pay attention.
Speaker 1: But I really loved it. And Jim Jansen uh played
Speaker 1: the uh the minister, and the two of us had
Speaker 1: a great time. You know you know she is uh.
Speaker 1: Amy uhl Is is a spectacular writer who creates really
Speaker 1: full characters and real human beings with a combination of
Speaker 1: humor and pathos. And I think it's really an unusual
Speaker 1: unusual combination. M hm. She brought us in one for
Speaker 1: one show where we had a half a page scene
Speaker 1: where we're wandering through the park. It's the scene where
Speaker 1: the kids find that big battle of marijuana that they're
Speaker 1: schlepping through the park. I don't know if you remember
Speaker 1: that scene, but anyway, in the middle of it that
Speaker 1: she had us, the rabbi and the minister just walking
Speaker 1: through the park discussing God. And she did that often
Speaker 1: in order to I think root the show in the
Speaker 1: reality of the fact that there is the whole world here.
Speaker 1: It's not just people disconnected from the rest of reality.
Speaker 1: That there's a world that she's creating of people. And
Speaker 1: I always was grateful and appreciated that because it's not usual.
Speaker 1: Become more usual lately, I think television has become spectacular, right,
Speaker 1: And when she did that, it was really unusual and
Speaker 1: greatly appreciated. Um, So you came into this role with
Speaker 1: a ton of experience. Tell us what it was like
Speaker 1: to be on this set. The set was great. I
Speaker 1: have to say, I hadn't seen the show. It's seen
Speaker 1: maybe one episode before I got cast, and then I
Speaker 1: went back and watched it. You know. Uh, the show
Speaker 1: was done at a time where you couldn't just go
Speaker 1: on Hulu. There was no Hulu, there was no HBO Max.
Speaker 1: You couldn't just find the library of shows, you know
Speaker 1: where where someone had archived, so I had to try
Speaker 1: to find episodes. I had a friend who was real
Speaker 1: fat of the show, so I was able to go
Speaker 1: to their house and I watched something that they had recorded.
Speaker 1: The set was very, very efficient. The directors were really
Speaker 1: really experienced. Jamie Barrett, who was basically a film director,
Speaker 1: she had done a number of the episodes that I did.
Speaker 1: She was really she did the film but I'm a cheerleader.
Speaker 1: UM terrific because she was interesting that. The directors were
Speaker 1: very well prepared. The set was very efficient. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of time for rehearsal, which again is is unusual,
Speaker 1: but they took the time for that because the show
Speaker 1: is really about relationships. It's an interpret the show about
Speaker 1: introversial relationships, UM and and I really appreciate it. One
Speaker 1: of my dear friends, Michael Winterton, was on the show
Speaker 1: for many years and the first day we shot, I
Speaker 1: think it was Jim and I and Michael in the
Speaker 1: in the in the cafe, and and it was great.
Speaker 1: It's always great if you know someone because that way
Speaker 1: you're you're a guest, and when you're welcomed the people
Speaker 1: who you know, it's always more comfortable and you always
Speaker 1: feel more included. That was great. I mean, this woman
Speaker 1: runs a top quality show, and I think to me
Speaker 1: is it's a show that appeals especially to uh, young girls,
Speaker 1: young women. Teenage girls and their moms watched the show
Speaker 1: a lot, and I think that was a demographic that
Speaker 1: was not as often served. Uh, And I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know if she set out for that or just
Speaker 1: the nature of the storylines made it so that, uh,
Speaker 1: that is the demographic that watched it. But I very
Speaker 1: much appreciated, you know, I'd get comments from teenage kids
Speaker 1: could come up and they just loved it. And it's
Speaker 1: the kind of thing the kids and their moms, daughters
Speaker 1: and their moms watched together. And I think that is
Speaker 1: an interesting residual effect that is valuable. So since you
Speaker 1: appeared in four episodes, that did Amy and Dan just
Speaker 1: keep calling he or was it for always the plan? Uh? No,
Speaker 1: they would call, Uh, my agent would say they want
Speaker 1: you back for another episode of Gilmore Girls, and they
Speaker 1: set the script. I was always delighted when they called
Speaker 1: because it was always fun. When was the last time
Speaker 1: that you watched your episodes? Oh? That's interesting. Um, we
Speaker 1: have a direct TV in our home, and direct TV
Speaker 1: allows you to put in the name of an actor
Speaker 1: and they will record shows that that actor is appears in.
Speaker 1: And so I guess, Uh, I guess earlier this year
Speaker 1: the Gilmogers plays a lot, and I guess earlier this
Speaker 1: year the episodes were on cycle and I I watched it.
Speaker 1: I guess where are we now? Seven? Probably September October? Okay,
Speaker 1: So the first scene that we see you in your
Speaker 1: bargaining with Taylor inside of loops with the reverend. Uh,
Speaker 1: the quick banter. Was it easy to get used to
Speaker 1: for you? Yes, it was. It's extremely well written, so
Speaker 1: you don't have to work too hard to make sense
Speaker 1: of it because it's not only makes sense, it's it's
Speaker 1: the way human beings taught. And I've done a lot
Speaker 1: of theater, and so it reminded me of an extremely
Speaker 1: well written play. So you were in Uh, all kinds
Speaker 1: of iconic shows, Hill Street, Blues, Cheers, family ties. Um,
Speaker 1: do you have a favorite? Well, of course, the stock
Speaker 1: answer is my favorite shows the one I'm working on currently. Um.
Speaker 1: But to be honest, I would say Brooklyn Bridge is
Speaker 1: am of my most favorite shows that I've done. Uh,
Speaker 1: Gary David Goldburg Um two seasons. It should have gone
Speaker 1: on for a long time. I particularly loved I was
Speaker 1: in Heroes the second and third season of that show.
Speaker 1: And because of the writing, and because of the cinematographer
Speaker 1: and the directors. Um. A shout out to Nate Goodman,
Speaker 1: who I just reconnected with, and Dan Addius, and to me,
Speaker 1: the work is the most important thing. I love it
Speaker 1: more than anything. I well, I don't love it more
Speaker 1: than my grandkids and my family, but I love working.
Speaker 1: And when the writing is good and the directors are good,
Speaker 1: your fellow actors are good, it's just heaven. So you
Speaker 1: worked with my low on that show. What was it
Speaker 1: like working with him? Well, you know on Heroes, you mean? Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I joined here Us the second season, they knew
Speaker 1: they had a pot of gold and they were all
Speaker 1: of them grateful, fun, happy, upbeat, in a good mood. Um.
Speaker 1: I played Greg Grunberg's dad. My character was his character's dad,
Speaker 1: and we had worked together before in a small film
Speaker 1: and then on felicity. So again, when you come into
Speaker 1: a show and they welcome you in, it makes it
Speaker 1: really really pleasant and fun to be part of it.
Speaker 1: And Milo was happy, and uh, I think he knew
Speaker 1: he was going to be a star, and indeed he is. Um.
Speaker 1: But all of those actors on that show, when I
Speaker 1: came into Heroes of the second season, knew that they
Speaker 1: were in a great situation and we're in great mood.
Speaker 1: During a few episodes of Al Pacino's Hunters, as Rabbi Arnold,
Speaker 1: can you tell us about that project? I can, but
Speaker 1: they do not have to have you killed. No. The
Speaker 1: first season of Hunters has already been shown on Amazon.
Speaker 1: It's about hunting Nazis News Hunting Nazis. The creator of
Speaker 1: the show, who was just a really terrifically nice, smart guy.
Speaker 1: It's loosely but based on stories that his grandmother told him,
Speaker 1: not that she was a Nazi hunter, but that she
Speaker 1: was in the war and the Holocaust, and and she
Speaker 1: told him stories about what that was, and those always
Speaker 1: stayed with him. Um. He had told me, I was
Speaker 1: grateful and lucky to have a chance to spend some
Speaker 1: time talking to him. Um. And so those stories that
Speaker 1: he heard from her form the they loosely formed the
Speaker 1: basis of that show. Um, I just finished. I was
Speaker 1: on a show called The Patient with this Steve Carrell
Speaker 1: and I had done Space Force with Steve at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the pandemic in so that was that was
Speaker 1: great to work with him again. Um. You know, of course,
Speaker 1: was my first job out of the pandemic was me
Speaker 1: and Opportuno alone across the desk for a day. It
Speaker 1: was a career highlight. Mm hmm. So what does it
Speaker 1: like working with him? How does he work? What's this
Speaker 1: process like? Um, well, i'll tell you. Um. For example,
Speaker 1: here's an exchange we had which was I say, how
Speaker 1: are you my friend? And his line is I feel unstuck.
Speaker 1: I feel unstuck somehow, And I said how are you
Speaker 1: my friend? And he said, no, you noticed. I didn't
Speaker 1: think anyone would notice. It's interesting. I'm not myself. I'm
Speaker 1: kind of about odds. I feel sort of I'm at
Speaker 1: sixes and sevens. I don't feel I don't feel connected.
Speaker 1: I feel kind of unstuck. I guess unstuck some directoricals
Speaker 1: cut Now. I love that because it means he's going
Speaker 1: to go all around and do his inner monologue, his
Speaker 1: thought process. He's gonna say it out loud until he
Speaker 1: finds a way to say the words naturally and so
Speaker 1: that they make sense to him. And any connection to me,
Speaker 1: he was very connected to me. Uh, you know, bye
Speaker 1: contact and um. But the director had asked if I
Speaker 1: could help the see move a little more quickly, because
Speaker 1: if every line we're gonna be like that, it would
Speaker 1: go on a lot. So I I would interrupt him,
Speaker 1: I would feed the line again. I kept trying to
Speaker 1: find a way to help him, to work with him
Speaker 1: and work around the word to get to the words.
Speaker 1: So it was sort of like a spectacular, high quality
Speaker 1: master acting class working with this genius um. And you know,
Speaker 1: in between takes, he's just he's eighty two. He's still
Speaker 1: extremely good looking, full head of hair, which I'm jealous of,
Speaker 1: of course. Uh. And I said to him, are you
Speaker 1: still having fun? Is it still fun? And he said,
Speaker 1: you know this, this is fun the scene during the work. Uh,
Speaker 1: but I think the the business has changed so much
Speaker 1: that I don't think the business is fun for him anymore.
Speaker 1: But he worked a full eight hour day, no break,
Speaker 1: you know, eighty two, he's uh, he was cranking. He
Speaker 1: was he was inspiring. Yeah, I guess I said at
Speaker 1: that point in and in his career, Um, he just
Speaker 1: feels like he I mean, he just must know how
Speaker 1: to improve a scene instantly by you know, ad libbing
Speaker 1: and and just you know, any any writer, producer would
Speaker 1: would would well would have to welcome that. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got you know, Argue the greatest actor of the past,
Speaker 1: one of the top three great actors in the past,
Speaker 1: you know, seventy years and he's sitting there on your
Speaker 1: set and for him to uh ad lib, I think
Speaker 1: you would say, yeah, keep going, keep going. You know.
Speaker 1: On The Creator, he and the Creator uh got along
Speaker 1: extremely well. Uh. You know, Pacino would come in the
Speaker 1: morning and hug him and talk to him and they
Speaker 1: go up on the side that he was very inclusive,
Speaker 1: he was very welcoming. I mean, yeah, he's iconic for
Speaker 1: a reason. He's a great act and a great guy.
Speaker 1: I mean he's loved. He loves the work. He doesn't
Speaker 1: have to work, he doesn't need the money, um, but
Speaker 1: he just loves the challenge of a good script and
Speaker 1: good material, right, yeah, doing what he does best. You know,
Speaker 1: it's and I could chance to work with him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: We've got another film about twelve years ago called Righteous
Speaker 1: Kill with Robert Genniro and Piccino and John Lubuzabo, Donnie
Speaker 1: Walbrook's first big starring role. UM, and he was. He
Speaker 1: was great there too. He was you know, he was younger.
Speaker 1: I'm seventy now, so he must have had seventy at
Speaker 1: one time he did it. He Uh, he was great,
Speaker 1: he was playful, he's funny, he's uh. I've always thought
Speaker 1: the goal in this business is longevity. I want to
Speaker 1: keep working. I don't want to keep enjoying it, and
Speaker 1: I want to be asked to work even when I
Speaker 1: get older. You know, Steve Correll is an interesting actor,
Speaker 1: uh to me, extremely versatile talent. Uh. You know, I
Speaker 1: saw him, you know, after his success on television, he
Speaker 1: did a movie right away, in a romantic lead with
Speaker 1: I think Juliette Binoche, and I remember thinking, boy, that
Speaker 1: is just such odd offbeat casting. Didn't work for me,
Speaker 1: But the work that he's done since uh knocked me out.
Speaker 1: I just saw him in a Brad Pitt produced film
Speaker 1: about the subprime crisis. I forgot the name of it,
Speaker 1: but he played a character who lost his brother to suicide.
Speaker 1: He was a Wall Street guy and he got this
Speaker 1: information um from Ryan Gosli's character to take advantage of
Speaker 1: the subprime mortgage crisis make a billion dollars. But you know,
Speaker 1: the work that he put in in that movie got
Speaker 1: got me right in the heart because he, uh, man,
Speaker 1: he went to some places a few actors are willing
Speaker 1: to go, you know, to have that type of courage
Speaker 1: to to just get naked like that and and and
Speaker 1: really let it, let it all hang out. He just really,
Speaker 1: he really choked me up. He's he's a really terrific talent,
Speaker 1: isn't he. He's a terrific talent. He has as you said,
Speaker 1: he's so virtually has a lot of rain. The show
Speaker 1: I just threw with him was called The Patient. It
Speaker 1: was on Hulu. He plays a psychiatrist as the Jewish
Speaker 1: psychiatrist who gets kidnapped by a psychotic killer and changed
Speaker 1: to the floor of the guy's mother's house. And it
Speaker 1: was it was not committed at all, although there's some
Speaker 1: funny moments in the show, but it was just simple
Speaker 1: and really heartfelt and deeply emotional, and it was about
Speaker 1: Voluton with his son and to being a therapist and
Speaker 1: he was heartbreakingly beautiful. Yeah, very nice offset you know
Speaker 1: of off camera? He's kind again, inventive, kind, inclusive, what
Speaker 1: you want when hope. Yeah, he's very special. He's very
Speaker 1: very special, a generational talent. All right, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: do a little thing we do at the end of
Speaker 1: these things called rapid Fireman throw some questions at you
Speaker 1: and you just answer them as fast as you can.
Speaker 1: They're all Gilmore related. All right, here we go. Are
Speaker 1: you team Logan, Team Dean or Team Jess Team Logan,
Speaker 1: Team Logan? What is your favorite Gilmore Girls character? Who
Speaker 1: is your favorite Gilmore Girl's character? Bye? Bye Baron? Uh?
Speaker 1: What did you order? What would you order it? Luke's
Speaker 1: Dane Hamburger Fries. Uh. Who would you rather go on
Speaker 1: a road trip with Taylor or Michelle Taylor? Why? I
Speaker 1: think it'll be more fun. Yeah, I agree. Um, finish
Speaker 1: the lyric and where you lead, I will follow dot
Speaker 1: dot dot No, no, no, I did anywhere that you
Speaker 1: tell me to? Uh? Jackson's Vegetables are Suki's baked Goods?
Speaker 1: Would you rather listen to Drella's Heart or the troopadouras
Speaker 1: cover songs? Shelton Prepper stars Hollow Hi, Stars Hollow Hi,
Speaker 1: come on public school. All right, um, it was nice
Speaker 1: meeting you, nice talking to you. Um, and keep on
Speaker 1: keeping on doing great work and having a an impactful career,
Speaker 1: which you've been doing for a long long time. So
Speaker 1: thanks so much. Have a have a great holiday and
Speaker 1: uh and a great New Year and uh. And keep
Speaker 1: doing the great work that you've been doing. Thank you,
Speaker 1: stay sale and helping all the best. Hey, everybody, and
Speaker 1: don't forget follow us on Instagram at I Am all
Speaker 1: In podcast and email us at Gilmore at I heart
Speaker 1: radio dot com. Oh you gil More fans. If you're
Speaker 1: looking for the best cup of coffee in the world,
Speaker 1: go to my website from my company scott ep dot com,
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