Sadly, he later died of a drug overdose outside the Viper Room in Hollywood.
I did commercials for Count Chocula, Polaroid, McDonald’s, Formula 409, He-Man, Kool-Aid, Pepsi, Fruit Roll-Ups, All laundry detergent, Hawaiian Punch, Northwest Orient Airlines—and so many more that none of us can remember all the products I represented.
I did a commercial for EuroDisney, filmed in California’s Disneyland. I had to take on an accent and pretend to be a little English kid,in a whole different country with a whole different family. They set this big ice cream sundae in front of me and I had to say, “Cor, Dad, what a big ice cream!” Not only was I at Disneyland, I had all this ice cream to dive into at every take.
They shot the commercial on Employee Appreciation Day, so the park was shut down to the public and only the employees and their families were there. When they finished filming the commercial, I got to wander around a nearly empty Disneyland and go on any ride I wished. And because there were no lines, I simply walked to the front and got on the ride, going on as many times as I wanted to.
In the arcade, an employee followed me around and put a key in the machine of any game I wanted to play.
“Ding! Ding! Ding!” the machine responded and I magically had 30 credits to play that game or any others. It was a dream come true.
Probably the most fun I ever had doing a commercial was for Wrigley’s gum. Once they shouted, “Action!” a group of kids piled into a river raft and we shot down the white-water rapids of the Kern River. We had to do it about a half-dozen times to be sure they had great shots. Awesome.
It wasn’t too shabby that I got paid very well for all this “work” on rapids and in theme parks. In the ’80s, the going rate was 5 to 10 grand for two days of commercial work.
I also enjoyed the part of my imagination that commercials brought to life. For two days, I belonged to a whole new family living in a different reality. That girl was my sister. That kid, my brother. It was fun to pretend that these other people were my parents. “Hey, Dad!” I’d say to some strange guy who was my actor parent. I threw myself into it, wondering what life would be like if these people were truly my mom and dad.
When I was 11, I landed the part of Liam in a TV movie called
Goliath Awaits
, starring Eddie Albert. The movie was about people living on a partially sunken ship. It wasn’t until after I booked it that they told me the part required scuba diving. Since I’d never done that, I had to take lessons. The studio sent an instructor to our house with scuba gear. Our neighbors across the street let us use their pool.
The training didn’t help a lot. Although I only had to swim around under the surface with the tank on my back, I couldn’t get myself to actually breathe under water. I finally started to get the hang of it but still wasn’t all that comfortable.
During the actual filming, I had to stand up to my waist in very cold water and wait for “Action!” As the cameras filmed the sinking ship I had to dive under it and swim away. It was a cold and miserable day.
In 1983, I played Eric in the television drama series
Two Marriages
. The show ran only one season, but it gave me a taste of daily life on a television show—and even better, a life without auditions.
One of my jobs interrupted a family camping trip to Illinois. Just as we pulled up the camper, I received the call to appear on the television show
Bret Maverick
. So Mom and I flew back to Los Angeles while Dad and the girls enjoyed a great road trip together. They went to Mt. Rushmore without me.
One thing I thought was really cool is that we got a
fax machine
in our house to have scripts sent to us ahead of time! Okay, it’s not a big deal now, but in the days before cell phones and email, only the fanciest offices had these special machines. They rolled out difficult-to-read, blotchy information on rolls of thermal
I did commercials for Count Chocula, Polaroid, McDonald’s, Formula 409, He-Man, Kool-Aid, Pepsi, Fruit Roll-Ups, All laundry detergent, Hawaiian Punch, Northwest Orient Airlines—and so many more that none of us can remember all the products I represented.
I did a commercial for EuroDisney, filmed in California’s Disneyland. I had to take on an accent and pretend to be a little English kid,in a whole different country with a whole different family. They set this big ice cream sundae in front of me and I had to say, “Cor, Dad, what a big ice cream!” Not only was I at Disneyland, I had all this ice cream to dive into at every take.
They shot the commercial on Employee Appreciation Day, so the park was shut down to the public and only the employees and their families were there. When they finished filming the commercial, I got to wander around a nearly empty Disneyland and go on any ride I wished. And because there were no lines, I simply walked to the front and got on the ride, going on as many times as I wanted to.
In the arcade, an employee followed me around and put a key in the machine of any game I wanted to play.
“Ding! Ding! Ding!” the machine responded and I magically had 30 credits to play that game or any others. It was a dream come true.
Probably the most fun I ever had doing a commercial was for Wrigley’s gum. Once they shouted, “Action!” a group of kids piled into a river raft and we shot down the white-water rapids of the Kern River. We had to do it about a half-dozen times to be sure they had great shots. Awesome.
It wasn’t too shabby that I got paid very well for all this “work” on rapids and in theme parks. In the ’80s, the going rate was 5 to 10 grand for two days of commercial work.
I also enjoyed the part of my imagination that commercials brought to life. For two days, I belonged to a whole new family living in a different reality. That girl was my sister. That kid, my brother. It was fun to pretend that these other people were my parents. “Hey, Dad!” I’d say to some strange guy who was my actor parent. I threw myself into it, wondering what life would be like if these people were truly my mom and dad.
When I was 11, I landed the part of Liam in a TV movie called
Goliath Awaits
, starring Eddie Albert. The movie was about people living on a partially sunken ship. It wasn’t until after I booked it that they told me the part required scuba diving. Since I’d never done that, I had to take lessons. The studio sent an instructor to our house with scuba gear. Our neighbors across the street let us use their pool.
The training didn’t help a lot. Although I only had to swim around under the surface with the tank on my back, I couldn’t get myself to actually breathe under water. I finally started to get the hang of it but still wasn’t all that comfortable.
During the actual filming, I had to stand up to my waist in very cold water and wait for “Action!” As the cameras filmed the sinking ship I had to dive under it and swim away. It was a cold and miserable day.
In 1983, I played Eric in the television drama series
Two Marriages
. The show ran only one season, but it gave me a taste of daily life on a television show—and even better, a life without auditions.
One of my jobs interrupted a family camping trip to Illinois. Just as we pulled up the camper, I received the call to appear on the television show
Bret Maverick
. So Mom and I flew back to Los Angeles while Dad and the girls enjoyed a great road trip together. They went to Mt. Rushmore without me.
One thing I thought was really cool is that we got a
fax machine
in our house to have scripts sent to us ahead of time! Okay, it’s not a big deal now, but in the days before cell phones and email, only the fanciest offices had these special machines. They rolled out difficult-to-read, blotchy information on rolls of thermal
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