Okay, so I’m reading Aha’s very interesting post about his glory days as a wild and crazy rock star, and I thought to myself, “Hey, my dad was in show biz, too!” so I thought I’d share.
My dad, whose stage name is “Goh Misawa,” was in that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer decides to rent out his dresser drawers as a “capsule motel” to some Japanese businessmen. My dad was the older guy with white hair.
…and in his heyday, my dad was a professional music composer and arranger in Japan, being something akin to Mike Post, writing TV theme songs and commercial jingles. He’s got two gold records and a Clio award (for a soap ad). That’s after his stint in the '60s as the baritone in a quartet called the “Tokyo Four” (hey, they even toured the US for a year and worked as a LOUNGE ACT in the same Vegas hotels as people like Louie Armstrong!)
So he might not be an aging rock star, but he’s… well, he’s aging, anyway.
Anybody else here famous, or have had brushes with fame?
My grandfather (an actor) and my mother (at age 6) appeared as extras in Attack of the Mayan Mummy, a serious contender for Worst Film Ever Made. Also, my grandfather knows Walter Koenig.
I have a cousin who was in “Jaws”. If you look in the crowd scene when someone yells at everyone to get out of the water and don’t blink, you MAY see him. But still…
I am related on my father’s side to James and Imogene Coco (best known as Aunt Edna in National Lampoon’s Vacation, where she is strapped to the luggage rack of a car).
My father was an extra in Sweet Liberty. You can see him in the end credits, when the fram freezes on Alan Alda; he’s the one patting Alda on the back.
My aunt was actually hired to perform with her musical trio in that movie in the party scene halfway through. Unfortunately, her footage was left on the cutting room floor.
My dad has been on film twice. Once as a foreman on a fairly important police corruption case. The second time when he gave a news reporter a tour of Hangar 18.
My aunt was in several Italian movies, released a couple of albums, and was Playmate’s Playmate of the Month.
She also did those other type of movies, but we’ll just not mention that, k?
My dad is in the media fairly regularly, although mostly in magazines. He’s been on the radio a couple of times and featured in a documentary on TV a few years back. He’s a bit of an expert on food irradiation and other food research science issues.
My pottery was on “Murder She Wrote”. Long story - the show had a scene with a craft faire sort of thing, and they needed painters, potters, etc. to be “background”. A friend of mine knew that I did pottery, and through a series of events, I was asked to be on the show as the potter. It was an adventure. They brought my potter’s wheel down on location (actually it was a borrowed potter’s wheel) and I threw a pot on the set. I also had a display set up with my pottery. Angela Lansbury wandered around among all of us artisans’ displays while they were preparing the shoot.
Only my pottery made it to the final cut, on an episode called “Bill and Jack”. But, oh well. Pretty neat, and they paid me a lot for a morning’s work.
Also - I was hired by friends of Jaclyn Smith, David Hasselhoff, and Robert Ito (from “Quincy”) to do portraits for the actors. Presumably these actors still have my artwork. Actor Greg Evigan also has one of my portraits, he sent me a note about it, and also wanted me to do a portrait of his wife. (But the note was relayed through other people, and arrived 6 months late. Long story.)
Being from L.A., I’ve had lots of other “brushes” with fame (I am still proud of spending the night wandering around the filming of “Blade Runner”.) But the pottery and portrait things are the only ones that I had any personal involvement in.
I can’t really say my uncle, so my mom’s sister’s late husband’s brother, or my cousins’ uncle, is the great Tom Wilkinson. His real name is Jeffery. I haven’t gotten the chance to meet him yet, but my mom has. Apparently he hattend working with Minnie Driver in The Governess. Called her a ‘cow’. I can’t wait to meet him.
[he’s pretty much retired.]