Among my numerous talents, I have this uncanny ability, while watching a TV show or a movie to recognize a B-list actor's face and somehow place them in a previous role. It may take me a few moments, but I always figure it out. My Guy sometimes challenges me on it, but I am very rarely wrong. And I have been right about some pretty obscure ones too. I know; it's a gift, and it happens to me all the time. Has this happened to you?
Case in point: I was watching CSI:Miami last night. The episode was about this big time mob boss Joey Salucci and his revenge for the accidental death of his daughter. Yada, yada, yada, so I'm looking at the guy, Joey Salucci, and listening to him and my mind kicks into the, "where have I seen him before" mode. I couldn't tell you what heck was going on in the episode, cuz all I could think about is, "I know I've seen this guy in a movie before".
My mind was busy getting all kinds of messages from the karmic world. The information my brain was receiving told me he once played a whiney, wimpy little dude with more hair and he was possibly crying for mercy and begging for his life. I think about his accent, detecting a slight Boston drawl, and begin to try to place him in famous Boston based films. The Departed? Mystic River? Nothing. The grainy images of the whiney actor began scanning through my mind, much like a CSI finger print as it is run through KODIS, looking for a hit. SCANNING......NO MATCH FOUND. Dang.
Anyway, I finish watching the episode and leave to go to pick up my son at hockey practice. As we arrive home and come into the garage, I am walking into the house when the answer hits me! Beverly Hills Cop! That's it! That's the movie! Damn, I am good!!!!
The actor's name is James Russo and he played Mikey Tandino in the original 1984 Beverly Hills Cop film. Remember? He was Eddie Murphy's best friend who was murdered in the beginning by Victor Matlin's thugs for stealing some kind of bonds? His death was the reason Axel went to Beverly Hills to investigate. Yup, got all whiney and crying right before that really ugly guy shot him. Russo has been in hundreds of other films like Lethal Weapon 3, Donnie Brasco and Fast Times At Ridgemont High, all of which I have seen, but his Beverly Hills Cop role is what came to mind. Weird. Oh yeah, I was wrong about his accent too. He is from New York not Boston, but close enough.
I told you this happens to me all the time, so I just want to share this last thing with you and since you really don't care anyway, what the hell.
One time My Guy and I were in Vegas at the Venitian. We go to sit down at one of the black jack tables and I look at this pretty blonde woman sitting across from me and I feel a flicker of recognition. So, of course, without thinking, I say, "You look familiar to me. Do I know you?" I should have known from her reaction, (which was to immediately loose her smile, break eye contact with me and turn away, in the form of a response) because I later figured out that she wasn't someone's random mother from the PTA like I thought. She was a movie version of an iconic figure from my childhood. She was this woman.
10 comments:
Your familiarity with B list actors is better than my familiarity with A list actors.
Seriously - Zak Effram? Effron? Enron? Who? Hanna North Dakota? Wha?
I can't keep track of them all these days. I wish it were the 80's still with only 4 movie stars - Arnold, Stallone, Eddie Murphy, and Candice Bergen (cause she was hot).
I'm also good at that too. On separate occasions, I saw two actors in bars and approached them and both were who I suspected. One was on the episode of Happy Days where he was in a dance contest against the Fonz. The other was the kid that was in the first scene on the first episode of Cheers. He was also on a pilot with Ann Jillian. I told you I was that good.
PB or peebs(can I call you that? I give everyone petnames)-What can I say? It's a gift. Ya, and my parents must have been hittin the bottle a little too hard because they named me after the aforementioned Ms. Bergen.
Zibbsy-Oooh we should have a name the random B-list actor contest! you vs me.
Coco- its like the force. It's either with you or it's not
My husband has this talent too. Not so much me though.
Call me anything you want, I'm easy! But not cheap. No wait, cheap but not easy. Damnit, I have no idea.
My whole existence is based on naming b-list and z-list actors that no one else really knows. James Russo would have been an easy one for me.
And I would have gotten Jan Brady too! ;)
You and me Earl-two peas in a pod. heehee
oh puh-lease... like people actually recognize her by name!
(hee hee hee)
my awesome talent is an extraordinary sense of direction. You can stick me anywhere in the world and I can make it back to my favorite KFC.
slopmaster
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