And the Winner Is…
ACAS Began His Early Career in Film

by Brian D. Haney

Hollywood is slipping these days. Among the culprits contributing to the fall of Tinsel Town are WAY too many sequels (I anxiously await Schindler’s List II), highly improbable action films involving Bruce Willis (the next sequel to Die Hard should be titled, Die, Please), and sci-fi movies like Independence Day, where ultra-advanced races intent on destroying earth are still using DOS-no wonder they end up losing!

What we need are more actuaries in movies, or at least some actuaries in movies (the reader should see where this is going by now). This leads me to a trivia question: What was the last (and as far as I know only) major Hollywood movie to have a current CAS member in the cast? Drum roll please…The World According to Garp.

Garp is an odd but funny comedy released in 1982 based on the novel by John Irving. It stars Robin Williams, John Lithgow, Glenn Close, AND our mystery CAS member. This ACAS was only ten at the time when he played Duncan Garp, the elder of Garp’s (Robin Williams) two sons. His character was blinded in one eye after a freak car accident in which he lost his little brother and his mother’s lover lost a "member" of his family as well. (Fans of the movie and book should remember the scene; those who aren’t familiar-you know where your local library or video store is.)

Our actuary got turned on to acting as a child in his home town of Minneapolis when he saw The Hound of the Baskervilles at the Children’s Theater. Within a year he was auditioning for a part in a local production of one of the Oz series by Frank Baum. Although he didn’t get the part in the play, he did get on the list to audition for the role in Garp.

Twenty to 30 children auditioned for the part in Garp in Minneapolis. From this group he was chosen to go to New York for his first audition in January 1981. A few months passed with no word from the casting agency. In April 1981 he got a call for another audition and within a week he was offered the role of Duncan and started filming.

Shooting took place for eight weeks from mid-April to mid-June. Because of labor laws, child actors were held to strict schedules and were required to have a guardian. An aunt came and tutored him for two weeks so he could complete 5th grade. His mother and father each spent two weeks as his guardians on the set and the film’s producer, Bob Crawford, also spent one week with him as guardian. Our actuary can’t recall with whom he spent the remaining week.

The film was shot in New Jersey, New York City and Fishers Island, New York, which is located off the northeast coast of Long Island. All his expenses (hotel, drivers, and food) were paid for by the production company and every two or three weeks he was given $500 as mad money. He used the cash for sightseeing, shopping, and video games.

During his time on the set, the future ACAS made friends with the stars in the cast. Most of his scenes were with Williams, Mary Beth Hurt (who played his mother), and Lithgow (in the role of the former fullback-turned-transsexual). Our actuary knew nothing of Robin Williams who, at the time, was just beginning to do more films after starring in the television program Mork and Mindy (our actuary’s parents didn’t buy a television until the mid-80s).

Our mystery actuary also forged a bond with the film’s director, George Roy Hill, who would make up palindromes with the young actor. One of his favorite palindromes he learned from Hill was "Sit on a potato pan Otis."

During the shooting our actuary earned a salary that dwarfs what entry level actuaries make-about $1,000 a week. In the few years after Garp was made he received royalties from the film, but the royalty checks stopped a long time ago. After Garp, our actuary did a couple of commercials and a print advertisement but did not appear in another film. Ironically, a commercial he did for the Tonka toy "Power Punchers" ran for three years and earned him nearly as much in royalties as Garp.

After his 15+ minutes of fame, our actuary had no desire to continue acting but focused on his studies. Very prudently, the young star saved his earnings from his acting and commercials to help fund his education, which paid off. He became an actuarial student after graduating from the University of Maryland at age 18. He has no regrets about his career choice: He feels his skills were so well suited to the profession that the decision was clear. But I figure that if Nathan Babcock wants to get back into acting, he can wait until he retires and audition for a part in the sequel to end all sequels, Star Trek 12: So Very Tired.