He Looks Familiar For Some Reason

Has anyone ever told you that you resemble someone else? Over the course of my life it has happened to me quite often... with a very wide range of characters from Anthony Perkins and Calvin Klein ( I have had brown chestnut  colored hair most  notable in a daytime drama... but more about that later) to Christopher Atkins and Andrew Stevens and someone once said with the light and shadows and mood and the look on my face that I resembled Greta Garbo...

I was once in Bloomingdale's buying sheets and a couple visiting from Ohio was so positive I was Calvin Klein that they insisted I give them an autograph--- and became very verbal about it and the whole situation was becoming embarrassing... (I even offered to show them my Drivers License) sooooo after a few minutes of stalking and somewhat belligerent cajoling I reluctantly scrawled down CK's 

  name with cheerfulsalutations and a thank you. (who    am I to give Calvin Klein bad PR with tourists?)

For someone who has practiced their Academy Award acceptance speech for best life performance in the entire universe holding someone else's Oscar you probably can't imagine why I would mind giving a simple autograph.... I really don't mind one bit but prefer that it be my name (or at least the name that  I use  as a professional) --- Which brings me to the daytime drama...
I had a recurring role for a year on a popular soap (when I was growing up people called them their stories) and the very first day I filmed when the other cast members and I were leaving the studio we got mobbed by people wanting autographs... it seemed somewhat bizarre to me because the segments I had filmed that day had not yet aired so no one could have possibly  known my character.

Between the daytime drama, a Coca Cola commercial, and a holiday gift commercial and a small part in one of the most popular movies of all time I was recognized on the street, in the supermarket, in restaurants and by cab drivers. (At the time I thought this must be sort of what it feels like to be Lee Majors (he had a popular show on at the time and was married to a famous lady also on TV). In the course of a few years all the attention became a bit much for me and due to some circumstances beyond my control... like Greta Garbo... I needed to be alone for a while so I went back to Hawaii to revaluate myself and who I was and what was important in life and where I wanted to go from that point on.




As I said in an earlier blog I like the stage and the discipline you need  for theatre work... but as I said I like the rush of adrenaline from a live performance  that I've never gotten from film work.  These days I like the anonymity of voice over work and soundtrack backup singing. I've perfected many accents and dialects... I'm a whiz at looping and dubbing... but most of all I get to have a life and my privacy and that was the reason I stepped back from the entertainment business in the first place. I needed to become more grounded with who I am and what is important in life and love.

       
                                                         

Every year so many positive things have been added to my life. I've gained knowledge with success and failure and realized it's not about the number of candles on your birthday cake or the lines on your face but more about your true friends and those you love and the connection you have with them and yourself and what you are able to do with life... even if it means reinventing yourself again.    
                                                       

I really did not understand the Greta Garbo comment at the time but I do now. Because I have resembled all of these people at different phases and evolutions in my life... I have been different people, but everything finally comes together and you become the person you are supposed to be... and as my mother and Coco Chanel said "You get the face you deserve."





I met Greta Garbo once... we lived very near to one another and yet did not know each others existence until one brief shining moment at the deli counter at D'agostino's discussing life and cold cuts.


Like GG I go about my life and run my errands hiding under a hat and sunglasses   (My best friend keeps telling me that I'm not fooling anyone because anyone who knows me can tell that it's me hiding behind those Revo sunglasses) I prefer to think I'm incognito... But once and a while I catch a glance of someone who recognizes me --- I'm assuming from watching reruns on retro television... or they think Andrew Stevens has somehow grown seven inches in height over the years.

But the two people who I once resembled that really paid off for me professionally were...Richard Dean Anderson...

and...

I'll write about it someday...

If truth be told I probably most resemble Blythe Danner these days (as I have shoulder length ash blonde hair) Have I mentioned that I have done stunt work? So Blythe if you are reading this and decide to go forward doing action adventure films have your agent call mine and maybe we can work something out...  (Click On) Stunt City... lately I've been mistaken for Noah Syndergaard (from a distance usually  and/or the extremely myopic ) and since he is probably young enough to be my ummmm... younger brother I'll take the compliment.

Thanks for reading... next week I'm going to tackle images and Pavlovian responses.