Exclsusive with Pittsburgh Native/Actor Tom Atkins

First off, are there any projects you have coming up that you want folks to know about? Is there a “dream project” you’d love to pursue still?

I don’t have a dream project to pursue. I’ve done my dream project. Over the 57 years I’ve been doing this, different directors and actors have asked me “When will we see your Lear?” My answer is “Never.” I’ve never had any interest in doing Lear. My “Lear,” dream was to play the Stage Manager in “Our Town.” Ted Pappas at the Pittsburgh Public Theater fulfilled that dream.

My favorite year of my career and the end of my stage career was in 2013, or 2015, I can’t remember which. In that favorite year, I did the Stage Manager in “Our Town, learning the words beginning in early June, rehearsing August into September, running September into October; playing Scrooge in “A Musical Christmas Carol” for the eigth year in a row, November until the 23rd of December. Finally, The Chief in January for a two-week run, for the ninth year. All three of my favorites in a row. I couldn’t have ended my stage career any happier.

How did your career initially take off?

It was 1967. My father, George (Mose) Atkins passed away January 27 of that year, the same day as the three astronauts died in a rocket fire. I was in the final days of my one year at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. I was devastated. I came home from New York for Pop’s funeral, thought about not going back up to the city. But I went. Mom and Dad came to see me do Stanley in Streetcar with the Masquers at Duquesne, but he never got the chance to see me do anything professionally.

I graduated from the Academy the next month – February. Got an agent during my final production at the Academy, “Witness for the Prosecution.” Before that play, I played Othello, with Cleavon Little (the Sheriff from Blazing Saddles) – playing Iago…a different casting twist on the usual Shakespeare. Cleavon and I became good friends. I got the first thing I auditioned for, “Keep it in the Family,” a sweet little “kitchen table” play, produced by David Merrick. After rehearsing for a month in New York, trying the play out up in Boston, then New Haven, we came in and opened on Broadway in New York, and closed in four days. The Times critic did not care for our little kitchen table play.

I bunked with Cleavon for a little while, then got a call from my agent: “Go to the Sherry Netherland and audition for a Frank Sinatra movie, “The Detective.” I went, got the scene sides from the guy in the hall, looked them over, he said, “You ready?” “Yeah,” I said, and he knocked on the door and I went into the room and met Gordon Douglas, the director. We chatted a bit, and he said, “You ready to read?” “Yeah,” I thought I’d be reading with Douglas or the kid who gave me the sides.

The kid left the room, Douglas walked to a connecting door, knocked, and Frank Sinatra walked in. Frank and I said hello, then we did the scene together. He nodded to Gordon, gave me a little tap on the shoulder, said “Nice job kid.” and went back out the door. Douglas said, “Well, you got the job. I have one question. When we actually shoot the scene, can you act as nervous as you just did?” “Yes, absolutely,” I said. The nervousness was dead on, because I was reading for “Harmon,” a rookie cop, who shoots a Black man when he pulls him and his friends over, and the whole city is in an uproar.

What role/performance really stands out most to you and holds a special meaning for you– and why?

Mark Rylance is the very best Shakespearean actor alive today. I saw him do Hamlet, Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure down at the Public. Alan Rickman and I were both working here in the film “Bob Roberts,” and went to see Hamlet together. Afterwards at Meat and Potatoes next door, Alan and I were having a drink and he said, “That is the best Hamlet I’ve ever seen in my life.” I agreed with him. Mark makes Shakespeare sound as if Will wrote the words just for him. He’s the best. I would go and see his Lear anywhere.

My favorite theater role of all time was The Chief. I loved doing that play. I thought Gene Collier and Rob Zellers did a great job putting that together as a one man show. I never met Art Sr., he passed away a couple years after I moved back to the ‘Burgh from LA. I met Dan and Art Jr. and their brothers and wives. I talked with Dan down at the Steeler’s facility on South Side, met Ike Taylor there one day…he was brand new, excited to be a Steeler. I spent a lot of time with Art Jr.. Dan invited me up to the house on the North Side, just to get a feel for where the old man lived and where all the boys grew up. I saw an engraved oriental red chest in the living room. Dan told me the story of his Uncle Dan, the priest, who had sent the chest from China, before he got kicked out of China. I put that story in the play.

What memories/experiences can you share with the Steelers stemming from that role?

Opening Night of The Chief was spectacular. Dan Rooney and Andy Russell presented me with an autographed team football. I met Rocky Bleier, Franco Harris, Tunch Ilkin, the Wolfman {Craig Wolfley}… just a slew of the older players. One of my favorite memories is, one night Jim Leyland was at The Chief, sitting up to my right. I got to the part where the old man is talking about Buddy Parker who fired the entire team over the loudspeaker at the Detroit airport. Jim Leyland howled with laughter.

I ran into Jim at a Dapper Dan dinner not long after that night and reminded him about that night and that line. He howled again and said, “Oh my God Tom, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to fire the whole team at once.”

Another good memory. One night during the first years run, during The Chief I saw Myron Cope sitting in the front row to the left of my desk. We had met previously at a Dapper Dan dinner. My friend Ray Burnett was the business manager for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the time, and he was responsible for organizing the Dapper Dans. While I was rounding the bottom of the stage, heading up toward a tux hanging on the door, I reached down and said, “Hi Myron,” and I shook his hand and said “Good to see you.” “Good to see you to Chief.” he said. Thank God he didn’t say “Good to see you to Tom!” Then I turned to the audience as said, “Myron Cope everybody, big radio guy in town! Good friend of mine.” I was so happy to do that.

Gene Collier told me that Myron actually gave him a story for the play that The Chief had told to Myron one time. It was about “The Allegheny flooding everytime somebody spit in it, practically.” How one time he and one of his brothers and “Squawker Mullen,” were rowing to school in a “skiff,” “You know, like a rowboat.” And Squawker was yappin on and on and moving around and they all fell in the river. The story always got a good laugh, but I figured Myron was making up the part about Squawker Mullen. I didn’t think he was a real guy. But one night after the show I got out into the lobby as quick as I could, to shmooze with the audience members who were still leaving, and this tiny, feisty little red-haired woman came over to me and said. “I’m Squawker Mullen’s niece. My uncle was just like that, he was always yapping, telling stories, he never shut up.” One of my favorite memories from The Chief.

You’ve acted in numerous thriller/horror films – what has drawn you to that genre?

As far as the Horror Genre, John Carpenter offered me the role of Nick Castle in The Fog. I never particularly sought out the Horror Genre. I think the Fog is an old-fashioned ghost story. I did ten horror movies from The Fog to Trick. I loved doing every one of them. The main thing was, they were all offered to me, I never had to audition for them. They were paying jobs. My personal favorite is Night of the Creeps.

Are you a sports fan? Any good Pittsburgh sports experiences with the teams/players you can share?

Dan Rooney came to at least one performance of The Chief, every year we put it on, even when he was Ambassador to Ireland. He and his wife Kay would come back to the dressing room every time. They were both so sweet. I loved seeing them. Dan brought Bishop Donny Wheurl before he became Cardinal. Also Roger Goodell. Becky Rickard, a lovely young woman who worked at the theater, escorted Dan and his wife Patricia, back to the dressing room. About the fifth or sixth time, Becky asked Dan, “Mr. Rooney, why do you come every year, it’s the same actor, the same play and words?” Dan said, “It’s the one night out of the year I get to spend with my Dad.”

What advice would you give local actors today trying to pursue a similar career?

For young actors…don’t quit, perseverance is everything. I got interested in theater at Duquesne University, somehow got involved with the Red Masquers, loved it, went to NY and got lucky. It all worked out. It wasn’t easy peasy but it all worked out.

Lastly, as a “Yinzer” what are your thoughts on the city as a destination for film and television producers? Do you enjoy filming “local” and is there more the city can do to attract more production?

I’ve always thought Pittsburgh and the surrounding area is a wonderful site for films. It’s all about money. The studios and film makers will go wherever they can get the biggest bang for their buck. I’ve always wondered why the Pennsylvania legislature kept the cap on film money so low.

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