My Very Short Acting Career.

I did at one time appear in a very big budgeted bomb. A movie labeled as one of the worst made. A movie so terrible....even with big stars and much funding....has never been released to video of DVD. Hmmmm....what could that movie be....you might wonder? Well, it had some top name stars in it.....such as Sir Lawrence Olivia, George Peppard, Richard Roundtree, David Jensen and Olivia DeHaviland. Still don't know yet? How about a few more clues. It was made in 1979 and released in 1981. It was a war flick that took place in North East Asia....in a location made famous by General Douglas McAurthur. The country is often referred to as "the land of the moring calm". Well, for those of you that were ever over there....the last clue should be a dead giveaway. But for those who were not.....the movie recalls the invasion of Inchon harbor during the Korean war in the early fifties.

Yes....it was a huge failure at the box office. One reason....it was funded my the "Moonies". This is a "christian" cult founded by Sun Myung Moon. A very controversial figure indeed. He bankrolled the entire production. How did I get in this you may wonder?

Well.....it started that September day in 1979 when I noticed a small sign in the USO office. It read something like....wanted, extras for big production movie.....so I applied. Lucky for me it was a war film....as they were looking for military personnel to play bit parts. Next thing I knew.....I was told I was hired to be an extra in the battle scenes and that my rate of pay was $45 per day of shooting. I did about 3 days of actual work....but the experience was worth the effort. My job in the movie was to be an army sargeant at the Inchon landing. It was quite fun shooting communists off of the rooftops. I remember watching that film when it came out in 1981. There I was.....standing amid the field of battle....trying to unjam my old M1 Garand rifle. Not a real one of course...but a replica that could shoot blanks. It jammed on me...and that's when I was caught on film...most embarassing.
I guess it had that look of reality....as it seemed quite real at the time.....with all the shooting, bombs and mortars going off.
It felt like someone really was going to pick me off....as I stood there, trying to free up the rifle's breach.

But even better than that....was my lunch with Sir Lawrence Olivia. He was playing McAurthur....a legendary general. We sat down together for about 20 minutes and ate a sandwich....in between shoots. Now that was very memorable....and I have a few good photos I took to remember it by. Yes.....it was to be my only "acting" job....and brief it was. But what an experience.