Setting the Stage: Stephen Michael Schwartz and The Mid-'70s Acting Class-EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW PT. 8
In your 20s, anything can happen, including new acting opportunities, sleeping in a house that once saw a notorious murder; oh yeah, and your wedding day! Sound like a script? Stephen lived it!
Following his 1974 self-titled debut Stephen Michael Schwartz album on RCA Records (about which more can be read here), and his Please Stand By network sitcom turn in 1977 into 1978, Stephen was searching for a manager, another record deal, or even another TV gig.
Stephen last shared with Front Row & Backstage (in mid-June) his late-’70s songwriting collaborations.
While each of the five song-collaborations (with a rare song demo sound file included in each!) are accessible in separate articles, they can also be accessed on one special compilation piece, “Off the Clef #s 1 Thru 5, Complete & Expanded Edition, featuring Stephen’s original song, “Wendy When,” with song demo of him singing imbedded within! That Expanded Edition can be accessed here:
Approaching his mid-20s in the late 1970s, Stephen knew he had to make some solid decisions regarding his music and acting skills, so he could be ready for his next career opportunity.
He decided to enroll in an acting class taught by one of the most respected in the biz, and featuring young acting students who’d later make their names in comedic and dramatic circles in the ensuing decades.
After taking a much-needed summer hiatus, Stephen, in his own words, picks up where he left off:
Stephen Michael Schwartz: “Where was I? Oh, yeah. After the incredible experience of being on a network TV show (NBC) for a year on the sitcom, Please Stand By, I was ready to throw myself into the art of acting, for real.
“Up until that time, I wasn’t so much faking it on the set, but more like soaking up all that I could from the pros, and utilizing the director’s every command: ‘Move here,’ ‘try it more sarcastically,’ etc.
“I really was a blank slate, but whenever it was a scene where I was to I pick up the guitar and sing, that’s when I knew exactly what I was doing, and no direction was given, except for which camera to ‘cheat’ for the close-ups.
“It’s important to mention here that once I was cast in Please Stand By, I knew I needed representation. This was a lesson I learned early on when I got my RCA record deal. I didn’t have a manager to help guide me at that time.
“The record company recommended Sid Seidenberg, and I simply signed a contract with him. Sid was a good friend of Don Berkheimer, head of RCA at the time. This was a conflict of interest, and not a good strategy for building a lasting recording career. At least it didn’t work for me.
“Back to Please Stand By: So I turned to my in-laws, veteran comic character actor, Richard Schaal and actress, Valerie Harper (known for her role as Rhoda in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and subsequent Rhoda sitcom spin-off), both of whom were managed by mega-manager, Rudy Altobelli, to ask if they thought Rudy would help me negotiate with Bob Banner Productions for my television deal.”
“Rudy was more than happy to be my representative for the duration of the show. I was already ‘in the family,’ so to speak, by my marriage to actress, Wendy (Richard’s daughter), and Rudy knew me pretty well and liked me.
“This all seemed like a slam-dunk. Rudy, of course, wanted to make Val and Richard happy as well. So, I don’t even remember Rudy asking me to sign anything. He just went about getting me the best deal he could for the pilot, as well as a season’s worth of episodes should the pilot get picked up.
“It was a rough negotiation. Rudy told me several times, ‘We’re walking away.’ He knew just how far to push, and he knew the show wanted me. I was not as confident, but he got me a good deal.
“An interesting side-note: On Saturday, September 3, 1977, I spent the night at Rudy Altobelli’s beautiful home on Cielo Drive in Bel Air. It was the night before my wedding to Wendy at the Hotel Bel-Air the following day on Sunday, September 4.”
“Rudy’s home, at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon (bordering Beverly Hills), was the scene of the infamous Charles Manson murders of Sharon Tate and three others on August 8, 1969. The property had a main residence and a guest house:
“Wendy and I had been up to Rudy’s house many times long after that horrible murder took place. I was well aware of the event, but I never let it affect my appreciation for Rudy or his warmth and hospitality. Here is a link to the history of that infamous and beautiful house.
[In 1994, both houses were demolished, and a new house was constructed on the site. The street address was changed to 10066 Cielo Drive. The final resident of the original 10050 house was Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Reznor rented the house from 1992 to December 1993, and set up a recording studio there.]
“As we began shooting episodes of Please Stand By, I kept asking Rudy if he thought it would be a good idea to approach record companies to parlay my TV series into obtaining a record deal. It made sense to me. It was built-in promotion for my music. I was being seen by millions of people weekly. The record company could take out ads and run them during the show.
“This made total sense to me; I never stopped wanting to be a musical artist. Rudy insisted that we wait until the show had a bigger audience—maybe even become a smash hit—and then we could make a much more lucrative deal with a record company.
“That had some logic to it, but still I think I may have questioned his strategy two or three times. Each time he was adamant about his approach: ‘Just wait,’ he said.
“After the first season, which included 24 episodes and the summer re-runs, Please Stand By was cancelled, and the opportunity for procuring that all-important record deal faded away…so did my relationship with Rudy.
“The series did allow Wendy and me to buy our first house. Now, we were homeowners and out of work actors…a combination that was both scary and exciting! Opportunities were everywhere; one just needed to be ready when that opportunity presented itself.
“Wendy had a great agent who was sending her out on auditions all the time. She was getting guest parts on shows and commercials, and things were looking up for her career.
“At one point, we both decided to take an acting class with the well known actor/director/producer of stage and screen, Milton Katselas, who himself had trained under Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg.
“Milton had a wide range of students coming and going through his doors including Gene Hackman, George Clooney, Alec Baldwin, Giovanni Ribisi, Ted Danson, and many, many more.
“Milton’s audition process weeded out those actors who just wanted to be stars, and not take the craft seriously. He had a radar that was capable of detecting it. I felt fortunate to have gotten in.”
“Milton was also a working film director, and he sometimes handed the reins over to a very capable teacher named Richard Sinatra (cousin to Frank). He was Milton’s right hand man. Our Monday night scene-study class met once a week in a small Hollywood theater.
[Katselas, at one point, headed up the Beverly Hills Playhouse, the acting school he founded in 1978. FR&B wanted to clarify with Stephen, especially as this was around the same time period, if the acting class he was a part of was the BHP. His response:
“We met in a small (fewer then 50 seats) Melrose Avenue theater, near Western Avenue. I don’t recall if the theater had a name, but if {the one we were in} was in New York City, it would certainly be an off-off-off Broadway theater! It was NOT The Beverly Hills Playhouse. We did have lights and a raised stage, so we felt like we were working in a professional environment.”]
From Stephen’s 1986 Still Life album comes this appropriately poignant original song, “When” (Stephen sings, accompanying himself on piano…listen for the brilliant “Over the Rainbow” touch that sneaks up toward the end!)
Stephen: “It is all about the hopes, dreams and frustrations of trying to make it…no matter what goal or profession it is you’re driving towards”:
“There was so much talent emanating from our group, and sometimes the work was downright jaw-dropping. You just knew this person or that person was going to be unstoppable in the business.
“Such was the case with a beautiful, young woman working as a grocery checker by day, named Michelle Pfeiffer -- fresh, smart and serious about the work.”
“Then, there was Garry Shandling, whom I knew from our club days together at Pasadena’s Ice House, Budd Friedman’s The Improv, etc. Garry was already a brilliant stand-up comic who was smart enough to know taking an acting class would enhance his work immeasurably. It did…in spades.
“It was either Milton or Richard who told Garry, numerous times, to stop doing scenes from Woody Allen movies like, Play It Again, Sam and Annie Hall. Of course, he had us all laughing hysterically but our teacher would say, ‘We know you can do that, Garry. Class is the place to stretch.’ And stretch he did. Right up to the stars.
“My wife at the time, Wendy, proved to be a very capable actress who later went on to star in the ABC series, It’s A Living (six seasons), and from there was brought on to star opposite Ricardo Montalbán in the final season of Fantasy Island. Her career never stopped rising.
“Today, she is best known for her role as the voice of Francine in American Dad, which is celebrating it’s 19th season!!” [The 19th season premiered on January 24, 2022. On December 16, 2021, the series was renewed for seasons 20 and 21 on TBS.]
“There were other wonderful talents in our class, lesser known perhaps, but eventual working actors and actresses nonetheless. John Diehl was one of them. His work was and still is stunning, with over 150 television and movie credits to his name.
“I remember John’s honesty and fearlessness when he took the stage. Mind you, these were simply acting exercises…the level to which he would take his ‘practice’ was shocking to me:
“In one acting exercise called ‘private moment,’ John brought a tall standing mirror in, placed it on stage facing us, the audience, so we could see his reflection. He then took out a straight-razor and began shaving off all his hair and then putting it in a bowl and lit it on fire!
“The class was speechless. This was commitment!”
