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Alan Alda explains his involvement in 'Extraordinary Seaman'

posted 17 years ago by prall
10 replies | jump to latest

Doing this film was a "life lesson" for Mr. Alda.
Alan Alda did a radio interview 21-Aug-07 on KUOW in Seattle for his book "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself". He tells of how his agent brought him the film roll but he saw it was a Terrible script and he didn't want it, but the agent was persuasive with the star cast & director - Alda actually had to pay $50k to the live theatre he was acting in to leave and do the film. He realized while doing the film that it wasn't worth it in life to compromise yourself for things you don't believe in. When he returned to do theatre his agent told him he could make up the $50k loss in a single job - a Cigarette Ad! - he turned down the job because of realizing the lesson of not doing what you don't believe in. It's amusing in the radio interview how he spells "Seaman" in case the listening audience gets the wrong idea. http://www.kuow.org/podcast/WeekdayA20070921.mp3

[–] prall 17 years ago

Whoops "21-Sep-07"

[–] cnicknz 11 years ago

I think Alda was exaggerating. Legitimate theater never pays much money, and he wasn't much of a star at this point, so the idea of him having to pay $50,000 (in 1967!) to get out of a play seems ridiculous.

[–] dannieboy20906 10 years ago

I must agree with you. I really have no personal knowledge, but both figures of $50k to buy out of a stage contract or for one appearance in a commercial sound preposterous for 1969. If Alan Alda is documented as having said this in an interview it reinforces my suspicion that he makes up events for himself that are beyond believability.

[–] notmtwain 10 years ago

The story is told in his book "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself". That was the amount his producer demanded to let him out of a role in a Broadway play, "The Apple Tree", that Alda had been starring in for more than a year and for which he had received a Best Actor Tony nomination. He said that at the time he thought it was absurd-- it was the amount that producers had asked of the ten times more famous Richard Burton to get out of Camelot to do Cleopatra. Alda said he thought the script looked "terrible" but his agent told him it that "The Extraordinary Seaman" would be good for his career. (These pages are viewable online at Amazon.com. It's all on page 37.)

And he had to go into debt to come up with the money to do that role. To his credit, he rejected the ad selling cigarettes (that would have paid off the debt). He quotes extensively from a speech he gave explaining this type of decision.

// The amount offered to do the cigarette ad doesn't seem unbelievable at all to me. Cigarettes were known to be cancer causing at the time, even if it was still legal to advertise. I'm sure they paid royally for any slightly known celebrity who would make a commercial. And $50K doesn't seem absurd to get out of a starring and Tony award-nominated role in a play that had successfully run for more than a year.

[–] dannieboy20906 10 years ago

Yes, they wanted him to pay as much as Richard Burton would pay to get out of Cleopatra. Cleopatra was a multi-million dollar theatrical production and Alda was doing dinner theater. Of course the cigarette ad story makes him look good, that is the point. And it is all a story that he tells about him.

Gee, the most sanctimonious, self congratulatory actor in the history of television tells a story about himself that makes him seem a hero. No names, other than his, no evidence, other than his claim, and Alan Alda, of all people, seems like a hero not interested in money with his heart in the cause looking out for cancer victims against the big corporations. Of course that's a credible story. Alan Alda is absolutely honest and would never make anything up, just ask him.

[–] notmtwain 10 years ago

His book didn't say Burton paid to get out of Cleopatra. He said Burton paid to get out of Camelot, in order to do Cleopatra. It was given as an example of a somewhat similar bad mistake getting out of something great, like Camelot, to do something less than great, like Cleopatra.

A rational person can't consider Alda's year-long starring role on Broadway in "The Apple Tree" that earned him a Tony award Best Actor nomination to be "dinner theater". You can verify his role, the nomination and the run at http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=3335

While "The Apple Tree" is not "Camelot", a Tony award nominated Best Actor nomination is pretty great and nothing most people would rationally pay to get out of--unless they had a chance to work with a great director like Frankenheimer and great actors like Niven and Dunaway.

You probably don't believe that the case against smoking has been sufficiently proven either.

This board is for discussion of "The Extraordinary Seaman", an admittedly bad movie. The character assassination page for Alda isn't here.

[–] dannieboy20906 10 years ago

You should have identified the play and its locale from the beginning. Did Alda do so. I am still skeptical.

I admit that I don't know much about Mr. Alda's early career. Many movie actors began on the stage and it's quite possible that he was a valued commodity there. I don't think of him as that great of a screen actor and I don't like the way he wears his politics on his sleeves.

I remain skeptical of the amounts of money discussed. Based on the CPI, $50k in 1966 would have the buying power of over $500k today. I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Alda was worth that much in those days. I could be wrong, but I'm not willing to accept his claim as proof. It still sounds like self glorification to me and I think Mr. Alda has been known for that.

[–] Ghetto_Defendant 8 years ago

Did Alan Alda run over your dog?

[–] jikx_svemyr 8 years ago

You should have identified the dog. I remain skeptical.

[–] Ghetto_Defendant 8 years ago

lol...but Danny never did tell us if Alan Alda ran over his dog. ;-D