At Ruta Lee's Mansion

Talk about living in style, the gorgeous and timeless actress and starlet, RUTA LEE, invited me to her luxurious mansion in Beverly Hills on a Friday afternoon. The following discussion took place.

Colton

Ruta, you’ve accomplished so much in your life. Do you ever reach a point where you feel like you’ve done just about everything you set out for or is there always that next thing?

Ruta

I’m still looking toward that “Academy Award role”.

Colton

You spoke recently at the public memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. Debbie and you worked together for decades in The Thalians. Tell us a bit about The Thalians and how you and Debbie ended up teaming up together.

Ruta

She recognized early on, that I (like herself) wanted to share my blessings, big and small, by helping others in the only way we knew how. Singing, dancing,and selling the idea that GIVING can also be FUN!!

Colton

Did Debbie ever offer you advice about your career and/or life? If so, can you share?

Ruta

She said save some energy for yourself…I still haven’t learned that!!

Colton

Is there a role you’ve had in mind that you would love to play right now?

Ruta

OH…..to be cast 4 camera series……in something like a new version The Golden Girls ….  what a joy! And I’m old enough now! On stage ….played these ladies before…can happily play them again….DOLLY….MAME….MS MONA

Colton

Stage has played an important role in your career. Is there anything specific or unique that you do differently when approaching a stage play versus screen?

Ruta

YUP……Make contact from the stage with every member of the audience! Eye to eye….heart to heart.

Colton

You have close ties to DFW through your stage work in Fort Worth at the Casa. Do you have a favorite role that you played there?

Ruta

Every show I ever played there was pure pleasure….Except for LORELEI,  pure hell!!!…too many 30 second costume changes  Love my TX audiences…..They come in ready for FUN!

Colton

What do you think of the entertainment industry model of today verses when you started out?

Ruta

There’s No Business like show BUSINESS…..that’s what it is now….all BUSINESS and very little HEART!

Colton

If by some twist of fate, you’d never gotten into the show business, what do you think you would be doing right now? What would be your other dream career?

Ruta

Operating a small zoo… or greeting people,  restaurant, the UN, cruises,  PSYCO ward????  HEAVEN!  But not for a loooong while yet!

2% EVIL at HorrorHound Weekend

An incredible weekend in Cincinatti, OH representing 2% EVIL at the weekend's award ceremony. Made it into the finals for Best Short. Also got to chill with Troma's very own Lloyd Kaufman.

Lunch with Barry Corbin

BARRY CORBIN  is one of the great character actors of our time. You'll recognize his from his roles in "Urban Cowboy", "Any Which Way But Loose", "War Games", "Lonesome Dove" and "No Country for Old Men". His television work includes "Modern Family", "Anger Management", "One Tree Hill" and now a show called "The Ranch", which can be seen on NetFlix.
With all of his success, he's remained humble and well grounded. I sat down with the Texas Native recently, and he shared some wisdom and insight about working in the entertainment industry.

Colton

So we got a little something in common. We were both born and raised in Texas, even though you ended up moving.

Barry

Oh I moved away for a long time. I spent the first 22 years in Texas and, well, I've been back 22 years, so more than half my life in Texas.

Colton

I found it interesting that you moved to the East Coast early on and did theatre. 

Barry

Worked in theater for, well let's see, from 1962 till 1977, and then uh we had a black out in New York. I decided I don't want to live here anymore, so I loaded up a Pinto Ford and drove to California.

Colton

How did your work start to shift in Los Angeles?

Barry

Well, I did some theater in LA. I did some radio. Wrote, at that time, for national public radio. They were doing a series called "Popcorn Theater". And once a month they'd do 4 - 15 minute plays, one right after the other, so it would be an hour show. So I'd write a 15 minute play every month, and write in a role for me or and/or my wife because they paid me $100 to write the play and they'd pay me $50 a piece for the actors. So, I'd go in there and we'd make at least 150, maybe $200. That covered my rent.

Colton

When you decided to make the switch into film and TV, looking back... do you feel like having that theatrical background made a difference in how you approached the on camera work?

Barry

I think it does. Well, anything you do in life makes a difference because you know all we've got as performers is... basically what we are, we're salesman but we don't have a product, we just have ourselves. We're selling ourselves.

Colton

We're the product.

Barry

So you, you know, you build a persona, you know either consciously or unconsciously over the years and uh you're selling that. You're not selling some uh chameleon, you're selling you. Now you can play a whole lot of different things within that, within those limits but it's still you... I always tell young people, if you decide to do this, be prepared for more rejection than almost anyone has in life... If you go into any job, you might be in the job 10-15 years, then you might change careers then go and do something else for 10-15 years then before you know it you're retirement age. So in that time you might be rejected 4, 5, 6 times. I'm rejected that many times per day. And they keep saying it's not personal. And you think oh, well it's not personal. Then you think, well wait a minute, what am i selling here, I'm selling me. It can't get anymore personal than that.

Colton

Sure feels personal.

Barry

So what you've got to do is develop, you've got to keep the naivety of an infant. The curiosity of a baby. But you've got to grow the skin of a rhinoceros. That's what you've got to do. Otherwise, you're gonna become bitter, mean and angry. So that's the whole deal. A lot of people are not prepared for that and they just become very bitter and very angry by the time they're 30 or 40 yrs old.

Colton

Even after you get past that first hurdle of breaking into the industry and getting some good roles, you still have to make sure you don't get bitter by the ongoing process.

Barry

You have to keep reinventing yourself. It's like a surfer. You go out and catch the next wave. If you don't catch the next wave, you're gonna be pulled out. So you've got to catch the next wave, you know. Spot it. OK, here we go. This is it. And uh, it's gonna be... you've gotta be that fluid in your life. If you look at all the great, especially film actors... they reinvent themselves every 7-10 years.

Colton

Is it a planned process, where you think, 'Here are some things I've noticed worked, and maybe I'll hone in more on those'? Or is it more of an unconscious thing?

Barry

There's a subconscious activity that goes on, and then there's a conscious activity that I've got to alter this. I've got to be more open to my fan base. To the people who... see I don't work for the suits out in California, I work for the people who pay for the tickets. If they quit paying for the tickets, these people in California aren't going to fly me to California to do that work.

Colton

When you're out in public, is there a particular role you get recognized for more than others?

Barry

Well, it depends. Theres a certain group of people who are fans of "War Games". Usually computer people. Other people are fans of the Westerns, usually they like "Lonesome Dove". There are young women anywhere from their 20s up unto their 30s, who love "One Tree Hill". "The Ranch" is getting some attention.

Colton

That's one I'm a huge fan of.

Barry

Yeah, it's a good show.

Colton

Well, you've lived in Texas now maybe 20 or so years since you've moved back and that puts you away from where a lot of the suits are

Barry

Yeah, well it keeps me from going to those boring cattle calls. If they want me, they know where to find me.

Colton

(Laughs) I love it. For people who don't have quite the resume you have, is that advice you would give them or should they move out to the West Coast or East Coast to find work?

Barry

I think now in this day and age, you can live anywhere.  I think if you don't live on the West Coast... they do a lot of filming around here, but you'll find they cast most of it in California or New York or Chicago... Atlanta now. 

John Wilkes Booth / Stephen Lang

4 Hot Days inside a warehouse in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Shooting the Ford Theater scene with Stephen Lang.

"With a few bold strokes Colton Tapp perfectly embodied the essence of John Wilkes Booth. Colton's performance capture the passion, fervor, and narcissism of a man bent on leaving his mark on history. Colton Tapp is a fine actor with a very promising future." - Stephen Lang, 2017

Week in Sri Lanka

On the last 2 days of shooting "Solar Eclipse", I was able to pay a little time out in the city of Colombo and down the shoreline to see the beaches and visit some of the residents. 

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