Book Snippets
Check out some of the quotes from interviews with cast members of the epic TV miniseries from the upcoming book Centennial Revisited!
“I didn’t like the fake mustache that much. Most of us didn’t have the time and the shooting schedule to grow facial hair. Those fake mustaches in those hot climates; that was not fun.’’
- Mark Harmon (Captain John McIntosh)
“I think Episode 3 is maybe the best Americana ever done for television. That’s the one that featured me. I was lucky to be in that one. The story of Levi coming from the east and getting in a Conestoga wagon, taking this girl and heading west works on about 10 different levels. It’s romantic, it’s adventurous, it’s a horror story in some ways. It’s the sweetest kind of story that Hollywood can come up with. But it’s also resonant of what really happened.’’
- Gregory Harrison (Levi Zendt)
“I loved every minute of it. You know, I liked all of the miniseries, really, and how it showed the passage of time and how the community and characters developed because time moves on.”
- Cristina Raines (Lucinda McKeag Zendt)
“It ranks right up there. It’s one of my all-time favorites, this character. I suppose it’s because I became this character and I lived that character.’’
- Barbara Carrera (Clay Basket)
“I thought he (Tranquilino Marquez) was a hard-working guy. He really had that urge to prove himself. He felt the need to be impeccably correct about doing his business. He didn’t want to be accused of being lazy.’’
- A Martinez (Tranquilino Marquez)
“When I first came on, I knew we would have to do these scenes attacking wagon trains so I went to the stuntmen and asked for the fastest horse. Yeah, I got it. It was a zippy little critter. It wasn’t big but it was fast.’’
- Stephen McHattie (Jake Pasquinel)
“Andy Griffith saved my life on that show. He literally saved my life.’’
- Sharon Gless (Sidney Endermann)
“I wasn’t familiar with the story at all, but as an actor you have to know this is the part and these are the lines you are reading. In a way it may have helped me. At that age, I wasn’t going to sit down and read it. I just used my imagination about what the part would entail. You kind of had blinders on, not really concentrating on the thread of the story.’’
- Doug McKeon (Philip Wendell)
“Crucial role? I got that feeling. I thought I was going to be nothing and thought, ‘Damn, I better learn the lines.’’’
- Cliff DeYoung (John Skimmerhorn)
“Did it feel weird being on a pony in a black wig trying to be a savage of the plains? I felt weird, very very weird. It took me a while before I was able to own it. And I thought, ‘Yeah, I can be this guy.’’’
- Kario Salem (Mike Pasquinel)
“My favorite scene and most memorable and difficult scene was when she went insane from the dust and she opened the refrigerator and it was filled with dust. The whole climax leading up to that. That scene was one of the most interesting and memorable scenes I’ve ever done because it was so crazy.’’’
- Julie Sommars (Alice Grebe)
“I wanted to paint a tooth gold. I thought it would be a period statement but it was nixed. Maybe too far for 1978?’’
- William Atherton (Jim Lloyd)
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