Turning 69 Today: Gary Cole

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(On landing The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)) I had done virtually no comedy at all until then. All the television I had done was either disease-of-the-week movies or Fatal Vision (1984) or a television series called Midnight Caller (1988). But Betty Thomas, who had actually directed an episode of Midnight Caller (1988), she was the director. I had worked with her, I had also met her years ago in New York. She was a friend of Jim Belushi‘s, and I was doing “True West” with Jim Belushi, so I met her and knew her, liked her a lot. Thought she was very funny, very salty, and I went into the read thinking really that it just didn’t make sense that I would get this part. But I thought since it was Betty, I’d go in and say hi, do my thing, have fun, walk away. And so I went in, and it seemed to go okay. I went in and did my best Robert Reed impersonation, and it seemed to go fine. And a lot of time went by, more than six or seven weeks, it seemed. So I didn’t think any more about it. It was like most auditions. You walk in, and 90 percent of them are dead. And then I got a call back and went in, and [Betty] said, “I just want to see if this was as good as I thought it was”. So I did it again, and no one was laughing. She was just looking at me like an animal in the zoo. And then the third time I went in, they had already cast Shelley Long, so they wanted to see me with “Shelley Long”, and they put us on tape. They gave me some bad wig. I looked like “Buckwheat” from “The Little Rascals”, and they put me in some bad polyester shirt, and it was just really odd, because I looked so stupid. I left and didn’t think anything about it, and then it still went on and on. It was on and it was off, and it was on and it was off, and then finally I got a call from her and she said, “I really want you to do it”. And then she went to bat for me at the studio, because I don’t think the studio wanted me. It didn’t make sense for the studio; I’m sure they were going through their list of stand-up comedians and other comic actors that had done those movies. And nobody wanted to do it. They’d keep passing on it. And the time was coming, they had to make it, and so I was slipped in.

Under 5min. Film: THE FINAL FAIRYTALE, 1min, UK, Family

Played at the Under 5 Minute June 2017 Film Festival

THE FINAL FAIRYTALE, 1min, UK, Family
Directed by Ken WilliamsA woman looks back at a fading memory of her father and of fairytales .

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

Review by Kierston Drier

A four minute American film about the pain of growing up. A father reads his bedtime story to his daughter, when his daughter tells him that she thinks she might be too old for bedtime stories.

It is an utterly simple film. But emotionally, it is fathoms deep. Most impressively, the acting of the cast. The character of the father is only given one small moment to react to his daughter’s request- and so many emotions are transmitted. The efficiency of this emotional punch is breathtaking. A moment of independence for a child, and a moment of heartbreak for her father.

Remarkably effective and incredibly poignant, THE FINAL FAIRYTALE is touching and worthwhile piece indeed.