Ron Masak Meets His Heroes

Posted on May 21, 2010 at 3:48 pm

Ron Masak’s face and voice are more familiar than his name. As Sheriff Mort Metzger in “Murder She Wrote” he appeared with Angela Lansbury as the mystery novelist who ran into a different real-life mystery every week. And he has been called the “King of Commercials” for his appearance in hundreds of radio and television ads. This career has given him the opportunity to meet up with many of the biggest stars of sports, show business, and more. He has written about his encounters with heroes from Buzz Aldrin and Muhammad Ali to Bill Cosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, and Elvis Presley in a charming book called I’ve Met All My Heroes From A To Z. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com to tell me what celebrity you’d like to meet and the first one I receive will win a copy of this book.

Ron was nice enough to answer my questions.

Which of the people you met was least like his or her public persona?

The fact that they made the book means that they were all pretty much what they appeared to be. Lucy of course was a brilliant business woman as well.

Which one taught you the most important lesson?

My wife…taught me to “be yourself. My college director had the same advice.

My favorite part of your book is your loving tribute to your wife. What did she
teach your children about how to be a parent?

Be a living example to them…Teach them right from wrong, to “be themselves” and never let them leave the house without hearing “I love you.”

I’m a Chicagoan, too — so what’s your favorite place for pizza in Chicago?

In my youth it was Venuccis, Chesdens, and Home Run Inn.

Do you find that the same qualities lead to achievement whether it is in acting, sports, or the military?

Yes, the challenge, the preparation, the ability to perform your duties.

Who is the bravest of your heroes and why?

Audie Murphy, most decorated man in WWII, medal of honor winner. Who could top that?

Who is the funniest?

In my book a tie between George Burns, Jerry Lewis, Lucy, and Cosby. Not in my book? Shecky Greene.

As the King of Commercials, what is the most important thing to remember in
making an ad?

Timing…If you are brilliant and it’s too long it is wasted.

Do you really have to like the product?

I do.

One surprising thing about your book is the unexpected kindness shown by many of
the people you write about. Do you have a favorite example?

They were all so generous with their time and talent. Roy Rogers, catching a Special Olympian out of the corner of his eye as we were leaving, going over to him in his wheelchair, kneeling and spending time with him. He was special….he was everything you wanted your hero to be.

Tropic Thunder

Posted on November 18, 2008 at 6:07 pm

With constant coverage of every baby bump and trip to rehab, we all feel like show business insiders these days. And co-writer/director/star Ben Stiller makes the most of that with this pointed but ultimately sweet take on Hollywood excess.

The characters are brilliantly introduced via a stream of what at first appear to be pre-feature shorts, until we realize that they are hilarious and only slightly exaggerated parodies of a rap star’s soda commercial and trailers for movies featuring a fading action star (“Global Meltdown Part VI: Here we go again. Again.”), a tubby comic who plays all the parts in low comedies — very low (“The Fatties: Fart 2”) and wants to do drama but is battling a substance abuse problem, and a Serious Actor from Australia who throws himself completely into every role (a trailer for “Satan’s Alley” about the forbidden love of a pair of friars) and has had a controversial medical procedure to darken his skin to play an African-American. They are Alpa Chino (say it aloud) (Brandon T. Jackson), Tugg Speedman (Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), and Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.). And they are joined by newcomer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) in a huge career-building Viet Nam War epic, based on the true story of “Four Leaf” Tayback (Nick Nolte) and directed by first-timer Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan).

Everything, of course, goes very, very wrong. When they’re a month behind after five days of shooting and the studio executive (a very funny performance by a major star I won’t reveal) is very colorfully threatening to do many very bad and painful things, Cockburn decides to go commando, so to speak, and take the actors out into the jungle like it was “The Blair Witch Project.” And that is when things really go wrong and the actors get mixed up in some real fighting they think is part of the movie.

Stiller is great at nailing the way that the actors and the people back in Hollywood have such a permeable sense of reality that they buy into whatever is happening at the moment. That may be the way to get an Oscar, but it makes it difficult to deal with actual reality when it occurs. The overlay of these pampered stars (Speedman’s agent is frantic about the failure to provide his client with TIVO) playing tough guys (and they are not the only ones pretending to be tough) is very funny and the inside humor (“I stay in character until the DVD commentary”) is choice. A movie about a fake movie has the truest laughs of the summer.

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