Joel Thurm (casting director, Taxi, Grease, Cheers; autobiography "Sex, Drugs, and Pilot Season")

Joel Thurm joined me to discuss watching Milton Berle, wrestling, and Disney as a child; wanting to be an actor but finding his calling backstage; working for David Merrick; casting Broadway; moving to L.A.; working on The Pearl Bailey Show; musical guest appearances; Ethel Winant; casting The Bob Newhart Show; casting Henry Winkler and John Randolph; casting Raul Julia, Katherine Helmond, John Ritter, Will MacKenzie, Rene Auberjonois, and Chirstopher Lloyd in very early roles; casting the play and film of The Rocky Horror Picture Show; casting "Grease"; producing "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble"; coercing Olivia Newton John to take the role in "Grease"; swapping the "new, improved" script with the original; turning 80; casting Fantasy Island with Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize; casting Taxi with Judd Hirsch; Cleavon Little being replaced by Jeff Conaway; Nell Carter being unavailable; Andy Kaufman came with the deal; reluctantly accepting the job of casting and producing Angie; casting "Airplane" with Peter Graves; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar being the third choice after Pete Rose and Bruce Jenner; Barbara Billingsley being the second choice after Harriet Nelson; being named NBC's head of talent; casting a casting agent on an episode of Taxi; Eileen Brennan; casting Gavin McLeod and Lauren Tewes for The Love Boat; casting Daniel J. Travanti for Hill Street Blues; Fred Silverman doesn't think he's likeable, so Joel got him to smile; Cheers comes down to three choices for Sam and Diane; NBC won't let Joel cast it; Joel implores Grant Tinker to hire Ted Danson because women will want to fuck him more than William Devane; being wrong on Don Johnson for Miami Vice; casting Florence Halop in Night Court; his favorite show, Law & Order SVU; fandom of Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay; recommending Christine Ebersole to SNL in 1981, his assistant recommending Dennis Miller in 1985 and Elvira in 1987You can order Joel's "Sex Drugs and Pilot Season" here Sex, Drugs & Pilot Season: Confessions of a Casting Director: Thurm, Joel: 9781629339535: Amazon.com: Books