I was spending quality time with
my 10-year-old niece, Nicole, the
way quality time is defined these
days – by watching TV - and there
on “Zach and Cody” was the lovable
geek from “Boston Common,” simply
named, D.C. I remembered his tag
line in one episode was “just like
the city, without all the
traffic.” Having been born in
Washington D.C. the quote
inevitably stayed in my head as
did the skinny guy with the
booming voice. In fact, it was the
voice that triggered the memory,
as the man himself now on the tube
in front of me seemed to have
grown into his voice. Older, of
course (only women don’t age in
Hollywood, because they aren’t
allowed to), but the hair
close-cropped instead of flowing
like the early nineties look I
first saw him in and the frame
filled out like anyone should be
after 15 years. And as a pompous
elementary school dean, he was
funny. Fun-ee. Even Nicole laughed
out loud as he berated Zach (or
was it Cody? Is there a
difference?) with a mop in a dream
sequence. This might sound silly,
but it was nice to see him again.
Then a few weeks later, there he
was on “What About Brian?” (Yes, I
watch it. Religiously. Judge me if
you will, but ask yourself if you
have a guilty boob tube pleasure
or two that you’d blush to admit
to. “You’re The One That I Want,”
anyone?) He had shed Zach and
Cody’s haughty, over-the-top kid
show character and merrily slipped
into the demeanor of a slightly
smarmy egotistical boss to Rick
Gomez’ Dave Greco. I was all
a-flutter. “Ah! That guy!” I
exclaimed and pointed to the TV,
though no one else was in the
room. I couldn’t help it. I was a
fan. Here was a guy that was so
familiar; even though I didn’t
know his name, I loved his work.
Like Richard Jenkins. Before he
was on Six Feet Under, I always
clapped my hands in glee when I
saw him on the small or large
screen. I hadn’t seen “D.C. from
Boston Common” in a while. It was
like meeting up with an old friend
again. I wondered where else he
might surprise me?
The next time I saw him, I
almost peed my pants. As a
straightforward White House lawyer
on Fox’s “24” he disagreed with
Peter MacNichol’s Thomas Lennox,
trying to give D.B. Woodside’s
President Wayne Palmer sound
advice. Okay, this was crazy. I
had to find out where this guy had
been between NBC’s “Boston Common”
and this rush of recent roles. Had
he been hiding under his bed for
15 years or had I just not been
watching the right shows? In fact,
what is the life of a
non-celebrity in Tinsel Town? Who
are those people you always
recognize, but whose names aren’t
blasted across the tabloids every
week? After all, these people, the
ones that are continually working
but whose names you don’t know,
are really the people you see most
of the time.
After some investigation via
the Internet – starting at
imdb.com “Boston Common” - I first
found out that “D.C.” was in fact,
D.C. Douglas. Scrolling down the
impressive list of TV and film
roles, I realized I had been
missing him constantly: “ER,”
“NYPD Blue,” “Las Vegas,” “Strong
Medicine” and a host of other
roles had kept him busy. I rapidly
moved onto his websites – all five
of them, and found his contact
info. Easy. So I called him – and
there it was, The Voice. He seemed
surprised to hear that anyone
would want to interview him. So
surprised in fact, that he laughed
out loud – a great, hearty cackle,
impossible to describe or imitate.
Higher than you might imagine and
loud enough for me to jerk the
receiver away from my ear. But he
was game. “What the hell,” he
said. “You don’t work for The
Enquirer, right?”
Turns out, this is one busy
guy. Between on-camera acting and
voice over, D.C. is constantly and
consistently working. He invited
me to interview him on a
battleship in the middle of the
night. But he had good reason; he
was currently in the middle of
shooting “Deadwater,” a ghost ship
thriller with Lance Henrikson and
James Russo, due out in 2007. So I
drove to San Pedro, climbed aboard
the USS Lane and talked with him
between takes down in the bowels
of the beast.
I was embarrassed, but I had to
know about “Boston Common.” That’s
where I first saw him, so I
assumed that was his first
significant gig. But like most
actors, he had already been on
plenty of TV shows like “Coach”
and “Melrose Place” and “Boston
Common” was supposed to be a
one-episode co-star. But Hollywood
is unpredictable, and you never
know what might help an unknown
move forward. In this case, it was
that laugh that nearly burst my
eardrum when I first spoke to him
that turned one line into ten
episodes.
Vicki Rosenberg was the casting
director for “Boston Common” and
D.C. even had to audition for the
one line. Once hired, “they had me
there the whole week during the
producer run-through,” D.C.
started. “It was a funny show and
I couldn’t help but laugh. And I
laugh rather loudly and
unabashedly – I once had a
neighbor ask me not to laugh at
night because it kept her up – so
the next day for the Network
run-through, Max Mutchnick and
David Kohan (co-creators of “Will
and Grace”) told me to ‘feel free
to laugh as much as you want.’ So
I did. And then I sent a big
basket of wine to congratulate
them on the pilot. It was the
first time anyone called me back
to thank me… and Max said if there
were more episodes, they’d bring
me back. And they actually did! It
took several episodes before they
turned the character’s name into
D.C., because they were never sure
if they could bring me back... at
first they just plugged me into
whatever odd role there was, but
eventually I became ‘D.C.’ There I
was, having a role essentially
written for me. I was sure I had
hit it big. I spent most of the
money assuming I’d get nice
residuals from summer repeats.”
And then there was that laugh
as he said, “The show lasted one
season and was cancelled. No
repeats. It went straight to cable
and I made $50 in residuals for
all 10 episodes.”
So what does an unknown do
then? Back to the proverbial
pounding of the pavement, which,
in L.A is done by car.
After fifteen years and untold
gallons of gas, he has over a
hundred on-camera projects under
his belt. Between those and his
busy voice-over career, he no
longer needs to have an alternate
job to pay the bills. “That’s
refreshing; I was a horrible
waiter.” But it did take some time
to get there. An actor with no
contacts is going to have as hard
a time getting jobs in Hollywood
as a mountain climber getting to
the top of Everest without extra
oxygen.
An actor’s first contact on the
long food chain of Hollywood is
the casting director. Unless you
can make friends (or lovers, for
the more ambitious) out of
producers, casting directors are
an actor’s connection to those
highly coveted and sparsely
available jobs. The first casting
director in D.C.’s corner was Dava
Waite, whom he met when he
auditioned for “21 Jump Street”.
He didn’t get the role, but she
referred to him as a chameleon and
called him in as often as she
could. “She felt it was her duty
to get me my SAG card. It was a
Roy Rogers commercial that put me
in the union and Dava continued to
cheer me on. A couple of years
later, she got me on “Coach” with
Craig T. Nelson, acting opposite a
young guest star; Rob Schneider.”
Soon in 1996, he was laughing it
up on “Boston Common.”
Twenty years later, many
casting directors know him and
trust him as a professional to
work well with stars like James
Caan (“Las Vegas”), Sherri
Stringfield and Mekhi Phifer
(“ER”), Alyssa Milano and Holly
Marie Combs (“Charmed”), Rachel
Nichols (“The Insider”) and of
course as already mentioned, Peter
MacNichol and D.B. Woodside on
“24”.
And that list isn’t just
limited to TV, either. Through
numerous independent films D.C.
has acted with the likes of Tony
Plana (of “Ugly Betty”), Krista
Allen (“Totally Blonde”), Lorraine
Newman (“Saturday Night Live”) and
a slew of big names in “The
Commission” that included Martin
Sheen, Martin Landau, Sam
Waterston, Ed Asner and Corbin
Bernsen.
So…no, I guess he hasn’t been
hiding under his bed. I just can’t
possibly see every TV show and
every independent film ever made.
But I’ve probably heard him more
than I realize. Especially lately
as his GEICO campaign has been
running for six months. As the
front and end voice over tags
introducing the celebrities that
translate for real GEICO
customers, D.C.’s voice bounces
around the nation on TV and radio
waves.
As he makes his living behind
the mic and in front of the
camera, the paths occasionally
cross. For the movie “Factory
Girl,” the star wasn’t available
to record some off-screen lines,
so D.C. was called in to imitate
Guy Pierce imitating Andy Warhol.
“That was trippy.” he said.
At that moment in our
interview, D.C. was called to set
to get beaten up by Lance
Henrikson. We’d covered a lot of
ground during the time I’d been
there - for a guy from the West
Coast, he talks fast. Ideas,
descriptions and a gnarly sense of
humor seem to fuel him forward and
the listener has to hold on tight
to keep up. I didn’t mind – I’m
from New York, after all.
In his absence, I wondered how
he gets through the dry spells, if
there are any. I’ve spoken to
plenty of people in this business
and the statement I hear the most
is that unless you’re Tom, Meryl,
Julia or Kate, you have to create
your own projects. No one sends
you scripts to read if they don’t
know who the hell you are.
And furthermore, though
co-stars and guest stars on TV
shows are good gigs, most actors
dream of their own sit-com or
series. But the reality is that
you’re doing well if you’re
getting a lot of auditions and
booking these kinds of roles. And
these days, since most guest stars
are being stunt-cast with stars
(Madonna on “Will & Grace,”
anyone?), getting any auditions at
all puts an actor ahead of most of
the pulsing, shoving throng of
people trying to jam their feet
around the casting director’s
door. D.C. is one of those actors
that has been in Hollywood long
enough that casting directors know
him, like him and know they can
count on him. Yet, still it’s
tough. But when there’s nothing
else you want to – or by his
admission, can’t – do, you have no
choice but to persevere.
For D.C., part of that
perseverance comes in the form of
creating his own projects. During
his next break between shots, he
denied being a writer, but I know
from imdb.com that he’s written
and produced five original
award-winning short films. In
fact, he’s also directed, edited,
animated and acted in them. His
most recent project that played
the festival circuit is “Duck,
Duck, Goose!” - a blend of 60's
Technicolor European romp and
post-modern cynicism. Worth a
watch, if you want to buy it
online – It won four festival
awards, including one to D.C. for
Best Actor and one to Robin Daléa,
his “pint-sized fireball of a
girlfriend, a talented and
beautiful actress in her own right
and a full foot shorter than me.”
Three awards came from one
festival in New Jersey. “They love
us in Trenton!”
Currently, he’s in the midst of
editing and animating another pet
project he directed entitled, “The
Crooked Eye,” a short film based
on a short story written by his
mother, Betty Malicoat. Fay
Masterson (“Eyes Wide Shut” and
“Man Without A Face”) stars and
had to act in front of a green
screen the entire time. “We shot
78 shots in two days and the first
day, we didn’t have any air
conditioning. Poor Fay was
practically a puddle by the end of
the day, but she was a real
trooper. Luckily the second day,
the air was back on.”
Looking at his resume of
directing, I asked if he was
pursuing that line of work too. He
shook his head, “I’m having a
helluva time pursuing being an
actor, why would I want to pursue
being a director too?” But, he
added, if he was offered the
opportunity and liked the project,
he’d do it.
Part of persevering in the
finicky industry of TV and film is
recognizing that you’re a product
and embracing your type. “I’ll
never be on a show of gorgeous
people like Courtenay Cox-Arquette’s
new show ‘Dirt’ or a show of
young, beautiful people like ‘The
O.C.’ You have to know your place
in the market and know it’s not a
reflection of you as a person.”
And the laugh, “…but I can’t be
that bad; I managed to snag
Robin.”
In viewing his demo reel and
individual clips, in the past 15
years, this actor has clearly gone
from geek to guy. The Flock Of
Seagulls haircut is gone and the
man has grown into his voice. An
actor’s type is at the mercy of
genetics and the passage of time.
(And one’s financial ability and
desire to combat them with modern
technology). So an actor’s type is
in constant flux and a smart one
knows what to market. D.C. does
just that, working his skills and
look together.
So, then, for an unknown,
working actor, what is success?
“When I get there, I’ll let you
know. I have a funny feeling I’ll
be 85 when I finally get my own
hit series and it won’t matter
much because anyone I hoped would
see me that successful will
probably be dead!” And there it
is, the laugh that seems to carry
him through it all, reverberating
off the ship’s steel walls until
he’s told to quell it by the first
A.D. “Quiet on set! Please hold
all cackling laughter!” D.C. puts
his hands over his mouth…and
quietly giggles.
