Many of you heard about this the other day, but he still deserves a post of his own. Emmy and Tony-award winning actor Edward Herrmann has passed away from brain cancer at the age of 71. Many of us remember him from his parts in Annie and Overboard, and others remember him from his time on Gilmore Girls. The creator of Gilmore Girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino, spoke to TV Line about Herrmann, and gave them the following anecdote. As quoted by TV Line:
"When we were casting the part of Richard on Gilmore Girls, we all sat around saying, ‘If we could only get Ed Herrmann.’ So we sent the script to his agent who said Ed will come in and meet, but he won’t read. We said fine — great. Set it up. The agent said, ‘But I need you to understand — he will not read.’ We said we get it — no reading. The agent said, ‘He’s Ed Herrmann. He’s worked with Woody Allen! He was in Reds! He will not, under any circumstances, read!’ We were like ‘Hey, if he’ll even sit down and talk to us, we’d be honored.’ So Ed came in. He sat down and said, ‘I like it. It’s funny. Should I read?’ We sat there in stunned silence as Ed opened the script and proceeded to read. And just like that, Richard Gilmore was sitting in front of us. And that’s when I knew this show was charmed… To our patriarch, I thank you. I miss you. And I could never repay you."
This once again, makes me all teary eyed. RIP dear Ed, RIP.
ReplyDeleteGilmore Girls was a great show. RIP.
ReplyDeleteIt makes you wonder about how many actors and actresses get bad reps based solely on their agents or managers who seem to be on the bigger ego trip.
ReplyDeleteIt makes you wonder how many times scripts don't get to actors and actresses that could have lead to awards or career breaking or highlight of a carer that get tossed by the same fools.
DeleteExactly, Tina. It sounds like the agent was a jerk, but Mr. Herrmann was a class act.
DeleteI really wish I had more details but I swear I recall a story where an actor's rep turned away a script, that later turned into a big movie and of course the actor was pissed about it because he would have wanted it.
DeleteDamn my memory - I can remember the darnest things but then bam, I go blank!
You might be thinking of James Woods in "Reservoir Dogs". According to IMDB trivia he was offered the role of Mr. Orange a number of times but his agent always passed without ever asking Woods himself.
DeleteVanVan, I remember someone talking about that in an interview. They said they'd been offered some big role, but their agent hadn't told them about it, and it ended up costing them big time.
DeleteI know this isn't what you're thinking about, but David Lee Roth once said in an interview that the producers of the original Beverly Hills 90210 wanted to use his song "Just Like Paradise" as the theme song for the show. Dave said he didn't know about it until he was watching VH-1, and they mentioned it. Dave contacted VH-1 and told them it was a mistake. The 90210 producers contacted him and told him it was true. He did some investigating and found out his manager at the time had turned down the offer, because he felt it was beneath Dave. Dave said the manager didn't even mention it to him. He also said that decision by his manager cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties.
Thanks for the stories Dr. and Bally! Those weren't the ones I was thinking of but that just goes to show, like Tina said, makes you wonder how often that happens - I'm sure it happens a lot more than we think.
DeleteI love this so much!
ReplyDeleteAnd totally agree, @Tina. It's like those BIs you read where the instructions are to not look in the celeb's eyes and the celeb doesn't even give a crap. I remember there was one like that about Reese Witherspoon, she was made out to be some kind of diva before she switched agencies and before the DUI, then afterward she was being papped constantly (hoping to catch her screwing up again, presumably) and what happens? She gets a BI that says that after the DUI, she's resurrecting her image and going on vacations with fans. Sometimes they just can't win.
I totally loved him in this role. A great favorite!
ReplyDeleteLoved his work and i hate death and cancer.
ReplyDeleteRIP. I love Gilmore Girls. I was watching it when i heard the news.
ReplyDeleteWho dat?
ReplyDeleteI loved the show and I really liked him. RIP Mr. Herrmann.
ReplyDeleteRIP
ReplyDeleteLoved him on Gilmore Girls and Annie.
I also always think of him as the voice of the History Channel.