Lee Wilkof: Max Headroom, Little Shop Of Horrors & Cop Rock

In this special episode of the Full Cast And Crew Podcast, we interview Lee Wilkof, an actor and director whose career on stage and screen has spanned more than 42 years.  He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1972 and has more than 101 IMDB credits as an (and counting) and has garnered Obie and Drama Desk Awards and a Tony nomination on Broadway. 

Lee is a charming and self-effacing guy who we were thrilled to nerd out with about his journey through Show Business and his great anecdotes about so many of the people he's worked with over the years.  One of our favorite episodes to date on the podcast and a special chance to go behind the scenes of 40 years of stage and screen history, filled with great advice for actors and human beings.

In this episode (as a thunderstorm briefly rages dramatically outside the FCAC studio) Lee shares with Chris and Jason stories about:

The origins of Lee's directorial debut/cautionary tale of the acting life 'No Pay, Nudity' (13:40), the vibe and characters hanging around the old Actor's Equity Lounge (14:40), meeting Nathan Lane as young actors in NYC in 1972 (16:50), a clip from 'No Pay, Nudity' featuring Nathan Lane and Jon Michael Hill ('Eastbound & Down', 'Elementary') (25:00), some George R.R. Martin stories (30:45), 'Silence Of The Lambs' co-star Ted Levine (34:15), Loudon Wainwright III playing a character loosely based on Stephen Sondheim (42:20), Joel Higgins and 'Silver Spoons' (47:25), inadvertently insulting James Lapine and 'Into The Woods' and then making up for it with a self-effacing letter (49:22), Jeff Perry as Mr. Katimski in 'My So-Called Life' and presence in the Columbo Cinematic Universe (55:20), National Lampoon's 'Disco Beaver From Outer Space' (57:25), Influential show 'The Present Tense' and Roger Ailes trying to manage a young Lee Wilkof, who got  as six-paragraph rave review, and Obie and a Drama Desk noms (59:16), Getting cast in the 'Animal House' tv spinoff 'Delta House' and being told to "town it down" (01:02:48), Dressing room 'Hart To Hart' chats with Natalie Wood and RJ Wagner while Stephanie Powers was not warming to Lee on-set (01:04:00), Lee's 'The Gong Show' appearance and getting gonged by JP Morgan while a struggling actor in LA and waiting for his big break and getting two pilot offers in one day (01:08:14), Bob Newhart reportedly not being thrilled with Lee as agent Elliot Gabler on 'Newhart' (01:14:08), working with Madeline Kahn (01:17:05), a 'Hunter' (Fred Dryer, Stepfanie Kramer) clip featuring Lee (01:18:23), Lee on the difference b/t guesting and being a regular on a TV series (01:21:57), working closely with Tim Blake Nelson ('O Brother Where Art Thou', 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs') (01:23:44), doing 'Ally McBeal' and a falling-out with David E. Kelley story (01:24:15), being a series regular on the iconic 'Max Headroom' ABC series (01:25:55), Steven Bochco's 'Cop Rock' and Lee convincing the director he didn't blow a take (01:28:45), doing 'Beverly Hills Buntz' (01:35:17), Lee tells us what he'd watch on tv in our 'Latch Key TV' segment (01:38:59), having Thanksgiving dinner with Gary Oldman and Dennis Hopper but not M. Emmett Walsh, sadly, on the set of Mick Jackson's 'Chattahoochee' (01:42:10), meeting Cary Grant in 1985 (01:45:00), Watching "Ghoulardi" as a kid growing up in Cleveland (01:49:20), On not being cast in the movie version of 'Little Shop Of Horrors' (01:51:00).

Connect with Lee online:

@leewilkof on Instagram

Check Out Lee's IMDB Page:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0929502/

Watch Lee's Directorial Debut 'No Pay, Nudity':

https://www.amazon.com/No-Pay-Nudity-Francis-Conroy/dp/B01MQU3H9M

The 'Hart To Hart' Stanley Friesen Comp Reel we play in