There’s no denying the power of nostalgia. It can make us feel things and remember things that we haven’t felt or remembered in years. This is perhaps the greatest draw for the modern film buff who is still deeply in love with the Golden Age of Hollywood. Whether you were around to experience all of those wonderful movies for their original release or you’re just discovering them for the first time on the Internet, if you love the Golden Age of Hollywood and all of the names and faces that went with it, then you’re going to love my book, “In Character: My Life on the Movie Set in Old Hollywood”, based on my many decades in front and behind the camera.
Acting has always been in my blood, and it was the work of my parents that got me the foot in the door I needed to build a successful career for myself. With a professional studio dancer and set decorator for a mother and a professional cameraman for a father, my childhood memories are full of time on Hollywood sets and studio lots. Maybe it’s because the film industry runs through my veins, or because I was surrounded by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood celebrity from a very young and impressionable age, but there is no other work I ever could have imagined doing than work in movies, film, and television.
Being born at a time when the Golden Age of Hollywood was in its infancy, I find myself fortunate to have actually worked in the industry as a child actor during such an iconic time in American cinema – and to have continued working on both big screen and silver screen productions as the industry progressed beyond the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The child of a dancer, my mother taught me everything she knew about dancing when I was only a boy, and I would go on into private lessons to refine my skills. Looking back, I love the opportunities that my dancing education afforded me, and I applaud my mother for having the foresight to start my training as early as possible. It was from those lessons that I gained the skill needed to dance for films like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Singin’ in the Rain, and Silk Stockings.
Shifting gears as I entered adulthood, I moved away from onscreen work to focus more on production assisting and management. Some of my major motion picture credits as a member of production staff include the Professionals, Planet of the Apes, The Great Bank Robbery, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. I was also fortunate enough to have worked on a number of legendary television shows like I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies, F Troop, Lost In Space, and Star Trek.
What I want to share with you are some of my favorite stories and insights from my years working during the Golden Age of Hollywood and beyond. I’ve got a story for every hand I’ve ever shaken, and dear reader I’ve shaken a few. Let me tell you what I really think about Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, Walt Disney, Dick Van Dyke and many more.
Learn more about my time in the movie, film, and television industry – and peek behind the curtain of the Golden Age of Hollywood – with my book “In Character: My Life On the Movie Set in Old Hollywood”.
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