Where Are They Now? Probably In Hell

Oh FFS! I just watched one of those "Where Are They Now" YouTube's about the cast of "Pale Rider" with Clint Eastwood. Those are so awful, so bitter to the subjects, treating each actor as a failure for not becoming the Hollywood icon they surely set out to be.

All the world is a stage and we are all players. Right? I watched that film 40 years ago, with then girlfriend, Mimi. At no point in the film did I look at the guy who played "Miner #3" and turn to Mimi and say, "That stupid motherfather playing Miner #3 thinks he's the next Warren Beatty??!! GET OFF THIS FILM RIGHT NOW, IDIOT- you will NEVER be a leading man! Unalive yourself, loser!!"

Of course, not! I don't talk during movies. It's rude. 

But not as rude as thinking every actor who gets into TV or movies does it to become the next big star in Hollywood. I think most men and women who get into acting simply love acting and want to make a living at it. At some point they must look in the mirror and realize that the face looking back at them is not pretty enough to be a leading man or lady. They know it, they accept it. They just want to work. It's a goddamn job. Does young Joe Smuccatelli take a job out of high school pumping gas, obviously hoping to one day become the CEO of Exxon? Is he a loser because he didn't? Only to the narrator of "Where Are They Today- the Pump Jockey's". 

I watch a lot of TV. We all do. I've got IMDb on speed dial on my laptop. I'm always spotting familiar faces on shows and films and looking them up. I often find myself saying, "Oh, that guy- he's in everything! These are character actors. Some get a lot of work. Think of the guy who played Ned, Ned Ryerson in "Groundhog's Day". You don't know his name, but you know his face. He's never been the leading man, but he works more than most in Hollywood. I'm going to guess he's pretty damn happy, and proud of that. Successful too. I think more actors want to be him than expect to be George Clooney. 

Think about MASH, a wonderful TV series. Many of the original cast left the series to broaden their horizons, become bigger stars and avoid being typecast. I get that, but I also don't. I get that you have to try to move on and up and take the risk. But I also get that you might not want to if you find yourself a regular on a long running, hit show. I think most actors real dream is steady work. They're just like us. The stars that left that show did not continue to be stars. They were famous for having been on MASH. 

I'm about to finish my 5th viewing of "The Sopranos" series, arguably THE greatest series ever on television. What a cast! What great acting! Undeniable. But if some jercough were to do a "Where Are They Now" video about the cast, it would show that a lot of them didn't really go on to great success. Nobody who wasn't already famous did much after that show. They worked, but nobody became a superstar. James Gandolfini mightcould have, but he died several years later. Even though they played characters brilliantly as Gandolfini did, yeah, there might have been some typecasting involved. 

But you know what? I don't think they care. They were part of the greatest television show ever, and that surely has to be an honor. Twenty years later the show is still popular. There are beau coup podcasts about it, some hosted by the actors. They are keeping their hands- and I think their hearts- in there still. It's got to be an actors dream to be part of an ensemble like that. 

Maybe they learned a lesson from Henry Blake, Frank Burns, Trapper John et. al? 

The "Pale Rider" video viciously portrayed a lot of the actors as failures who went on to alcohol abuse, early death, broken marriages and disenfranchisement from their children. Well, these things happen to a lot of people, like the aforementioned Joe Smuccatelli. Well, I don't know because I made him up. He probably made manager after marrying his sweetheart and they lived happily until Trump came along and ruined the country. Who knows? Maybe the fogging icehole video narrator knows? Ask him.