Were you ever an extra in a movie, TV show, kid show included ---speaking or nonspeaking part. I was a zombie in George

[debm55]

Romero's first movie, Night of the Living Dead. I did the zombie walk and grunted I wanted to be on Romper Room, Ricky and Copper and the Paul Shannon show. All were shot in Pittsburgh.Never did.

[johnp3907]

1. You mean George Romero?

[debm55]

5. Thank you I edited it.

[johnp3907]

6. Well now we need to know which zombie you were!

That’s one of my favorite movies!

[debm55]

11. It was shot in the Pittsburgh area. My friend's sister was a student at the Art Institue, They were given a casting

call, So the three of us went. I wasn't a stand alone zombie. But in a group

[CanonRay]

9. Which Zombie?????

[debm55]

19. I was in a group of zombies---no lines. Clothing from the Goodwill Store were brought in, We were told to tear and rip

them. and add dust and dirt. Make up people were brought in to do our make-up, I guess I can say the smaller version as I was 14 at the time.

[Clouds Passing]

2. Cool debm 😎

And nope, no parts. I did play Santa Lucia one Christmas at church.

[debm55]

51. Thank you Clouds Passing

[chouchou]

3. I remember you, debm55. You were magnificent!

Those grunts and eating those disgusting brains, really made the show.

[debm55]

52. HAHAHHAHAH, Thank you very much chouchou

[surfered]

4. I was in a nation wide TV advertisement (circa 1961-62) for the Boy Scouts of America.

It was shot at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico with me in uniform in the foreground and the Tooth of Time in the background.



We had finished our week’s hike when someone said they’re filming a commercial and needed volunteers in uniform.

That was beginning and the end of my acting career.

[debm55]

56. Thank you very. surfered. Your career was short .but a memorable one

[CanonRay]

7. I was featured in a Cold Case Files

with Bill Kurtis as the narrator back in the early 2000s.

[debm55]

57. Thank you CanonRay, Were you in the crowd or a speaking actor

[CanonRay]

63. I was interviewed. It was a documentary about an investigation I did.

I had retired when they filmed it, so I had to go back to my old office in Denver and that's where it was filmed, as well as in Crested Butte, Colorado.

[debm55]

65. Thank you very much CanonRay. You are a star.

[Archae]

8. I was a tree, in 1rst grade.

Cardboard costume.

Oh, and in our church's Christmas plays, I played a couple characters, most memorably a Mexican with a Wisconsin German accent.

[debm55]

77. HAHHAHAHHAha. thank you very much Archae. A star is born

[Nittersing]

10. My Dad was on an episode of the Brady Bunch

I think the story line was Mike had a set of blue prints to deliver... one of the kids loses them... finally arrives at board meeting with plans in hand. My Dad was one of the board members.

[Americanme]

26. I remember that episode!

[blm]

53. Lolol. Brady Bunch set stories are the best. 😁

I’ve heard lots of interesting stories from back then. Sherwood’s son, Ross, was one of my closest friends in LA when I lived there.

[debm55]

78. Thank you very much, Nittersing.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

12. In the event of a zombie apocalypse...

...my family and I will be hiding out at your place.
Hopefully those braineaters will steer clear of all of us out of professional courtesy.

[debm55]

79. HAHAHAHHAHA. Thank you very much, discntnt_irny_srcsm , You are welcome to join us.

[LudwigPastorius]

13. I was on the Happy Hal Show as a tot.

https://memphismagazine.com/ask-vance/remembering-happy-hal-miller/

...and, in my 20s, I worked as a production assistant (gofer) on a couple of mid-budget movies that came and went quickly.

So, how does it feel to be in a movie in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry for cultural significance?

[debm55]

80. Thank you very much LudwigPastorius, You had some great memories. I didn;t know that my movie was in the National Film

Registry for cultural significance. Wow, and thank you.

[enid602]

14. Scandal

I was on the cover of Life Magazine with several other children in the early ‘60’s. We were dancing with Virginia McMartin, owner of a pre school in Manhattan Beach, CA. We were dancing and enacting a scene from ‘The Sound of Music.’ On the beach instead of at the base of the Alps.

Virginia later became infamous as she was dragged into a case of sexual abuse in the pre school in the ‘80’s. It was one of the biggest and most scandalous lawsuits in US history. Charges were finally dropped.

[debm55]

21. I remember the McMartin case. Wan't the mother, and brother involved too.

Last edited Fri Jun 13, 2025, 06:11 PM - Edit history (1)

[enid602]

22. McMartin

Oh, yes. The mother was a good friend of my Mom. Virginia played bridge with my Grandmother every Friday. The brother was seen as being somewhat ‘creepy,’ which added a lot of fuel to speculation. I went all through K thru 12 with the daughter.

It turned out that a lot of the pre schoolers made up stories. The entire town was ravaged.

Virginia looked a lot like Mrs. Doubtfire, and always had a Snoopy pin on her sweater when she show es up in Court.

There was an HBO made for TV movie in 2012 called ‘Indictment’ about the McMartin case.

[AllaN01Bear]

33. this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial brought to trial in my transition year from so cal to nor cal.

[enid602]

37. Thank you

Thank you. This was a great read.

[Laffy Kat]

15. Gasp! I am soooo jealous!

I've always wanted to be a zombie.

There was a zombie movie shot in Erie, Colorado, one town over from mine, and they were calling for extras. Sadly, I heard about it too late.

[debm55]

32. There was also a George Romero that was done at Monroeville Mall, It wasn't too far from my home. However, I couldn't

Last edited Fri Jun 13, 2025, 06:58 PM - Edit history (1)

handle the admiration of my fans.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Cool Thread

Enjoyed reading these experiences of other DUers.

[debm55]

82. Thank you ProfessorGAC.

[Teacher of the Year]

17. I was the substitute kid for the west coast live Romper Room

Back in 69/70. The show got new kids every two weeks. We lived close to the TV station so if a kid was sick or late, they would wisk me over to take their place. I was on enough that I was recognized in public and got my cheeks pinched a lot and, ew, people running their fingers through my very red hair. I was a STAR in kindergarten. I had afternoon kindergarten so everyone had watched Romper Room in the morning and there I was in class a few hours later.

It might sound fun, but I hated the attention and absolutely hated being touched by strangers. At school it was horrible because all of these aggressive kids who wanted to be my "best friend" but were frantic about it and pushy.

We moved and at my new school I was a nobody. My best friends were the shyest kids who liked to play off on the edges of the group. I finally had friends who I trusted to like me for me. I was offered a TV show later in life, on a popular station in a prime time slot, and declined. I 100% knew that that was NOT the life for me.

(Here is a twist though... many, many, many years later I was dating this really nice fellow. We were at a party and his friend asked him how he knew he was gay. He told her that as a kid he would watch Romper Room and that there was this red-headed boy that he had a crush on and that he wanted to marry. When we left the party I told him that I was that red-headed kid. At home I showed him the big romper room picture I had and his mouth fell open. I'd met his kids, we were getting along so well, and the next day he broke it off with me and simply sobbed that it too much for him to deal with.

No happy ending to the tale, I'm afraid. I warned him that it would not sit well, and it did not. I wish him love and happiness but it was not with me.)

[debm55]

83. My heart goes out to both of you, Teacher of the Year. You are loved here by use. I wish you well.

[Onthefly]

18. Capt. Billy's Playhouse in Albuquerque, KGGM, 1966

We were part of the peanut gallery as Scouts. They gave us donuts!

[debm55]

81. Thank you very much, Onthefly. I always wanted to be the peanut gallery. My girl scouts never got invited though.

[Onthefly]

84. We did have fun. Waiting to go on air was the time for donuts and milk.

[debm55]

86. Great and thank you again. Onthefly.

[Doodley]

20. In my youth, I was in several sex scenes almost throughout an entire movie (in the back row of the movie theater!).

[Oopsie Daisy]

39. Ha! It's a rite of passage almost. (For some of us older folks... it was in drive-in theater.) LOL

[debm55]

76. Thank you very much, OOpsi Daisy.

[DiverDave]

23. I drove my taxi

In a music video. Up and down front street in old Lahaina town.
In 83? A band called Pooh.
Never heard of them.

[debm55]

74. HAHAHAHHAHAHHA. Thank you very much DiverDave.

[Florida Dem]

24. Jaws 2

I was an extra in Jaws 2 beach scenes. I ran out of the water when Roy Scheider was firing his gun at what he thought was a shark, but it was only a school bluefish. I tried to tell him...

I am also the skinny, sunburned 16 yr old with sun-bleached hair playing volleyball in the background of several scenes. I was wearing blue shorts. I was obviously still in high school and I had to convince the principal to excuse me from classes for a week. My high school was a couple of minutes from the beach. It was filmed in Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, and Destin/Fort Walton Beach. I got paid $300 and ditched school for a week - not bad. Filmed in 1977.

[debm55]

73. Thank you very much Florida Dem. I will be looking for you the next time I watch the movie. Thank you for sharing.

[nuxvomica]

25. Did you have to chew on raw pig guts, debm55?

We had a screening in college, on a little screen in our small cafeteria, but Romero himself was there to talk about the film before the screening. This would have been 1974 or 1975. He said one of the investors was a local meatpacker who supplied him with pig offal that the zombies chewed on when they were supposedly eating a human. Do you recall dealing with that?

[debm55]

50. No I was in crowd scene. Thankfully not eating pig guts

[grumpyduck]

27. I was in one of the crowd scenes

in Rollercoaster back in college, around '74-75. Two days' work, lunch, and $20 a day.

[debm55]

49. Thank you very much, grumpyduck

[DBoon]

28. You must provide a signed 8x10 glossy!

You are a famous actor.

Your photo should hang on the wall of all the cool places in LA.

It should even be on the wall at my local dry cleaners.

[debm55]

31. Thank you DBoon. I have never seen any of his other movies. too scary

Last edited Sat Jun 14, 2025, 11:49 AM - Edit history (2)

[3catwoman3]

29. I had a miniscule nonspeaking bit part in a Japanese historical drama...

...in the late 1970s while stationed at Yokota Air Base west of Tokyo. Several westerners were needed as extras for a few scenes. My tiny part was that of a nurse showing a gentleman down the hall to a doctor's office and opening the door. I was garbed in a high-collared, leg-o-mutton sleeved white dress and topped off with a Gibson girl style wig similar in color to my own auburn hair.

This is not me. https://www.wigfactory.com/products/characters-gibson-girl-synthetic-wig

I don't remember anything about the story being told, and never saw any footage.

[debm55]

48. HAHAHAH, Thank you very much 2catwoman3

[nuxvomica]

30. I came close to being on TV but missed it

A local TV station, WTEN, used to show old movies at a 5 pm time slot called "The Big Movie". I was in high school at the time but was a big fan of old movies, especially Bogart's. When it was announced that The Big Movie was going to have a Humphrey Bogart week and that viewers could send in postcards to vote for which movies would be shown, I went to the post office and bought a bunch of blank postcards to send in to ensure that the movies I had never seen would be shown. This was the rare time I could influence what was on my TV before VCRs. The week before Bogart Week, they did an on-air drawing and my name was picked as one of the people who would appear on-air with Bogart inpersonator Jerry Lacy but alas me and my mom got lost trying to find the studio and arrived just a few minutes too late to appear on-air but I got to meet Lacy and chat with him a bit. He portrayed Bogie in Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam. My prize was a Polaroid camera that my parents later took on a trip to Italy where my Sicilian cousin Nunzio broke it.

[debm55]

47. So sorry about your chance to be a star. nucvomica. You did get to talk with Jerry Lacy. And you did get a Polaroid

camera.Though Nunzio broke it. Thank you for sharing your memories with us.

[AllaN01Bear]

34. hmm,, lets see,,,

guide for my late mom who couldnt wear glasses . i colundnt wear them also. blind leading blind.

presenter for a school play.

in numerous plays .

was in a movie selling a project to hud to teach disabled ppl to run business computers , first of its kind .
dont know what happened to the stock, et, cant locate it, was most likely deleted .

[debm55]

42. Thank you AllaNO1Bear. A Star is Born,

[Solly Mack]

36. I was in a series of education videos for the state of Georgia back in the late 60s early 70s.

One of a dozen children involved.

[debm55]

41. Great thank you very much, Solly Mack

[womanofthehills]

38. I was on Dick Clark's American Bandstand jitterbuging

With a group from my high school. Do you guys remember Justine & Bob? - (popular American Bandstand regulars). Justine was the pretty blonde. .

[debm55]

40. Thank you very much, womanofthehills.

[catbyte]

43. Nope. My Myers-Briggs type is INTP which means I avoid any kind of IRL recognition at all costs

I avoid any and all cameras, and I think that the only pics I have of me are on government-issued documents.

[debm55]

46. Thank you catbyte.

[electric_blue68]

44. Just had to tell you that yesterday for no reason (no prompt, or a reminder) I thought of "Romper Room". 😄

And a few days earlier I remembered I was at a Bozo the Clown taping.

[debm55]

45. Thank you very much for sharing that. electric_blue68. Good memories for you.

[electric_blue68]

62. Off hand I have no actual memories, which is why I was confused about it showing up.

[debm55]

72. Thank you.

[wryter2000]

54. I was in Rachel, Rachel

Met Paul Newnan

[debm55]

71. Wow. thank you very much, wryter2000. What an experience.

[lapfog_1]

55. In high school I was part of a team of 3 "student reporters"

for the NBC affiliate in Kansas City ( WDAF ).

We would go in on Sunday, and usually plan and write a "script", take a camera / sound person and go interview someone for a fluff piece. Then take the film back and edit it, and prepare a final script and then one of us would go on set and the anchor and introduce the interview.

Got to meet some famous people like Joe DiMaggio, Ken Curtis ( Festus on Gunsmoke ), the owner of the KC Royals, etc.

It was a fun job.

[Nittersing]

58. Wow! What a great experience! nt

[debm55]

70. That is wonderful. Thank you very much lapfog_1 for sharing your memories with us.

[BlueTsunami2018]

59. I was in Rocky 2 and Rocky 5.

As a paid extra.

I also got into Sports Illustrated running with Stallone during the filming of 2.

[debm55]

69. Great BlueTsunami 2018, Thank you for sharing your memories.

[brush]

60. I played a Buffalo Soldier in the TV western "High Chapparal" way back in he day.

I went to the University of Arizona in Tucson. The show was shot in "Old Tucson", a western movie/TV setr/ western town, also a tourist attraction in the Tucson mountains outside of Tucson.

Me and a couple of other Black Student Union members where manning a table on the student mall at the Student Union building when show runners from the show approached us and asked if we'd like to participate in the show?

We said "sure enough" and it resulted in two days on the set in Blue 10 Cavalry uniforms, $45 bucks a day and meals. It was a blast. One of the stars, Henry Darrow, IIRC his name correctly, had to have a stool bought to him to mount his horse (heehee). The other stars were Leif Erickson, Cameron Mitchell and Linda Cryistal.

The US 10th Cavalry was headquartered in Ft. Huachuca south of Tucson.

[debm55]

68. Thank you very much, brush. It sounds like your experience was fun. Good for you

[Basso8vb]

61. I was on an episode of LA law and the 2nd season finale of America's funniest home videos

As well as a game show hosted by Bert Convy that was never broadcast outside of LA.

All with my college marching band.

I also happened to be at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk one summer evening in 1986 when they were filming scenes for The Lost Boys. They were letting us walk past during some of the background scene shots.

[debm55]

67. Thank you very much, Basso8vb. Great experience and memories.

[GoneOffShore]

64. I was an extra in two scenes in 'Philadelphia'

I played a news photographer as Denzel and Tom were exiting the courthouse, and then a Penn student in the library where they had the encounter which made Denzel's character take the case.
I also did background in several commercials, but I don't remember what they were for.
Being an extra is a bit like watching paint dry.
I also did a couple of B2B promotional films, plus some training videos.
Then I figured out that the real money (Ha!) was to be made working behind the camera, so I got into casting.

[debm55]

66. Thank you very much, GoneOffShore. I hope you enjoyed your career casting. Or still love it.

[Emile]

75. I was on a local kids tv show in the 1950's. I

was asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. Apparently I said, I want to smoke cigars and drive a Harley Davidson like my Uncle Herbert.

[debm55]

85. HAHAHAHHAHAH. That is so funny, Thank you Emile.

[IbogaProject]

87. I was an extra in Summer of Sam

I was an extra for the scenes at CBGBs and even coached the showcased victim on how to gently slam dance like professional wrestling. I've never actually watched to movie to even see if that made the cut. He was very relieved to find out it isn't always as rough at it looks, doubly as it was for a movie and the crowd weren't hardcore slam dancers.

[debm55]

88. Thank you very much, IbogaProject.