April 20, 2026 • 23 mins
Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail
Our guest today is Phil Reeves; Phil has been an actor in Los Angeles for decades but he has also been a police officer and is now a law enforcement chaplain and a vocal advocate for first responder chaplaincy. This first part, I'm just going to introduce you to Phil and let him tell you how he went from Hollywood movie sets to law enforcement. In part two, we'll talk about the hard parts of the job and what led him to becoming an advocate nationally for chaplaincy.
Music is by Wes Hutchinson
Hey Chaplain Podcast Episode 139
Tags:
Police, 9-11, Acting, Age, Career, Casting, Movies, Relationships, TV, Hollywood, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, California, Louisiana, New York
Thanks for Listening! And, as always, pray for peace in our city.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This is Vinny Montez hanging out with Hey Chaplin.
(00:03):
We love this podcast, and ifyou're not listening to it, you
absolutely should.
We love you, we appreciate you,and keep doing what you're
doing.
SPEAKER_01 (00:13):
Welcome to Hey Chaplin.
My name is Jared Altic, and I'ma chaplain with the police
department.
The Hey Chaplin podcast is abouttalking to police officers who
say, Hey Chaplin, I've got astory to tell and some
hard-earned wisdom to share.
The guests on Hey Chaplin comefrom across the world, from the
(00:34):
LAPD to Scotland Yard.
They are sharing their wisdom sothat you don't have to learn the
hard way.
And as Patrol Chaplain, I thinkthat you deserve something
positive and encouraging.
The growth of this show dependson word of mouth.
If you're a regular listener,would you take a moment and copy
(00:56):
the link to this show and sendit to a cop who might like to,
or maybe even need to, here'ssomething positive and helpful.
You guys are the reason we havelisteners in all 50 states and
almost 150 countries.
But I routinely run into copseven in my hometown of Kansas
City who have never heard of HeyChaplin.
(01:18):
Anything you do to spread theword is worth its weight in
gold.
And I deeply appreciate it.
So a few months ago, I wenthome, fixed dinner, and turned
on the TV.
And I looked down at my food,moving the morsels around in the
bowl.
And when I looked back at theTV, I froze.
(01:40):
That's Phil.
The actor on the screen is Phil!My new chaplain friend from
California! I mean I knew he wasan actor, but that's him! Right
there! And I was just talking tohim an hour ago on FaceTime! He
looks exactly the same! Now I'vegot to pause the show, put my
(02:02):
food down, and check IMDB.
How many times have I seen thisguy and not realized he would be
someone that I would get to knowreally well?
Our guest today is Bill Reeves.
Bill has been an actor in LosAngeles for decades, but he has
also been a police officer andis now a law enforcement
(02:22):
chaplain and a vocal advocatefor first responder chaplaincy.
In this first part, I'm justgoing to introduce you to Phil
and let him tell you how he wentfrom Hollywood movie sets to
patrolling the streets for lawenforcement.
In part two, we'll talk aboutthe hard parts of the job and
what led him to becoming anadvocate nationally for
(02:45):
Chaplaincy.
Here's Phil Reeves.
Hello, Phil.
How are you today?
Jared, my brother, I am well.
Thank you.
How are you, sir?
I'm doing well.
At the time we're recordingthis, we had just spent uh part
of a week together in NewOrleans at a conference.
(03:06):
We did, yes.
Appreciated you being my travelbuddy.
SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
Thank you.
Same, same.
SPEAKER_01 (03:11):
We were battle buddies for sure.
That's right.
We did a presentation together.
We sat for hours in the airporttogether.
Uh, and we went and we wanderedinto New Orleans and ate at
Mother's Restaurant.
That was yes, we did.
Yeah, yes, we did.
SPEAKER_00 (03:27):
And there I identified myself as your plus
one.
unknown (03:30):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
Well, I've I've really enjoyed traveling with
you.
And I also have enjoyed uhlooking back through your IMDB
filmography and realizing I haveseen you dozens of times and
didn't realize that this was aperson that I would get to know
eventually.
SPEAKER_00 (03:52):
That's funny.
SPEAKER_01 (03:53):
How did you how did you get started in acting?
SPEAKER_00 (03:57):
So I started, I graduated from college in 1974.
Uh, I was totally in love with agirl a year older than me who
was an actress, and I was not anactor at all at that time.
So she got a job in New York ina regional theater.
I followed her out there.
(04:18):
Uh, but by the time I got outthere, she'd moved on from me.
I went to a Christmas party atthe theater that she was uh
working at, and um the directorof an upcoming play that was
going to be put up on the stagein January got way too drunk and
hired me.
And so uh that's how I ended upgetting my my uh equity card.
(04:44):
Um did stage for years andyears, ended up doing a Broadway
tour of a play called Childrenof a Lesser God back in the
early 80s.
SPEAKER_01 (04:52):
Did you have hopes of did you have hopes of being
cast on that movie?
SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
Uh I don't have hopes of being cast in anything.
I mean, I'll I'll take it as itcomes, you know.
No, I knew that uh, you know,that when they cast the movie,
they were gonna look for bignames for sure.
I I get that box office appealand the rest of that stuff.
So uh yeah, so I uh jumped shipin '82, came out to LA just
because you know New York scaredthe heck out of me.
(05:20):
It's such a dense city and veryexpensive.
Uh LA was more like a, yeah, myfamily would have been most
recently from Las Cruces.
Uh they'd moved from Las Cruces,New Mexico from Chicago back in
the in the late 60s.
So I kind of knew thesouthwestern vibe, southwestern
town.
LA at least had some open spaceand some trees and some
(05:40):
mountains.
So I ended up in LA.
Uh, and that's how I got intofilm and television.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
So you were working fairly regularly.
You had um, you know, a lot ofappearances, kind of a one or
two-time kind of guestappearance and in a lot of
shows.
And I was looking back throughand through, you know, up and
through the 90s and even intothe early 2000s, you were you
(06:05):
were getting regular, regularwork.
What do you attribute that to?
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
A couple things.
I'm really good with exposition.
Exposition is when you're in ina script, it's all the stuff
that that just tells the storythat people haven't seen.
But it putting the narrationinto the dialogue.
Exactly.
Putting narration, I'm good atthat.
I have a very short-term memory.
Now, if you ask me two secondsafter I walk off the set what I
(06:32):
had just said, I could notpossibly tell you.
It's gone.
Uh, that's the other thing isuh, and I would say that I I
could hit my marks, you know, Ihad my lines prepared.
And the other thing is, and Itell this young actors all the
time coming out here, be nice toeverybody.
Be kind to everybody.
(06:53):
Because that, you know, girlsitting behind the desk at the
casting office, she might berunning a studio in five, 10, 15
years.
Sure.
Not so it's not just a mercenarything that, you know, you
hopeful that you know that willredound to your benefit, but but
just, you know, and I thinkpeople just general a lot of
directors I get called back towork with people over and over.
(07:14):
I I'm just the kind of guy Iguess people feel comfortable
going to have a beer with,basically.
SPEAKER_01 (07:19):
Do you have people that you have routinely worked
with that you've hadopportunities to work with on
multiple projects like that?
Anyone whose name we mightrecognize?
SPEAKER_00 (07:29):
Yes.
Um, yeah, I mean, one guy I'veworked with a lot and really
enjoyed working with is adirector named Alexander Payne.
I first worked with him, I thinkback in the late 90s, on a movie
called um Election of ReeseWitherspoon and uh Matthew
Broderick.
And then he did um About Schmidtand Sideways.
(07:53):
Sideways is a film about uhCalifornia wine country.
He just likes working withpeople he's worked with before.
Uh-huh.
Uh he cast a lot of people inhis uh movies out of Omaha,
people that he'd gone to schoolwith, or you know, like his
barber or his banker, and hewould fly them to all these
locations.
(08:14):
And you got on his good list.
I guess I did.
Yeah, I guess I did.
He's a super nice guy.
You can usually tell when youwalk onto a set, you know, the
the atmosphere uh trickles fromthe top down.
So if you have a director andproducers that are, you know,
chill, mellow, good people,usually the process is way
(08:34):
easier and very chill andmellow.
But if you have people that areyellers and screamers, um, not
so much fun.
But the Alexander Payne is theopposite of all of that.
I've worked with uh NickOfferman, I've worked with uh
Oswald uh Pat and Oswald, Iworked for years on a show
called VEP on HBO with um JuliaLuis Dreyfus from Seinfeld, Jack
(09:00):
Nicholson, uh Leonardo DiCaprio,just a whole bunch of folks.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Did you get enough work that youdidn't have to do a day job, or
did you always keep a day jobgoing?
SPEAKER_00 (09:17):
Like in the 80s and 90s.
Yeah, so I was very fortunatethat I didn't have to do that.
I worked steadily.
My income was not predictable.
It was like a, you know, I onceshowed my uh I did a chart of my
annual income over the years andI showed it to my
brother-in-law, and he said,This is making me motion sick.
(09:38):
Because it would way up one yearand way down next year.
Um, but both my wife and I arevery frugal people, you know,
like the ant and thegrasshopper.
We saved when times were thin,and we just kind of, you know,
um stumbled through.
Sure.
Um very blessed, very fortunatethat way, you know, when when we
needed the work, work camealong.
(10:00):
And so, you know, I just kind ofstitched it together.
SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
Yeah.
So tell me about uh 9-11 andwhat your reaction was to uh the
9-11 terrorist attacks.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:16):
So 9-11 turned out to be our son's first day of
kindergarten.
And you know, this story is notspecial at all for all of us
that went through that day, youknow, but everybody's story is
unique.
Uh and a neighbor called calledme and said, Hey, you've got to
(10:39):
turn on the TV.
This is this is crazy.
And like everybody else, youknow, I was just absolutely
stunned and rocked andastonished and and grieving.
And I remember seeing aphotograph, it was an iconic
photograph of this man and womanjumping off the top of one of
the towers, and they wereholding hands.
(11:00):
And I heard anecdotally thatthey did not know each other
prior, they were just twostrangers sharing this final
moment together.
And there's something inside ofme, it was almost like survivor
guilt.
It was like, there, but for thegrace of God, go ahead.
And the other reaction I hadwas, oh hell no.
(11:21):
No, this shall not stand.
No way, this shall not stand.
I was 48 at the time, wanted inthe fight in the worst way,
called all the armed servicesrecruiters, Marines, Navy, Air
Force, Army, and they're like,How old are you?
SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
They weren't they weren't desperate enough to
start taking 48-year-olds.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Of course, when I told them my age, the next thing
they said was, Well, try theCoast Guard.
All of our coasties willappreciate that.
Yeah.
unknown (11:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
So, but even the Coast Guard said, You're too
old, man.
So shortly thereafter, Iremember reading in uh I lived
in a uh a suburb of LA at thetime, Burbank, California.
And I remember reading in thislocal paper that a lot of these
uh Burbank coppers were gettingcalled up.
They were in the Armed ForcesReserve and they were called up
(12:16):
to active duty.
So they were looking forcoppers.
So I I contacted them and said,Hey, you know, cops are in the
fight, firefighters in thefight.
Could I get involved with this?
And the crusty old detectivethat did the hiring or the
initial screening, of course,said, I think you're too old to
do this.
(12:36):
And I said, Look, man, they hada PT test coming up the next
Saturday, you know, the initialum physical test.
And you had to get through this.
Yeah, it was up at our shootingrange, and you had to run
through the range, and they hada shooting house, you had to run
through the house, and you hadto finish this obstacle course,
you know, a dummy drag and allthis stuff in a certain amount
of time.
So I said, if I can do that, canwe talk about the next step?
(13:00):
He said, All right, you can comeand try that.
So back in those days, I ran alot, so my legs were good, but
if I did one pull-up, it was abig day for me.
I had no upper body strength.
So I I ran the PT course and Ifailed it by about two seconds.
And I said, Hey man, there areanother group coming in.
I said, Detective, can I trythis again?
(13:21):
He goes, Well, we don't knowthat.
Could I just try it one moretime?
So I did it and I beat it byabout a second.
The second time.
Oh wow.
Wow.
So the next conversation we hadwas uh he basically said, Look,
if you get through backgrounds,we'll put you through the
academy.
Uh and if you survive theacademy, then we'll take the
next step.
(13:42):
So that's what I did.
They put me through the LosAngeles County Sheriff's
Department Academy.
You know, everybody in thatclass was could have been my
kid, yeah.
Um, you know, less than half myage, made it through just fine.
So then went to uh Burbankpicked me up as a reserve
officer.
Uh in California, and a lot ofstates have this, you can become
(14:04):
a res you have full arrestpowers, you're out on patrol,
uh, but uh they you pay you'rebasically a volunteer.
They pay you a dollar a year forworkman's comp and and and
that's what you do.
So um did that for a couple ofyears, gave them thousands of
hours of time because I I lovedit, you know, and I don't want
to learn about it as much as Icould.
(14:25):
So that was kind of my entreeinto policing after 9-11.
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
But you're still working at this time.
You probably couldn't work whileyou're in the academy, but but
you're still a working actor.
You're you're you're I I canlook down through your
filmography and you're you'reyou're producing in 2001, 2002,
2003.
I mean, you're you've got lotsof work in there.
And so so, how do you jugglebetween getting called for
(14:51):
auditions and and having to beon set versus giving time as
reserve officer?
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Yeah, good question.
Looking back, I don't know how Idid it.
No, uh I I would say, first ofall, during the academy, you're
right.
And and my agents were supersupportive of this whole
process, they were justfantastic about it.
Uh things came up, they werejust great with me about it.
They weren't giving you grief,wanting you to quit.
(15:19):
Right.
No, no, they they hung in therewith me, you know.
Um and as a reserve, if stuffcame up, I could step aside
because basically, you know, itwas a volunteer type position.
Sure.
Uh then in um 2004, I lateraledto another agency as a reserve.
But after I arrived there withina month or two, they lost one of
(15:43):
their full timers and they askedme to come aboard as a full-time
officer there.
And I said, Look, I've got thisother life.
Love to do it, I love the work,but you know, if I can create my
own shift, I'll do it.
Yeah.
And I said, I would like to worknights on weekends.
So we worked 12 and a half hourshifts.
(16:05):
Uh, I worked Friday, Saturday,and Sunday night.
You know, every week we ended upowing two and a half hours to
the city that we would pay backonce a month the extra 10 hours.
Uh-huh.
Um, and so that's what I did.
I ended up working nights,weekends, and that allowed me to
have my weekdays free to um, youknow, do my film and television
stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (16:25):
And then this is in a smaller agency, right?
I mean, that's probably a verydoable arrangement.
I mean, a lot of times the newguy has to take nights and
weekends anyway.
And so, and so if you'revolunteering, like I'll take
those.
That's probably, I mean, thatprobably that probably helped
this probably help thatnegotiation, right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:45):
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
They're like, oh, all right,this guy's dumber than he looks,
you know.
Uh, sure, let's do this, youknow.
And the other thing about it is,as you said, it was a small
agency.
And uh, when I went there, uhcoming from my film and
television background, peoplewere just really enamored with
it.
Uh, loved the fact that I wasdoing that.
(17:07):
Uh, as I mentioned to you, Ithink in New Orleans, sometimes
what I would do is uh I when Iwas working on a film and TV
project, I'd take guys with me,they'd sit in the in the video
village and watch me work whileI was doing stuff or watch other
people.
And they just love that.
So everybody was totally on myside, very cool.
If I had like two weeks out oftown on some project, they'd
(17:28):
jump in there and say, Hey, I'llcover your shift.
Yeah, you got it, man.
Go do it.
You know, love that.
Who are you working with?
Yeah, what is Reese Witherspoonreally like?
SPEAKER_01 (17:38):
You know, all that kind of stuff.
Your co-workers knew you weredoing this, and so they might
have seen some of the stuffyou're in as it's coming out.
You know, I don't know what thetime difference would be.
You know, months later, perhapsthey're this they see it come
out.
But but did you ever getrecognized in uniform as an
(17:58):
actor?
SPEAKER_00 (17:59):
One time that I can think of, I was working on a
show called Girlfriends.
It's funny you mention this.
We had this very remote, youknow, warehouse district that a
lot of nefarious stuff wouldhappen on.
So we're gonna so I'd go downthere, you know, two in the
morning, three in the morning.
Great time to catch bad actorsdoing bad things.
(18:20):
Down the street, and I see a carparked, there's two big guys in
there.
And uh I go up and contact themand roll the window down, and of
course the driver is like tattedup to the gills, right?
Face tattoos, the whole thing.
And I ask him for his ID, andhe's he's just his he's staring
(18:41):
at me like he's drilling holesthrough through me, you know,
with his with his stare.
And I'm thinking, oh, here wego.
You know, I'm out here bymyself.
I'd already rolled somebody fora backup.
But you know, it's three in themorning and it's dark and it's
isolated, and you know, nobody'sgonna hear me scream, right?
And uh just as he's handing meID, he looks at me and he goes,
(19:03):
I've seen you on TV.
And I was like, What?
You're in girlfriends.
Now, why this guy likedgirlfriends?
Who knows?
Who knows?
That's funny.
Most of the time, no, becauseyou know, you put on a uniform
and people tend not to recognizeyou, you know, may know you as a
(19:26):
civilian, but they won'trecognize you in uniform and
vice versa.
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
Yeah, yeah.
No, they their eyes are drawn tothe badge and the gun and the
uniform itself, and notnecessarily your face or your
voice, perhaps.
But uh, but did you get a chanceout since you were working as a
police officer, did you get achance to play a police officer
on screen?
SPEAKER_00 (19:48):
Well, as a matter of fact, no.
I don't have a look that iscompatible with police officer,
I guess.
Uh, I get cast a lot as youknow, white-collar guys, like
lawyers, bankers, teachers,priests, pastors, all that kind
of stuff.
(20:08):
But I could not get arrested asa cop.
SPEAKER_01 (20:12):
Uh couldn't get couldn't get cast as a street
cop.
SPEAKER_00 (20:16):
Could not get cast as a street cop.
SPEAKER_01 (20:18):
Maybe the commissioner, maybe the
commissioner, but not the streetcop, right?
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
Yeah, commissioner, yeah, exactly.
Somebody in a suit and tie.
Yeah, that's fine.
One quick story.
Back in the day, they were uhcasting Breaking Bad out of uh
Sony Studios down in West LA.
And they were looking for cops.
And those of you that watchedthe show, you may remember
there's a scene, it was a like aDV scene, domestic violence
(20:43):
call.
The cops come in and talk to uhWalter White, his wife, and they
go away.
Well, those were the cops inuniform.
And casting said, We want realcops.
We want to cast a real cop forthis.
So I told my sergeant aboutthis, and he's like, dude, that
is so great.
Awesome.
Jump in the black and white, godown there and audition in your
(21:05):
uniform.
I'm like, really?
He said, Yeah, go get it, getit.
So I drive down there in myblack and white, you know, the
gate's open for you.
Oh you know, when you get there,hop out in uniform, go in, do
the reading, never heard fromthem again.
Never heard from them again.
SPEAKER_01 (21:26):
They were looking for something more authentic.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
Now, if I had a suit, the guywas a detective, maybe, but in
uniform, not so much.
SPEAKER_01 (21:36):
Right, that's hilarious.
I want to thank Phil for beingon the show, and funny enough, I
think he looks like a retiredcop.
If I just met him randomly onthe street, it would be maybe my
first guess.
But subconsciously, I have seenhim play doctors and lawyers and
judges and all kinds of otherprofessions as well.
(21:58):
So maybe that's just a Testamentto his great acting ability.
In part two, we're going to lookat more of Phil's law
enforcement career, includingsome of the negative side.
And we're going to talk abouthow he left law enforcement and
went into chaplaincy.
Here's a clip from part two,next time on Hey Chaplin.
SPEAKER_00 (22:24):
And my admin basically wanted this guy gone.
Uh, and I was just not willingto uh to do that.
You know, it was he was a youngguy, he had a great career ahead
of him, he had a wife and kids,you know, pension and insurance,
and I was not willing to throwhim under the bus.
(22:44):
And I just actually took somesome training a couple months
ago with FBI Lita with a coupleof great chiefs who were
teaching this class, and theyboth talked about, you know,
when you start getting intoadministrative, when you start
promoting up, one of the thingsyou probably need to think about
before you do is what hills youmight be willing to die on.
(23:06):
Yeah.
You can bend, but you know, uhto some extent, but where what's
the moral rubicon for you?
SPEAKER_01 (23:20):
The views expressed here are the personal views of
the host and our guest, and donot necessarily represent the
views of any law enforcementagency or its components.
If you like this episode, pleaseshare it with a cop or someone
who loves a cop.
Thank you for listening to HeyChaplin.
And as always, let's pray forpeace in our city.
This is Vinny Montez hanging out with Hey Chaplin.
(00:03):
We love this podcast, and ifyou're not listening to it, you
absolutely should.
We love you, we appreciate you,and keep doing what you're
doing.
SPEAKER_01 (00:13):
Welcome to Hey Chaplin.
My name is Jared Altic, and I'ma chaplain with the police
department.
The Hey Chaplin podcast is abouttalking to police officers who
say, Hey Chaplin, I've got astory to tell and some
hard-earned wisdom to share.
The guests on Hey Chaplin comefrom across the world, from the
(00:34):
LAPD to Scotland Yard.
They are sharing their wisdom sothat you don't have to learn the
hard way.
And as Patrol Chaplain, I thinkthat you deserve something
positive and encouraging.
The growth of this show dependson word of mouth.
If you're a regular listener,would you take a moment and copy
(00:56):
the link to this show and sendit to a cop who might like to,
or maybe even need to, here'ssomething positive and helpful.
You guys are the reason we havelisteners in all 50 states and
almost 150 countries.
But I routinely run into copseven in my hometown of Kansas
City who have never heard of HeyChaplin.
(01:18):
Anything you do to spread theword is worth its weight in
gold.
And I deeply appreciate it.
So a few months ago, I wenthome, fixed dinner, and turned
on the TV.
And I looked down at my food,moving the morsels around in the
bowl.
And when I looked back at theTV, I froze.
(01:40):
That's Phil.
The actor on the screen is Phil!My new chaplain friend from
California! I mean I knew he wasan actor, but that's him! Right
there! And I was just talking tohim an hour ago on FaceTime! He
looks exactly the same! Now I'vegot to pause the show, put my
(02:02):
food down, and check IMDB.
How many times have I seen thisguy and not realized he would be
someone that I would get to knowreally well?
Our guest today is Bill Reeves.
Bill has been an actor in LosAngeles for decades, but he has
also been a police officer andis now a law enforcement
(02:22):
chaplain and a vocal advocatefor first responder chaplaincy.
In this first part, I'm justgoing to introduce you to Phil
and let him tell you how he wentfrom Hollywood movie sets to
patrolling the streets for lawenforcement.
In part two, we'll talk aboutthe hard parts of the job and
what led him to becoming anadvocate nationally for
(02:45):
Chaplaincy.
Here's Phil Reeves.
Hello, Phil.
How are you today?
Jared, my brother, I am well.
Thank you.
How are you, sir?
I'm doing well.
At the time we're recordingthis, we had just spent uh part
of a week together in NewOrleans at a conference.
(03:06):
We did, yes.
Appreciated you being my travelbuddy.
SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
Thank you.
Same, same.
SPEAKER_01 (03:11):
We were battle buddies for sure.
That's right.
We did a presentation together.
We sat for hours in the airporttogether.
Uh, and we went and we wanderedinto New Orleans and ate at
Mother's Restaurant.
That was yes, we did.
Yeah, yes, we did.
SPEAKER_00 (03:27):
And there I identified myself as your plus
one.
unknown (03:30):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
Well, I've I've really enjoyed traveling with
you.
And I also have enjoyed uhlooking back through your IMDB
filmography and realizing I haveseen you dozens of times and
didn't realize that this was aperson that I would get to know
eventually.
SPEAKER_00 (03:52):
That's funny.
SPEAKER_01 (03:53):
How did you how did you get started in acting?
SPEAKER_00 (03:57):
So I started, I graduated from college in 1974.
Uh, I was totally in love with agirl a year older than me who
was an actress, and I was not anactor at all at that time.
So she got a job in New York ina regional theater.
I followed her out there.
(04:18):
Uh, but by the time I got outthere, she'd moved on from me.
I went to a Christmas party atthe theater that she was uh
working at, and um the directorof an upcoming play that was
going to be put up on the stagein January got way too drunk and
hired me.
And so uh that's how I ended upgetting my my uh equity card.
(04:44):
Um did stage for years andyears, ended up doing a Broadway
tour of a play called Childrenof a Lesser God back in the
early 80s.
SPEAKER_01 (04:52):
Did you have hopes of did you have hopes of being
cast on that movie?
SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
Uh I don't have hopes of being cast in anything.
I mean, I'll I'll take it as itcomes, you know.
No, I knew that uh, you know,that when they cast the movie,
they were gonna look for bignames for sure.
I I get that box office appealand the rest of that stuff.
So uh yeah, so I uh jumped shipin '82, came out to LA just
because you know New York scaredthe heck out of me.
(05:20):
It's such a dense city and veryexpensive.
Uh LA was more like a, yeah, myfamily would have been most
recently from Las Cruces.
Uh they'd moved from Las Cruces,New Mexico from Chicago back in
the in the late 60s.
So I kind of knew thesouthwestern vibe, southwestern
town.
LA at least had some open spaceand some trees and some
(05:40):
mountains.
So I ended up in LA.
Uh, and that's how I got intofilm and television.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
So you were working fairly regularly.
You had um, you know, a lot ofappearances, kind of a one or
two-time kind of guestappearance and in a lot of
shows.
And I was looking back throughand through, you know, up and
through the 90s and even intothe early 2000s, you were you
(06:05):
were getting regular, regularwork.
What do you attribute that to?
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
A couple things.
I'm really good with exposition.
Exposition is when you're in ina script, it's all the stuff
that that just tells the storythat people haven't seen.
But it putting the narrationinto the dialogue.
Exactly.
Putting narration, I'm good atthat.
I have a very short-term memory.
Now, if you ask me two secondsafter I walk off the set what I
(06:32):
had just said, I could notpossibly tell you.
It's gone.
Uh, that's the other thing isuh, and I would say that I I
could hit my marks, you know, Ihad my lines prepared.
And the other thing is, and Itell this young actors all the
time coming out here, be nice toeverybody.
Be kind to everybody.
(06:53):
Because that, you know, girlsitting behind the desk at the
casting office, she might berunning a studio in five, 10, 15
years.
Sure.
Not so it's not just a mercenarything that, you know, you
hopeful that you know that willredound to your benefit, but but
just, you know, and I thinkpeople just general a lot of
directors I get called back towork with people over and over.
(07:14):
I I'm just the kind of guy Iguess people feel comfortable
going to have a beer with,basically.
SPEAKER_01 (07:19):
Do you have people that you have routinely worked
with that you've hadopportunities to work with on
multiple projects like that?
Anyone whose name we mightrecognize?
SPEAKER_00 (07:29):
Yes.
Um, yeah, I mean, one guy I'veworked with a lot and really
enjoyed working with is adirector named Alexander Payne.
I first worked with him, I thinkback in the late 90s, on a movie
called um Election of ReeseWitherspoon and uh Matthew
Broderick.
And then he did um About Schmidtand Sideways.
(07:53):
Sideways is a film about uhCalifornia wine country.
He just likes working withpeople he's worked with before.
Uh-huh.
Uh he cast a lot of people inhis uh movies out of Omaha,
people that he'd gone to schoolwith, or you know, like his
barber or his banker, and hewould fly them to all these
locations.
(08:14):
And you got on his good list.
I guess I did.
Yeah, I guess I did.
He's a super nice guy.
You can usually tell when youwalk onto a set, you know, the
the atmosphere uh trickles fromthe top down.
So if you have a director andproducers that are, you know,
chill, mellow, good people,usually the process is way
(08:34):
easier and very chill andmellow.
But if you have people that areyellers and screamers, um, not
so much fun.
But the Alexander Payne is theopposite of all of that.
I've worked with uh NickOfferman, I've worked with uh
Oswald uh Pat and Oswald, Iworked for years on a show
called VEP on HBO with um JuliaLuis Dreyfus from Seinfeld, Jack
(09:00):
Nicholson, uh Leonardo DiCaprio,just a whole bunch of folks.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Did you get enough work that youdidn't have to do a day job, or
did you always keep a day jobgoing?
SPEAKER_00 (09:17):
Like in the 80s and 90s.
Yeah, so I was very fortunatethat I didn't have to do that.
I worked steadily.
My income was not predictable.
It was like a, you know, I onceshowed my uh I did a chart of my
annual income over the years andI showed it to my
brother-in-law, and he said,This is making me motion sick.
(09:38):
Because it would way up one yearand way down next year.
Um, but both my wife and I arevery frugal people, you know,
like the ant and thegrasshopper.
We saved when times were thin,and we just kind of, you know,
um stumbled through.
Sure.
Um very blessed, very fortunatethat way, you know, when when we
needed the work, work camealong.
(10:00):
And so, you know, I just kind ofstitched it together.
SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
Yeah.
So tell me about uh 9-11 andwhat your reaction was to uh the
9-11 terrorist attacks.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:16):
So 9-11 turned out to be our son's first day of
kindergarten.
And you know, this story is notspecial at all for all of us
that went through that day, youknow, but everybody's story is
unique.
Uh and a neighbor called calledme and said, Hey, you've got to
(10:39):
turn on the TV.
This is this is crazy.
And like everybody else, youknow, I was just absolutely
stunned and rocked andastonished and and grieving.
And I remember seeing aphotograph, it was an iconic
photograph of this man and womanjumping off the top of one of
the towers, and they wereholding hands.
(11:00):
And I heard anecdotally thatthey did not know each other
prior, they were just twostrangers sharing this final
moment together.
And there's something inside ofme, it was almost like survivor
guilt.
It was like, there, but for thegrace of God, go ahead.
And the other reaction I hadwas, oh hell no.
(11:21):
No, this shall not stand.
No way, this shall not stand.
I was 48 at the time, wanted inthe fight in the worst way,
called all the armed servicesrecruiters, Marines, Navy, Air
Force, Army, and they're like,How old are you?
SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
They weren't they weren't desperate enough to
start taking 48-year-olds.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Of course, when I told them my age, the next thing
they said was, Well, try theCoast Guard.
All of our coasties willappreciate that.
Yeah.
unknown (11:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
So, but even the Coast Guard said, You're too
old, man.
So shortly thereafter, Iremember reading in uh I lived
in a uh a suburb of LA at thetime, Burbank, California.
And I remember reading in thislocal paper that a lot of these
uh Burbank coppers were gettingcalled up.
They were in the Armed ForcesReserve and they were called up
(12:16):
to active duty.
So they were looking forcoppers.
So I I contacted them and said,Hey, you know, cops are in the
fight, firefighters in thefight.
Could I get involved with this?
And the crusty old detectivethat did the hiring or the
initial screening, of course,said, I think you're too old to
do this.
(12:36):
And I said, Look, man, they hada PT test coming up the next
Saturday, you know, the initialum physical test.
And you had to get through this.
Yeah, it was up at our shootingrange, and you had to run
through the range, and they hada shooting house, you had to run
through the house, and you hadto finish this obstacle course,
you know, a dummy drag and allthis stuff in a certain amount
of time.
So I said, if I can do that, canwe talk about the next step?
(13:00):
He said, All right, you can comeand try that.
So back in those days, I ran alot, so my legs were good, but
if I did one pull-up, it was abig day for me.
I had no upper body strength.
So I I ran the PT course and Ifailed it by about two seconds.
And I said, Hey man, there areanother group coming in.
I said, Detective, can I trythis again?
(13:21):
He goes, Well, we don't knowthat.
Could I just try it one moretime?
So I did it and I beat it byabout a second.
The second time.
Oh wow.
Wow.
So the next conversation we hadwas uh he basically said, Look,
if you get through backgrounds,we'll put you through the
academy.
Uh and if you survive theacademy, then we'll take the
next step.
(13:42):
So that's what I did.
They put me through the LosAngeles County Sheriff's
Department Academy.
You know, everybody in thatclass was could have been my
kid, yeah.
Um, you know, less than half myage, made it through just fine.
So then went to uh Burbankpicked me up as a reserve
officer.
Uh in California, and a lot ofstates have this, you can become
(14:04):
a res you have full arrestpowers, you're out on patrol,
uh, but uh they you pay you'rebasically a volunteer.
They pay you a dollar a year forworkman's comp and and and
that's what you do.
So um did that for a couple ofyears, gave them thousands of
hours of time because I I lovedit, you know, and I don't want
to learn about it as much as Icould.
(14:25):
So that was kind of my entreeinto policing after 9-11.
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
But you're still working at this time.
You probably couldn't work whileyou're in the academy, but but
you're still a working actor.
You're you're you're I I canlook down through your
filmography and you're you'reyou're producing in 2001, 2002,
2003.
I mean, you're you've got lotsof work in there.
And so so, how do you jugglebetween getting called for
(14:51):
auditions and and having to beon set versus giving time as
reserve officer?
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Yeah, good question.
Looking back, I don't know how Idid it.
No, uh I I would say, first ofall, during the academy, you're
right.
And and my agents were supersupportive of this whole
process, they were justfantastic about it.
Uh things came up, they werejust great with me about it.
They weren't giving you grief,wanting you to quit.
(15:19):
Right.
No, no, they they hung in therewith me, you know.
Um and as a reserve, if stuffcame up, I could step aside
because basically, you know, itwas a volunteer type position.
Sure.
Uh then in um 2004, I lateraledto another agency as a reserve.
But after I arrived there withina month or two, they lost one of
(15:43):
their full timers and they askedme to come aboard as a full-time
officer there.
And I said, Look, I've got thisother life.
Love to do it, I love the work,but you know, if I can create my
own shift, I'll do it.
Yeah.
And I said, I would like to worknights on weekends.
So we worked 12 and a half hourshifts.
(16:05):
Uh, I worked Friday, Saturday,and Sunday night.
You know, every week we ended upowing two and a half hours to
the city that we would pay backonce a month the extra 10 hours.
Uh-huh.
Um, and so that's what I did.
I ended up working nights,weekends, and that allowed me to
have my weekdays free to um, youknow, do my film and television
stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (16:25):
And then this is in a smaller agency, right?
I mean, that's probably a verydoable arrangement.
I mean, a lot of times the newguy has to take nights and
weekends anyway.
And so, and so if you'revolunteering, like I'll take
those.
That's probably, I mean, thatprobably that probably helped
this probably help thatnegotiation, right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:45):
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
They're like, oh, all right,this guy's dumber than he looks,
you know.
Uh, sure, let's do this, youknow.
And the other thing about it is,as you said, it was a small
agency.
And uh, when I went there, uhcoming from my film and
television background, peoplewere just really enamored with
it.
Uh, loved the fact that I wasdoing that.
(17:07):
Uh, as I mentioned to you, Ithink in New Orleans, sometimes
what I would do is uh I when Iwas working on a film and TV
project, I'd take guys with me,they'd sit in the in the video
village and watch me work whileI was doing stuff or watch other
people.
And they just love that.
So everybody was totally on myside, very cool.
If I had like two weeks out oftown on some project, they'd
(17:28):
jump in there and say, Hey, I'llcover your shift.
Yeah, you got it, man.
Go do it.
You know, love that.
Who are you working with?
Yeah, what is Reese Witherspoonreally like?
SPEAKER_01 (17:38):
You know, all that kind of stuff.
Your co-workers knew you weredoing this, and so they might
have seen some of the stuffyou're in as it's coming out.
You know, I don't know what thetime difference would be.
You know, months later, perhapsthey're this they see it come
out.
But but did you ever getrecognized in uniform as an
(17:58):
actor?
SPEAKER_00 (17:59):
One time that I can think of, I was working on a
show called Girlfriends.
It's funny you mention this.
We had this very remote, youknow, warehouse district that a
lot of nefarious stuff wouldhappen on.
So we're gonna so I'd go downthere, you know, two in the
morning, three in the morning.
Great time to catch bad actorsdoing bad things.
(18:20):
Down the street, and I see a carparked, there's two big guys in
there.
And uh I go up and contact themand roll the window down, and of
course the driver is like tattedup to the gills, right?
Face tattoos, the whole thing.
And I ask him for his ID, andhe's he's just his he's staring
(18:41):
at me like he's drilling holesthrough through me, you know,
with his with his stare.
And I'm thinking, oh, here wego.
You know, I'm out here bymyself.
I'd already rolled somebody fora backup.
But you know, it's three in themorning and it's dark and it's
isolated, and you know, nobody'sgonna hear me scream, right?
And uh just as he's handing meID, he looks at me and he goes,
(19:03):
I've seen you on TV.
And I was like, What?
You're in girlfriends.
Now, why this guy likedgirlfriends?
Who knows?
Who knows?
That's funny.
Most of the time, no, becauseyou know, you put on a uniform
and people tend not to recognizeyou, you know, may know you as a
(19:26):
civilian, but they won'trecognize you in uniform and
vice versa.
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
Yeah, yeah.
No, they their eyes are drawn tothe badge and the gun and the
uniform itself, and notnecessarily your face or your
voice, perhaps.
But uh, but did you get a chanceout since you were working as a
police officer, did you get achance to play a police officer
on screen?
SPEAKER_00 (19:48):
Well, as a matter of fact, no.
I don't have a look that iscompatible with police officer,
I guess.
Uh, I get cast a lot as youknow, white-collar guys, like
lawyers, bankers, teachers,priests, pastors, all that kind
of stuff.
(20:08):
But I could not get arrested asa cop.
SPEAKER_01 (20:12):
Uh couldn't get couldn't get cast as a street
cop.
SPEAKER_00 (20:16):
Could not get cast as a street cop.
SPEAKER_01 (20:18):
Maybe the commissioner, maybe the
commissioner, but not the streetcop, right?
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
Yeah, commissioner, yeah, exactly.
Somebody in a suit and tie.
Yeah, that's fine.
One quick story.
Back in the day, they were uhcasting Breaking Bad out of uh
Sony Studios down in West LA.
And they were looking for cops.
And those of you that watchedthe show, you may remember
there's a scene, it was a like aDV scene, domestic violence
(20:43):
call.
The cops come in and talk to uhWalter White, his wife, and they
go away.
Well, those were the cops inuniform.
And casting said, We want realcops.
We want to cast a real cop forthis.
So I told my sergeant aboutthis, and he's like, dude, that
is so great.
Awesome.
Jump in the black and white, godown there and audition in your
(21:05):
uniform.
I'm like, really?
He said, Yeah, go get it, getit.
So I drive down there in myblack and white, you know, the
gate's open for you.
Oh you know, when you get there,hop out in uniform, go in, do
the reading, never heard fromthem again.
Never heard from them again.
SPEAKER_01 (21:26):
They were looking for something more authentic.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
Now, if I had a suit, the guywas a detective, maybe, but in
uniform, not so much.
SPEAKER_01 (21:36):
Right, that's hilarious.
I want to thank Phil for beingon the show, and funny enough, I
think he looks like a retiredcop.
If I just met him randomly onthe street, it would be maybe my
first guess.
But subconsciously, I have seenhim play doctors and lawyers and
judges and all kinds of otherprofessions as well.
(21:58):
So maybe that's just a Testamentto his great acting ability.
In part two, we're going to lookat more of Phil's law
enforcement career, includingsome of the negative side.
And we're going to talk abouthow he left law enforcement and
went into chaplaincy.
Here's a clip from part two,next time on Hey Chaplin.
SPEAKER_00 (22:24):
And my admin basically wanted this guy gone.
Uh, and I was just not willingto uh to do that.
You know, it was he was a youngguy, he had a great career ahead
of him, he had a wife and kids,you know, pension and insurance,
and I was not willing to throwhim under the bus.
(22:44):
And I just actually took somesome training a couple months
ago with FBI Lita with a coupleof great chiefs who were
teaching this class, and theyboth talked about, you know,
when you start getting intoadministrative, when you start
promoting up, one of the thingsyou probably need to think about
before you do is what hills youmight be willing to die on.
(23:06):
Yeah.
You can bend, but you know, uhto some extent, but where what's
the moral rubicon for you?
SPEAKER_01 (23:20):
The views expressed here are the personal views of
the host and our guest, and donot necessarily represent the
views of any law enforcementagency or its components.
If you like this episode, pleaseshare it with a cop or someone
who loves a cop.
Thank you for listening to HeyChaplin.
And as always, let's pray forpeace in our city.
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