Interview w/ Bill Persky - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

edplattfan · 09-03-2013, 01:57 PM

This is from a phone interview I did with Bill about Ted Bessell. It was meant for a project I was doing on Ted that had to be abandoned. Anything in bold is from info I gathered from research and is not anything Bill told me.

How was Ted Chosen as Don Hollinger?
"It's A Man’s World""(Ted's first regular tv series) was his big series;It was brilliant. That’s where I saw him. He played a character who was like the character in "Catcher in the Rye." JD Sallinger, who was very private, wrote a letter to Teddy saying, "If ever they make a movie about me you will be in it." I had loved him on that show and went out of my way to befriend him. We sort of knew one another during "The Dick Van Dyke Show" days(The show was created by Danny Thomas and Bill & Sam wrote for it). When Universal cancelled "Man’s World" Ted and co-star Randy Boone stole a jeep(a jeep used in the show) and went across country with police looking for them actually. They traveled to colleges and high schools with a big role of white butcher paper. They Got signatures on a big piece of paper. They Arrived at NYC at NBC and Ted took the list of names up to the office. Randy, at this point, didn't want to go up to the offices so Ted went alone. The guards threatened him. One NBC executive said if I wouldn’t get fired I would sign the petition(to get the show back on the air). The man even asked Ted if he had a place to spend the holidays(it was Christmas and snowing out). Ted said "No" and dramatically pulled up his coat collar and walked into the snow storm. However, he was really going back home to Manhassett, Long Island to be with his family. When "That Girl" came along he was my first choice to play Donald. Actually in the first pilot he was the agent and we tested the show, people didn’t like him. The Network wanted him out. Marlo and I said we won’t do it. The reason he didn’t test well was because he was her boyfriend and her agent. So we made him a schizophrenic character and couldn’t be either one fully. Her first agent was George Carlin and was very conservative and after 6 weeks he didn’t show up for work and disappeared for a year. He returned to be the George Carlin everyone now knows. Then we hired Ronnie Schnell(as Ann's agent) who was Teddy’s friend(from "Gomer Pyle).

Bill told me about Ted's tv foray AFTER "That Girl" called "Bobby Parker and Company." He played a neurotic travel agent who always heard the voices of his wife, mother in law and even a neighborhood police officer berating him in his head. The show was made right after TG but didn't air until 3 years later.

Bill said:
I wrote Bobby Parker for Teddy, No network involved. I just wanted to write it for Teddy. About a guy in therapy and the show was his appointment. He was so brilliant. This was 1971 and I sold it to Universal and we did the pilot and when we showed it to NBC there was an amazing reaction that every guy in the room(all staff) said "Oh my god that’s me!" It couldn’t have been more a specific character. All the neurotic parts of Teddy and I . We had tapped into a universal male behavior. But as much as they loved it they said no one could risk putting on a show about someone in analysis. It aired once or twice(once in 1974 and again in 1989 as some late=night movie with 2 other pilots from the 1970s that didn't work). Go figure, a year after the show was made but un-aired, a little show called "The Bob Newhart SHow," about a psychologist, became a hit. Many episodes focused on his patients and THEIR neurosis.

THere were rumors TEd and Marlo did not get along in year 1. Even Ted had admitted this. He said Marlo was tough(considering it was a man's world back then) and she didn't believe he was this sincere, down to earth guy. However, they were both perfectionists so I can imagine lots of retakes andvery long shooting days. Eventually she learned to trust him and they became romantically involved during the series. Although the rumors started before it actually happened. This is what Bill said about the Ted/Marlo relationship:
I never saw a moment that wasn’t total respect and affections. No question it was her show. Teddy said, "my publicity picture is the back of my head." They couldn’t have done any of the stuff they did(without the admiration) and they remained friends for years. When he died it was like her brother dying.

Any memorable stories?
He was the funniest non-comedian. When I got divorced I moved into Teddy’s apartment and we were together for months. He was so bright. He was a great lacrosse player with Jim Brown(football Hall of Famer). He was just great at everything.(Ted's mom said he was an excellent horseman and he also played baseball and football while in HS and his first 2 years of college). He had his difficulties in life(Coincidentally Ted's father developed a heart problem. Ted got word one night his father was dying. He ran from his apartment 7 blocks to the subway. Got to Long Island, ran all the way from teh station, up a hill and up the back stairs of teh house only to find his father had already died. Ted decided to become the head of teh family at that point.). He had a lot of issues(His first wife agreed to having children with him but stopped all relations after their honeymoon. Ted really loved her and being raised Catholic, he got an annulment instead of a divorce. Actually his dad wasn't Catholic and supposedly spent the last year of his life studying Catholicism so he could be buried by the church as a favor to his sons. Ted was also divorced from an exotic dancer but almost no information exists on this relationship. His third wife developed cancer but managed to beat it.) He really was pressured into doing "Me & The Chimp" by the NBC executives. He was promised any other show if "CHimp" didn't work, but that never happened. And Teddy took a lot of abuse about that show. It hurt his career.(at one point the director of the show, who knew Ted from TG days, said he and TEd got into a fist fight on the set)
Ted WAS given his own show almost a decade later in 1980. NBC execs. came calling again when Ted was on Broadway doing a show. He told them HE would come up with a show and they DID give him carte blache. It was "Good Time Harry." Ted was proud of it and didn't care if it lasted long and it didn't, they just did 6 eps. It failed during the winter mid-season replacement slots and then again during the summer.

Who decided to give him a chance to direct 2 eps of "That Girl?"
After a certain amount of time everyone wants to direct. We said sure, go ahead. His instincts were terrific. He directed like a pro from the beginning. He was really good. He was good at anything he wanted to do.
But that was long before Tracey Ulman. He, I can’t, I could tell stories for a month about what he and I did. He died unecessarily, He was a great painter. He did a portrait of me that hangs in my bedroom. One of my prized posessions. I sat 3 weeks every day. He was a very good artist. He was just good at everything. Regarding his death, The hospital sent him home. They didn’t catch the aneuryism. That Friday night(in 1996) they were doing a thing at the directors guild about "That Girl" and he died on the Wednesday before.(I believe Bill is referring to the Q&A the cast was doing at the Museum of TV in Los Angeles. Ted was supposed to be on the panel as he just started to re-embrace the Donald character after years of bitterness towards it). I came out from NY and we did it with an empty chair.

Hope you guys enjoyed this

biffbronson · 09-03-2013, 04:39 PM

I did enjoy that very much -- thank you for posting it!

Quote from above (Marlo when Ted died): "When he died it was like her brother dying."

That's a very powerful and moving statement.

Minor point: I noticed that Ronnie Schell was misnamed Ronnie "Schnell"

jehobden · 09-03-2013, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I did enjoy that very much -- thank you for posting it!

QuoteMinor point: I noticed that Ronnie Schell was misnamed Ronnie "Schnell"

Also, The Dick Van Dyke Show was created by Carl Reiner, not Danny Thomas, but Thomas was a financial backer of the show and an owner of it, along with Reiner, Van Dyke, and Sheldon Leonard (Calvada Productions).

edplattfan · 09-03-2013, 10:11 PM

Thanks, Sorry I added an "n" to Ronnie's name. He said that Ted was a cross between Tony Randall, Fred MacMurray and Jimmy Stuart. Also, my bad on the DVD show that Danny Thomas created it. Yes, it was Carl. Danny was the backer along with Sheldon Leonard. Danny appeared as the alien in the ep. "It May Look Like A Walnut." It was said this inspired Mork and Mindy although I don't know how other than the "alien" similarity. BTW, because Bill & Sam worked on DVD show Danny told them he wanted them to write for his daughter's show. I think Marlo had a real love for Ted, they were romantically involved. I just think they were two very strong personalities that wouldn't have lasted long together but had a love for each other. Thanks for pointing out the mistakes. I kinda posted it all super quick.

bliss · 09-04-2013, 10:03 PM

Thank you for posting about Ted!!!!!

I would love to see that 1996 panel of That Girl on youtube.
The irony of him loving the Donald character again and literally a few days away from doing a reunion discussion of the show that made him a star and then his heart gave out.

edplattfan · 09-07-2013, 02:54 PM

What's so disheartening is that allegedly 2 doctors saw him and sent him home saying it was stress. Why not do a stress test on him or EKG or chest xray? Plus the fact that his father developed a heart condition and died from it...the doctors should have been looking closely at Ted's heart from the start. It's sad, no one in his family will discuss him...it's as if he was never alive.

bliss · 09-09-2013, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edplattfan

What's so disheartening is that allegedly 2 doctors saw him and sent him home saying it was stress. Why not do a stress test on him or EKG or chest xray? Plus the fact that his father developed a heart condition and died from it...the doctors should have been looking closely at Ted's heart from the start. It's sad, no one in his family will discuss him...it's as if he was never alive.

Did he have 2 daughters and a wife? Was he estranged from them?

Sad that know i only heard wonderful memories of him from Bill Persky and Marlo Thomas.

edplattfan · 09-11-2013, 12:14 AM

Yes, he became a father at the age of 48! His daughters were around 10 to 12 when he died. He was married to his 3rd wife. I assume 3rd because 1-2 sources mentioned a 2nd wife who was an exotic dancer but I never found any hard evidence to support this. His first wife was a model who promised him kids but stopped marital relations after the honeymoon. You can imagine my disappointment in not being able to move fwd with my project about Ted. It was a grass-roots type thing however I used to be a tv producer so it's not like I had no professional background. Bill was such a joy to talk to.

09-03-2013, 01:57 PM	#1
edplattfan Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 08, 2003 Location: USA Posts: 265	Interview w/ Bill Persky This is from a phone interview I did with Bill about Ted Bessell. It was meant for a project I was doing on Ted that had to be abandoned. Anything in bold is from info I gathered from research and is not anything Bill told me. How was Ted Chosen as Don Hollinger? "It's A Man’s World""(Ted's first regular tv series) was his big series;It was brilliant. That’s where I saw him. He played a character who was like the character in "Catcher in the Rye." JD Sallinger, who was very private, wrote a letter to Teddy saying, "If ever they make a movie about me you will be in it." I had loved him on that show and went out of my way to befriend him. We sort of knew one another during "The Dick Van Dyke Show" days(The show was created by Danny Thomas and Bill & Sam wrote for it). When Universal cancelled "Man’s World" Ted and co-star Randy Boone stole a jeep(a jeep used in the show) and went across country with police looking for them actually. They traveled to colleges and high schools with a big role of white butcher paper. They Got signatures on a big piece of paper. They Arrived at NYC at NBC and Ted took the list of names up to the office. Randy, at this point, didn't want to go up to the offices so Ted went alone. The guards threatened him. One NBC executive said if I wouldn’t get fired I would sign the petition(to get the show back on the air). The man even asked Ted if he had a place to spend the holidays(it was Christmas and snowing out). Ted said "No" and dramatically pulled up his coat collar and walked into the snow storm. However, he was really going back home to Manhassett, Long Island to be with his family. When "That Girl" came along he was my first choice to play Donald. Actually in the first pilot he was the agent and we tested the show, people didn’t like him. The Network wanted him out. Marlo and I said we won’t do it. The reason he didn’t test well was because he was her boyfriend and her agent. So we made him a schizophrenic character and couldn’t be either one fully. Her first agent was George Carlin and was very conservative and after 6 weeks he didn’t show up for work and disappeared for a year. He returned to be the George Carlin everyone now knows. Then we hired Ronnie Schnell(as Ann's agent) who was Teddy’s friend(from "Gomer Pyle). Bill told me about Ted's tv foray AFTER "That Girl" called "Bobby Parker and Company." He played a neurotic travel agent who always heard the voices of his wife, mother in law and even a neighborhood police officer berating him in his head. The show was made right after TG but didn't air until 3 years later. Bill said: I wrote Bobby Parker for Teddy, No network involved. I just wanted to write it for Teddy. About a guy in therapy and the show was his appointment. He was so brilliant. This was 1971 and I sold it to Universal and we did the pilot and when we showed it to NBC there was an amazing reaction that every guy in the room(all staff) said "Oh my god that’s me!" It couldn’t have been more a specific character. All the neurotic parts of Teddy and I . We had tapped into a universal male behavior. But as much as they loved it they said no one could risk putting on a show about someone in analysis. It aired once or twice(once in 1974 and again in 1989 as some late=night movie with 2 other pilots from the 1970s that didn't work). Go figure, a year after the show was made but un-aired, a little show called "The Bob Newhart SHow," about a psychologist, became a hit. Many episodes focused on his patients and THEIR neurosis. THere were rumors TEd and Marlo did not get along in year 1. Even Ted had admitted this. He said Marlo was tough(considering it was a man's world back then) and she didn't believe he was this sincere, down to earth guy. However, they were both perfectionists so I can imagine lots of retakes andvery long shooting days. Eventually she learned to trust him and they became romantically involved during the series. Although the rumors started before it actually happened. This is what Bill said about the Ted/Marlo relationship: I never saw a moment that wasn’t total respect and affections. No question it was her show. Teddy said, "my publicity picture is the back of my head." They couldn’t have done any of the stuff they did(without the admiration) and they remained friends for years. When he died it was like her brother dying. Any memorable stories? He was the funniest non-comedian. When I got divorced I moved into Teddy’s apartment and we were together for months. He was so bright. He was a great lacrosse player with Jim Brown(football Hall of Famer). He was just great at everything.(Ted's mom said he was an excellent horseman and he also played baseball and football while in HS and his first 2 years of college). He had his difficulties in life(Coincidentally Ted's father developed a heart problem. Ted got word one night his father was dying. He ran from his apartment 7 blocks to the subway. Got to Long Island, ran all the way from teh station, up a hill and up the back stairs of teh house only to find his father had already died. Ted decided to become the head of teh family at that point.). He had a lot of issues(His first wife agreed to having children with him but stopped all relations after their honeymoon. Ted really loved her and being raised Catholic, he got an annulment instead of a divorce. Actually his dad wasn't Catholic and supposedly spent the last year of his life studying Catholicism so he could be buried by the church as a favor to his sons. Ted was also divorced from an exotic dancer but almost no information exists on this relationship. His third wife developed cancer but managed to beat it.) He really was pressured into doing "Me & The Chimp" by the NBC executives. He was promised any other show if "CHimp" didn't work, but that never happened. And Teddy took a lot of abuse about that show. It hurt his career.(at one point the director of the show, who knew Ted from TG days, said he and TEd got into a fist fight on the set) Ted WAS given his own show almost a decade later in 1980. NBC execs. came calling again when Ted was on Broadway doing a show. He told them HE would come up with a show and they DID give him carte blache. It was "Good Time Harry." Ted was proud of it and didn't care if it lasted long and it didn't, they just did 6 eps. It failed during the winter mid-season replacement slots and then again during the summer. Who decided to give him a chance to direct 2 eps of "That Girl?" After a certain amount of time everyone wants to direct. We said sure, go ahead. His instincts were terrific. He directed like a pro from the beginning. He was really good. He was good at anything he wanted to do. But that was long before Tracey Ulman. He, I can’t, I could tell stories for a month about what he and I did. He died unecessarily, He was a great painter. He did a portrait of me that hangs in my bedroom. One of my prized posessions. I sat 3 weeks every day. He was a very good artist. He was just good at everything. Regarding his death, The hospital sent him home. They didn’t catch the aneuryism. That Friday night(in 1996) they were doing a thing at the directors guild about "That Girl" and he died on the Wednesday before.(I believe Bill is referring to the Q&A the cast was doing at the Museum of TV in Los Angeles. Ted was supposed to be on the panel as he just started to re-embrace the Donald character after years of bitterness towards it). I came out from NY and we did it with an empty chair. Hope you guys enjoyed this

09-03-2013, 04:39 PM	#2
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,357	I did enjoy that very much -- thank you for posting it! *Quote* from above (Marlo when Ted died): "When he died it was like her brother dying." That's a very powerful and moving statement. Minor point: I noticed that Ronnie Schell was misnamed Ronnie "Schnell"
	__________________ In memory of lovely Erin Moran 1960-2017 ~ Missing you "For you are beautiful ~ And I have loved you dearly ~ More dearly than the spoken word can tell..." "What's the word?" (Paul Martin) ~~ "I don't want money for nothing." (Timmy Martin) -- Lassie ROCKS! WORD UP "It's just a dugout that my dad built... In case the reds* decide to push the button down..."*

09-03-2013, 10:11 PM	#4
edplattfan Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 08, 2003 Location: USA Posts: 265	Thanks, Sorry I added an "n" to Ronnie's name. He said that Ted was a cross between Tony Randall, Fred MacMurray and Jimmy Stuart. Also, my bad on the DVD show that Danny Thomas created it. Yes, it was Carl. Danny was the backer along with Sheldon Leonard. Danny appeared as the alien in the ep. "It May Look Like A Walnut." It was said this inspired Mork and Mindy although I don't know how other than the "alien" similarity. BTW, because Bill & Sam worked on DVD show Danny told them he wanted them to write for his daughter's show. I think Marlo had a real love for Ted, they were romantically involved. I just think they were two very strong personalities that wouldn't have lasted long together but had a love for each other. Thanks for pointing out the mistakes. I kinda posted it all super quick.

09-04-2013, 10:03 PM	#5
bliss THAT GIRL Senior Member Join Date: Apr 26, 2009 Posts: 1,000	Thank you for posting about Ted!!!!! I would love to see that 1996 panel of That Girl on youtube. The irony of him loving the Donald character again and literally a few days away from doing a reunion discussion of the show that made him a star and then his heart gave out.

09-07-2013, 02:54 PM	#6
edplattfan Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 08, 2003 Location: USA Posts: 265	What's so disheartening is that allegedly 2 doctors saw him and sent him home saying it was stress. Why not do a stress test on him or EKG or chest xray? Plus the fact that his father developed a heart condition and died from it...the doctors should have been looking closely at Ted's heart from the start. It's sad, no one in his family will discuss him...it's as if he was never alive.

09-11-2013, 12:14 AM	#8
edplattfan Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 08, 2003 Location: USA Posts: 265	Yes, he became a father at the age of 48! His daughters were around 10 to 12 when he died. He was married to his 3rd wife. I assume 3rd because 1-2 sources mentioned a 2nd wife who was an exotic dancer but I never found any hard evidence to support this. His first wife was a model who promised him kids but stopped marital relations after the honeymoon. You can imagine my disappointment in not being able to move fwd with my project about Ted. It was a grass-roots type thing however I used to be a tv producer so it's not like I had no professional background. Bill was such a joy to talk to.