Stupid Questions with Scott Baio

Entertainment Weekly

Do you care that a small romantic film named A Wedding for Bella is going to be released on DVD Feb. 3? You do now, because it stars Scott Baio! To mark the occasion, we asked the 42-year-old actor--who excelled as a tough kid named Chachi (Happy Days) and an unconventional nanny (Charles in Charge)--to take a stupid trip with us down memory lane. --Dan Snierson

In Bella, you play a corporate ax-man. If you could fire yourself from any of your previous jobs, which would it be?
Where do I start? I would fire myself from Joanie Loves Chachi. I would fire myself from a piece-of-s**t movie called Skatetown, U.S.A. I would have fired myself--well, I did fire myself from Diagnosis Murder; I quit. I might have fired myself from Baby Talk, but I don't know. Eh, that's about it.

You were on Happy Days for seven years. But not all the days were happy, were they, Scott?
Unfortunately, they were. It was party time every day.

Did you ever try on Fonzie's jacket?
That was taboo, man! That thing was in a vault on the set. There were guards around it. There was a ceremony when they opened it. But there were different ones. I hate to dispel the myth.

Really? How many were there?
There was one that he would wear if he was on the motorcycle. There was one that he were on the set. And it changed. First there was that Jimmy Dean red jacket. Then it became another leather jacket, which is more realistic. Then there was the third jacket, which was, in my opinion, a little wimpy. It had elastic armbands and it wasn't black, it was brown--and that was sad.

You've dated Hollywood hotties including Pamela Anderson, Nicolette Sheridan, and Heather Locklear. Did you ever know that you're my hero?
Yeah. I hear that a lot.

Seriously. How'd you do it?
I was on TV and I was cute. That goes a long way.

When Fran Drescher came out with The Nanny, were you like, "Yo, step off my Charles in Charge gig, bee-yotch"?
It's the same show, isn't it? I never thought about that. Holy s**t. I'm gonna sue her ass.

You released an album in 1982 with the single "What Was in That Kiss?" Better yet, there was the song "Woman, I Love Only You." Who talks like that?
Look, let's start from the beginning. First, you have to know how to sing. I didn't. You couple it with "Woman, I Love Only You" and it's pretty bad. It was a no-win situation. What was in that kiss? Money.

Did you hear that Paris Hilton is recording a CD?
I should call her.

For a duet?
No, to tell her "Stop. You have enough money. Don't sing 'Woman, I Love Only You.'" See? I used it in a sentence.

I read on the Internet that you died in a car accident in 1997. True?
Yes. You're talking to a ghost. Why do you think I haven't worked since then?

Good answers, Scott! At least he can poke fun of his self. I hated that brown leather jacket too that Fonzie wore.

I wonder if he actually is going to sue "The Nanny"?

But they were great answers!

:lol:

Cool answers :rotflmao:

Thanks for posting. I think Scott was a weak actor the first couple of seasons that he was on Happy Days, but later, he was became so good, he was helping to carry the show. I think he was great in Joanie Loves Chachi - if you don't owe any of these on tape, it is a great way to sit back and see a little part of Happy Days that is forgotten. Loved the JLCh ep where Chachi falls alseep on Joanie's couch with her and Howard calls in the middle of the night. Chach answers and before you know it, Howard and Marion are in Chicago to find out what is going on.
Sorry if I got a little off topic.

:rofl:

RE: Scott Baio's reply on Fonzie's jacket...

"There was one that he would wear if he was on the motorcycle. There was one that he were on the set. And it changed. First there was that Jimmy Dean red jacket. Then it became another leather jacket, which is more realistic. Then there was the third jacket, which was, in my opinion, a little wimpy. It had elastic armbands and it wasn't black, it was brown--and that was sad."

There are a couple of factual errors in Baio's reply. He may want to try watching the show... :D

First, I'm sure there were duplicate leather jackets per season (wardrobe depts. always have duplicate clothes to account for damage and wear throughout the season). Second, yes, the leather jackets did change slightly throughout the series: pointed collar tips and shoulder epaulets during the first season, and more rounded collar tips and no epaulets during the later seasons.

However, although Fonzie did wear a windbreaker occasionally for the first couple of seasons (no studio audience/"Rock Around the Clock" intro) but the jacket was beige; not red. Ralph Malph wore a red windbreaker type jacket with "GEMS" written on the back.

The Fonzie character was only allowed to wear the leather jacket sparingly during the first season -- usually when he was on a motorcycle -- because conservative ABC execs didn't want a "hoodlum" on a wholesome primetime family show. It was after the character and series caught on that the leather jacket became a trademark and worn exclusively by the Fonzie character.

Also, Scott Baio was not on the show in the early season to be able to qualify what kind of jackets Fonzie wore in the earlier seasons. I believe the Chachi character came into the series around season 5 or 6. Fonzie's "nephew/cousin" Spike (Danny Butch) preceeded Scott Baio's Chachi character during the earlier seasons.

Finally, if you turn up the color on your TV, you'll notice that Fonzie's jacket was always brown; not black as often believed. A dark "seal brown" to be exact, and it always had elasticized cuffs -- not just the "third" jacket Baio refers to.

Finally, Fonzie's jacket was not "wimpy" because it was a stylized variation of the WW2 US Air Force A-2 flight jacket! Wimpy? I don't think so...

Scott Baio needs to get his facts straight or at least stick to the seasons where he was there!

11 Seasons is a long time...anybody, including actors could lose track of the series itself.

11 Seasons is a long time...anybody, including actors could lose track of the series itself.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not out to discredit or demean Scott Baio who played a major part in American television history.

It's just that his replies are incorrect and it doesn't have anything to do with a fading memory. He just wasn't there when the Fonzie character donned a beige windbreaker but his reply sounds like he is implying he was on the series from the beginning.

He was still on the cusp of co-starring with Jodie Foster in the unusual but entertaining movie, "Bugsy Malone", singing, We could'a been anything that we wanted to be!... :D

I love that. Bugsy Malone rules...:)

BTW, how old is this Entertainment Weekly?

SCOTT BAIO earned three (3) Best Lead Actor prizes for
THE BREAD, MY SWEET ( a.k.a. A WEDDING FOR BELLA ) in
the Atlantic City Film Festival,
the Kansas City Halfway To Hollywood Film Festival,
and
the San Diego Film Festival.

Baio fans should know these facts.

SCOTT BAIO'S GLOWING REVIEWS FOR "THE BREAD, MY SWEET"
(a.k.a. "A WEDDING FOR BELLA")

"Scott Baio is fantastic in one of his first major film roles."
(THE POPKORN JUNKIES)

"Baio's At His Best In 'Bread'. Scott Baio simply shines as Dominic."
(Michael 0'Sullivan, THE WASHINGTON POST)

"Scott Baio gives a surprisingly deep and convincing performance."
(Eric Mender, FILM JOURNAL)

"Scott Baio still looks younger than his years,
but he's outgrown Chachi and has a warm, mature screen presence."
(Jim Lane, SACRAMENTO NEWS AND REVIEWS)

"Former sitcom veteran Scott Baio is terrific in this role.
He shifts effortlessly between manipulative and sincere,
especially when pitching his idea for the marriage to Lucca."
(John Niccum, LAWRENCE.COM)

"Scott Baio, who plays a part-time baker and full-time corporate big wig, is quite good.
He exudes a naturalism, a compelling conviction that gives depth and meaning to the lines he delivers."
(Bob Longino, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)

MORE OF SCOTT BAIO'S GLOWING REVIEWS FOR "THE BREAD, MY SWEET"
(a.k.a. "A WEDDING FOR BELLA")

"And in an image-changing turn, former kid star Scott Baio
delivers a terrific assured performance."
(Robert Horton, AMAZON.COM EDITORIAL REVIEW)

"Perhaps the biggest surprise, to those who know only his string of sitcoms, will be Scott Baio.
He delivers a mature, grounded performance and is wholly believable as
a man groping with trying to figure out how he screwed up what's most important in life."
(Bill O' Driscoll, THE PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER)

"Park the 'Charles-In-Charge' wisecracks at the door because
Scott Baio is the best thing going for 'The Bread, My Sweet'.
Director Melissa Martin gets a solid performance out of Baio."
(John Monaghan, THE DETROIT FREE PRESS)

"I cannot stress enough what a great performance Scott Baio gives.
He was perfect for the role. And no big name actor could have done it any better.
His charisma is vital to making Lucca and Dominic's relationship develop in a realistic and moving way."
(Wes Bennett, DR. MOVIE MOVIE)

"The story centers on Dominic, played with a nice blend of confidence and vulnerability by Scott Baio,
a young executive who is making a bundle in the mergers and acquisitions business."
(Margaret A. McGurk, THE CINCINATTI INQUIRER)

"Scott Baio, whose role as television's Chachi has forever doomed him to trivia-game-answer status,
delivers a highly effective and restrained performance as Dominic Pyzola, a young Italian-American
who divides his working time between serving as a ruthless acquisitions executive for a big corporation
and baking biscotti in the family bakery that he also manages."
(Frank Scheck, PANORAMA ENTERTAINMENT, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)

MORE OF SCOTT BAIO'S GLOWING REVIEWS FOR "THE BREAD, MY SWEET"
(A.K.A. "A WEDDING FOR BELLA")

"In the lead role, Scott Baio is a revelation.
The veteran star of 'Happy Days' and 'Charles-In-Charge'
has grown into a fine actor, anchoring 'The Bread, My Sweet'
with a terrific performance."
(Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO.NET)

"Scott Baio, still best known for his fresh-faced adolescent stint on 'Happy Days',
gives an impressively soulful, genuinely romantic and, for lack of a better word,
masculine performance - one that should persuade the industry to take another look at him."
(James Verniere, THE BOSTON HERALD)

"All the acting is good, especially Scott Baio
who looks and plays to perfection
the role of a type-A businessman with a secret heart."
(CHICAGO METROMIX)

"Realistic dialogue and convincing performances especially by
Rosemary Prinz and Scott Baio, give 'The Bread, My Sweet' its very soul.
The film is at its most powerful in tight quarters when for example
Baio's Dominic asks Massimo for Lucca's hand in marriage.
Baio looks away, nervous but almost expressionless, during the conversation
which is stripped of any affectation or Hollywood dressing up."
(Jonathan Curiel, THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE)

"Scott Baio, best known as Chachi from TV's 'Happy Days', is wonderful as Dominic,
the bakery owner who's stretched dangerously thin with a corporate day job.
Overall, 'The Bread, My Sweet' rises to the occasion and warms the heart while whetting the appetite.
Moreover, it reminds us that Baio, who was terrific in 'Bugsy Malone' and 'Foxes'
before being helplessly typecast by 'Happy Days', truly belongs on the big screen.
In his scenes with romantic love interest Kristin Minter and especially Rosemary Prinz's immigrant mother,
he exhibits a rugged charm that so far has eluded the likes of Tom Cruise and Ben Affleck."
(Glenn Lovell, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS)

"The real surprise here, of course, is Scott Baio.
Forget (if you can) his sitcom past and enjoy a deep rich performance here.
Baio perfectly captures the anguish and anxieties of a man being pulled in multiple directions and by different expectations.
Whether living the role of a Fortune 500 executive or speaking with serene understanding among his problematic brothers,
Baio invests the role with an emotional versatility that has never been seen in any of his previous performances.
In small moments when his parallel worlds overlap, such as the boardroom meeting where
he places a handful of macadamia nuts on a table and comments on their effectiveness in baking,
Scott Baio comes alive with a subtle depth that clearly states what a truly fine actor he is."
(Phil Hall, FILM THREAT)

SCOTT BAIO SURPRISES IN "THE BREAD, MY SWEET"
by Colin Covert
(The Star Tribune: November 27, 2002)

Scott Baio movie star? Yes, Scott Baio from "Happy Days", "Joanie Loves Chachi" and "Charles-In-Charge".
Hold the snickers, please, and see "THE BREAD, MY SWEET", a micro-budgeted indie romance
that is receiving national distribution thanks to the sleeper success of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

While it should appeal to the folks who have pushed Nia Vardalos' family farce
past the $ 200 million mark, "THE BREAD, MY SWEET" is the better film of the two by a long shot.
It's also a sweet ethnic romance but warmer and more poignant without the cardboard stereotypes and too broad humor.

Baio, now a handsome 40 year old, plays Dominic, a workaholic corporate takeover artist.
Cleaning out "dead wood" employees is lucrative but not fulfilling for the soul.
For that he turns to his hobby job: running a Pittsburgh biscotti bakery
staffed by his brothers, an incorrigible skirt chaser and a slow-witted pastry savant.

The shop, a haven of intoxicating smells and humane warmth, seduces him
and he astonishes his colleagues by quitting the world of high finance to work there full-time.

There's another appeal to the bakery: the elderly Italian couple who live one floor up.
Dominic is enchanted by Bella (soap opera veteran Rosemary Prinz),
a warm maternal type who treats the brothers like her sons.
Bella's greatest regret is that her daughter Lucca, a Peace Corps vagabond,
hasn't settled down to start a family of her own.

For reasons that can't be revealed here, Dom contacts Lucca (Kristin Minter of "ER")
and uses his corporate deal making savvy to convince her to answer Bella's prayers.
In a benevolent deception, they will marry so Bella's worries can be put to rest.

The idea is a hokey comic contrivance but the film, directed and written by
Pittsburgh playwright Melissa Martin, treats the details of the agreement with full seriousness.
It never takes easy shortcuts on the way to its touching conclusion.
Dominic's transformation from corporate shark to a good, big-hearted man
- "a piece of bread" in Italian slang - is unforced and entirely credible.

"THE BREAD, MY SWEET" is a warm and satisfying treat.
Anyone who can resist its charms is a crusty character indeed.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES 1 :
Melissa Martin (director/writer) talks about the making of
THE BREAD, MY SWEET (a.k.a. A WEDDING FOR BELLA):

"Four years ago, my friend Gemma died.
She was a little energy burst who had emigrated from Italy
and then lived for forty years in the same three rooms over
my husband's bakery in Pittsburgh which he started
while working in the corporate rat race.
Gemma never learned to drive a car. She spoke broken English.
I don't know if she even completed high school.
But she touched so many lives that when she died,
her funeral procession was four or five miles long
and closed down one of Pittsburgh's main thoroughfares.

It was one of those rare appropriate events.
She had friends who were ditch diggers and congressmen, plumbers and neurosurgeons.
And all of them turned out in force to honor her.
THE BREAD, MY SWEET is a monument to her.
And because with her passing, I was losing my link to it.
I wanted to capture this part of America that most people never see.
They think they know it. They think they've seen it. The Italian thing.

The Italians in THE BREAD, MY SWEET speak broken English.
They make wine in the basement and sausages too.
They celebrate the feast of the seven fishes
and have faith in a contradictory, mysterious religion.
But they also send their children to college.

It's a part of America that's going away. It's dying.
When it's gone, it's gone. We lose collectively.
We're left with popular culture images of Italians who are
uneducated, predictably violent or vulgar, and swaggering mob members.

I wanted to remember that other Italian-American world. On film."

DIRECTOR'S NOTES 2 :
Melissa Martin (director/writer) talks about the making of
THE BREAD, MY SWEET (a.k.a. A WEDDING FOR BELLA):

"Then we cast. I had imagined SCOTT BAIO in the role of DOMINIC so we sent a script and miraculously he called.
And then the New York theatre/movie contingent appeared on the casting agent's video - Rosemary Prinz, Shuler Hensley and John Seitz.
And then it was two weeks before we were to shoot and Adrienne had three cell phones but we still had no Lucca.
Then Kristen Minter appeared late one night when I was scouring reels for that perfect girlie.

There was only the little problem that I had never made a film.
I had worked for years in theatre but really didn't know the business end of a camera.
Not the business end of film (which I didn't know either).
I didn't know which end of the camera to look through.

So I'm in Toronto touring a theatre piece with Adrienne Wehr, whom I had vaguely known for some years.
And I recognized in her an amazing work ethic. She is an empathetic, giving, control freak, maniac.
She had produced the Emmy Award winning 'Mr. Roger's Neighborhood' for many years.
Clearly I needed her. Begging didn't work. She said that she was finished with producing.
I didn't have money, I wrote a role for her (she's also an actress).
She read the script and thankfully agreed to join in as producer.
Together we tricked Bill Hulley, our venture capitalist and executive producer into joining
the dog and pony show that would become our fund raising campaign. The fund raising nearly killed us all.

And then we turned on the camera. We had no trailers. It was hot as hell.
And we were shooting summer for winter in 23 days. It should have been a nightmare.
But at the end of that first day of principal photography, we were all quietly awed by the actors' work.
Then we drank beer and threw food at one another (mostly cashews) and became
the group of gaseous fifth grade morons that we would be for the rest of the shoot.
These actors are lovely people and we had a remarkable, precious time together.
We had fun. And we made the movie we all had imagined."

"BAIO SAVORS THE BREAD'S LEAD ROLE"
by Ron Weiskind, Post Gazette Movie Editor
( The Pittsburgh Post Gazette : November 1, 2001 )

"THE BREAD, MY SWEET" is a low-budget movie by a first-time director from Pittsburgh
who shot most of it in a Strip District bakery owned by her husband.
So how did the filmmaker, Melissa Martin, convince SCOTT BAIO
(TV's "Happy Days" and "Charles in Charge") to take the lead role?

"I've always wanted to learn to bake bread from scratch,"
BAIO says on the phone from Palm Springs, California.
"So I asked her if I could specifically learn how to bake bread.
And she said, 'Yeah.' I just thought this will be really cool.
There's something very earthy about doing all that.
I'm not a spiritual guy but I just thought it would be fun
to just start kneading dough and throwing flour around
and pounding it with a rolling pin. And now, I bake bread at home."

But he also sensed that Martin had cooked up something good with her screenplay.
Pittsburgh finds out when "THE BREAD, MY SWEET" opens the annual Three Rivers Film Festival at the Regent Square Theater.

The script came to BAIO through his agent who told the actor he probably wouldn't want to do it.

"What really got me into this was Melissa," BAIO says.
"I called her on the phone and started talking to her.
I just immediately liked her. I thought, well, this will be kind of fun.
She told me what she wanted to do and how raw she wanted to make it."

BAIO plays a corporate shark who discovers a different kind of world when he meets an immigrant couple
and finds himself moved to fulfill their last wish, even at the cost of his own success.
Kristin Minter of "ER" also stars along with Rosemary Prinz, John Seitz and numerous Pittsburgh actors.

He calls his character a simple guy who "realizes he doesn't want to be sucked into that corporate world.
He just wants to bake. There's something really kind of sweet about that.
I think he's good at two things. He's good at baking and he's good at firing people,
which is what his job in the corporate world is."

SCOTT BAIO calls "THE BREAD, MY SWEET" filmed in the summer of 2000 one of the best working experiences he's had.

"We instantaneously hit it off with everybody," he says. "It was like play. I mean that sincerely.
This was fun. Walking around Pittsburgh was wonderful. The people were nice.
I'm an Italian East Coast guy. So I immediately bonded with a lot of Italian people down there in the Strip."

HOMEMADE IN THE 'BURG, "THE BREAD, MY SWEET"
OFFERS LOVE, WARMTH AND BISCOTTI DREAMS
( Part 1 ) by Jolie Williamson
TRIBUNE REVIEW: January 18, 2002

Listening to Melissa Martin describe the making of "THE BREAD, MY SWEET"
is a little like listening to an older sister spill all the details of her first month in college.

She's making good grades and earning accolades in her chosen field, there's no doubt.
But you wonder how she managed all that after she lets fly with tales of
the odd and endearing characters who've become her new best friends,
all the times she's pulled all-nighters and, oh yeah, the requisite food fights.

"I had the most amazing group of actors and crew any first-time director ever had,"
Martin says. "I am so happy to be me."

Martin, of Mt. Lebanon, is best known in Pittsburgh as a writer and director of plays.
"THE BREAD, MY SWEET" is her first foray into filmmaking - one she leapt into
despite "not knowing which end of the camera to look through".

Her decision to make the transition from stage to screen directing was
the result of her friendship with an Italian immigrant named Gemma who died four years ago.
Gemma lived above Enrico Biscotti, the Strip Distric bakery and cafe owned by Martin's husband,
Larry Lagattuta.

"She was the inspiration for this story," Martin says.
"Now, none of this story is true, nothing in this actually happened,
but when she died, I wanted to celebrate that Italian-American culture that's disappearing."

The story centers on an elderly Italian couple, Massimo (John Setz) and Bella (Rosemary Prinz),
and the three brothers who run the bakery below their apartment -
DOMINIC (SCOTT BAIO), Eddie (Pittsburgh native Billy Mott) and Pino (Shuler Hensley).
When Dominic finds out Bella's dying, he sets out to find and marry her daughter Lucca (Kristin Minter)
to fulfill Bella's wish to see her daughter's American wedding.

HOMEMADE IN THE 'BURG, "THE BREAD, MY SWEET"
OFFERS LOVE, WARMTH AND BISCOTTI DREAMS
( Part 2 ) by Jolie Williamson
TRIBUNE REVIEW : January 18, 2002

Once Melissa Martin decided she was making the movie, she needed a producer, cast and crew.
She says that she begged Adrienne Wehr "whom I had vaguely known for some years" to produce it,
although the Pittsburgher and producer of "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" had sworn off
that part of the creative life.

She also took her pleadings to Pittsburgh cinematographer Mark Knobil
who has filmed documentaries for PBS, National Geographic and Discovery Channel.
"He immediately made 10 phone calls to make sure I wasn't deranged," Martin says.

They both ultimately agreed.

"She really didn't have to beg me," Wehr says. "She even wrote me a small part
but that's not why I decided to produce it. I liked the script."

Getting SCOTT BAIO on board was nearly as seamless.

After reading the script and liking it, Baio says he made the decision to do the film
mostly because he liked Martin.

"I really didn't want to go to Pittsburgh for five weeks to shoot this, to be honest," he says.
"But I talked to Melissa and she was very honest and open. She said that she'd never done this before
but she explained what she was trying to do and I just liked it. And I liked her over the phone.
I just liked her as a person."