Ed Begley Jr.

 

 

ILLUMINATE: Hello and thank you so much for being here for ILLUMINATE Magazine. You are one of the most recognized faces in Hollywood and you have been in so many amazing films like A MIGHTY WIND, you’re on YOUNG SHELDON, you’re in ST. ELSEWHERE, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, and so many more. Your first credit was 1967 for My THREE SONS. 

You have an Oscar-winning dad. Did he help you get started in acting? And if not, when did you decide for yourself that you wanted to become an actor?

BEGLEY:  From a very young age. I was three or four when I wanted to be an actor. I would say sometimes you’re a comedian. My dad was an actor and he wisely, correctly didn’t really help me in an overt way by making it happen, by getting me a part. Of course, he probably didn’t have the power to do that, to just hand me a part, number one.  Number two, I wouldn’t have appreciated it if he did. So he made me work for it a bit. But let me be very clear. Being the son of Ed Begley was definitely an open door policy. People would agree to meet me, number one, because of my father’s influence. They would also remember me because of his name, so that’s two very good things. One, that they remember your name, and two, that they have something to talk about. There’s a friendly attitude in agreeing to meet you and also in the job. It’s a job interview, like getting a job in any office or any job you go in for the job interview. And if they have something to talk about like “I worked with your dad in the Philco Playhouse, and he was great.

And we also did some radio together. Top of page eight, Ed, and good luck, buddy.” You know they are kind of on your side right away. So I definitely was born on second base or third base, depending on your point of view, being Ed Begley’s son. I did some work for it. You know, I studied finally. I went out and interviewed from probably around age ten to age 17 and got none of them because I didn’t know what I was doing. I finally took some training and I began to work AFTER that.

ILLUMINATE:  You are right. It really is another job interview every time you go in and build those relationships. And it did have a positive effect, even though it wasn’t something that automatically got you a part, got you in the room. But it was a positive conversation with people and a positive influence on that. But you are a very decorated actor yourself. You have been acting for such a long time. You had six consecutive primetime Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe for your role as Dr. Victor Erlich on the iconic series, ST. ELSEWHERE. I have seen interviews talking about how this series was such a different medical series. There’s talks about how this series really shaped that genre to be what it is nowadays because of the gritty style. Did you expect it to be such an iconic series and really shape that genre in that way, and how did you prepare for that role?

BEGLEY:  I knew it was going to be something special because of the script. The script was so good, and when I read it, this was, again, a TV show, not a feature film. But it read better. It was clearly of a higher quality than nearly any movie script I had been handed. You know, there’s a few exceptions. You know, the IN-LAWS with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin was a very good script as well, and a few others would meet those qualifications, but precious few. And at that point in my 15 year career, by 1982 and ST. ELSEWHERE was casting, I had done quite a bit of work and no feature film or TV show was that good really. So I wanted it very badly and didn’t get the part. I went and read for the part of Dr. Peter White. Didn’t get that. That was a regular part.

They threw me a bone. They gave me a consolation prize, a runner-up prize, if you will.  See, Dr. Ehrlich had one or two lines in the pilot. It was a nothing part. And somehow, I know what the somehow is…it was working with William Daniels. They kind of paired me in one scene with him. And I’m a tall fellow and he’s a shorter gentleman, and he was always harassing me and saying, give me a hard time as the chief of surgery at St. Eligius, you know, our hospital there, and so they liked that visually. They liked that in every sense of the word. And they began to write for my character and the character that I wanted, Dr. Peter White, was gone after three seasons. So what I wanted wasn’t nearly as good as what I got, which is the story of my life.

ILLUMINATE:  And it’s wonderful how that part grew for you. The one you got turned out to be better for you in the long run. And I do love that you appreciated the script and the writing with it and that it is a genius series. And it really did shape that genre. 

BEGLEY:  I think it did. There’s something to be learned. I was paddling like crazy. I think my boat in life had to go to the port side and I’m paddling like crazy, but the current took me to the starboard side and turns out there was a much better journey for me. So there’s a lesson to be learned. You still have a lot of work to do, continue to do the work, but when fate takes you in a direction, sometimes you’re wise to submit to it and appreciate it for what it is.

ILLUMINATE: I love those wise words from you! You also have worked on multiple Christopher Guest movies. I love those mockumentaries such as BEST in SHOW, THIS is SPINAL TAP, A MIGHTY WIND…so many more. So how much of these films are scripted and how much are improvised? I’ve always been curious about that. And did you have much control in the creation of your characters in all the wacky scenarios that they go through?

BEGLEY:  It started with this wonderful Rob Reiner film that he directed called THIS IS SPINAL TAP, and he got together with his pals that were good friends of yours and mine, you know, Chris Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer to do this movie Rob and The Three Lions. And they put that together and they asked me as a favor. I was friendly with all of them, and I love those guys a lot and thought they were so talented and funny. They said, we’re going to do a little video footage thing, very grainy looking like old, kinescope looking footage thing of the early Spinal Tap band. And would you be part of that and play the drums because we know you played the drums. Would you do that? I said, of course. I said, I’ll never be shown in the movie, just part of a sizzle reel to get some funding. And then it was appropriate for the movie because of the deliberately low quality kinescope look of it. And so then they said, you know, we’re going to now make it part of the movie and sign here. You have a SAG contract now. And those 15 seconds, I suppose, is all I’m on camera were quite memorable for me and apparently for others because it led to me finally being in BEST in SHOW.

I missed the wonderful movie WAITING for GUFFMAN. I was a big fan and so no resentment at all. I was just so happy to see a movie of that quality after Chris went off in the zone and Rob went and directed all kinds of wonderful movies and Chris did WAITING for GUFFMAN. It was such a huge hit. And then I got the call from Chris, “We’re going to do this thing BEST in SHOW. Would you be the hotel manager?” and I did backflips for that job. I was so happy.

ILLUMINATE:  It’s so good. So I was watching FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION the other day, and I loved your character. That scene where you were watching Catherine O’Hara doing the interview, and that interview was going really rough, and you’re being such a supportive friend. Watching her, and you’re like, I’m going to call her and tell her she did such a good job. I love that scene. It’s a small scene in the movie but it really does add to the story and it does add to those character relationships. And so I just want to say, I love all your work and those movies.

BEGLEY:  Thank you. I love doing them.

ILLUMINATE:  They’re so wonderful. They provide so much joy to watch!

BEGLEY:  And us to do them because Chris and Eugene Levy originally did the scripts together for WAITING for GUFFMAN and BEST in SHOW, and A MIGHTY WIND.  They would do all the hard work, which is coming up with a 25 page treatment. They’d meet for weeks and months, better part of a year sometimes to work on that treatment and then we’d get to come in;  Jane Lynch, Fred Willard and me…and Michael Hitchcock and Michael Higgins and Michael McKean…the whole gang. Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, and all the fun improv actors in the movie. That’s the fun part. That’s a paid party, I suppose, but Chris and Eugene did all the work. Now, for years it’s been Jim Piddock and Chris who write the treatment. They do all the heavy lifting. We get to go in and do MASCOTS or FAMILY TREE, or some of these other wonderful shows. I just love working with the whole gang.

ILLUMINATE:  You can tell that it’s like a family environment by watching it. When you put on one of those movies and those shows, you feel like you’re with the gang again.

BEGLEY:  And there’s a truth to it. You have actors of the scale of Parker Posey, Lisa. She’s a great, great actress, in my humble opinion. And she is hitting all the comedy beats, but she’s playing it like it’s Strindberg, wonderfully in a real fashion that is so compelling and moving and funny. She’s one of the fine actresses I’ve worked with in my life. Just incredible. I’m a big Parker Posey fan.

ILLUMINATE:  I love that! Actually off topic, but one of the monologues I do is her deleted scene from WAITING FOR GUFFMAN. Her audition to get into the play. It’s one of my favorite comedy monologues. It’s so funny.

BEGLEY:  She is hysterical and so hugely talented. I just love working with her.

ILLUMINATE:  She’s awesome!

Now another piece of your work that I really adore is your recurring on the hit series YOUNG SHELDON as Dr. Linkletter. So I’m curious because the series is all about physics and science and math from Sheldon Cooper’s perspective.  Were there any interesting physics facts that you learned while playing this person that helped Sheldon Cooper grow into the person he’d later be on BIG BANG THEORY? And did you ever find any of those scientific terms to be kind of tongue twisters to have to say? And, you know, just any fun experiences you had while filming that show?

BEGLEY:  It’s fun every day. Iain, the kid is just wonderful. The young, wonderful actor who plays young Sheldon is terrific. Steve Molaro, the showrunner, the executive producer and writer and showrunner, is so great. He’s just an amazing talent. He does all kinds of other wonderful shows that are on right now. 

I think I got the job because of Wallace Shawn. Wallace is a friend of mine that carried me with him. And one episode very early on we’re both seeking the attentions of Annie Potts for her character, Meemaw. And so it started with that. They went, hey, we need a professor at the college, maybe we’ll get Begley to come in and do that. And what a great phone call that was to get.

And I’ve always had a keen interest in science, so it’s rare that the terms are difficult for me to understand or pronounce because I know some basics of physics and what have you. And if you have interesting details about it, I don’t have a problem with that. For the most part. It’s always kind of fun stuff and, and they, of course, get it 100% right when they put those equations on the blackboard. They’re all real equations that have to do about exactly what we’re talking about. They don’t get it wrong often, or ever that I’ve noticed.

ILLUMINATE:  Your character has such a great relationship with Sheldon. And you can really see how Sheldon’s experience in college studying under you really shaped him to be the way he is on BIG BANG THEORY. Dr. Linkletter is such a great character.

BEGLEY:  Well, the writer’s room is one of the best in Hollywood. They’re so talented. Those writers and Steve oversees that all. He’s just a wonderful, wonderful man, Steve Molaro. I’m just lucky to work with him. You know, every season that I do, I just look forward to more. And I’ve had it. I get that phone call every year and I’m always elated to get it.

ILLUMINATE:  Let’s talk a little bit about your big passion, which is environmental work. You are an environmental activist. You had your own green living reality series called LIVING with ED, and you work with multiple eco initiatives and charity organizations. I’m wondering, how did you get started doing this work and what made you decide that you wanted to advocate for this specific cause?

BEGLEY:  Well, I grew up in L.A. and back when I was quite young in the fifties and sixties, there was horrible choking smog. You couldn’t run from here ten yards to the street right out there without wheezing like this. And I’m not an asthmatic, but I was breathing like this many days of the year as a young boy just trying to play outside. They would shut down the schoolyards many days of the year. The smog was so bad. I lived in a place called the San Fernando Valley, but you could not tell it was a valley. But a few days of the year when it just rained or something, or the winds blew. You couldn’t see any of the mountains anywhere around that perimeter of the valley.  

It’s just very dangerous for your lungs. Emphysema. Asthma were the highest rates you could imagine. So I’ll give you some good news though. Even though we have four times the cars in L.A.,1970…from that first Earth Day when I started, four times the cars, millions more people, we have a fraction of the smog. It’s much, much less because everything we did that we hoped would work, did work.

Catalytic converters on cars, cleaner power plants, everything worked. We need to press on and do more for the people who live near the ports of Long Beach in San Pedro and the people living near fulfillment centers that give us our Amazon products or other things like that. We need to clean up those people still breathing dirty air around there, but we’ve proven that we can do it. Now, we need to go all the way and really clean it up and to continue to do all those same things that will also help us combat climate change and clean up the air in Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Houston will also combat climate change. So you get a two-fer.

ILLUMINATE:  What are some tips that you have for people on how they can every day lower their carbon footprint and things that they can do to help have a more green planet.

BEGLEY:  Do the cheap and easy things that you can afford today. It’s always an interesting list of the things you can’t do. People regularly say to me, I can’t afford nine kilowatts of solar on my roof. I can’t afford a fancy electric car like you drive today. And I go, neither can I. Neither could I when I started in 1970. But today you can start with recycling, composting, become a vegetarian, use vinegar and water to clean up things, baking soda instead of a harsh cleanser. Energy saving thermostat, weather stripping around your doors and windows, energy efficient light bulbs. But I say, I must add very quickly, just doing those things as personal actions, things which I very strongly recommend, that’s not all, that’s not the way we clean up the air and did all the stuff. It’s not one important thing. There’s three pillars. One is personal action, which I’ve advocated for years, very important. That’s one pillar. And the second is good legislation. Like the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act. That’s how we’ve made great strides and corporate responsibility. You need all three of equal strength or the structure will topple. You have personal action, corporate responsibility and good legislation. They all influence each other. If people are buying lots of energy-efficient light bulbs, what have you, people will be more inclined, the manufacturers, to make more of that stuff. If there’s good laws about being energy efficient, people are going to buy the light bulbs and the thermostats. They’re all connected and affect each other. But you need all three. You can’t just do one.

ILLUMINATE:  Right. I completely agree. And you’re right. People do need to take those steps, then the companies are manufacturing these products. If it’s in high demand, they’re going to have to comply and produce more of those products. I think that that’s a very wise course of action. If we take personal responsibility, then those corporations and legislation are going to follow.

BEGLEY:  We get to vote on voting day in November whenever it lands. But also we get to vote every single day in the supermarket aisles, in the showroom floor, as the appliance stores, we get to vote with our dollars. And if we vote, what I believe to be correctly, people are going to make more of those energy efficient products and more, zero emission vehicles and more clean energy and all of it. We get to vote every single day of our lives.

ILLUMINATE:  Let’s talk about your cleaning products. You recently launched your environmentally conscious brand, Begley’s Earth Responsible Products. And these are plant-based cleaning and pet products. You can find them on Walmart.com, Amazon.com, and soon to be on Chewy.com. I’m wondering, how did you get started making your own cleaning product line and did you find that process of creating this line? Was it trickier than you expected? Were there any unexpected hurdles in creating your own cleaning products?

BEGLEY:  Yeah, the way it started, I always use vinegar in water and baking soda and stuff like that, and it cleaned up to a certain level, but it didn’t get all the stains out and didn’t do everything that I needed it to do. Then I met this guy, John Watt. He had a wonderful formula for cleaning products, and I started bottling and selling it, but I was shipping it out of my garage or I’d be at the farmer’s market on Sunday. I’d be driving stuff from my house to Santa Barbara to San Diego, and I got too busy to do all that. So I pulled it up, that company, after selling lots and lots of cleaning products to people, feeling very good about that. And I met a guy named Mark Cunningham, who had a company said, I don’t need you to be shipping stuff out of your garage anymore or driving to Santa Barbara. You help me vet the products, we’ll make the products every bit as clean as your previous line. In fact even, I think, cleaner. You know, because just by nature of the fact we have more of them, we have a bigger selection of products and we also have third party independent testing. So we got tested by the EPA, designed for the environment system. And so we have all these products and you don’t have to do all that work. We’ll handle it for you.

And so that sounded pretty good to me. So now I’ve been doing these products with Mark Cunningham for five years now, I believe maybe a little longer, and they’re selling very, very good, as you say, at Walmart and Amazon, and soon to be on Chewy. So check them out, buy any green product. Seventh Generation makes great products. ECOS does. They’re all my friends and not really competitors in a bad way. We all have wonderful products. Buy from any of those five companies. I like it if you buy mine, but just get one of them and try them. There are some good products out there. They’re very clean.

ILLUMINATE:  I love that you are really uplifting the competitors because you are just so focused on the goal of clean living, making sure everyone’s healthy, that the environment is safe. And so I really appreciate that and I think everyone should definitely go check out your products. Are you going to release any other eco-friendly products in the future?

BEGLEY:  Yeah, we have our eyes on doing some other things. Eventually, a laundry detergent and a few other things we’re going to build over time. But for now, we’re just trying to keep up with the demand. A lot of people are trying these products and enjoying them because they work very, very well. It’s good to be clean and green, and that was a must for me. But also, you want something that cleans every bit as good as that Formula 409, or that Windex, what have you, it’s got to clean every bit as good at that, perhaps even better. And it can’t be second class citizens. It’s got to really do the job in order to do that. They’re really, really good cleaners. And they also happen to be safe and clean and green.

ILLUMINATE:  Let’s talk a little bit about your reality series LIVING with ED. How much of it was scripted and did you have any say in that? And also, was any of it just reality, cameras following you?

BEGLEY:  It was less intrusive than I thought it was going to be. We did a sizzle reel years ago back in 2006. It was at my wife’s urging. I didn’t want to do it at all. I had zero interest in it. My wife’s name is Rachelle. Same spelling, by the way.

ILLUMINATE:  That’s so cool.

BEGLEY:  Yeah. Rachelle kept hounding me, got together with this wonderful friend of mine, Joe Brutsman, and he’s very good at writing and crafting that kind of stuff that would tie all the reality scenes together, and the interviews and what have you. So he said, We’re going to do a sizzle reel on a day they came, but they were there for 11 hours, Rachelle, like seven in the morning to eight at night. That was just to do a ten minute sizzle. So when they took the last of the equipment out, I said to my wife, my Rachelle I said, Honey, I’m going to I got my checkbook right here. I want to write a check for what they spent for today. I don’t want to do this show. I know they went to great trouble and expense. I’ll write, give them all their money back. I can’t do this job. They’re going to be here for 11 hours to do 10 minutes. What’s 30 minutes going to take? It’s going to take, you know, three 11 hour days. I don’t want to do that every week. It’ll be a nightmare. No, it won’t be like that. And so she urged me to just calm down and wait till they finish the sizzle reel and look at it. If I liked it, that maybe we move on. I did just that, at her urging, and we saw that it was very funny and charming. And most important for me, it was very engaging with people to get them to do all the things they wound up doing from watching our show.  People would buy solar ovens, they would buy rain barrels, they would buy energy efficient products, and I knew that they had really bought them because it was just somebody trying to make it. “I bought a rain barrel,” they would say. “I love how the rain barrel has a spigot at the bottom. I put mine up on blocks and that way you could get it easily, a hose attached to it.” “I got one of those solar ovens, Ed, and I love how the pot doesn’t spill over because it’s got a little gimbal mount on it and they have the thermometer in the glass so you can see the thermometer clearly.” I went, wow, they know that because they actually really did get a solar oven and a rain barrel. So thousands and thousands of people would write me or email me, which means probably millions of people did the thing because if thousands write me, that means one in a thousand actually are going to write a letter and say, I did something. So we were very happy with that. Over the three years of the show, we influenced a lot of people. A lot of people tried different green measures, people saved money, saved the environment and they enjoyed it.

ILLUMINATE:  I was watching a few episodes on YouTube and some of the comments were really recent and people still remember your show. People are still talking about how it’s affected their daily living, like riding bikes, composting…so many different things. And they talk about how your show influenced them. And you guys were such engaging hosts.I had a fun time watching. I was watching one of them was that your wife brought home some tomatoes from the supermarket, and you were then comparing them to the ones you were growing and you were talking about these aren’t as pretty looking, but they’re real. They’re the real thing because we grew them. And it was, it was a fun episode to watch. I really enjoyed them and I can see how people would still remember it so many years later.

BEGLEY:  And people are very smart, though. They’re very savvy. They would know when we did a few times there would be a bogus moment. That people would bust us on. We had a thing where I opened this cupboard door, they staged it, where I opened a cupboard door to get a plate, and there’s a bunch of water bottles there, you know, like bottled water. And I was very much opposed to drinking bottled water for a number of reasons. The plastic doesn’t always get recycled, winds up in the ocean, winds up in the streams, and it’s not good in many ways. I open to get a plate. I see all the water bottles. I go, “Rachelle”, and I’m mad at her about the water bottles because she put them in there. People knew right away it was bogus because they took all the labels off. When you’re doing a TV show or movie, you can’t leave the label unless you have a deal with Coca-Cola or Reese’s Pieces to promote the thing. So all that, they knew it was a set up. They wrote us, “You did a trick there. You took the labels off, and that was a setup.” It absolutely was. When we did that, they busted us. We only did it a couple of times. The people. My point is people are very clever. They really know when you’re telling the truth. And the very few times that we tweaked things a little bit, it was a fact that Rachelle would at that time buy water, buy a water bottle occasionally. That was the true fact. To me, being opposed to it was a true fact. But the staging of it, what we did was a bit of a Pinocchio move, and so they busted us on it, and they were correct to do so.

ILLUMINATE:  That’s so funny. I like that they’re based on reality. They’re based on real moments, but, you know, just tweaked.

BEGLEY:  Let me recreate it. But when she comes back from shopping, she’s got all her bags in her hand from God knows where, and she sees that rain barrel that I put up that big, you know, that orange rain barrel. She’s like jumping up and down like a child. And, I can’t believe you got that rain barrel. Get that out of here. That looks so ugly. I go, “What’s ugly? The trout, you know, dying in the stream in Northern California so we can have more water to water our lawns and our gardens. No, honey, this is not ugly. That’s ugly. That trout dying in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta, that’s ugly to me. I’ll paint the rain barrel a different color.” But those were real moments, not manufactured. And they were the vast majority of the show. But whenever we got it wrong, people are pretty savvy nowadays. They know when you’re trying to trick them.

ILLUMINATE:  Did you ever paint the rain barrel?

BEGLEY:  No. I just got a different one. I got a different system. Where it flowed underground was much better, rather than 50 gallons of rainwater. I had 500 gallons in the old house. Now I have 10,000 gallons buried underground that nobody has to look at. Or see or comment on the color because it’s underground.

ILLUMINATE:  Tell me a little bit about any upcoming projects you want to promote before we tune out.

BEGLEY:  I’ve got another season of YOUNG SHELDON that’s on right now. I love that show. MR. MAYOR. I did a few episodes of that. And now, just for the past few days, I can talk about what I was not allowed to talk about till recently, which is this wonderful show BETTER CALL SAUL. I’m in that as well this season. They showed a little bit of me in some of the previews, so now I can talk about it. They make you, appropriately, sign an NDA and not talk about it for a while because they want it to be surprising for different characters to return to the show. So all I’ll say is there’s going to be lots of surprises this final season. And who shows up for BETTER CALL SAUL. So definitely tune in to that wonderful, wonderful show.

ILLUMINATE:  I’m excited. I’m a huge BREAKING BAD fan, so I’m very excited.

BEGLEY:  Me too. Best show on television. You know, when I was a kid growing up, Rachelle, they talked about those wonderful shows my Dad did. Paddy Chayefsky wrote them, you know, wonderful directors like Sidney Lumet would direct them. Great, great things. But that was the golden age of television, people say. And I think that’s true. This is now, I believe, the platinum age of television with people like Vince Gilligan and BREAKING BAD. And shows like BETTER CALL SAUL and HANDMAID’S TALE and these incredible shows. Have you seen SEVERANCE yet, by the way?

ILLUMINATE: I haven’t.

BEGLEY:  Oh, boy.

ILLUMINATE:  What platform is it on?

BEGLEY:  It’s wonderfully out there. It’s just so great. It’s on Apple and it’s very, very good. Give that a try.

ILLUMINATE:  I will watch. That’s awesome. Right now, I’m actually watching BIG SKY. Have you seen that one?

BEGLEY:  No, I want to see that as well.

ILLUMINATE:  It’s really good. It’s really good. I’m still on the first season. I think I’m on episode 10 or 11. The first season is really good. I like that we’re comparing shows.

BEGLEY:  Check out SEVERANCE. Let me know what you think.

ILLUMINATE:  Yes. And you watch BIG SKY and let me know what you think of it, too.

BEGLEY:  You got a deal, Rachelle.

ILLUMINATE:  Last thing: Where can people find you on social media?

BEGLEY:  I do Twitter @edbegleyjr  And then, just go to edbegley.com or also if you remember begleyliving.com, but all roads lead to Rome. Just type in edbegley.com or Ed Begley and you’ll see my website right there.

ILLUMINATE:  Perfect. Thank you so much Ed. I’ve really had such an amazing time. Thank you. It’s really been an honor. So thank you so much for being here and being on ILLUMINATE magazine.

BEGLEY:  Right back at you, Rachelle. Lovely to meet you.

ILLUMINATE:  Lovely to meet you, too. Have a wonderful day.

BEGLEY:  You too.

ILLUMINATE: Bye!