Who Can Turn the World on With His Smile | Bruce Boxleitner, Part 2

Weirdy, Weird, Medium, eight so Pretty through the city. World. Welcome to eighties TV ladies, where we look back in order to leap forward. Here are your hosts, Susan Lambert had Him and Sharon Johnson. Hello, I'm Susan and I'm Sharon.

Welcome back to part two of our marvelous interview with Bruce Boxleitner, star of Scarecrown, Missus King, How the West Was Won, Babylon five, Tron, and so much more. This episode is loaded with insights into his time on Scarecrow, Missus King, as well as stories from Bruce's early days on gun Smoke, Policewoman and Bretta. Now. We left part one on a little cliffhanger where we were just about to show Bruce a noteworthy scene from Scarecrow and Missus King season two, episode twenty one, entitled Burnout Enjoy. Let me share my screen.

Let's see if I can pull this off. We have faith, Sason, I know you it. Okay, Oh my god, Okay, let me see you make sure this sounds up. What was I doing again? I was going I was faking as though I was doing an agent burnout.

Yes, but it was all to trap somebody is that this guy. Yeah, you're trying. This guy is sort of trying to recruit you for the big bad but nobody knows. And Amanda has come in going. You have to come back to the agency, and you know mel Rest wants you, and.

Well let's see how this goes. This is a man. Hello, I came to talk to you about that report for mister Meilroy. No, you really need to do it now. It has to be turned in on time.

You know time, time, Amanda, I have got nothing but time. I'm sorry, that's okay, I'm sorry. You can move your hand, Amanda. Oh Aman, Amanda, look Jack, I'll talk to you about your friend later. No, No, that's all right.

Didn't hurt. I hit you. Just gotta stay away from me. You see what I've been doing, lady, You see what I've been going through. I am poison and then let me make it easier for you.

Just don't help the ugly side of least that. Yeah, so what did what did you want to know? I want to know how you guys managed that last slap? Right? Do you remember what your discussion was or what you guys worked on to do that moment?

Because it's So. What's so great about Scarecrow is it's funny and goofy, and then every once in a while it comes across as very real. Yeah, it can turn on a dime right there, as the old thing is. I think what we discussed was Kate said, hit me, it's written in and he slapped her and that stops it. Man.

Anyway, everybody just praises and he realizes he's just And by the way, I just saw that I blew my cover for a moment there, Yeah, that and the other guy's watching and momentarily he blew his cover. He was stunned by what he had just done. Or in a look hunter right. So yeah, it was if you'll remember it, tap tap doawn. That's how she had to gear herself up for it.

I didn't hit her. It sounded more like I did than the actual concussion of it. Yeah, it was no fun. I didn't enjoy doing that at all. I would never really do that.

You're always trained to make it look like it's say hit and you're missing, you know, when you're doing fight scenes and stuff like that. No matter with whom, you don't want to hit somebody or get it. And but that there was no way to avoid them. So she she's you know, she was. It was an absolute marvel those type of things.

She was willing to do things physical like that. I don't think we did it. We didn't do it more than what's that angle? Everything else we could do with the trigger of the camera, because always and when when making contact with somebody, and when you're not doing a fight, or even that she's looking me right swear in the eye. I'm looking at her seat square in the eye.

I have to let her know it's coming. I have to telegraphs in my eyes that I'm going to be hitting her. So it was you notice this, don't don't bam. She knows on number three it's coming. And she would also sell it.

But that was a real stunning look, you know. And and her when are you calling that one? Yeah? And then he's you know, begging her not to Then he asked to. You know, Lee had a very short temper oftentimes, especially with Themanda.

It was only because he had deep feelings for it and wanted it. He was a protector, you know, he wanted to always protect her everything. And uh, but then he was yea and in her voices fighting him doing that too. So it's a complex character. You know.

I always I always thought I came off as such an act in the first couple of seasons because I was why are you so mean to her? All the time? Well, I wanted her to get the hell out of here. I mean, this was an accident, never meant to happen. But it was a desperate move on least part of the train there, you know, and on some laws he wanted.

He wanted to protect her, as you were saying, because we didn't think that she this was something she should get her involved in. Yes, absolutely, right from the get go. And Billy's going, oh, I think I found you a new partner then, and uh, oh gosh. You know, at the best time was Mel Stewart over in Europe, because Mel was a hell of a he's a saxophonist, saxophone jazz musician. And during our break there when we were stuck there and that, believe me, it's a wonderful place me stuck, he was sitting in and local club, jazz club.

Wow, jazz was all over me. They really loved it there. And he fell in with a bunch of guys that were standing in the lobby of the Munich Hildren, and they were all like all had British accents and everything, and you can always say the strangest bunch of brothers I've ever met anyway, But he fell in right away. Mel is all about you. That's all he ever talked about.

I was. And he was really good, very very very good. And he sat in on a bunch of and a bunch of jazz clubs around town. So that's amazing. That's amazing.

Funny guy and Martha, I teased incessantly. Martha was like one of my sisters. I was the oldest of four kids and all of them were female after me. So I was I could be living hell for them or I could, you know. I was a big brother.

They could go and fight their battles for them too, if they needed it. And I was the one standing at the door when the boy came to pick him up for a date. You know, my dad didn't even have to do that. So but with Martha, that's the kind of thing we still have the same. We haven't changed a bit, but we still batter with each other like that, you know.

Yeah, But every Friday night, the last scenes before the weekend for the that when we were back in LA I was always in Billy Meloe's's office and mel always had these, you know, these scenes where he had dialogue as long as your arm on the script and he was always graded. But he you know, he was like a Korean War hero. Bell was the Korean War. Yes, yes, he did have that. He never talked about it much.

We veterans don't, but I've been in some really bad stuff and he was sit and tell me about that once in a while, and we had some long time to sit and talk. But in another way, then it would go back to jazz and uh. So they were always in Billy's office and Bell used to slaughter the dialogue sometimes. You know, he would have the and he would have all the spy jargon to do all the you know, or the government agency, and they're always in acronyms and things like that. I'm another kid going, I'm glad I don't have these lines, and you know, and then you've got the crew sitting around going are we going to get out of here?

Oh my god? How many takes is this? You never knew that when you saw the finished product. I mean, he just was always great and uh but you know, Friday night. It's been a long week and he has to come in and he had that what we call what we call it laying the pipe er something.

He had to tell us everything we're going to do, all the expositions in that epithode, all the he's carrying all the exposition and that is not an easy thing to do. So and I would stand off the camera, right next to the camera and make faces at him and things like that. I mean, we were just crazy. We would do anything because we were tired. We had long hours on this buddy thing, you know, back then, I always say episodic television.

Maybe not so much today, but when the schedules we had to keep were so that we would work fourteen fifteen hours, you know, Tate would have to get in an hour and a half to two into hair and makeup three morning and finally, and I don't blame her, she was only our headlining star and she got to leave if she was in at five point thirty. She always left by six thirty. So I have a fight scene to do, It's thirty at night, when you've just after a long week or something like that. They always save the action. Poor stunt pops.

They would all sit around playing cards or whatever, sitting around waiting, and oftentimes it happens because then they want to rush the action, the very stuff you don't want to rush. Somebody's going to get fucked, somebody's gonna fall down, something's going to happen. We were luckily throughout all of that. I don't think one time an actor leaned into my stunt doubles punched. He leaned in a little too far, broke his nose.

And that is the stuntman's credo, I shall do no harm to these green actors. And but we had little things like that, you know, like tying me on an airplane, a biplane going up. That was me hanging out that it What about you on the helicopter That was Gary that they had. They had a helicopter up and I hung from it. It's flying stationary, okay.

And then they dropped me. Let me jumped out. Gary got a stunt, a stunt award from that. It was a marvelous thing. It took him to a river, they took him to the trees, They took him from a pence and it was not safe.

And just to tell you what kind of a a madman he was. He was not cabled to that thing. No, oh my no. Here's the reason why. Here's the thinking.

This is insane. What if something happens to the chopper I'm stuck to I'm hanging by a cable to it. What if something the chopper goes awry, something hit and something, and then I go down with it. I'm much safer jumping free and I'm going what was what's the third choice? Mean?

You know, I mean you're falling either way. It could be half a mile up or something. Who knows? You said, well, I at least picked my own where I was going to be found, you know. But that's how crazy that was.

That was nune because he ran. If you'll look at that thing again, he ran and jumped on it and he took off. There was no way to clip him on to a thing up his sleeve. The whoa, I don't believe. There is a cut in there of him actually taking off.

And they shot all of that with another chopper following them. It's handheld. It's a pretty incredible stunt, and it is a wonderful stunt. And our Schase scenes think of her car. Yeah, the action that little station wagon went through Oh my god, bus stops I made every day.

Oh yeah, we did, We did. And you know what would about fun day for you all to be standing out on the street and to Luca Lake, California, which is right there in Burbank Bank, and we use that main street so many times. Always, I might add, trying to avoid a palm tree in the picture. We're supposed to be in Virginia, not Florida, and not California, okay, or Tahiti. No there.

You know, we have palm trees everywhere, so they would have to avoid that. But we would do those scenes in Missus King's car over my corvette, toeing in back of a camera truck. Okay, the whole camera crew's on there, director's sitting there. You got fifty people hanging off this truck. It's got all kinds of pipe railings and stuff, you know, for equipment to hang on and be secured to, and you're shooting this way.

That was a long day, and it was all that fun dialogue. We were just bantering back and forth, back and forth. We did those scenes fifty times. You know, I'm going up and down, Yeah, just changing out the angle depending on how elaborate the director wanted to get some didn't really care someone to get really heartsy and and fun and complicated. But yeah, those I think they had one or two of those cars or station wagon and we had two.

I know one of the sound producer he bought the last crew corvette. Well and then David. Yes, I'm amazed at this guy. And that's a great book, by the way, it's a great book. Give it a nice little you know everything you want to know about the Scarecrow and this is king it there.

It's a good door stop as well. As but that is a book, you know, and sometimes the fan books are made you know quickly or you. Know this well, it is ridiculously detailed and accurate in every way. He's an amazing fan and I think he's been a great asset to the fan club. Yeah, you know, I know, jeanetteh But yes, he restored what was that an old uh what was it that he would know?

And it's in the book The Ultimate Fan Cut. Oh my god, that was so much fun. Scarecrow was there that at that point that was the real big time so far as being on network television. They're one of two stars and the rest of the cast a lot of people's paycheck was writing on you two showing up and delivering the goods, and the audience enjoined those goods. Everybody had to contribute.

But in the end of the day, Katie and I had to. There were days I didn't want to do it. There were days that she was tired too. I think if we fought anything in that episodic TV, like I said before, you're always tired. Heard, you're always you're always working against the clock.

Time is is not your friend. Because then we had to make a movie every seven days. Yeah, because they already had they already had a time slot, you know. Yeah, they're picked up once it was started on the air. We already we had that way ahead.

So uh and then in those days, I'm always amazed now because I'm I'm doing this series. It's it's six episodes. They called that a series. I call that a two parter and maybe some maybe a three part Is this the Blue Ridge, Blue Ridge? Yeah?

And they shoot that in North Carolina, in Charlotte and in the Blue Mountains there. I've only got one more episode my character returns. But but what I'm saying is is that all they're all young. Uh, Sarah Gaster's been around, and so is Jonathan Sheik. But uh, and they're going, wow, I said, we used to do twenty two of these, yes, even, And this is where I come off something like the grumpy old man.

You know, Oh, back in my day, kid, you know, but that is I'm right there. Now. It's so different today. Yeah, it's almost unrecognizable. And how we shoot now, I have to say I loved it the way we did it.

We had fun. Nobody's having fun anymore. I lament this, by the way, because we have cell phones on the set. Everybody's on their cell phone. No one's talking, and I come in and they go, who is this old geezer?

Laughing and joking and telling stories. But that's what we did, and that's what maybe the Scarecrow and Missus King set so much fun. We didn't all hide in our trailers or dressing rooms. We were on the set the whole time, sitting around in a circle of chairs, telling hysterical things and telling jokes. And Mel was always one of the ring leaders.

He and I were the real ring leaders all to mayhem that went on that set. If he picked it up on me or I picked it off of him and went with it. It was it was fun stuff. We played practical jokes too. Martha was always outraged by them, and Katy go oh, I don't have time to miss anyway.

Well we uh, we had fun. I'm seventy four years old now, maybe I'm just getting a little tired. I've been doing this fifty some years. I loved the job, but as a younger actor you got more zip, you know. And I'm not done by any means.

I've just done with Seth McFarlane The Orville. Yeah, what's that part in the Orval? The first time you had to go through that kind of full transformation that they put you know, the mask and everything that they put you in. Yes, yes, sure, and it was. And the only reason I think this is having done all these years of Babylon five, I so respected the actors that had to be there at four thirty in the morning to get in all that glue and and I had a cowl, had that initial head I had to squeeze your It scared the crap out of me because I'm a little bit claustrophobic around the head take.

I couldn't do scuba diving and stuff like that. And to be inside that at first was a little daunting, but it was because of Andreas Consulis and Mira for all of them that had to Billy moone, all of them had to do that every day. I said, I want to challenge myself. And when Seth cast me in that, I went down and I had a meeting, and so I dressed as president. Well, I dressed as a president in the suit, tie and shirt, you know, and I walked into an office down on Sunset and where's everybody?

And there was a little camera in the corner, and I didn't know that Seth was on the other end of that over wherever he was. He could have been in his living room. I never saw him, but this voice comes out. That was really great. Group set was really great.

I'm thinking, and I want to know your opinion. Now, I'm thinking he's an alien character, the last of his race, because by the way, on that set, there were no other Smurfs like me. I mean, I I nicknamed myself Papa Smurf so that they knew it was, you know, because Ted Danson was on that with Garber and all kinds of people. That the reason I bring up Seth's too is that he was. He's not.

He's a the genius of a guy. And there were a lot of times sitting there because the head was so big, I couldn't read a book or anything. Seth was a huge Scarecrow and Missus King fan because he loves eighties so the eighties ladies will get this. He loves the theme music of all those shows back then, like Mike, Mike Post and Arthur. So Arthur Rubinstein did the d that song.

Seth played it right there. You had like this little piano type thing. We could play that thing. And I talked about Arthur and how we had done at the Greek Theater. We had done the Telltale Heart ed Gary Allan posed a Telltale Heart with a sixty piece orchestra.

I did it with that one Halloween night or the night weekend of Halloween, and it was packed and it was beautiful. But Arthur introduces me with the you know, to walk out on stage with the thief from Scarecrimbeness. It is the joy, wonderful joy. But it was fun that way sitting there because I had I probably talked about Scarecrow miss Is being more than anything here. I had done beblon five and everything.

Yeah, yeah, I like that, but he wanted to talk about interesting every like that. We might have to get him on the show. You should, you should, because he knew it immediately and he was one of these people and said, I sat there with my mother and we watched every episode. So my mom, his mother brought him to that show. That was a big bonding experience for it.

And he wanted to know all about that, just like I'm talking to you know all the how did we do this? And how do we do that? And I said, it's very different than today. You would have your whole cast would be sitting down here with us now instead of separated all real place off doing their own thing. You know, we'd all be down there.

And you know, the whole reason I bring that up is actors are sponges where we're these creative, little crazy people and we feed off of each other. And the closer you can get and this is what this and I wouldn't say this is what I'm saying to my younger generation here. It seemed to find TikTok and everything else more fascinating than the persons sitting across from you. Is that And there's a place for all that I'm not saying, but I'm saying, there's something that I saw lacking, and I've seen it at every show that I've been doing, is that everyone's all wrapped up in their own little thing and instead of exchanging with each other and having and you know what, you stand up and you walk all of that right into the set with your material.

You know what I'm saying. That's how that cast worked and Scarecrow, we all knew each other, and I'm always longing for that. I think I'm always an actor in search of a new family, and I love that because that became family. Even though we were only on four seasons, we spent so many hours. I spent more time with Kate probably did my own wife.

Two months of it there, we would shoot thirteen episodes, and then we would anxiously wait from the network the back nine so that we would have it twenty two. That was everything. It was called the back nine? Are we going to get the back nine? And I've been on too many shows where we didn't even get the first thirteen?

You me, I who sold pilots? I have I have an MTM pilot made marital more productions called Sporting chance, which I thought had a I wished he had a sporting chance. I had many pilots after Scarecrow, and none of them landed. I think George Clooney claims he's the king of the unsold pilots. Well, buster, I'm a runner up, I have to tell you, because I had a number of Scarecrow could have easily gone in an unsold bilot.

But Kate Jackson had still such heat from from the Charlie's Angels. It shows you what a cultural impact that show had that you know, we were a shoelet. Yeah. Hell that the Yellow Rose didn't last, but I think if it lasted one season, it was But Sybil found her own Scarecrow. They got to be a little more adult than we did.

We could shoot people, but they had to be wounded. I don't think that I actually ever really kill anybody. I can't really remember. At eight o'clock, yeah, even if there was a car wreck, we had to see somebody struggling to get out of the wreckage. That was my favorite.

Do these elaborate sugs that they get up and stagger around. Okay, he's alive, that's okay. It's just a bloody mess. But he's okay, get him a band aid. He'll be fine.

We need to take a break and we're all gonna turn on our air conditioning and drink a drink a thing. Absolutely, we'll be right back. We're back. Let's jump right in. So your first television show was Mary Tyler Moore.

Very true. That's how I got my screen Actor's go card. My entire paycheck went to getting my union card. But that meant that was gold to me. I never had to go through those hoops.

The producer, Ed Weinberger of Mary Tyler Moore. He owed my agent of favor and he read me. He said, bring the kid in. I'll read it. I'm going that's very highly unusual.

Producers don't do that. I mean, he didn't have writer, producer or anything like that. He was just so this guy John Crosby brings me in. And I'd only been out there probably a part of the a good part of the year. That's not much, okay.

I had brought enough money with me. I had done the Broadway show back in Chicago again, and I kind of had what was the old Western called a grub steak, and so I had enough to live on. So Ed reads me, and it was what just a couple of lines. It was Murray's daughter was got a summer job at the news studio in Minneapolis, and she was a total screw up. But nobody had the heart to tell Murray's daughter, She's not gonna be even little couldn't do it.

He going in there, you know, I'll tell her, and then, oh, you're just a little darling, aren't you, you know? And he couldn't it. And so I was a mail room boy. That guy a kid that he that Ted Knight brought in, well the cohol wife found here. He brings me in.

That man had I was. I probably almost went in my pants a couple of times. I laughed so bloody hard that I just couldn't the man. You gotta admit he was. When you want some Mary tylerboard show, that guy was absolutely hysterical, you know.

And I got to work with these these people. Mary. She was so wonderful to me and rode A Dalli Vali Arper really befriended me. She sat and tarding me forever, everything about me, how good and what plans are? And uh, it was on that studio a lot in CBS in the Valley that I wandered into the door.

Big wide doors were opened on the on the sound stage, and I wandered into Dodge City, Kansas, gun smoke. The interior of the western town was on a sound stage. Dirt street wagon stage, coaches, saloons, there was this Kiddie's saloon. There was Matt's office, there was Doc his office up in the you know, and I'm wandering around. They'd all gone to lunch, and I'm wandering around, going, I'm going to do this one day, I'm going to do this one.

But I got it. Did Yeah. John Madley, the executive producer, said it was the worst episode they had done in fifteen years that they cast me, and somehow my future was linked to that because it was actually James Arnelson gave me my biggest break ever. I wouldn't have never gotten to Scarecrown miss Is King probably, you know, seriously, I mean I would have never. I had to add that how the Westers won that series under my belt, and so it's amazing he meets maybe one person in your life could be absolutely could change the direction.

And you know what I'm saying, I mean all of us have that somebody that whether it was advice. Sure some decision made if he if he if he had to like Richard Hatch more than me for the role, I don't know where it would be. You might have ended up on battlest I might have been in the Middle Star instead of How the West was One. I love How the West Was One, though. That's that's the first time I remember you.

And that was my springboard. I couldn't have walked in. I couldn't have had any cloud whatsoever with CBS. Somehow I just wandered over at CBS because I think Mary Taylor Moore was a CBS show. I think it was, and they were the biggest company on that little lot that used to be Republic Studios in the old things.

Kyde and I we had a very interesting relationship that uh, you know, I was married child and that I lived you know, I lived out of town on Way North the Valley and studios, and she lived over in Beverly, Glenn. So we never did anything really you know, uh personal, I mean so far as hanging out and things like that. We did enough of that out of set for fourteen. But Europe we all did. We all hung with each other much much more because we didn't have our loved ones with us until later in the trip, you know, Uh, then they came and.

So but Katie and I I think we we had a we had a we had a relationship in our relationship was kind of it could be it could be a little zesty and. I mean, you know, it could be a little exciting so far as uh, you know, I had to watch my steps sometimes I better toe the line. Who was the boss there? You know, she was miss Kate Jackson. So I had to behabe myself or I'd get taken to the principal's office.

Now, who's the principal for Kate Jackson? Or did she say to the principal if I did? And it wasn't ever that. You know, you've heard stuff between Sybil and Bruce that was became legendary. Yes, uh, none, None of our stuff was like that.

It was always like a little thing. Yeah, and are you really gonna wear that shirt? Well? This is what Jimmy Hammond. Ye, I mean yeah, Well I don't like No, the belt's wrong.

Everything's good. That was the first season I've read. Well, wait a second, I know this is Scarecrow and Missus King. It was never anything serious, you know. Now, would you prank her?

Yes, yes I would, I would, But it's a line just came into my head. You know, whoever I love to really goof off with was Beverly Garland. Yes, she was a no nonsense in that. You know. She just loved to laugh.

She'd like to have a cigarette set out there and have a cigarette and see while it was old time, she was abroad. She was abroad. She was a real day you know what I mean. And she she worked with everybody, and she did if you actually look at her credit she was in everything. But she there's nothing could FaZe her.

She had her hotel in the valley, Beverly Garland off with vine on there. But Kate would get be in a bad mood. She was upset with something. And if Kate did that, because you know what, it's like all things. But Kate's feeling bad, we're all feeling bad, guys, we're good.

And when she's feeling great, everybody's feeling great. When you're the leads of this show, you literally carry the morale of the day with you. Ben would come walking in, Okay, what's wrong now, what's the problem? Oh that that's nothing. I tell you about the time when so and so and I had to yeah, you know, doorthy a little more and I had to come through this little moment I stepped on her drive, you know, and suddenly everyone's laughing.

You're together like a family. You're having there's arguments there, jokes, there's fun. There's everything that happens in a group of people that all know each other so well after a while, and you know what I'm saying, Yeah, yeah, yeah, And it's such a I can tell between you two from oh my god, kinds of drama, all kinds of drama, all kinds And what's camera there? What's his name of Ken? Kevin?

Kevin's lots of Devin. He's a sound guy. Yeah, oh yeah, Oh they're the worst. You know. I never met a happy sound guy in my entire career.

Kevin's laughing. You know why you may I'll tell you why. My friend every time when we used to shoot here in the San Fernando Valley. There's three airports in the San Fernando Belt and so Is Warnerer brothers at Columbia Studios and Universal we're all there, and Burbank Airport. You know, they come up up off that runway and they swear right, oh, so ready for a take.

We've got our love of eer Mike Son. We're all setting ready to go, and then uh, that's not good for me. Can we can we stop right there? That's not good for me. You may be doing your best work.

And he blows that take by going that's not goodly because we have another one. But I used to always I go, you guys aren't happy, are you? Said? No? I had the director one that we're.

Moving on, moving on, but I need one. I need one more more, I need a clean take. Kevin would never do that. Kevin looking at the corner of the screening, Kevin, sound good. I've met wonderful people.

You know. Crews are always my favorites. Take care of your crew, you know, like on the weekends sometimes I would buy the boys that like the uh the grips uh uh. When we could do this back in the day, I'd buy him a case of beer and have it for Friday night. Now that was probably very irresponsible.

Or exotic coffee trucks and the crowd, and you know, to always buy those for the for the kids, because there after we're long gone and my wardrobe is all hung up in the closet and I'm in my car driving home. Uh, They're there for another hour or two wrapping up everything, and they have to be there the next morning. I was taught this by Jim Arno Sex. I learned from him what it was to be the star of a series. He certainly knew because Gunsmoke was on for twenty years.

That's crazy. To carry a crew, give them a little something or other, something personal. I know at the end of the year we got like a coffee mug with from gem to everybody got a personal coffee mug. I oftentimes do T shirts and caps and things like that. It makes everybody more cohesive and you have those little things like that.

Everyone's wearing a crew jacket with the shell on the back or on it. Amazing how what that does for morale. Yeah, I still have my old scarecrow. I we had three of the two of them, and I have the corduroy gray one. It's kind of like a bomber jacket, but it's corduroy and really really bright sort of purple purple interior.

I don't know what it was, but I have that kept most of my crew jack. I'm go I'll give them my original tron Jack too, which was a member's only one. Oh that's so funny. We haven't even touched on tron I know, I know, and I know you talk a lot about TROMP. That's how I met Cindy, and that was the it was while that was in post production that I met for I did bring them back live and you brought you said, hey, how about Cindy.

Let's bring Cindy. Yeah, because I thought she looked the part. Yeah, she's got a little Kate upburn, you know, like she said, and she had she had that kind of feel and when it worked until they did what they wanted my carecter. When you're struggling in the ratings, they're trying some way to fix. What can we do to change it up before we give it up?

Unfortunately, they let Cindy go because they wanted my character to have more availability, have a love interest in Michelle in an episode, because we for Lee and Amanda, we were kind of that way. She was forever I was forever chasing her and she was forever resist so and she worked for this. She was like at the embassy. Yes, she was like the embassy. Yes, Yes, and that that was a fun show.

But Scarecrow made it odd that the pain from losing that all went away immediately as soon as we did Scarecrow, Missus. And you had what should have been I was going to say, and so you finally like that felt like, Hey, I've hit a place as an actor that I was trying. I arrived on my own. Yeah. Yeah, and that's going to feel pretty good.

I wasn't under you know, well, James Arnest, who was this tight type and television and and and even Maurice Saint and all the wonderful people that were the adults on the show. We were kids in the seventies. But yeah, I've done basically a series for every or two for every decade since, uh the nineties. Was the last one was babl On five. Yeah, so I'm more than blessed, more than blessed.

Leave me. And you've had these like very like Tron is a franchise in one of the early franchises that sort of didn't know was a franchise. I think, well, I think Disney didn't realize they had a Franchisemoth in their franchise Central right now. I mean, when it comes to the Marvel and Star Wars and so on, and that's great. And now that you know they've just done another Tron movie and it was time to have a new generation do it.

I still think they should call you, I know maybe, And that's fine. I wish them all luck. And I said I had to say it because I was being pestered online, like I cannot tell you. And when I do conventions, that's one of my highest selling photos and stuff and most targeted. You know, it's a generational thing too, Dad, They bring their kids.

They watched it, and you know, the original was the sweeter one of the yes, or darker and violent and everything as we went on. But that's okay. I think that, you know, do I want to do that one again? No? I really don't see what I don't want to do.

And I also said, this one scarecrow is his cake. It's capturing light being in a bottle, you know that phrase. We could never find that again, even if it was a reunion, wybe, we could never find we were people of that time, that place, that situation. You know what I'm saying. Yes, it's hard to have to do to capture it the first time, that magic, that serendipity, whatever it is that makes something like.

That or something. Yes, it's no, it's nothing that's really tangible. It's something, and that's the magic of it all. And when audiences respond like that, then you know you've got somebody. Can you do that again twenty five thirty years later?

Probably not? Probably not. First of all, the writers aren't there, and it was the writing, Yeah, Kate and I could probably do the phone book for you, but the magic, you know, Steve and Nita, her group I think did the best of Scarecrow Missus Green. Then when they left, they just seemed to leave us all at time. I was always standing there, way fly take me with you?

Period. Yeah, I think she went to in the heat of the night or something. Yes, yes, she was marvelous and Steve as well and shared their whole group. And then we had George Geiger and his team did a very noble attempting. But then how do we marry Lee and a mad Yeah?

And it was quite a quant We were in there, seriously, right, a quadry? How do you marry off these two? Should we marry off these? It was like the pros and cons of doing this, And oftentimes I think that could be the death of it. Oh my god, we've lost it.

And I did think there was some thing. How would we even if we had continue, say Katie hadn't been Hill, where would we have gone with this? You know, how would we age into this? You know, it was a it was a tough concept to make a series around in the first place. Okay, the one off, you know, the pilot, we got that, but how are you going to make this?

And how long is it comes? So she had to become a full fledged agent, but she still had to have her conflct you know. Four Dean the boyfriend was heartbroken. I think you know, all those those bar scenes that where we should have had him down at the end of the bar, just this knockout drawn, just going. Oh.

You know, I had a career. I had used to take me to the train. You know, I did the weather. I needed the weather. I was a good weather man.

And then she left me, and I just you know, you know, so I think I think you could write this right now. I know I could have made it. I think we could have made a great spoop of it. And I know there's a lot of fan fiction out there, and I always tried to tell him I can't read this, especially when we were still doing it. You know how many lawsuits going in Hollywood over that.

That was Star Galactica. Who was the who was the I worked with him too, crazy guy. The producer writer of that, Glenn Larson. Glenn Larson, yes, was sued by George Lucas. Oh boy, wen.

I did a huge pilot with him. We literally blew up northern Florida. What was the name of the pilot. It was called Rhodes Raiders and it was a spoof like McHale's Nighty, like all those comedies, military comedies, Holgan's Heroes, all those things. I think you can find it.

I think you can find it on something like Not to Be Here something one of those. I don't believe it ever aired. And they spent three million on it. It was a great premise, but Glenn Larson spent probably a million of his own. Richard Lange, I believe, was the one that directed this epic World War two comedy.

Sure. Well, my buddy Fine Kuzatsu was my nemesis. He was this crooked Japanese officer that was doing every black market thing he could do on the side, and we're in the Philippines was in the Philippines. We shot it in jack outside of Jacksonville, Florida. We had a lot of jungle area there.

We had a young lady, lady I think she was in one thing as I can remember. I think she went back to theater. We scared her to death. Anyway, I played Charlie Rhodes. I had been drummed out of the Flying Tigers through a false thing, and I was I ran a bar in Manila and the Japanese in Bay and I have to get out, and I've got this my piano player.

We were sidekicks and then he was. It was clearly a cossa blanket takeoff too. We had every homage you could find, all those movies, even the Flying Tigers, John Wayne's Flying Tire, and we had everything. I had a white sports coat on with a white bean her t shirt underneath it. Okay, soaring, yes, Clyde was so wonderful in it too.

But we we actually blew up an entire freight ship and sunk it in the harbor, and it caught the trees on fire. And Emily, we kept yelling, keep rolling, keep rolling. Anyway, Like I said, we could have burned Jacksonville to the ground. Then we had the sort of Dirty Dozen. These guys were all in the looney bin.

It was kind of an insanity ward. And so we had these two big weightlifting brothers that talked the same time. I forget what their names are. They were some some wrestling duels. Sounds insane, and we turned into roads raiders.

It's hilarious. We put together all these old parts. They would have been great toys for kids of old airplanes and trucks and tanks, and we put all mismatched together. We had the machine shop going all night long with but Andrew's sisters a little bit pupable. Yeah, you know, from Company B.

And I think the show could have gone Universal loved it, and I think then I think Glynn somehow scuttled it with his relationship there. Universal. They had a lot invested in that. We had a great love story in there too, between me and a woman who was posing as a nun on the until this here, until she wasn't anymore, and then she was a OSS agent. I was forever trying to find Scarecrow again.

Yeah. Do you remember working with Angie Dickinson on Policewomen? Yes, I do. That's the kind of guys I played. Adults start on the TV series, not the kids today, it's the young people, or at least two has been in the last the two thousands.

Here the younger ones than the adults are there. No, we still had Quincy or Barretta, and we still had all the cop shows, and we had all the sitcoms. It was still the parents. You know, they'll cause me and so seventies policewoman Angie Dickinson, I actually got an indication of First of all, I was an absolute auber. I was scared to death.

I was going to actually hurt her. But there's another dame for you sitting there. So where are you from? Kid? You know?

She was with them all, all the tough guys. Okay, she worked with all of them, and she was always playing those kind of galts and and she was great. And I realized for the first time, what kind of how, what kind of work that was to be the lead in the TV series as well, because my last night was the night that I was going to kill her. Underneath the satamonic appear it was Friday night, that magical Friday night I'm talking about, and we're on location and it's cold and wet, and Jim James Wainwright saves the day by shooting me at the last moment. I've got her down there, I've got a knife tour and I'm like this crazy drunk doubt whatever, and probably got some kind of monologue there and why my mommy didn't like me or something, you know that makes me become a psycho.

We're sitting in the car, in a car parked right next to the pier while they're lighting and changing the angles and things like that of the camera and lenses and things, and she's busily. I thought she knew all her lines. I thought, oh my god, our lines. What I didn't realize is this was the last night on this episode. She's got Monday morning staring at her and she's trying to go up on what do I do in the next episode.

That blew my mind the concept. I'm going, Wow, she's already she's already left me basically, and she's you know, onto the next thing. Is that what it's like? And yeah, that's what it's like. People, those were all It was a wonderful time could come into the business.

I think, you know, there was a lot of the big movie stars in the Twilight's careers who were doing television series like the Garner went back and forth successfully. Yeah, Cleland, Then of course you had Robert Blake. I did Bretta. First thing he does, he takes I walk up to him there, introduced me to him, and so in character, I can't say the last word, but hey, kid, he's looking up and up and down. He's looking up and you tell me you're a good actor.

I think you're a piece of I think. I think. My knees started wobbling, and I thought like I was about to faint. I used to watch Bretta, that stupid birdiet at home with my parents. This blew my mind.

And I'm standing here doing it and he calls me a piece of hid you know what I'm saying, So were you. I later got to know him. He was neighbors with the out of place Widden Hills, where he said we used to go ride horses together. I never mentioned that I was. That was before he killed his wife.

Okay, okay, all right, yes, well, first of all, I didn't. I never would have thought that the Robert Blake as a horseman. So that's very interesting. He was in those old movies. He played Little Beaver, never call him Little Beaver.

Apparently he would go Murder's Rage along with Red Rider and the Wild Built Elliott movies. Yeah, it was a child start. He's at a lot of Westerns. Man And so when you came to Hollywood, it was during the time when there was still the contract system that studio is still put this it was, and were you ever under contract with any of the studios. I was brief played for MGM.

I waited a year to do. How the Westerns were we did the pilot, it was like eight months later, nine months we didn't do the rest of it. Yeah, and so I kind of had to sign on. I mean, Kenny went and did a thing called Supertrain or something like that, and Chips she did in an episode of Pips MGM. Everything I did was I was all MGM.

Had to sign with them. So that was kind of the last dying gas you know, of the studio system, which you know, I think, just knowing myself, I probably would have really liked that to be a part of a studio. I remember Jimmy Stewart talking about it, and you know, they do fifteen twenty thirty pictures a year. They stuck you in things. Sometimes maybe weren't the best the highest quality for you, but everything you did was learning to learning your craft and doing your craft.

And they went to schools for riding, dancing, ben saying whatever it was required, you know, and elocution all that stuff. So I think I would like that. The old studio system base. You know, there was some I always heard, like Angie and those guys. They all talked about this stuff, you know, and how different it was then.

That's why it sounds like me now I'm going I'm them now. The business I almost don't recognize anymore. We don't even use those baby old cameras anymore. Everything is a small little thing on a on a tripod, a little typeod and it's all digital now, not used to big cans of film band put in it. You know.

I felt like you were making something, yeah, and then or you're doing a scene when you hear this we had a short ends. They put it in a short end and the best part of my performance anyway. Melissa and I talked about that. We were at film school at the same time when it was still film and transitioning to video and digital, and I appreciate that. I got to sort of.

I gotta tell you more PS I talked to all started with film, even in film school. My son Lee did. He did from school here in Hollywood. We were talking about this the other night, watching something, a streaming movie and it's all dark. It's so dark you can't and there's some emotional scene going on.

You want to see the eyes, you want to see the people, right, And there was always some kind of source lighting. Is it moonlight? Is it something? But it's always something, you know, Phil Noir. Look what they did back in the forties, no budgets at all, just in black and white movies.

Some of the greatest films in history are made in that period. Yeah, but more DPS. I talked to or You hear a mask? What was it like when we used film? It's a man something that's the man?

Really so it was really So what's next for you? I'm doing an audio book for or. I. I had the Rice Boroughs stories of John de Carter and Mars I'm doing. I'm one of a couple of other actors doing it.

I just do little things here and there. I've got Blue Ridge. It was just on I'll be going back in that next February, I hear and anything could come up, right, I'm trying to you know, it's slower when you're this age. It is, well, it's not just slower time. I mean, yeah, but you know what I understand.

I all those old guys that I worked with, I understand them more and more now. And I was just start up, you know, just a punk and and you know it's just in and it's been marvelous when you have a few highs like Scarecrow, Missus King, Ah, it's a treasure I always have. I always have that, you know. And I'm sure Katie feels the same way. You imagine coming off of the phenomena Charlie's Angels.

We'll know what that's like. When you're in the biggest thing going. You're the biggest phenomena in a medium such as television. They're reaching millions of people every night, and that's it's crazy. I have no regrets.

There were bad decisions made, everyone has them, you know, and we went the wrong way wats but I think I did more went the right way more times than not. You know what I'm saying. It's good. You know, it's like the crazy as that is, but I appreciate this and we finally got it done. Excited it's going to be a big two parter, right, Kevin.

Yeah, Kevin's like, I can't wait to edit. I'm going to take the knife to that guy, like you can't believe it look like a three minute commercial. You can find me a box Lightner, Bruce, and if as a blue check, I want to emphasize it as a blue check. That's me excellent. A couple other guys out there, we can't seem to get rid of them.

They just keep cropping back up, but they're always asking for money. Eventually, if you send the so and so money, I just want to ward off all fans, scarecrow whatever. That there's people out there that are trying to get your money and it's ridiculous. I would never ask. And it's been great talking to you.

It has been so great talking to you. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you can thank you enough my pleasure. Yes, thank you you too, Kevin. I'm not picking on you, man, I really know. I love sound people.

Anyway, Take care all right for today's audiography. Find out more about Bruce box Lightner at facebook dot com slash box Lightner Bruce and Instagram also at box Lightner Bruce and he's. On Cameo so cameo dot com, slash box Lightner Bruce. I want to shout out again the Ultimate Fans Guide to Scarecrow and Missus King, the book written by the three fans that we have a whole podcast about. Please go check it out.

The link will be in our description. If you're a fan of Scarecrow and this is King and you don't have a copy of this book, you need to go get it right. Now, because are you really a fan If you don't know that book, That's right, you're certainly not the ultimate fan. That's right exactly. And we're saying this even though we have absolutely no financial We get nothing from thats exactly.

We just we just really love the book, so we really love and. The people who worked on it so diligently for so many years. Yeah, that was amazing, Sharon, What a treat. Another fantastic chat with another fantastic guest. It just it just keeps getting better and better.

Well, I was reminded as. We were talking and he was telling stories and particularly about the sort of the fun of an eighty set. But one of the reasons I really like Bruce Boxsleitner and many of the roles he plays, maybe not the murderous, abusive guys, which you know, of course, is a staple of seventies and eighties television. But I was reminded of Linda Bloodworth thomasin in our interview with her, we talked about the importance of benevolent masculinity in as role models, and I think that there's a little of that coming off of I think that's one of the appeals of Lee stetson masculine but ultimately basically reigns in, you know, some of that to be a benevolent protector and sort of a tonic masculinity instead of toxic masculinity.

Yeah. I agree. It's not something you always find sometimes did a lot of times. It maybe just tends to go a little bit too far, but it definitely did not and Scarechrimas is king. It's probably one of the reasons for its long term appeal.

Yeah, I think so. And I think there is something to be said for a star that will co star with a female lead and let her remain the lead, right, And that's true of Scarechromas King, and that is not true on either Moonlighting or Remington Steel. Now those are different shows, and Remington Steel is named remains Steel, but Scarecrow and Missus King is named Scarecrow and Missus King. And I think that Scarecromis Is King remains more equal for longer throughout the show than either Moonlighting and Remington Steele does in the hole for their whole series. True, but Kate Jackson did have the producer.

Yeah, tool in her toolbox, Yes, tool in her tool box and can't. I can't I say, in her toolbox chakor. I mean. Either way, Yes, you're right, it helps to be the producer. But she also got called out, as all of the women in these you know, sort of coupled them shows often did, for being difficult on the set.

And it feels like difficult on the set was I want to have a creative voice in the running of my show. True, and. They fortunately hired an actor who played the part well and also ended up being a great co star. Yes, and they are. There's just their magic together.

They're pretty freaking magic. Yeah. Yeah. Every time I go back and watch it, I'm like, holy crap, they're just magical and you just want to watch them being together. Yeah yes, yeah, Okay, I guess that's it for this episode.

So, as always, we hope Eighties TV Ladies brings you joy and laughter and lots of fabulous new and old shows to watch, all of which will lead us forward toward being amazing ladies of the twenty first century. So Pretty, Through the City, the Man World,