Hammy Background Extras!

i have a hard enough time watching the movie much less paying any attention to extras.....

The dancer doing the duck waddle in "Grease".

There's restaurant scene at Mount Rushmore in [italic]North by Northwest[/italic] in which a little boy, who'd apparently gone through the scene more than once, puts his hands over his ears BEFORE the bad guy shoots his gun.

I love that De Palma added those little touches. If you notice, he also employs a split diopter on both shots of the main actor so that the background actors on either side of the main characters are totally in focus at the same time. In most movies, they'd use a lens that would blur them out, but De Palma loves having multiple things in focus at the same time. This is why all his films seem so playful instead of as seedy as the subject matter might initially seem. We could use more playful directors like that these days.

When the movie is boring, I scan the background extras for cute guys.

Watch the creepy little kid on the right

Dressed to Kill is free to view on YouTube

Dvida is a background extra in a movie called "F.A.R.T. The Movie" and she walks as close to the two leads who are speaking to each other as possible, and walks back and forth behind them repeatedly during the scene. It's like an unfunny version of the whale in "The Life Aquatic."

This thread is especially created for this dude. He’s enthusiastic beyond all reason. He stole the show, if you ask me.

End scene in “Ghostbusters”.

I had a friend who was a professional extra. Boy, did she ham it up in her scenes.

She wanted to be an actress but never made the transition.

She was also a singer!

And wrote all her own stuff.

She can imagine!

I thought this was a scene from Harry Potter but they’re talking about tranny surgery. WTF?

Thanks OP that was a hilarious scene from Dressed to Kill. Great movie too!

I saw a Pop up Video that pointed out a little girl who was way OTT in Tina Turner’s, We don’t need another hero vid and they said the director wanted to kill her.

[quote]This thread is especially created for this dude. He’s enthusiastic beyond all reason. He stole the show, if you ask me. End scene in “Ghostbusters”.

Ha! That guy is a good friend of mine, we used to live at the Westside Y in the early 80s! He is a very enthusiastic person and they actually placed him in a couple scenes on purpose. He was shocked that he ended up being so noticeable in the finished film, and has even been interviewed by a fan blog! It is a source of humor and fun for him to this day.

He is a very popular A-list makeup designer for tv and film and is a talented, hard-working guy.

The shocked woman who's eavesdropping behind Barry Gordon is Mary Davenport. She's actress Jennifer Salt's real mother, and is also in De Palma's SISTERS.

Best scene, BTW:

Cameron Crowe points out in the commentary of Fast Times at Ridgemont High that a background girl says hi to Jennifer Jason Leigh as she is walking out of the school entrance onto the grass talking with Damone, and Jennifer gives her a surprised look.

OMG @R6, I never noticed that before. How the fuck did they not catch the little shit doing that?

The shocked older woman is the original Concerned Team Mom.

In “a restaurant?” In A RESTAURANT? That, my friend was Windows on the World (blessed be its memory) in the World Trade Center (blessed be its memory). How soon we forget.

R15, that’s so funny (and it’s great that he’s propsering). I love that guy. If you talk to him, let him know he has a small following on the UES.

I could be wrong, but I think the excited soup woman was intentional. As a contrast to both Nancy and Keith's conversation and the grossed out lady.

Awwwww...... I thought this thread was about hamsters 🙁

I was an extra in a movie once. It was cold, but we were supposed to pretend it was a hot day in July. Luckily, I was out of focus. My "I'm so hot" gestures were so exaggerated they could have been seen in the last row of Shakespeare In The Park.

Eldo Ray Estes is a star, people! And has aged well.

De Palma knew what he was doing or he wouldn't have used that split diopter to make sure the background actors were in focus, too. I think he probably just planned to do it on Keith Gordon's shot to showcase the outraged woman behind him, but figured it might look odd if he only did it on his shot and not Nancy Allen's as well, so he gave the extras behind her some fun business, too. I love it. So much fun. Movies aren't as much fun anymore.

I was one of those shameless background extras on Star Trek: TNG. Whenever I was an officer standing on the bridge at a control panel behind Picard, I would make sure my head sometimes turned enough to at least get a profile.

Oh, and if the ship was being tossed in turbulence, I would make sure I lurched to where my face was more toward the camera.

I was in a crowd at a baseball game in "My Blue Heaven" with Steve Martin and Rick Moranis, and I waved my arms around a lot, but sadly I was too far away from the camera.

My Mom was an extra in several episodes of the TV series "Renegade" with Lorenzo Lamas, and at least one or two episodes of "Silk Stalkings." Some pretty long scenes, too, including a courtroom scene and another scene comforting a girl who had been attacked. She didn't ham it up, but she's rght there, plain as day, on the screen. I still have the VHS tapes.

How about the intro to SNL with Phil Hartman? The blonde woman trying desperately to get her face in the shot is Brinn, his wife who killed him (and herself. You can still see her earring swinging.

In "Only You," a 1994 movie with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey, Jr., there is a scene at the end, which takes place in a plaza in some city in Italy. If you watch the background extras carefully, you'll see one guy, maybe 25 years old or so, wearing a backpack. He crosses the scene several times, alternating directions, as if he's lost or something. They had him cross the background, wait, cross the other way, wait, cross, etc. I found it distracting.

The Gilmore Girls extras were hammy as shit too.

As the story goes, Brynn Hartman kept trying to show her face when they filmed that clip of Phil.

Wow, Nancy Allen's acting in that clip sucked. I remember her as a better actress.

Yep R33, which is why I said "the woman desperately trying to get her face in the shot".

The old woman who gives Mary Tyler Moore a dirty look when she tosses her hat in the air is a pretty famous one.

I’m an extra in the movie “Speechless” starring my faves, Michael Keaton and Geena Davis. You can see my friend, a tall, multi-racial woman with a blonde Afro, but you can’t see me. Oh well.

In a restaurant scene in "King of Comedy" you see a guy walk past the table, look at DeNiro, and DeNiro turns his head and looks towards him. The guy sits at a table behind DeNiri and watches him, at one point mimicking his movenments. It was Chuck Low, DeNiro's landlord IRL. He wanted to be in movies.

Scorsese later cast him as Morrie, the wig maker in Goodfellas.

In the original Dawn of the Dead, there was a zombie nurse that at one point when the zombies burst through a door she is there with hands outstretched and totally hamming it up.

I always found Nancy Allen endearing. She's not the best actress in the world, but she was so charming.

I do background every now and then and I always gets paired with these mofos. It always seems to be their first day doing it and don't understand the pantomiming or that you're not actually supposed to read lips and they act ridiculous. One chick kept saying "What?" to me during the first take at a dinner table scene.

A friend was kicked off a car commercial because he kept mugging for the camera.

The dealership owner was to walk towards the camera announcing a spring sale. The extras were suppose to turn and smile when they head the news.

During the first take my friend did a fist pump. The director reminded him of what he was suppose to do.

Second take he did a thumbs up. The director again reminded him to just turn and smile.

Third take he did a really exaggerated Joker grin. The director told him to move to the back and pulled a woman from the background to replace him.

Fourth take he put his hands up and shook his head in wonderment. The director yelled at him to get off the set.

My background enthusiasm is only matched by my ass kicking ability!

R25 THAT's who that is?

Back in the day I know he was the makeup artist for a few of the NYC soaps.

I've done background on and off over the years when I've been in between staff jobs in Los Angeles.

One time, I was an extra in a restaurant; we were told to really liven it up as it was a party scene; the a.d. who was great and not an asshole like some are, said to us: we know it's instinctive to be subtle, but this time we WANT you to liven it up.

She wasn't an extra but one time on As the World Turns Lyla is singing at the Mona Lisa, spotlight is in her, she's singing away...and the regular players are seated at the tables in shadows and I find catching my eye someone's elbows; it's Lucinda, eating a salad -- still looking at Lyla, but the way she was eating the salad was so distracting!

I loves me some Liz!

Oh Honey, OP. Good call. But the old Frau who is appalled, simply appalled at someone, is even better. Dabbing at her mouth.

R44 Love Liz Hubbard but she is the definition of HAM!

Ice Castles - 1978. I can't link directly to the time stamp but look at the old couple at 31:21 right behind Lynn-Holly Johnson on the right side of the screen. Gramma's got that cup frozen in the air for a good 15 seconds.

Not hammy, just shitty.

I once did background in a scene on Gossip Girl with Dick Cavett. He asked me if I enjoyed doing background work. I replied that it could be fun but was often tedious. He looked thoughtful and said “I always wondered why, particularly in the 60s and 70s, you’d see a couple in restaurant scenes sitting behind the main couple and the woman would point to her plate and nod in the affirmative!”

R44, it's always so fun to watch the socializing at the Mona Lisa (thank God for Youtube). That soap did large group scenes in a realistic way that no other soap did.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread.

quote]How about the intro to SNL with Phil Hartman? The blonde woman trying desperately to get her face in the shot is Brinn, his wife who killed him (and herself. You can still see her earring swinging.

Were they already together or is that when they met?

The man in the upper right corner is pleasuring himself, unbeknownst to Ann B. Davis in the front row.

he wasn't an extra but this 'bit' player barely had any lines in a memorable Regarding Henry scene; the grocery delivery guy comes in with the food and the maid goes to get the money; the door's left open and Henry walks out into the streets of New York. I remember watching thinking this grocery guy is a JERK for letting this happen; he knows something's probably wrong, but says nothing.

I look him up on IMDB and the guy was played by --- J.J. Abrams, who WROTE Regarding Henry.

The woman in the background shows her dedication to being Coffee Shop Extra when she takes a sip of coffee and then CHEWS, despite not having any food.

I think she’s chewing boba.

Check out the guy at the 00:40 mark

How did that stay in??

I was an extra on a "reality" show but it was all fake. Most of it was all b-roll stuff so we could just talk in normal voices, so it was mostly fun since it was a restaurant scene and we were supposed to be eating and having fun.

My little group got lucky since they put us at the bar, and we shot the shit with the waiter who actually brought us food to eat...most of the rest of the extras seated in the main dining area got little or nothing to eat (though we were originally promised a real meal) but we got a chicken.

i am an extra in my own life but unfortunately there is no film of it......uh oh.....wait a minute.....

I heard Bruce Willis was an extra in courtroom scenes in the film The Verdict but I can’t spot him in it.

R51 IIRC they were a couple already and Brynn thought SHE would be the one to make it big.

R56 I don't know who's more hammy, that extra guy or Faye Dunaway in that ridiculous skirt she's wearing. (We get it Faye, ya got great stems.)

Slap her Wilona

An Ellen episode (the one with Carrie Fisher) did a whole thing on extras (Ellen) hamming it up.

It starts at 16:00

What about that guy who whipped out his dick in one of the basketball game scenes in Teen Wolf? Did we ever find out what that was about? Was it planned or did some extra get overzealous?

R31, maybe he had OCD?

R64, clip, please.

OP, that shocked woman is hilarious. Thanks!

Just saw the background photos on the wall taken at Central Casting of Eva Longoria, Rami Malek, Kesha, Tiffany Haddish, Kelly Clarkson, Sasha Alexander, Mikey Day, Chrissy Metz, Sasha Alexander, Casey Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Maria Bamford, Jon Huertas.

In the film of The Sound of Music, as Maria sings I Have Confidence, she passes under an archway. In the background you can briefly see three women. They are the real Maria von Trapp and two of her daughters.

I'm a union actor, but do a lot of background acting in between jobs, and sometimes I am horrified of the overacting background actors that think they are the stars of the scene. I guess when I started out I was like that, but the best background actors are the ones you don't notice.

This lesbian extra was memorable just for how often she would appear on Star Trek TNG. She was in countless episodes and 3 movies but never got a line.

I was a regular background actor on Fame for 2 years. What a fucking nightmare with Gene Anthony Ray. I was also asked to go to Billy Hufseys' dressing room. Anther gay extra would go and suck his dick. I was too much of a prude. It actually was a pretty fun job on the old MGM lot off Overland in Culver City

Billy gay?

In National Treasure: Book of Secrets, when the main actors are in the gold cavern at the end, the scene calls for general confusion, with the actors all talking at once, apparently. It’s so obvious that this was the direction, as four or six people don’t all talk at length, at once, as in the movie. It looks ridiculous.

R59, not sure about Willis, but Tobin Bell (Saw movies star) is there.

Bruce in The Verdict

I did extra work on a soap and it was one of my first gigs ever; played some teen who got arrested; the extra playing the cop tells me he's been doing this for YEARS and when the scene starts he, in character, starts SCOLDING me...I'm like WTF? I don't know much, but I know extras don't talk!!

The stage manager comes over and says to the guy, ever so calmly, 'oh, just pantomime' and the guy goes, 'oh, okay.' it was ridiculous.

I was just watching Dressed to Kill and wondering why DePalma included that scene at the end of the movie. It doesn't fit with the tone of the rest of the film at all.

R76 you can see Tobin Bell in that pic, too. Just over Newman’s head.

"I was a regular background actor on Fame for 2 years. What a fucking nightmare with Gene Anthony Ray."

We need elaboratia.

The woman “overhearing” Liz Blake is almost in shock, the woman behind Liz can’t hear her. Nancy Allen was a lovely actress, and it’s kind of a difficult scene to pull off.

Between real acting jobs I worked as an extra twice, 1 time in college, and another when I was really broke in NYC. Both days were utterly MIND NUMBING!!! You were kept in a tent with all the other extras and the hours CRAWLED by. Once you were on the set it was fine because it became creative ... but that was just 100th of the looooooooong day.

When you have a speaking role you have a little trailer you can hang out in, or you can just chat in the makeup room, or you can watch the filming. But being an extra was HORRIBLE. For me, anyway.

Jury duty would be more invigorating.

Should have said “just 1 100th”

sorry

My husband knows a guy he went to school with who did extra roles at least once a week. Supplemented his SSI. I saw a photo of him and he is really nondescript looking. I can see why he got work.

I saw my doppelgänger once. I was watching SNL years ago and a couple was sitting at a table in a restaurant scene and one of them looked EXACTLY like me. Even the movements were the same.

It was creepy.

I've never seen that sketch again. Every time after that when I saw an old episode with a restaurant scene I checked to see if "I" was in the background.

R85 are you a time traveler?

I'm a union actor too, and I have done exactly ONE day of extra work on a commercial because a big chunk of us were being upgraded to principals, which did happen, but not to me. It was mind-numbing and after that one time for research I will NEVER do it again. I have too much ego to not be a principal, and have my own trailer and lines and the regular day rate. If you're stuck on a set all day you cannot audition for real roles. I don't know how people do it more than once, I found it humiliating.

Extree! Extree! Read all about the failed actors!!

Actually, r88, I work all the time and make a middle class living. I know shaming working stiffs is your only joy, but do try not to be such a cunt.

Unless you're jumping from series to series with movie roles in between, you will be considered a failed actor at some point.

[quote]r90 Unless you're jumping from series to series with movie roles in between, you will be considered a failed actor at some point.

You might call that a "failed star," if you wanted to. But real working actors are not "failed actors".

You wouldn't call a mechanic who's supporting themselves with their job a "failed mechanic" just because they're not nationally known.

R91 a mechanic is skilled labor who will never be without a job and can live in any city in the world.

Famous improvised scene.

After perhaps the 15th take, the principle actors make it to the street corner when the walk-light turns green, allowing them to proceed. A real cab driver, frustrated by the traffic congestion caused by the movie crew, tries to drive through the scene. Dustin Hoffman almost gets hit, but stays in character and screams at the cabbie. He has stated that he was thinking “hey, we’re making a movie here”, but instead yells “hey, I’m walking here, I’m walking here”, as the cabbie yells back at him.

The director liked the interaction so much, they had to track the cabbie down, to get him to sign a release and get paid for his lines.

Love that scene r93

Then there is the semi-famous story of the extra in Star Trek IV who spoke when filmed, the footage got used in the final cut, and they had to get her a SAG card...

R72, you are going to have to put your afternoon shit on hold and provide some details re: Gene Anthony Ray. I have made some General Foods International Suisse Mocha and await your input with bated breath.

I love how the woman in OP's clip reacts to the soup full thirty seconds after first moving the spoon to her mouth.

r27 Ooh, bitch, I know exactly who you are! I watched TNG from start to finish for the first time last year and I distinctly recall thinking to myself at one point: "Why the hell did that bridge extra behind Picard turn his head towards the camera just then?" You were shameless in the moment but you'll live forever on celluloid now. And remastered in HD, no less.

Anyway, this thread is nice and mug-cradle-y (hygge?). Continue, please.

We would classify the TNG extra as a featured extra at times, right? I mean she probably got more money on occasion for her work?

I mean if you are in a foreground or two-shot with a lead (whether you talk or not)...

You don’t, R98. If you were a union extra and particularly featured in a scene you got a “silent bit” and an extra hundred bucks was added to your day rate. But that ended in the 1990s.

There's always "one", let me tell you. I worked on a show yesterday and there was a background actor who of course was an expert on everything having to do with acting, the business, production, all of it. Insufferable.

They need to give an Oscar for Best Performance by an Extra.

I, too, did extra work once or twice. Most of the extras were from the town where we were filming (myself included), but there were always a few who'd drive up or down from a bigger city and they were always the most insufferable ones. They'd talk about all the movies they did background work on and which stars they'd stood in for. It was incredibly sad, like something from The Day of the Locust. I wanted to be like "relax, Mavis. You're just doing background and stand in work. No one is even going to notice you when they see the movie." Hell, I stood in for a major star, too, on one of those shoots and it's not like we became best buddies or anything (although, he was perfectly lovely).

It's really terrible, boring work, but you can get paid up to $200 on a SAG or big budget studio film. Indie films, you're lucky to get a slice of pizza for waiting around all day. There are tougher, more exhausting jobs, but few quite as boring. Hell, even having a speaking role or a bigger role in a big budget film can be boring. You're still only acting for maybe 30-40% of the day and you're just waiting around for the rest of the day. At least with indie films, you're always chasing the clock, so you might shoot 10+ pages every day, which is insane for a film shoot. It's a lot more fun, though.

I do think people would be surprised by just how boring film sets are. I've had a few friends in films and they always ask me to come visit them on set and I can only stay an hour or two before I'm bored out of my mind. It's a lot of stopping and starting and moving the lights and taking out that prop behind the actor and putting it on the other side of their head and then re-lighting because there's a glare, etc. It's dull as hell.

We bloody own this thread, don't we?

Phil Hartman's psycho-bitch wife who killed him, is seen in the opening credits of SNL with him sitting at a table, and her earring is swinging back and forth. That's because she kept starring directly into the camera and had to be told not to do that, so she was whipping her head from side to side.

So many people on this thread are missing its point.

R106 Why don't you edumacate us ? What is the point ?

Yes R105, we know. Maybe you could actually read the rest of the thread before you post someone else's exact same post?

Sorry to enrage you r108, over something so trivial, but actually it's not the exact same post anyway. Mine includes a gif showing the actual scene.

I know this was intentional and John Hughes told them what he wanted I'm sure, but I've always loved the background scene of the big guy and little guy wrestling from Sixteen Candles.

R109 You have been warned -- go back and review EVERY one of the last 58 posts until you get to R51 . Compliment it, something like "LOL clever R51 ! Go gurl !". Then be on your way

R109, please take a gander at R30 for the first posting of that clip.

I wanted all the extras on that bus in Speed to be blown up and was bitterly disappointed.

I heard that the extras on Towering Inferno all stayed back away from the elevators when the director yelled “Action!” They knew if they got in the elevator they’d lose five more weeks more of work.

Keanu got to know several of the Speed guys very well.

A friend of mine was a cop extra in The Hard Way and claiimed that Michael J. Fox tried to pick up male extras. The same was true of George Clooney on the set of One Fine Day.

I can’t cite a specific movie, but you often see an actor who is briefly in the center of the action, but awkwardly doesn’t speak. Apparently, if they speak, even if it’s just “Thank you”, or “Hello”, they become a different level of employee and cost more. True, extras?

Yes, R116, even getting to say one word automatically makes an extra a principal actor and he/she gets a contract to sign at the end of the day. I think a principal upgrade is now something like just over $900.

R115 all actors are gay.

Everybody knows that.

[quote]r96 you are going to have to put your afternoon shit on hold and provide some details re: Gene Anthony Ray. I have made some General Foods International Suisse Mocha and await your input with bated breath.

[quote] R117: . I think a principal upgrade is now something like just over $900.

And then they’ll splurge on parties and who knows what else.

I worked for financial companies, and they were really cheap about salaries, not realizing that being too cheap just creates resentment, destroys moral, and makes employees less interested in making any extra efforts.

[quote]r115 if they speak, even if it’s just “Thank you”, or “Hello”, they become a different level of employee and cost more. True, extras?

Extras are not even to be directed by the actual director - as that makes them too pivotal, and of a different pay scale. An assistant director tells the background players what to do.

If you're in a restaurant scene and you're way behind the main actors, you'll usually be told to improvise some bit of dialogue, but since it won't be heard in the final cut of the film, they don't have to pay you SAG scale.

The pedestrian in the middle at the end of the clip....

I find myself strangely nourished by this thread. More showbiz stories, please.

r123 How did no one catch that? And what a nice little bum on him.

The Stepford Wives remake was a hotbed of background actor intrigue. Halfway through the very lengthy (86 days) shoot Scott Rudin decided to cut a third of them, replacing some of the husbands with shorter, schlubbier looking ones and some of the wives with taller, blond European ones. And it didn’t make one bit of difference.

Saw this extra who glanced directly into the camera last night and immediately thought of this thread, and especially of the shameless, pioneering r27.

I say get those cookies if you can!

Still waiting to hear details about Billy Hufsey in his trailer on the set of Fame.

In Batman Returns there is a scene where Bruce Wayne shows up without a costume at a costume ball and an extra, a middle aged lady dressed up as the Mona Lisa painting stares at Bruce like he's an alien from a different planet for a few moments.

Siouxsie Sioux uses the Mona Lisa mask as a prop in the music video for the Face to Face song (heard in the clip).

r128 That was awful. She was clearly coached to glance up and down a couple of times, but she did it too fast and it came across as unnatural. Should've done it slower with a more horrified expression.

Also, I love how taken aback she is by him not wearing a mask, when she reveals her whole fucking face for all to see after she removes hers. And how can she carry a conversation with that other extra when there are clearly no eye holes in that Mona Lisa mask?

There's a hilarious book called The Art of Coarse Acting. It's about how to steal the scene as an extra in the background.

[quote]There's a hilarious book called The Art of Coarse Acting. It's about how to steal the scene as an extra in the background.

Back in one of my college acting classes, that was one of the required texts.

R131. No kidding. For what to do or for what not to do, may I ask?

Billy Hufsey asked me to go to his trailer numerous times while I worked on Fame He had another Extra that he also hit on the DIDI go to his trailer for a Blow JOb. Gene Anthony Ray was NEVER on time and always looking for attention. He was always irritable and lacked focus. We'd go into "golden time" - When we'd get paid overtime because of his antics. All the dancers were basically self involved and would never pay attention. I saw a lot of drugs on that set. I was also there when Janet was part of the cast. She stayed away from everyone. The nicest were when they added Jesse Borrego and Nia Peoples. They were fresh and professional.

"A friend of mine was a cop extra in The Hard Way and claiimed that Michael J. Fox tried to pick up male extras. The same was true of George Clooney on the set of One Fine Day."

How sordid. I always treat male extras with the utmost dignity and respect.

Watch the hipster behind Ally and her friend, during the Shallow sequence. He's really really in the moment. Flashes of him but established around the :33 mark.

The lesbian bar fight scene in Foxy Brown is edited in a way that some of the background actors are all out of position. One is thrown onto the floor but then appears standing immediately in the next frame.

There is also an episode of the television show Martin, where Martin Lawrence’s character is on trial for a parking violation. In that scene, there is a really hammy extra making all sets of exaggerated faces.

I’m in SAG. When I joined, all that was needed was a pay check with “Principal” in one of the boxes. This was in 2009.

[quote][R131]. No kidding. For what to do or for what not to do, may I ask?

Sorry, didn't see this until now. I am a teacher. I teach theatre arts. I also take part in local theatre. Thanks for asking!

If you watch the opening bus sequence of Meatballs Part II (1984) there's a girl behind Kim Richards who keeps sticking her tongue out and acting weird.

I use to be an extra. Restaurant or bar scenes were the worst because just before the scene started they would pair you up. Usually with a woman but occasionally with a few guys and put you at a table. No rehearsal and nobody ever discussed what we would do so when they yelled background action we would move our mouths as though we were talking (you can never actually talk) and it was ridiculous because often all of our mouths would be going which is so unnatural. Any time they thought we weren’t bringing enough energy the extras would respond with exaggerated movements like toasts, throwing heads back in fake laughter, very slowly taking off jackets.

I think every young (or old) person who thinks a job in TV/movies is for them should do extra work. O think 95% of people will fall in home after a 14 hour day of sitting and waiting and think “I couldn’t do that for a living”. Yes the actors have a trailer but it’s still very boring and unglamorous.

I was an extra all thru College and LVOED it Made a ton of money , I was union and worked constantly because I could play younger, Different Stroker, Silver Spoons, Fame the series. Saw tons of things that I would never had had the chance to be exposed to. Just a great time. Id have to call in every day I wanted to work to Central Casting to see if they had a job for me the following day

R140 Glad things went well for you. It's quite different now.

I worked Assistant Props on the NBC TV movie "In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders" with David Soul, Michael Gross and Bruce Greenwood. Myself and a female PA were chosen to be background in a beach scene. We were too animated for the director's taste the first three takes with us holding hands, skipping a rock, kicking the water. Finally, we just walked, hands down at a steady pace. Made the broadcast.