John McCook looks back on his non-daytime gigs
Buck Krulik, TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT, 1981: “I played an oversexed quarterback who tries to persuade Muriel to photograph him nude. Let me tell you, I didn’t do a lot without a shirt [on], believe me. I did that whole show with a robe. Nancy Dussault [Muriel] was a musical comedy lady and we had a lot of mutual friends so it was fun to work with her. Ted Knight was very funny. He was sweet and silly and just the way you’d think he would be.”
Alan/Doug Cooper, THREE’S COMPANY, 1981 and 1982: “I knew John [Ritter] because of [wife] Laurette [Spang]. John was friends with Ron Howard, and Laurette had been a part of the HAPPY DAYS group. We’d been to his house. Their children were the same age as ours, so we mixed it up. John was a genius when it came to physical comedy, and such a sweet man. When I went in, he was like, ‘You’re doing this?’ I did two shows and I played a playboy, the same kind of guy each time. They shot it on Stage 31 at CBS [where B&B now shoots]. Laurette also did one and I went with her. John was thrilled that Laurette was doing it, and she was in what’s now my dressing room! She was in 31K, where I have been for 36 years. Isn’t that cool?”
Tuxedo Man, FAMILY TIES, 1983: “Elyse, the mother, Meredith Baxter [ex-Maureen, Y&R], who was very nice, got cast in a commercial for frozen foods and they shot it in her kitchen and in the commercial, her co-star is in a tie and tails, and he is the Proper Penguin, and I played that guy. Things went nuts during the commercial, and the cast and the producers and everybody, we all just laughed at that character and that scene.”
Damian/Dr. Porter, HART TO HART, 1983: “Laurette and I loved that show. When I got cast, we were both very excited. R.J. Wagner was charming and welcoming, and he had a nice sense of humor. It was about a murder on a soap opera set and the suspects were the actors on the soap opera. I had one pretty long scene with Stefanie Powers but we didn’t talk much outside of that. But when I was leaving, R.J. said, ‘Good job. We’ll see you around.’ That was sweet.”
Roland Martine/Nolan Atherton, MAGNUM P.I., 1983 and 1984: “Actors who remember other actors are very special people. This is true with Tom Selleck. I had met him at a party when he was on Y&R [as Jed]. Fast-forward, I got cast on MAGNUM, P.I. I flew over to Hawaii to do it, and he said, ‘I met you at a Y&R party!’ He was very astute about remembering people. When they asked me back, there was a costume party and they also cast Laurette, and so we played husband and wife. I would love to run into Tom now because he would remember me, the way he remembers everybody.”
Harry Parker, ALICE, 1983 and 84: “I played a dorky game show host. He would wear these loud clothes and as a game show host, he’d talk in game show host speak. He was an idiot, but they liked me and had me come back. I didn’t really work much with Linda Lavin but on one of my ALICE episodes, there was a young actress who was tall and blonde and funny, who really made an impression on everyone, and she was Jean Smart — and she is still tall and blonde and incredibly funny!”
Harrison Fraser III, MURDER SHE WROTE, 1986: “Angela Lansbury was a confident and extremely accomplished actor. I had seen her years before on Broadway in Sweeney Todd, so I was very excited to get the opportunity to work together. My scene with her was about four pages long, and it was just us. It was such a pleasure to have no other actors. When I told her I had seen her in Sweeney Todd, she said, ‘Was I good?’ She was so delightful!”
Mr. Cathcart, OUR HOUSE, 1986: “That was a show that was not in the studio. It was shot at a house up in Encino. Deidre Hall [Marlena, DAYS] was lovely. That was the first time I met her, and I’ve seen her since at the Emmys and things. She was so easy to work with. I don’t remember the story but Wilford Brimley, that was exactly who he was, which made him very endearing. He had a real twinkle in his eyes. I remember him very fondly.”
Barry Graham, L.A. LAW, 1986: “I was in the pilot. Steven [Bochco, co-creator] already had the cast in place, so they did not see me for any of the major parts. I played a character who was getting a divorce, and I got to work with Jeanne Cooper’s [ex-Katherine, Y&R] son, Corbin Bernsen [ex-Todd, Y&R et al]. The scene was to establish he was the divorce lawyer, and the actress [playing Mrs. Graham] and I were just hurling insults at each other at the table, and Corbin and the opposing lawyer were trying to calm things down. Corbin’s got great comic timing and he can do the heavy drama, too. That was a nice, long afternoon that I got to spend with him and from then on, Corbin and I would always reminisce about that because it was the one time we worked together.”
Brad Pettibone, NEWHART, 1989: “I had met Mr. Newhart years before, in the old Las Vegas days, and so when I did the show, he knew me from way back. In fact, when I was still on Y&R [as Lance], I was invited to have dinner with Bob and his wife, Ginny, in Atlantic City at whatever casino where he was playing. As I was walking through the restaurant to get to their table, I was repeatedly stopped because people recognized me from Y&R, and when I finally got to the table, he said, ‘Who the hell are you?!’ He had no idea how popular the show was. So, when I came to the NEWHART set, Bob [pictured with sitcom wife Mary Frann, ex-Amanda, DAYS] was very happy to see I’d gotten the part, and it was so fun to finally get to work with him. As we all know, his comic timing is remarkable. He constantly had everyone in stitches.”
