Rick Farris wrote:Rick, do you remember the boxing-themed episode of 6M Man where Jerry Quarry had a pretty good role? It just wasn't his boxing scenes where he's supposed to spar with Majors to see what he has and to teach him the finer points (Quarry is 'amazed' how quick Steve Austin picks up on the sport as he is 'unaware' of Austin's bionic frame), but Jerry has some good lines in the episode.
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Scar . . . I remember the episode well, although I never watched it on TV. I remember seeing my Uncle in the Universal Set Lighting office before work one day, and he told me Jerry was guest starring on his show, inviting me to stop by the the stage later to say hello to him.
At the time, Universal Studios was not only the world's biggest studio, but the busiest in it's history, with multiple TV productions, feature films, TV movies, etc. I was working on "Kojak" at the time, and after out lunch break I visited the "$6 Million Man" set to say hello to my former stablemate.
Some of the other Universal TV productions at the time were . . . Baretta, Rockford Files, The Incredible Hulk, Quincy, Switch, Adam-12, Marcus Welby M.D., Emergency, McCloud, Battle Star Galactica, Buck Rogers, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, MacMillan & Wife, The Bionic Woman and several more.
-Rick Farris
Side note on Universal . . . During the mid-to-late 70's, when I broke into the film business, there was much more film production taking place in L.A. Our studios were packed, and sound stage space was at hard to find. Many an industrial warehouse was converted into a studio production facility, just to accomodate the need for Sound Stages.
We had the best film makers in the world working then, guys who were old school vets and the newer group, the Spielberg's, Coppola's, Hal Ashby, etc. There was a certain honor among the old school legends. The camermen I would work with were like the old school Hollywood Legion Boxers, like the Bolanos', Ortiz's, etc. They were the class of the business, and they taught me a lot, I dove into the job I had and had lots of opportunity to work with the best, just as I had in boxing.
It was the last of a great age in Hollywood Film Production. Today, it no longer exists, not like it was. We still have great artists and thanks to computor technology, mistakes made by many today who are lost on a film set, can be corrected in post production. We didn't have that safety net, we had to shoot it right, or it wouldn't be right. Things in Hollywood have changed, just like Los Angeles boxing has changed.
If you knew the film business as you know the boxing business, you feel a little empty, just as a few of us do here when considering the state of boxing in L.A. Who is to say what's better? All I can say is that it used to be a lot more fun.
-Rick
. . . That's Jerry.
