Chapter Fourteen - Secret Service

Large sections of Union Station were cordoned off to allow us to shoot scenes for the pilot episode of Secret Service. Tony Lobianco was the star host of the series and he would relate a real-life story from the files of this crime fighting organization.
This one involved a plot to assassinate Gerald Ford. As a special agent, under the leadership of Canadian actor Henry Czerny (who went on to big-screen success with Harrison Ford in A Clear and Present Danger), we were searching a train station because we were sure that the assassin was phoning threatening calls from this location. I did some really nice work on this episode and the director featured me in several of the shots.
When we were finished at this location, the publicity people had a photographer take several shots of the Secret Service Team, that included Henry, a female agent, me in a sharp leather jacket holding a handgun and Tony Lobianco standing in our midst. It was the kind of shot that you would see in TV guide or on other media to promote the show.
I waited patiently for the show to air and to my utter horror, when it did, Lobianco had been replaced by Gerald Ford’s actor son, Steven as the moderator. That meant that the publicity shots were scrapped. I asked Anne Marie to try to track a copy down for my file but they were long gone.
Steven Ford was very good as the host and added a real thread of credibility in that he was speaking about an incident with his father. He did a great job in subsequent episodes as well.
In another I gave a very satisfying performance as an undercover agent, portraying a ‘wiseguy’ trying to trap a crooked car importer. Lawrence Baines played the bad guy and Nicholas Campbell from DaVinci’s Law and countless other roles, was my undercover mafia boss and Secret Service boss.
In one scene I menacingly stroll into a shop and take Lawrence under control and push him into a limo where Nicholas questions him about a deal. I am sitting inches away from him and really putting on the pressure by grabbing his face and ‘breathing down his neck’, tough-guy style. My costume included a silver sports coat that I brought with me. What really helped me get into the character was when a wardrobe person suggested that I role up the sleeves on my bare arms. That coupled with a huge gold ring and a fake Rolex finished off the costume and I believe this was one of my better performances. It is also a great demonstration of how effective a professional extra can be and how they can add to the quality and intensity of a scene.
I was specifically selected by directors or casting agents for all of my roles on secret Service. They knew that I could ratchet up the energy level and provide extraordinary value in these small but important scenes.
One of my very favorite scenes is where I portray James Brady, Ronald Reagan’s press secretary in an episode that recreated his assassination attempt. Reagan, a police officer and Brady were shot.
Superb director Mario Azzopardi skillfully unites newsreel footage with the scenes he shot to tell the story. On a totally realistic soundstage, replicating the entrance to the hotel, Reagan and Brady encounter the shooter John Hinckley Jr., Reagan was pushed into his limo by an astute secret service agent and this saved his life. He was raced to a nearby hospital and had emergency surgery. The police officer and Brady lay wounded on the sidewalk and waited for conventional ambulance service.
We rehearsed take after take with me getting shot and falling onto a large mattress-like pad. It was really a lot of fun. The following day was another story though and I woke up from a sound sleep with a dull pain in my chest. As the morning wore on the ache got worse and worse and fearing a heart attack. I went to the emergency department where I was diagnosed with bruised ribs and irritated cartilage, where the ribs join the breast bone. I was just fine in a few days and ready for more work.