Chapter Six - The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Extras

I was back! Oh, how I realized how much I had missed the work. I loved it. The hustle bustle, the process, the stars, the directors, the techies, the wardrobe, the makeup, the fun and the food. I even loved the endless waiting around and made a point to use that time wisely.
I was so rusty that when I saw my first performance after so many years away, I was almost sick. I was simply dreadful. It was the worst extra performance I had ever seen. I jumped around. My eyes looked like they were operating in different orbits, like a chameleon. I was supposed to be a cool seasoned detective and I looked like an over amped junkie. It is truly a wonder that they did not edit me out of those shots.
One thing saved me though in the days ahead and that was my enthusiasm and energy, something that is often lacking in extra performances. That coupled with my now well-developed ability to establish instant rapport with assistant directors, the caterers and techies and most importantly the several casting agents, the counterparts to Scott Mansfield, pulled me through.
Over the next three years, I appeared in thirty-five episodes of ‘Top Cops’, easily more than any other extra and this show was one of the mainstays of my acting career. I will always be grateful to Sonny Grosso, the producer and the workmanlike and professional directors and assistant directors who made a point to put me out-front in many shots and then would give me even more work by calling me back to work in the background. It was always a thrill to be on a ‘Top Cops’ set.When I met my agent, Anne Marie Stewart for the first time, a few weeks later, she had already been paid for my work on ‘Top Cops’. What a great way to start a relationship with an agent. To say that we hit it off was an understatement. She knew that with a contact like Scott, I would get continual work and even if it was just ‘Top Cops’ and the other shows that he supplied extras for, it would still generate money for both of us. I bought a pager specifically for Toronto Casting use with the proviso that Ann Marie could call me 24/7 and she could count on me to never let her down. I was rewarded for my enthusiasm and work ethic with more extra gigs than anyone, before or since.
By the time I left the business I was known as the ‘King of the Extras’ often working on two sets in a twenty-four hour period and absolutely astonishing my fellow actors by seeming to be everywhere and on every set.


I guess I have been bragging about this ‘rapport’ thing but one director for ‘Top Cops’ almost delivered the clichéd line, “You will never work in this town again!” and I unintentionally provoked him on more than one occasion.
The first time I annoyed him was so memorable that he watched me ‘like a hawk’ on every subsequent set.
The scene went something like this: A police car races to the scene of a recent robbery. A crazed gunman is standing in the middle of the street after having just robbed a store. He is waving a weapon and shouting that he will kill everyone. Three heavily armed police officers jump from the car, crouch as they move along the side of a building and as they walk by the camera they cock their guns. We then confront the gunman and when he points his weapon at us, we open fire and kill the perpetrator in the street.
Problem was, although we had all been specifically chosen and trained by “Frenchie” to carry and fire the weapons, none of us really had any experience with firearms. Even this simple task was very difficult to pull off as the director wanted it. As we crouched by the camera we were to cock the weapons in our hands as we positioned ourselves for the ‘one-shot’ in front of the lens. This was a fairly complicated and time consuming scene. But the thing that was throwing me off was the fact that the stuntman’s driving, racing to the curb and screeching to a halt made me feel like I was going to throw up.
None of the three of us could get the weapons to cock properly as we passed the camera. The director shouted ‘cut’ and we tried it again. This time two of the cops got the guns to cock but mine got stuck. “CUT” he shouted. And we went again. Same thing happened again. The stunt man’s driving got more erratic and gut wrenching on every take and my nausea was really worrying me.
The director turned bright red and still keeping his cool, did what is proper etiquette, asked the assistant director to speak to me about my inability to cock the weapon. Properly chastised and instructed we went again and we finally got it right.
We then proceeded to the street where we noticed the gunman and then we open fire. “CUT” shouted the director. And then speaking directly to us. “What is wrong with you guys? You can’t ‘close your eyes when you shoot a gun! You look like a bunch of pussies!”
I had to practically gag myself to stop from laughing and when I couldn’t help smiling, the director again turned an even deeper shade of red and trying to gain his composure asked the Assistant Director to speak to me and my colleagues.
The AD realized that it was harder to actually do what the director wanted than to tell us how to do it, so was very sympathetic. At the same time he explained how important it was for us to nail the next take as we were going over budget and the fading light of the afternoon would soon mean that the days schedule would be ruined. At least I did not throw up in the middle of the scene and that was a real possibility until we got past the stunt driving.
We went again and finally managed to get it right, sort of. When I saw the result a few months later, I think all of us had our eyes squinted strangely as we shot those guns and noticeably flinched at the retort.
I annoyed this same director again on another episode. The Assistant Director instructed me to walk directly in front of the camera. I had worked with this nice young fellow a few times. On one movie I was to be a shadow behind a frosted door and he would cue me to walk by at strategic times with specific and timed intervals. He was a pretty fussy fellow, I thought, but I admired his thoroughness.
In this case though I was wearing a black overcoat and I just knew the director was not going to want me to obstruct the camera view and suggested to the Assistant Director that I should not do so. The AD was affronted and reminded me that he was in charge and I was ‘the extra’. “Just do what I tell you!” he said. “OK.” I answered. So action was called and I did what I was told. I immediately saw that the director did not like the shot but he hadn’t yet figured out that
it was me that was causing the problem. ‘Let’s go again.” He said and they set up the shot once more.
Same thing and same perplexed look only this time he recognizes me from previous sets and suddenly realizes that a big black overcoat obstructing the shot is not what he wants. This time he really ‘blew his top‘. He started cursing and shouting directly at me. “What the hell are you doing? Why would you walk in front of the camera? You must be able to figure out that you are blocking the shot!” he shouted in exasperation.
I was totally cool. I did not ‘rat out’ my young assistant director friend. And then the director realized that his conduct was unprofessional and called over the AD and gave him instructions as to how the scene should go and more specifically to keep ‘that guy’, me, away from the camera. That is not what you want to hear when you are an actor but it was what I had been trying to say to my young AD friend from the beginning.
Afterwards he came to me and apologized and explained the great costs and tight budget and fading light and so on in a nice conciliatory way.
I resisted the urge to say, “I told you so” and I believe I made a better friend of the Assistant Director that day by taking the ‘heat’ for his error. But that director, who I worked with on several more occasions, sure wasn’t one of them and he glared at me and grumbled to the ADs about me whenever I was on set. From then on, I tried to warn them to keep me out of the front line.

I actually got very jittery and nervous working for this guy and that was very unusual for me. I was always pretty darn cool and focused. But on this closed indoor set with several people moving around a police precinct scene I almost caused him to meltdown, yet again.
One rule for actors on set is to remove all change from pockets, keys and jewelry or anything that will make noise. It has to be dead quiet and the soundman will listen for any extraneous noises, air conditioning, fans, airplanes, trains, street sounds, clocks ticking or in this case, a strange jingling sound. Usually everything stops until the sound man figures out how to curtail the noise and those delays are really expensive.
Now I swear that I did not do this on purpose but the fact is I am a bit of a fetishist in the sense that I feel compelled to always carry certain things in my pockets. At the moment for example, I am carrying a small pocket knife, a marble, a light green stone, a dark green stone, a black stone and yet another shiny black stone that my friend Robert Cullen gave me many years ago.
I left all my change with my bag but no way would I leave these special things.
We did the first take. The sound man heard a jingling noise and suspected that someone had change or keys or something that was causing the sound. The Assistant Directors were going from person to person asking if anyone had noisy things. A few people revealed bracelets and coins until the sound man was satisfied that we could try another take.
We started again and things were going well when the sound man looked at the director and asked him to stop and he yelled “Cut”.
This time it was serious and I suddenly realized that it was me. As I waited for the call, “Action”, I had my hand in my pocket and was, without any real awareness, clicking the stones and marble and knife together. “Oh Shoot!” I thought. “This guy is going to go crazy if he finds out it is me”.
At this point the ADs, the continuity person and the sound man and the director himself were canvassing the entire cast and crew trying to track down the culprit. I really felt like I was going to faint or throw up but I pulled it together. With a really disgusted look on my face, as if I just couldn’t believe that anyone could be so stupid and discourteous, I asked the AD if I could take a quick pee break.

This was the same AD from the ‘black overcoat’ incident and we had worked together many times and were very friendly. He gave me a bit of a ‘look’ but said “OK. Make it quick and be sure to come back to your mark.”
I scooted out making sure not to jiggle anything and in the washroom; I redistributed my various stones in my pockets so that nothing would clink together. Quickly returning to the set, I took my position. Another couple of sets of keys, coins, jewelry and paraphernalia had turned up and so I was safe.
We resumed shooting and it finally went without a hitch and the scene was ‘wrapped’.