Dirk Benedict (The A-Team)

Dirk Benedict joined me to discuss Montana v. Montauk; not having a TV in Montana until 1956 and not watching one until college; lived out in ranch houses; now only watches old movies and English football; Steven Spielberg could not believe the number of movies he hadn't seen; movies are just pictures, not like early dialogue based films; having same acting teacher as Sir Anthony Hopkins; Whitman College; not having a plan; not having a phone in Montana during Battlestar Galactica, agent had to call a bar six miles away to get him; Kate Jackson; wanting to make the film version of A River Runs Through It; house-sitting for Anthony Hopkins in 1971; Aaron Spelling offered him guest spots on Charlies Angels; Diana Rigg wanted all male heterosexual Broadway cast; met friend Keith Michelle, who taught him about macrobiotics; playing Gloria Swanson's blind son in Butterflies are Free; living with her and having dinner with Greta Garbo; learning dirt on Joe Kennedy; befriending Maya Angelou on a set in Sweden; co-starring with Strother Martin in SSSSSST; getting job because of death of Brandon deWilde and producer Richard Zanuck seeing him in a Hawaii 5-O; Jim MacArthur; wore most makeup ever up to that point in SSSSSST; Robert Blake hangs out with him and Strother; Strother and him listen to Mozart; befriending George Roy Hill; playing George's piano; palm reader accurately predicts his life; befriending Fred Astaire; co-starring with Twiggy in W; Chopper One; dating Lucie Arnaz while costarring in Lil Abner; being a conservative in liberal Hollywood; never wanting to be an actor; being dared to try out for school play and getting the lead; stage acting is sex and camera acting in masturbation; his Kamikaze Cowboy Kitchen; his twin granddaughters; living in Europe for 4 years; his macrobiotic book saved lives but were burned on orders from AMA; Marie Osmond's parents put a stop to a potential romance because he wasn't Mormon; diet drugs; impotence; was considered funny after he got out of his house; Markie Post; cast of A-Team were considered misogynists but every female guest stars loved them; NBC hated A-Team; dedicating his book to people who died of cancer; being fat is worse than smoking; people who think others who are successful are just lucky; trying to help Gilda Radner & Jill Ireland beat cancer; no for sugar takes 8 years; Merv Griffin loved him for his honesty