Jobs Without College

Keep America Beautiful Commercial

My first real acting experience was in 1966, when I played the part of Ela Delahey in my Jr. Class play, “Charlie’s Aunt.” A part of me loved the acting but another part of me was scared to death. Stage fright, they call it.

I never really thought about being an actress again until 1973. I was living in New York City at the time and was getting some modeling jobs. Nothing really impressive. I was too short for any of the big time things. I did some catalogue work, some shoe modeling, some convention work, things along those lines.

On one of my modeling jobs, I met a man named Ron Marshall. He owned a talent management company called Marshall Management. He asked me to stop by his office and meet with his management team. When I met with them, they asked me if I had any interest in being an actress. “Sure” I said, “It sounds like fun.” I didn’t know what it entailed, but it seemed exciting, so I was in.

The first thing they did was get me to change my name. Next, they set up an appointment for me to meet with a photographer and have a portfolio done. In the meantime, I enrolled in some acting, dance and voice classes. This was going to be a lot more work than I had planned. All in all, it was pretty exciting. With the modeling that I had done and the classes I was taking, they managed to build a small resume for me to use. Now I was ready to go on auditions.

First let me explain to you how the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) works. Usually, SAG franchised agents will not let you audition for a union job, unless you currently hold a SAG card. You can’t get a SAG card until you’ve got a principle role in a SAG project. Catch-22. There is one exception. You have to find a casting person who wants “YOU” to perform in a particular commercial or movie. When this is done, you are given a one time waiver. You may do the project, but must join SAG in order to work on another SAG project.

Well, my manager started sending me on auditions for TV commercials. I only went on a few when “The Call” came. I had auditioned for a public service announcement for “Keep America Beautiful.” When my manager called to tell me that I had gotten the part, I was so excited that I screamed and hung up on him. Of course, I called back.

I did my first commercial and got my SAG card. If you would like to see it, check out this clip.  “Keep America Beautiful” on YouTube.  “That’s me in the boat with the headphones on. It’s Donny Most/Ralph Malph (several years before Happy Days) sitting with me in the boat.

Since that time, I have done 4 stage plays, 4 TV commercials, 1 voice-over, 11 television shows and 25 movies. While I have worked with such stars as Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Sean Connery, Harvey Keitel, Diane Keaton, Eli Wallach, Helen Hunt, Sandra Bullock, Chevy Chase, Woody Allen, Alan Arkin, Shelley Winters, Kate Jackson, Antonio Bandaras, Billy Dee Williams, Jodie Foster, and the list goes on and on, none of my acting jobs ever amounted to much more than a few lines here and there. Someone once asked me if I would rather have had a major role in a B movie with unknowns or the small parts that I had with the actors listed above. I didn’t start out as an actress. I fell into it by accident. I wouldn’t trade the experiences that I had working with the above “fellow actors” for anything!

To this day, I am still a card-carrying member of SAG.