Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, there are so many different ways to start this conversation,
but I'm going to start it with just a little clip.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
If you could put my audio up plays Dragon.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm going to start this with a little clip one
of probably one of the most famous clips ever from television,
where in one of my favorite shows of all time.
And I don't know why I was watching detective shows
when I was in junior high school, but The Rockford
Files one of the great shows of all time. Jim
Rockford is trying to go talk to a lady who
(00:30):
is being protected by a somewhat overprotective manager. One of
the great moments in television and one of the great
TV shows of all time, and perhaps.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Was that was with one of my favorite actors and
people to ever work with.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
By far, he's the greatest. He was so great, my.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Very special guest, Robert Hayes, And of course that is
not the thing he's most famous for. But I do
love second most, the second most. I do love The
Rockford File. So while we're on that, actually tell tell
us a little bit about James Garner, and then we'll
talk about airplane and other things you've done.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
This was one of my very first things, you can
tell how high my voice is, and that obviously certain
parts of the body hadn't dropped yet.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So I was I was a young kid. I was
in my twenties.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I had just gotten up to LA and I started
doing you know, my little bits and pieces and one line,
two line. Fortunate to get those. You're really lucky when
you get a job. And worked my way up to
doing you know a little bit bigger where you've got
a few lines like this, and eventually some guest star shots,
(01:40):
and then you get into a show and you know,
a series or something, and then movies. But this was
at the Universal Sheridan in Universal City, and I played
sort of her flunky that was you've got to get
go through me to get to her. She's the designer
was a design and fashion designer.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We did the scene and then we broke for lunch
and uh, Garner comes up to me and he says,
and I'm standing there and the director is really close by,
and he comes up to me. He says, Uh. He says,
they gets your close up And I kind of looked
at him because I had no idea, what what was
(02:27):
you know?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Close up?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Well, we did the shot you know, and and he
said you get your close up and I looked at
him and I said, oh, well, uh you got your
close up right And he turns.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
The director said you get his close up.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And the director said something like, uh, yeah, we got
what we needed. And he turned back and looked at me,
and I said, yeah, I guess they got they got everything. Yeah, yeah,
he said good, I want to make sure they get
your close up and I said, oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
And I hadn't mean, you know, almost had no idea
yeah what a close up was.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
But anyway, he was so protective of everybody, just made
the set so happy and fun and right there is
That was an influence on me to know that you
could do that, because that's the way I like to
work anyway. Yeah, you know, it was making it fun.
So it's tough enough as it is, so you want
it to be fun.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So I probably didn't do a proper introduction for folks
who you know, you're like, Okay, Robert Hayes, I know
the name.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Where do I know the name from?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
It? And it's probably not from Rockford Files, but maybe
And of course, of course Robert Hayes is extremely famous
for this.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I guess the foots on the other hand, now, isn't
it crank.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
A line that I quote like almost daily? I guess
the foots on the other hand now. And Robert Hayes
played Ted Striker in Airplane, has done lots and lots
and lots of other stuff as well, and so a
bunch of reasons I wanted to have him on the show.
First of all, because Airplane is freaking amazing and I've
seen it so many times and can quote so much
many lines. But also Robert, along with David Zucker, writer
(04:06):
slash director, along with a couple other dudes of Airplane,
are going to be here in Denver this Sunday at
the Paramount Theater and there's still some tickets available. You
go to Ticketmaster and you can find that if you
just type in airplane exclamation point, you will definitely find it.
And it's linked on my website as well. And Robert
David Zucker was on my show last week, which was
(04:27):
also just an incredible treat for me.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Did you guys try to call me?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So I had told them that two person interviews are
a pain and I'd much rather just talk to him
and you separately. Rather than have you at the same time,
because it's better this way.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Because I was I actually got up and I was
up and I was ready for it, and then I
got the note saying can we do it later next week?
So I said, ah, clicked off, went back to bed
because it was fine.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Robert is talking to us today from Ted Striker's former
duty station.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I was in the Air Force, stationed in dram Bowie
off the Barbary Coast.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, so that's where That's where Robert is right now,
in dram Booie, off the Barbary Coast, and so he's
in a very very different different time zone. I've actually
watched some interviews of you just sort of preparing for
this conversation, which is more work than I usually do
to prepare for an interview.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
But you come across it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Just sort of such a like a nice, normal dude,
like something you want to go have a beer with,
and like this stuff hasn't gone to your head at all.
So is that a great act or are you just
really kind of a normal dude.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Just a regular boring person.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
I guess.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Until we drink the beers and then you start becoming,
you know, a loud mouth and ridiculous like everybody else.
But I I had great family.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
My folks were just the best you could ever imagine.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
And my sisters, you know, the older sister, always the
protective older sister. And we had a good family, really
wonderful family. And it's kind of like you grow up
appreciating the things that you have and the things that
happen to you, the good fortune that you have. And
(06:25):
I've been around people that really get kind of care.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
You know, well, where's my limo? I said, the blue eminem's,
you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I imagine try to imagine myself doing that, and I
just couldn't do I just can't do it because I'd
laugh at myself and be disgusted with myself all at
the same time. It's just I think we ought to
be pretty happy with, you know, the for and good fortune.
When we have a good fortune in our lives, We're
(06:58):
going to have the good times in the bad times both.
But you just want to try to, you know, not
make life lousy for yourself, but for those around you too.
I just enjoy working so much on the set. I
love being with the actors, and I love being with
the crew. The crews are almost always just great and
all the stunt folks. I always was hanging out with
(07:20):
the stunt people and with the crew when we're shooting,
but you just have a great time. There was a
scene in Airplane where Julie blew aligne and they said
cut and she said, with that little voice of hers,
said I'm sorry, it's okay, Jillie, it's okay. You got
(07:41):
the line for it, and they got the line the
script supervisor and she said I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I said, no, no, don't worry. Well.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I was doing a series at the same time called Angie,
and people would blow a line. You know, the guests
were a small day player, you know, a small part
would come in and they'd be so nervous. You've got
an all audience out there and you got the camera
shooting the show.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Maybe so nervous and they blow a line.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
And then sometimes I would blow a line just to
you know, screw around with them all.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And then I turned to him and say, look what
you maybe do.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
It's catching and they what and then they would laugh
and it broke the ice.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
So when we when they said okay, ready, are you
ready to go? She said, yeah, I'm sorry. I said, no, Julie,
don't worry about it.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
So he said action and then we started the scene
and then I blew the line and she said, oh,
I'm sorry. I said, no, Julie, it.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Wasn't you, that was Bob. And she said, oh, I'm sorry.
That is how cute she was.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Uh huh.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
She was so amazing, and it was just and it
keeps it, keeps it light.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Plus you're doing a comedy, right, you know, you don't
want to be you don't want to be screaming and
yelling at each other and said okay, ready, now everyone
be happy.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Action. It's like, oh gosh, that doesn't work too well.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Are you still in touch with Julie?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Oh yeah, absolutely, Yeah, she and her husband Richard. Yeah,
we have dinner or when we're there or whenever they
come over here, and yeah, they're just really, really wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So one thing you and I have in common, it's
not a very rare thing, is we're both military brats.
And I'm really interested in your having gone to school
and I think it was in Turkey. Can you can
you tell us a little about that, and you know,
and if you think that had some lasting impact on
you as as a person.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, Ismir, Turkey. My dad was the Marine Corps. He
was stationed there. We all were. We couldn't stay back here.
There was a NATO sort of like a an annex
satellite office of NATO headquarters which were in they were
(09:54):
in Naples, but we had a satellite annex in Ismir,
and Dad was a NATO representative there. And I was
there in my fifth, sixth, and seventh grades and it
had a huge impact on me, seeing I mean, we
(10:17):
didn't just sit there and complain about how.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Where's the TV. There's no TV, there's.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
No Hamburger stands, and I remember people saying that, actually
saying that, really really complaining over and over about that. Instead,
we got out and we traveled. We'd find the ruins
and scramble all over ruins and find out about them,
and find the mosaic floors and discovered those things and
kind of, you.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Know, just just wonderful, wonderful stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The Seven Churches of Asia all through Turkey, and we
visited those. And when I'd come back, I would think
about friends of mine and in.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Laws of mine later on that were born.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And raised in like for instance, in the Valley Studio
city born and raised, went to school. We'd be driving
past a little old drug store and they say, oh, yeah,
that's where we used to go when I was you know,
when I was eight. We'd go in there and we'd
try to steal some candy.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Or something whatever. And I thought, man, how lucky is that?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And then I would think about what I got to
travel all over Europe and all over you know, living
in Turkey and traveling all around the country, and it
opens up your mind.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
It was pretty amazing, pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Time.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Couldn't agree with you more. My parents really instilled in
me a love of travel. We didn't live in a
foreign country. We did live on Guam for a while,
and when I was maybe five or six, my dad
took me with him to Soul, Korea for a couple
of days. And I've been to sixty something countries now
(11:56):
and I don't travel on business. It's just because my
parents instilled that stuff me. So I completely get what
you're talking about. For those just join and we're we're
talking with Robert Hayes, who has done dozens and dozens
of TV shows and movies and you know, most most
famous for Airplane My gosh, Okay, so you know, you
did a lot of stuff before Airplane, but I think
(12:20):
most of it was drama rather than comedy. I mean,
I don't know everything you did, but there was a
lot of drama.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
What was it like for you to.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Do something that wasn't just comedy but like an insane
almost slapstick comedy with these lunatics in the best way
as the writers and directors.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I mean, that must have been a new world for you.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Yeah, it was I I had done when I stumbled
in all this stuff at little College, gross One College,
because that was the only class I could take to
get into college. I was a transfer student once again,
you know, all the travel.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
And.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
So I got into acting in the acting class, and
I started developing this thing as we're doing the plays,
and we were doing musicals, comedies, mostly musicals and comedies,
but there were dramatic things too, but mostly with these
I developed a thing about having a smile in my
(13:25):
belly when I was doing a drama and a frown
in my belly when I was doing a comedy.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
It was working against what it is that.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
You had, and that was that was something I was
kind of developing and starting to use, and it was
forming and then when I got up.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
To LA I was doing bits and pieces.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
In the Blue Night with George Kennedy. You know, it
was a drama a cop show on TV and Rocker
Files is a you know, a drama, da comedy drama thing.
And and then I started to do more like with
Angie it was a you know, a sitcom, right And
(14:12):
then when we did Airplane, that's when there was somebody
the boys Jerry and David and Zurka and Jim Abrams
and and they had this same style, much more refined
and much more advanced. But that was the same thing
that I had been kind of thinking of and developing
(14:32):
and trying to, you know, get in my method. Everyone
has their own method, like Henry Fonda once said, everyone
has their own method small m So that was my method.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Part of my method was that, and I was developing it.
But then they're the.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Ones that really had it much more, you know, really
down and it was great.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
It was so great, and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
It makes the comedy so much more intense. If you're
laugh as you're doing the joke, and you're laughing, you've
taken the laughter away from the audience.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
They're just kind of yeah, you know, and they smile
along with you.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
But if you're very serious and suddenly something comes out
of the left field and it surprises them, then then
you get an explosive laughter out of that. It's kind
of like saying, I used to tell people that we
had a lot of comedies. You see a person has
an astral projection of themselves standing next to themselves looking
(15:31):
at the audience saying, huh, this is funny, Huh isn't it?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And ours, my.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Astral projection would look out of the audience and they'd
be laughing and say, what are you laughing at?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
This is serious stuff, which made him laugh even more.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, when you're you have that attitude and that kind
of you know ingredient.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
I've got about I've got about ninety seconds left.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What was it like for you as an actor to
be doing this unbelievable comedy, like one of the funniest
movies ever made with these intense, like straight man actors
like Peter Graves and Lloyd Bridges and Bob Stack.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I mean, what's that like for you?
Speaker 4 (16:12):
That was so incredible.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I'd worked with Bob Stack before, I had a guest
star shot on on his his show called Most Wanted
I think it was called and I was a guest
star bad guy, and there was a guest star good
guy that had been wrong I had been wronged and
when little nuts in the head, so I knew him,
(16:36):
you know, from doing that. And Lloyd Bridges I watched
growing up. I mean, Peter Graves I watched. I mean,
it was just amazing. Sure, and yeah, it was remarkable.
It was so fun, so fun.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I can't imagine. I could talk to you all day,
but I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
But I just wanted to say thank you for I mean,
Airplane is a transformational movie for me. I'm a little
older than you are, so I was watching that and
maybe junior high school and high school, and I've probably
seen it thirty times or forty times, and I can
probably quote most of it.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And it's just one of the most brilliant things.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And so I don't know, there you go.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
You got Jerry and David Zucker and Jim Abrams in there,
the geniuses behind the film.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Well, yeah, I mean it, and you got one of
those this weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Now, you know what.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I know you're being modest, but the film wouldn't have
had the impact on me and many, many, many millions
of other people, I think without you in that starring role.
I mean, it's easy because we've only seen you in it,
and we didn't see someone else in it, and so
but I can't picture anyone else in it, and you
just pulled that off so perfectly. I can't imagine anyone
(17:47):
doing it better in one of my favorite movies of
all time. So it's just a privilege for me to
be able to say, thank you.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I appreciate that very much, thank you, thank you. This
has been fun talking with you. I wish we had
another hour or two to be able to just jabber.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah fun. I do too.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Maybe we'll talk another time if you wake up early.
But folks, Robert, along with David Zucker, one of the
three crazies behind the movie Airplane, and I mean that
in the best way, is gonna be here. They're gonna
be here in Denver, this coming Sunday at the Paramount Theater.
If you go to Ticketmaster and type in Airplane exclamation point,
you will find tickets. You're gonna a special screening of
the movie and then a Q and A with these guys,
(18:25):
and it's just gonna be absolutely incredible. Robert, thanks so
much for making time for getting up early there Indre
and Bowie, and it's been a.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
All right, yeah, this is time to go back to paradise. Sorry,
you gotta get back out in the water, you.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Do, all right. See that is the great Robert Hayes.
Okay, there are so many different ways to start this conversation,
but I'm going to start it with just a little clip.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
If you could put my audio up plays Dragon.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm going to start this with a little clip one
of probably one of the most famous clips ever from television,
where in one of my favorite shows of all time.
And I don't know why I was watching detective shows
when I was in junior high school, but The Rockford
Files one of the great shows of all time. Jim
Rockford is trying to go talk to a lady who
(00:30):
is being protected by a somewhat overprotective manager. One of
the great moments in television and one of the great
TV shows of all time, and perhaps.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Was that was with one of my favorite actors and
people to ever work with.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
By far, he's the greatest. He was so great, my.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Very special guest, Robert Hayes, And of course that is
not the thing he's most famous for. But I do
love second most, the second most. I do love The
Rockford File. So while we're on that, actually tell tell
us a little bit about James Garner, and then we'll
talk about airplane and other things you've done.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
This was one of my very first things, you can
tell how high my voice is, and that obviously certain
parts of the body hadn't dropped yet.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So I was I was a young kid. I was
in my twenties.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I had just gotten up to LA and I started
doing you know, my little bits and pieces and one line,
two line. Fortunate to get those. You're really lucky when
you get a job. And worked my way up to
doing you know a little bit bigger where you've got
a few lines like this, and eventually some guest star shots,
(01:40):
and then you get into a show and you know,
a series or something, and then movies. But this was
at the Universal Sheridan in Universal City, and I played
sort of her flunky that was you've got to get
go through me to get to her. She's the designer
was a design and fashion designer.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We did the scene and then we broke for lunch
and uh, Garner comes up to me and he says,
and I'm standing there and the director is really close by,
and he comes up to me. He says, Uh. He says,
they gets your close up And I kind of looked
at him because I had no idea, what what was
(02:27):
you know?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Close up?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Well, we did the shot you know, and and he
said you get your close up and I looked at
him and I said, oh, well, uh you got your
close up right And he turns.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
The director said you get his close up.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And the director said something like, uh, yeah, we got
what we needed. And he turned back and looked at me,
and I said, yeah, I guess they got they got everything. Yeah, yeah,
he said good, I want to make sure they get
your close up and I said, oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
And I hadn't mean, you know, almost had no idea
yeah what a close up was.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
But anyway, he was so protective of everybody, just made
the set so happy and fun and right there is
That was an influence on me to know that you
could do that, because that's the way I like to
work anyway. Yeah, you know, it was making it fun.
So it's tough enough as it is, so you want
it to be fun.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So I probably didn't do a proper introduction for folks
who you know, you're like, Okay, Robert Hayes, I know
the name.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Where do I know the name from?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
It? And it's probably not from Rockford Files, but maybe
And of course, of course Robert Hayes is extremely famous
for this.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I guess the foots on the other hand, now, isn't
it crank.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
A line that I quote like almost daily? I guess
the foots on the other hand now. And Robert Hayes
played Ted Striker in Airplane, has done lots and lots
and lots of other stuff as well, and so a
bunch of reasons I wanted to have him on the show.
First of all, because Airplane is freaking amazing and I've
seen it so many times and can quote so much
many lines. But also Robert, along with David Zucker, writer
(04:06):
slash director, along with a couple other dudes of Airplane,
are going to be here in Denver this Sunday at
the Paramount Theater and there's still some tickets available. You
go to Ticketmaster and you can find that if you
just type in airplane exclamation point, you will definitely find it.
And it's linked on my website as well. And Robert
David Zucker was on my show last week, which was
(04:27):
also just an incredible treat for me.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Did you guys try to call me?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So I had told them that two person interviews are
a pain and I'd much rather just talk to him
and you separately. Rather than have you at the same time,
because it's better this way.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Because I was I actually got up and I was
up and I was ready for it, and then I
got the note saying can we do it later next week?
So I said, ah, clicked off, went back to bed
because it was fine.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Robert is talking to us today from Ted Striker's former
duty station.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I was in the Air Force, stationed in dram Bowie
off the Barbary Coast.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, so that's where That's where Robert is right now,
in dram Booie, off the Barbary Coast, and so he's
in a very very different different time zone. I've actually
watched some interviews of you just sort of preparing for
this conversation, which is more work than I usually do
to prepare for an interview.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
But you come across it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Just sort of such a like a nice, normal dude,
like something you want to go have a beer with,
and like this stuff hasn't gone to your head at all.
So is that a great act or are you just
really kind of a normal dude.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Just a regular boring person.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
I guess.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Until we drink the beers and then you start becoming,
you know, a loud mouth and ridiculous like everybody else.
But I I had great family.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
My folks were just the best you could ever imagine.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
And my sisters, you know, the older sister, always the
protective older sister. And we had a good family, really
wonderful family. And it's kind of like you grow up
appreciating the things that you have and the things that
happen to you, the good fortune that you have. And
(06:25):
I've been around people that really get kind of care.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
You know, well, where's my limo? I said, the blue eminem's,
you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I imagine try to imagine myself doing that, and I
just couldn't do I just can't do it because I'd
laugh at myself and be disgusted with myself all at
the same time. It's just I think we ought to
be pretty happy with, you know, the for and good fortune.
When we have a good fortune in our lives, We're
(06:58):
going to have the good times in the bad times both.
But you just want to try to, you know, not
make life lousy for yourself, but for those around you too.
I just enjoy working so much on the set. I
love being with the actors, and I love being with
the crew. The crews are almost always just great and
all the stunt folks. I always was hanging out with
(07:20):
the stunt people and with the crew when we're shooting,
but you just have a great time. There was a
scene in Airplane where Julie blew aligne and they said
cut and she said, with that little voice of hers,
said I'm sorry, it's okay, Jillie, it's okay. You got
(07:41):
the line for it, and they got the line the
script supervisor and she said I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I said, no, no, don't worry. Well.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I was doing a series at the same time called Angie,
and people would blow a line. You know, the guests
were a small day player, you know, a small part
would come in and they'd be so nervous. You've got
an all audience out there and you got the camera
shooting the show.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Maybe so nervous and they blow a line.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
And then sometimes I would blow a line just to
you know, screw around with them all.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And then I turned to him and say, look what
you maybe do.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
It's catching and they what and then they would laugh
and it broke the ice.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
So when we when they said okay, ready, are you
ready to go? She said, yeah, I'm sorry. I said, no, Julie,
don't worry about it.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
So he said action and then we started the scene
and then I blew the line and she said, oh,
I'm sorry. I said, no, Julie, it.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Wasn't you, that was Bob. And she said, oh, I'm sorry.
That is how cute she was.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Uh huh.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
She was so amazing, and it was just and it
keeps it, keeps it light.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Plus you're doing a comedy, right, you know, you don't
want to be you don't want to be screaming and
yelling at each other and said okay, ready, now everyone
be happy.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Action. It's like, oh gosh, that doesn't work too well.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Are you still in touch with Julie?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Oh yeah, absolutely, Yeah, she and her husband Richard. Yeah,
we have dinner or when we're there or whenever they
come over here, and yeah, they're just really, really wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So one thing you and I have in common, it's
not a very rare thing, is we're both military brats.
And I'm really interested in your having gone to school
and I think it was in Turkey. Can you can
you tell us a little about that, and you know,
and if you think that had some lasting impact on
you as as a person.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, Ismir, Turkey. My dad was the Marine Corps. He
was stationed there. We all were. We couldn't stay back here.
There was a NATO sort of like a an annex
satellite office of NATO headquarters which were in they were
(09:54):
in Naples, but we had a satellite annex in Ismir,
and Dad was a NATO representative there. And I was
there in my fifth, sixth, and seventh grades and it
had a huge impact on me, seeing I mean, we
(10:17):
didn't just sit there and complain about how.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Where's the TV. There's no TV, there's.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
No Hamburger stands, and I remember people saying that, actually
saying that, really really complaining over and over about that. Instead,
we got out and we traveled. We'd find the ruins
and scramble all over ruins and find out about them,
and find the mosaic floors and discovered those things and
kind of, you.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Know, just just wonderful, wonderful stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The Seven Churches of Asia all through Turkey, and we
visited those. And when I'd come back, I would think
about friends of mine and in.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Laws of mine later on that were born.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And raised in like for instance, in the Valley Studio
city born and raised, went to school. We'd be driving
past a little old drug store and they say, oh, yeah,
that's where we used to go when I was you know,
when I was eight. We'd go in there and we'd
try to steal some candy.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Or something whatever. And I thought, man, how lucky is that?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And then I would think about what I got to
travel all over Europe and all over you know, living
in Turkey and traveling all around the country, and it
opens up your mind.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
It was pretty amazing, pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Time.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Couldn't agree with you more. My parents really instilled in
me a love of travel. We didn't live in a
foreign country. We did live on Guam for a while,
and when I was maybe five or six, my dad
took me with him to Soul, Korea for a couple
of days. And I've been to sixty something countries now
(11:56):
and I don't travel on business. It's just because my
parents instilled that stuff me. So I completely get what
you're talking about. For those just join and we're we're
talking with Robert Hayes, who has done dozens and dozens
of TV shows and movies and you know, most most
famous for Airplane My gosh, Okay, so you know, you
did a lot of stuff before Airplane, but I think
(12:20):
most of it was drama rather than comedy. I mean,
I don't know everything you did, but there was a
lot of drama.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
What was it like for you to.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Do something that wasn't just comedy but like an insane
almost slapstick comedy with these lunatics in the best way
as the writers and directors.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I mean, that must have been a new world for you.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Yeah, it was I I had done when I stumbled
in all this stuff at little College, gross One College,
because that was the only class I could take to
get into college. I was a transfer student once again,
you know, all the travel.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
And.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
So I got into acting in the acting class, and
I started developing this thing as we're doing the plays,
and we were doing musicals, comedies, mostly musicals and comedies,
but there were dramatic things too, but mostly with these
I developed a thing about having a smile in my
(13:25):
belly when I was doing a drama and a frown
in my belly when I was doing a comedy.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
It was working against what it is that.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
You had, and that was that was something I was
kind of developing and starting to use, and it was
forming and then when I got up.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
To LA I was doing bits and pieces.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
In the Blue Night with George Kennedy. You know, it
was a drama a cop show on TV and Rocker
Files is a you know, a drama, da comedy drama thing.
And and then I started to do more like with
Angie it was a you know, a sitcom, right And
(14:12):
then when we did Airplane, that's when there was somebody
the boys Jerry and David and Zurka and Jim Abrams
and and they had this same style, much more refined
and much more advanced. But that was the same thing
that I had been kind of thinking of and developing
(14:32):
and trying to, you know, get in my method. Everyone
has their own method, like Henry Fonda once said, everyone
has their own method small m So that was my method.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Part of my method was that, and I was developing it.
But then they're the.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Ones that really had it much more, you know, really
down and it was great.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
It was so great, and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
It makes the comedy so much more intense. If you're
laugh as you're doing the joke, and you're laughing, you've
taken the laughter away from the audience.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
They're just kind of yeah, you know, and they smile
along with you.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
But if you're very serious and suddenly something comes out
of the left field and it surprises them, then then
you get an explosive laughter out of that. It's kind
of like saying, I used to tell people that we
had a lot of comedies. You see a person has
an astral projection of themselves standing next to themselves looking
(15:31):
at the audience saying, huh, this is funny, Huh isn't it?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And ours, my.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Astral projection would look out of the audience and they'd
be laughing and say, what are you laughing at?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
This is serious stuff, which made him laugh even more.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, when you're you have that attitude and that kind
of you know ingredient.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
I've got about I've got about ninety seconds left.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What was it like for you as an actor to
be doing this unbelievable comedy, like one of the funniest
movies ever made with these intense, like straight man actors
like Peter Graves and Lloyd Bridges and Bob Stack.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I mean, what's that like for you?
Speaker 4 (16:12):
That was so incredible.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I'd worked with Bob Stack before, I had a guest
star shot on on his his show called Most Wanted
I think it was called and I was a guest
star bad guy, and there was a guest star good
guy that had been wrong I had been wronged and
when little nuts in the head, so I knew him,
(16:36):
you know, from doing that. And Lloyd Bridges I watched
growing up. I mean, Peter Graves I watched. I mean,
it was just amazing. Sure, and yeah, it was remarkable.
It was so fun, so fun.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I can't imagine. I could talk to you all day,
but I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
But I just wanted to say thank you for I mean,
Airplane is a transformational movie for me. I'm a little
older than you are, so I was watching that and
maybe junior high school and high school, and I've probably
seen it thirty times or forty times, and I can
probably quote most of it.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And it's just one of the most brilliant things.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And so I don't know, there you go.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
You got Jerry and David Zucker and Jim Abrams in there,
the geniuses behind the film.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Well, yeah, I mean it, and you got one of
those this weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Now, you know what.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I know you're being modest, but the film wouldn't have
had the impact on me and many, many, many millions
of other people, I think without you in that starring role.
I mean, it's easy because we've only seen you in it,
and we didn't see someone else in it, and so
but I can't picture anyone else in it, and you
just pulled that off so perfectly. I can't imagine anyone
(17:47):
doing it better in one of my favorite movies of
all time. So it's just a privilege for me to
be able to say, thank you.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I appreciate that very much, thank you, thank you. This
has been fun talking with you. I wish we had
another hour or two to be able to just jabber.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah fun. I do too.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Maybe we'll talk another time if you wake up early.
But folks, Robert, along with David Zucker, one of the
three crazies behind the movie Airplane, and I mean that
in the best way, is gonna be here. They're gonna
be here in Denver, this coming Sunday at the Paramount Theater.
If you go to Ticketmaster and type in Airplane exclamation point,
you will find tickets. You're gonna a special screening of
the movie and then a Q and A with these guys,
(18:25):
and it's just gonna be absolutely incredible. Robert, thanks so
much for making time for getting up early there Indre
and Bowie, and it's been a.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
All right, yeah, this is time to go back to paradise. Sorry,
you gotta get back out in the water, you.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Do, all right. See that is the great Robert Hayes.
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