Happy First Anniversary "Hollywood Obsessed" Podcast! A Look Back - Part 2

Boy, oh boy, how time flies! I still can’t believe that its been ONE YEAR since the first two episodes of "Hollywood Obsessed" were released. That's nuts!

To celebrate, I thought it would be fun to go back and showcase some memorable quotes that some of my special guests said during their interviews this past year.  Yes, I did the same thing a few weeks ago. But this time I'm featuring some additional quotes from the most recent 24 episodes for you to enjoy. 

Hopefully by reading them, they might encourage - those of you who haven't heard all the episodes yet - to go back and listen to all of them. I promise, you wont regret it:)

KIERA CHAPLIN- Episodes 29 & 30

Silent screen star Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter explains when she realized that her grandfather was a big deal.

Kiera: I grew up in Switzerland in Vevey  - thats the town where my grandfather went to retire and in that town they have kind of adopted him. So when I was little, there was a Chaplin Park and then there were Chaplin bars and restaurants….everybody was milking his name.  So kids at school would say “do you guys own this?”  and I’d be like “I dont know”. So while we’d be playing in the park  Id be like “actually, we do own it, get off the rides”. (LAUGHS) Which I later learned that, no, we don’t own it. It was interesting growing up that way. It was kind of confusing.

Kiera: Then at school I remember seeing him in the dictionary and all the kids are like look..and I was thinking “Wow, thats pretty cool”. And I would see his films….my dad would say “ohh look, come watch.” And we were always invited to festivals and stuff…and I got to meet Princess Diana when I was six or seven because it would have been my grandfather’s hundredth birthday…so I got to give her flowers at a screening of my grandfather’s film…I think it was Limelight. And then Michael Jackson came to the house…one afternoon because he was a fan of my grandfather. I was a fan of his…I even had the Michael Jackson Barbie doll with me when I was just visiting, randomly, to go use the pool at my grandmother’s house..I lived in the house next door to hers…and Michael Jackson was there.  Crazy things like that happened all the time ….so iI was like “Wow, this guy was…is…a big deal”! “

JOHN GLOVER - Episodes 31 & 32

The Tony Award winning actor explains how he got the role of Lionel Luthor in the popular The WB/The CW series “Smallville”

John: When Smallville dropped in my lap…I got a call from my agent saying that they’re doing a series about Clark Kent before he became Superman and the guy who was going to play the father of Lex Luthor had to drop out and they just wanted me to do the pilot. So I said sure. I had to go….and did the episode. I don’t know if I watched it or not but….he said they might want you for some more episodes. And they did want me for some more episodes but since they hadn’t offered me a contract, sometimes I wasn’t available…I had other jobs so I just had to say no. But I did do some other ones. And then the second season thats when they offered me the contract. I had to go to Canada to shoot it. I had to go back in forth. If there weren’t two, three in a row Id go home and then fly back. It was a lot of airporting.  I only did seven seasons. They killed me three times. (Laughs)

RANDAL KLEISER - Episodes 33 & 34

Acclaimed film director discusses the first time he worked with actor John Travolta on the film “The Boy In The Plastic Bubble” - prior to working with him again on “Grease”

Randal: John had been a big star on the show “Welcome Back Kotter” and this was his first opportunity to be the leading man. He was very excited about that idea. And then he met his….the woman who played his mother (Diana Hyland) he ended up having an affair with. She was his girlfriend.

Tony: Did I read correctly? Did it only take you 14 days to shoot that movie?  Did you not get any sleep? (Laughs)

Randal: Thats true. Thats the way it was back then. I came from episodic television, were we had six days to do an hour show. So had that training of…shortcuts and how to do things fast…how to come in on time and on budget.  Cause I realized as a beginning director if you don’t come in on time and on budget on your first project you’ll never work again.  So I was obsessed with that.  And I learned all kinds of tricks. My very very first show at Universal…I found a way …they shot I think it was five days on the lot and one day on location. I devised a way to shoot the whole thing on the lot to save them money from not going on location. So I came in ten thousand dollars under budget and became a hero.

Tony: You shot that whole movie on the lot?

Randal: No, no. Im talking about Marcus Welby M.D. Thats where I learned to make the compromises and shoot fast.”

GORDON THOMSON - Episodes 35 & 36

Dynasty TV star discusses if he knew his character Adam Carrington would become such a villain on the show when he got the role.

Gordon: No, I didn't know anything about him. I knew that…. as far as he was concerned he learned that his parents had abandoned him. "That was a little careless of you Alexis and Blake to leave your baby in a baby carriage when you went to the store. How careless! "But that was the script and thats what they had to cope with. Which Joan never bought and probably John as well…I dont know. That was the introduction to the people that I learned of were my actual parents."

Gordon: So off the bat…this young man in Billings Montana just didn’t….”You abandoned me” was the first thing in his mind dealing with his new parents. And he was well educated and very smart. I love that fact that when he first meets Fallon Carrington they are sort of turned on to one another..theres a flirtation..and then they discover that they’re sister and brother so thats not going to happen. But I loved the little twist. I liked that a lot."

Gordon: No, I didn’t know he was going to be such a son of a bitch but he was. I remember a headline in Great Britain…a picture in one of those tabloid things I was with this beautiful girl i knew there called Zoe Barrensford saying “Nice One Mr Nasty” that was name in Great Britain “Mr Nasty” Adam’s name…but ok now I was Mr Nasty.  But he was…he really was.“

KATHRYN LEIGH SCOTT - Episodes 37 & 38

Veteran TV actress explains the reason why "Dark Shadows" show creator Dan Curtis decided to lock her character up in the insane asylum, when she left the show. And if he wanted to give her a way to come back if things didn’t work out.

Kathryn: It was very much that, And he couldn’t imagine that I was going to sail away…which I actually did do on the Ill de France…and be happy. Living this anonymous life as a foreigner in Paris. It was also because he thought I was crazy. It was his way of saying “you’re nuts do this”. Is was a not to subtle way of telling me that I was making a big mistake.

Tony: Were you surprise that the show was cancelled soon after you left?

Kathryn: No…well…there are two answers to that. First, I was shocked that it was only four months later. Literally four months to the day.  I left the show sometime in November…oh it was a little longer than that…it was May when the show went off the air. The last shows were done in April. In any case, I learned about it by picking up…I saw a fan magazine in a drug store on the Champs Elyśees …it was a cover story that Dark Shadows was off the air. I put down the magazine and I could not believe it. And then I got in touch with Dan and indeed the show got too expensive…it was cheaper for ABC to put on a quiz show…I think Dan wanted to move on and it was a very abrupt ending. And now that I look back at it Im kind of glad that I wasn’t there for those last four months or so. Im really kind of glad about that.  What would I? But anyway…no regrets.”

PETER BROSNAN - Episodes 39 & 40

Documentary filmmaker, Hollywood historian, and amateur archeologist describes when he and his friend /co-researcher Bruce Cardozo finally went out to the Guadalupe dunes to find the location of the Lost City of Cecil B DeMille and what they saw on their first day on the site.

Peter: When we finally got to go up there Clarance (the landowner) hooked us up with his friend Joe Gray. Joe Gray led us out to the site one morning in June of 1983. The road was closed, we had to walk a couple of miles across the sand dunes, and finally Joe stopped and said “here we are”.  And we looked around and for acres…everywhere we looked…there were dozens of pieces of buried plaster, statuary, poking out of the sand. It had all been uncovered by those storms (they had had weeks before).

Tony: So you saw all this stuff…all over the dunes. They were visual?

Peter: It was visual, a little piece here…a little piece there..sticking out of the dunes. We saw one piece…maybe a foot wide, circular…we started digging around it and within an hour or two we had uncovered the head of a horse and Bruce had brought a book with some photos from “The Ten Commandments” and we realized this horse was one of the bar relief horses on the side of the set. And then we realized DeMille didn’t just bury Sphinxes he had buried the whole friggin set!     

WILLIAM MCNAMARA - Episodes 41 & 42

Popular 1990s movie star discusses what famous actor helped coach him - with his role in the thriller “Copycat” - after he tested badly at a screening and the studio was about to do reshoots.

Billy: My best friend back then…he was like my fairy godmother in Hollywood…Roddy McDowall. He really took me under his wing.  Every week when I was in town. Every Wednesday or Tuesday night he had movie night at his house….and dinner. And he would invite all these famous people from every walk of life from Issac Asimov to John Williams to Helen Mirren to Dennis Hooper….to famous directors…to famous writers…famous authors…it was amazing!  And so i called him right away and told him what was going on. I said, “Roddy, I tested badly…I just got called by my agent and Im so worried.” He said, “Oh my god. Well, calm down. We’ll take care of it. Trust me. What are they doing?” I said, “their re-writing it”. He said, “Okay, when you get the new pages, call me. I’ll have my friend Tony come over and coach you.” And I said, “Ok…ok…thank you.”  He said, “Trust me, Tony is going to know what to do.” And Im like “Wow! Wonderful!” And I really trusted Roddy. No idea who Tony was but whoever Roddy would bring over as an actor coach is going to be the best acting coach you can find. And so I trusted that.

Billy: So I called him, I said, “Frank Darabont did the rewrite”. He said “great Im going to have a little dinner for you, me, and Tony and after dinner he’s going to coach you.” I said, “wonderful.” So I go over there. He says, “Tony’s not here yet. Go out…wait on the veranda, have some ice tea.” He had this beautiful veranda in the back of his house. Beautiful rose garden. It was just a beautiful house in the valley. So Im back there. Im nervous. And Im just wondering “who is this Tony guy?” I knew all the acting teachers in LA….Roy London…I knew all the famous ones. I never heard of a Tony. So all of a sudden I hear Roddy from inside, “Tony’s here. He’s coming out to meet you now.”  I said, “ok, great”. And this guy comes out and kind of peers over…and looks…just his head pops out and looks at me on the veranda and says, “William?” And I said, “Tony?” Its Tony Hopkins..Anthony Hopkins! And he proceeded to work with me for hours and it was an amazing experience. (Laughs) I was completely…so confident after working….this guy is one of the great actors of all time. It was like Jack Nicholson or somebody like that coming to coach you.

Tony: Was that before he did Silence of the Lambs?

Billy: No, it was after

Tony: It was after?? So you had Hannibal Lector giving you tips on doing a serial killer?

Billy: I did. Yes. 

SHELLEY HERMAN  - Episodes 43 & 44

Former NBC Page, turned author, talks about the wild night that she had handling talent at the 1977 Prime Time Emmy Award Show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Shelley: I had the HONOR of picking up Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in a limousine. And being a freak for old television…these two people, for the youngen’s listening to your show, where the people who started what became Saturday Night Live…with a live show on a Saturday night for 90 minutes.  And it was must see TV, in the words of NBC. And it was so cute having these darling people in the back of the car and they were just “yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip” and talking, arguing and fussing. So I had them in the car. Wonderful evening with them.

Tony: Legends

Shelley: I was back stage after John Travolta had picked up an Emmy Award for his late girlfriend Diana Hyland -with whom he starred in “The Boy In The Plastic Bubble” — and John came backstage and he was sobbing, like ugly crying, sobbing. And I grabbed a bunch of tissues for him and handed them to him. He grabbed me around my waist and was hugging me and shaking and shaking and crying and crying. And I had said to him…cause my job was to take him to the press area after he received this award for his girlfriend and I said “you want to get out of here for a while?” And he kind of nodded and said”yeah”. So I took him and hid him in one of the dressing rooms at the Pasadena Civic. And once he composed himself…people were going “where’s John, where’s John” I was by the door going “I don’t know, I dont know”. He came out and I walked him down the hallway and he gave my hand a little squeeze and he was on his way to the press area. So I was pretty emotional about that and covered in tears and body fluids from him crying. And just then my friend Jeff says, “quick, come help me” and I run outside. And in a limo Alfred Hitchcock steps out.

Tony: Ohh wow!

Shelley: Jeff needed help because he was moving very slowly and he needed help. Hitchcock was quite elderly at the time. And Jeff and I slowly get him backstage to be a surprise guest….I had done my Senior thesis on Hitchcock at Cal State North Ridge so I wanted to talk to him…I wanted to talk to him, but I had to be professional. And at a certain point Hitch looks over at me and says “You’re doing a very good job”. And I looked at him and said “I did my senior thesis on you, ask me anything about you”.  He kind of smiled…crooked kind of sheepish smile…and we got him backstage. Then Jeff and I ran out…the curtains came up…and there was Alfred Hitchcock for everyone to see.    

NICHOLAS HAMMOND - Episodes 45 & 46

Former child actor and one of the stars of the beloved movie musical “The Sound of Music” discusses how director Robert Wise wanted his natural brown hair to be blonder in the film.

Nicholas: Yeah, thats right. Unfortunately he only decided that the night before we started filming. The first scene we have in the movie is the thunderstorm scene where Julie sings “My Favorite Things”. And we rehearsed it that day with my own natural brown hair. At the end of the day he said, “you know, I don’t think we have enough blondes in this family “. Cause at that point only Heather (Menzies) was blonde …and Kimmy (Karath).  And he said, “I think we need a blonde boy” and he pointed to me. And Maggie Donovan who was the head of the hair department took me to the hairdressers and she got out the bottle of dye…she had used on Marilyn Monroe….and just dumped it all over my head. (Laughs)

Nicholas: If you look at that scene today my hair isn’t as blonde as it is in the others because it took a few passes before they were able to lightened it as much as he wanted it lightened. And then it finally got like straw yellow. But in that scene its sort of brown with streaks in it…kind of look. But you get away with it because its night time…and its some sort of dark outside….and you’re not really noticing the kids hair anyway. But yeah, that it true. And so I had blisters all over my scalp for the first couple of days because back then, the dyes they used for bleaching hair were pretty strong. I don’t think they’re allowed today. But it literally burned my scalp. It got better. The more I did it the less they…they didnt have use stuff that was as strong.   Yeah, it was just the night before that he decided “lets make him a blonde”.

GARRETT WANG - Episodes 47 & 48

Celebrated star of the TV series “Star Trek Voyager” and podcaster talks about the huge impression that George Takei made on him as a kid while he watching him play ‘Mr Sulu’ on the original "Star Trek" show

Garrett: Seeing George Takei…not having any accent. Seeing that as a kid… it made a huge impact on me cause I kept thinking, “Wow, this is the only character on TV that doesn’t speak like ‘Hop-Sing’ Im so excited.” And there was a commercial….a Calgon commercial. Remember this? The person would come in and say “Mr Lee, how do get your clothes so clean?” And he goes “well, Susie ancient Chinese secret”.

Tony: YEEES!

Garrett: And then the wife in the back says “we need more Calgon!” And the caucasian costumer in the front says, “ancient Chinese secret, huh?”  So at least those two spoke without an accent, right? So the husband and wife…that’s the first commercial I know of with an Asian…without an accent in it. And that was HUGE back in the…whenever…the 70s…or early 80s whenever that commercial actually aired. That’s massive…that’s groundbreaking, really. But, its sad at the same time because thats always been the ignored minority - which is the Asian that was born here who speaks perfect English who identifies as American and NOT as a Chinese national, right? Like when I think of myself I think Im American…one thousand percent! It’s funny cause when I go back to China or Taiwan or Hong Kong or anywhere that I go to Asia they look at me as the loud American. (Laughs) See what Im saying? The loud obnoxious American…like my cousins are like “man, you’re loud dude.” And I’m like okay. (Laughs) Because when you’re raised in this country you definitely take on a certain persona, right? You definitely have this…I’m part of the new world. We’ve gone away from Europe and we’ve started are own thing…we’re American…we’re mavericks. We start out on our own…blah blah blah. We threw the yoke of British rule off of us. Whoooo-whooo! I was raised just like every other…..caucasian, red-blooded, American person. I had the same upbringing - basically and to only see that in only two representations on television which is George Takai  and the Calgon couple IT SUCKS! You know?    

RUSSELL TODD - Episodes 49 & 50

Star of the camp classic “Where The Boys Are ’84” talks about what it was like working with his his co-stars Lorna Luft and Lisa Hartman on the film in sunny South Florida.

Russell: We were all young…still (Laughs)…and we were there to have a lot of fun and make a movie and we did. We would just kid all the time. Trying to make the best of being in Florida…in the heat. Wearing…well, for me…they put me in this wool sweater outside a couple times and Im just schvitzing away. Thinking “why am I dressed like this?” And they too go put in some stuff that was too heavy. So we made the best of everything and had some good times.

Russell: With Lisa, we would try to hit the gym…we couldn’t do it everyday…but if we had a later call she and I would go off to the local gym together….do that first thing in the morning.  I’d go in with the girls…usually the guy go in later..cause it takes a little longer for their makeup and hair. But they would bring me in because they shaved me from here to my toes.

Tony: They took off all your body hair?    

Russell: All my body hair! Because after the first couple of days of dailies…Try-Star looked at it and said “he looks like an ape”.

Tony: OH NOO!

Russell: I wasn’t that hairy! I was your typical hairy chest and legs. No arms. But they wanted me almost smooth…well, pretty smooth. So I would go in with the girls because they had a whole other person that had to be devoted to me to just shave my body. (Laughter)

PERRY KING - Episodes 51 & 52

Seasoned film and TV star discusses auditioning for the role of Han Solo in “Star Wars” for George Lucas 

Perry: Yes, I did. For George Lucas. I remember going to one of those dingy little office rooms in Paramount Studios. I don’t know if you’re acquainted with Paramount or not but they have all these office buildings that are basically unchanged since the 20’s. Wood paneled and kind of dirty and shabby . It was one of those meetings. You know? And at the time nobody knew Star Wars…nobody knew anything about it. It was just…he was making a movie.  I said, “so tell me what’s the movie about?” He wanted to meet with me. And he said, “well, I’m making a movie for kids.” And I remember thinking, “oh crap, I don’t want to be in a movie for kids. “ (Laughs) But he said…and this became a line that he used all the time….I never heard it before but maybe he used it before that…but I was certainly one of the first people to hear this line. He said, “for kids between the ages of 8 and 80”. In other words, the kid in all of us, right? So then I did a screen test with Charlie Martin Smith.

Tony: Oh, you did a screen test for Han Solo. I did not know that.

Perry: Oh, yes, yes. And I remember one of things he did. Lucas in the screen test was instead of reversing the camera…and keeping the actors where the were and turning the camera around…to save time he turn the actors around.  And I remember being very confused by that. And sort of lost. And thinking, “God, this guy will be hard to work with” Cause he’s…it made sense what he’s doing but sure did leave me out in the cold. You know as an actor. Anyway. So YEARS later…not too long ago they set me the audition…the tape of that …that screen-test. They were doing a new release of Star Wars and they wanted the special…um..whatever you call that…

Tony: Behind the scenes stuff?

Perry: Yeah, the special stuff that they show on those kinds of things. They said “we want to show auditions of well-known actors who didn’t get the part. Would you look at this audition and lets us know if you’re willing to let us use it.”   And I watched it and I thought “holy crap, no wonder I didn’t get the part”. (Laughs) IT WAS TERRIBLE! JUST AWFUL. I missed the point completely. I mean, remember,  nobody knew anything about it but now that I knew the film I realized…he probably didn’t watch ten seconds of that audition because it was hopeless. It was terrible. Charlie Martin Smith was pretty good but I was…but you know I got to play the part. Im the second of three people who have ever played the part of Han Solo. Cause I did it on National Public Radio. They did an amazing thing. All with the support of George Lucas. He gave the right to do the whole thing for a dollar or something. Just as a gift to the National Public Radio. And we all three of those first three films. All together we did something like sixteen hours of radio, You wouldn’t think that Star Wars could possibly work on radio but it worked beautifully……………..I’m very proud of that. I finally go to play the part, but only on radio.

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