I am skipping forward for about 25 years. My acting career has been fairly lucrative, I have been able to raise my daughter to adulthood, I have 25 years vested in SAG which means I have cheap health insurance at 65 for life and a decent pension to go along with Social Security Retirement and still get occasional residuals.
So, while I didn't fail in La, my career never achieved the promise it had when I first arrived in Hollywood. I had my ups and downs, was a series regular on a few pilots that were not picked up, did many top of the show guest spots. {IMDB link at the bottom of this page}. But, just when it looked like I was going to have a breakthrough, like I had in New York, I would suffer a setback. Sometimes due to my own doing, I have a big impulsive mouth which hurt me, being a military veteran, US Navy, and a political conservative in a sea of liberalism.
Being a new father in a new marriage put pressure on me that I didn't have in New York. Where timing worked for me in NY, it worked against me in Hollywood.While I was able to make a living in LA, it was a struggle to maintain that level without falling into the abyss. It is strange that while my daughter was growing up, I was able to maintain a living as an actor and provide her with health insurance but as soon as she turned 21 is when my career seemed to collapse. I thank God it did not happen when she was very young because I don't know what I would have done. I didn't go to college and have no skills outside of acting.
Now, I am 68 years old, living on Social Security retirement, a Screen Actors pension and a occasional pension. I no longer have an agent that can get me in the room with a phone call. BTW, I auditioned for a good commercial agent last week and received a call today for a call back. I never had the much luck with commercials, I did a few, but I feel that my advanced age may make me more useful for commercials. We shall see.
There has been much good though in spite of the frustrations.My college graduate daughter is grown and supports herself and hopefully will give me grand children someday. I have been able to keep in great physical shape, having a lot of free time gives me the opportunity to work out every day to pass the time. I still have my acting hook in the water, and my acting is as sharp as ever, maybe better as the pressure is off.
I just finished doing a play and it felt great to turn on an audience again. I will always stick with it because I love the act of acting.
IMDB for John Del Regno
So, while I didn't fail in La, my career never achieved the promise it had when I first arrived in Hollywood. I had my ups and downs, was a series regular on a few pilots that were not picked up, did many top of the show guest spots. {IMDB link at the bottom of this page}. But, just when it looked like I was going to have a breakthrough, like I had in New York, I would suffer a setback. Sometimes due to my own doing, I have a big impulsive mouth which hurt me, being a military veteran, US Navy, and a political conservative in a sea of liberalism.
Being a new father in a new marriage put pressure on me that I didn't have in New York. Where timing worked for me in NY, it worked against me in Hollywood.While I was able to make a living in LA, it was a struggle to maintain that level without falling into the abyss. It is strange that while my daughter was growing up, I was able to maintain a living as an actor and provide her with health insurance but as soon as she turned 21 is when my career seemed to collapse. I thank God it did not happen when she was very young because I don't know what I would have done. I didn't go to college and have no skills outside of acting.
Now, I am 68 years old, living on Social Security retirement, a Screen Actors pension and a occasional pension. I no longer have an agent that can get me in the room with a phone call. BTW, I auditioned for a good commercial agent last week and received a call today for a call back. I never had the much luck with commercials, I did a few, but I feel that my advanced age may make me more useful for commercials. We shall see.
There has been much good though in spite of the frustrations.My college graduate daughter is grown and supports herself and hopefully will give me grand children someday. I have been able to keep in great physical shape, having a lot of free time gives me the opportunity to work out every day to pass the time. I still have my acting hook in the water, and my acting is as sharp as ever, maybe better as the pressure is off.
I just finished doing a play and it felt great to turn on an audience again. I will always stick with it because I love the act of acting.
IMDB for John Del Regno
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