Ed Asner Calls The Late Jack Lord of The Original 'Hawaii Five-0' A "Stiff"

[Brian Damage]

Hawaii Five-O (1975)/Hawaii Five-0 (2012)—“August March”

EA: I had done CSI: NY with Peter Lenkov, and it was a very good show, I liked it a lot. And they wanted to do more with me, and when they switched over to Hawaii Five-0, they researched the original show and came across August March, and he turned into the perfect foil.

AVC: How do you think Alex O’Loughlin stacks up against Jack Lord?

EA: Well, he was under the weather when I worked on the show, so I can’t really tell you. But as big a stiff as Jack Lord was, he evidently still compelled a lot of attention.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/ed-as...to-up,82038/2/

[vrinda]

Hi, BD,

That doesn't make sense, given these photos I found of Jack and Ed on the set. I'll post them after I've posted the 5 prerequisite posts needed before I can post URLs.

[catlover79]

Well, Ed was far from the first person to not like Jack Lord - I've read that Jack Lord had a TREMENDOUS ego and had no patience for those who messed up because he wanted everything done in one take.

[vrinda]

Yes, you read a lot of things. So what? All you're reading are rumors. If you read that Jack Lord was a serial killer, would you believe it?

Ed co-starred with Jack three times - on Jack's previous show, Stoney Burke, in 1962 and in the TV film "The Doomsday Flight," in 1966. He makes no mention of them in interviews, but if he didn't get along with him, he would not have co-starred with him that many times.

What you read is tabloid gossip and not credible information. How anyone can believe that is a mystery. Wanting people to get everything done in one take is not having a tremendous ego, or being selfish. It is simply the act of getting people to film their scenes correctly the first time around, and isn't something that is going to damage others while benefiting Jack only. That is what being egotistical is - where you insist on others doing things just to cater to yourself, putting others out in the process. Insisting that they do their scenes in one take and getting angry at them for messing up might be short-tempered, but it doesn't indicate Jack was making them do anything that would disadvantage them but advantage him.

There were many actors who liked him and got along with him - James MacArthur, Kam Fong, Al Harrington, Herman Wedemeyer, Moe Keale, Glenn Cannon, and Richard Denning from Five-O; Richard Crenna was also a close friend of his, and Buck Taylor, Nancy Kawn, Barbara Luna, Michael Anderson, Jr., Ricardo Montalban, Robert Vaughn, Peter Lawford, Marj Dusay, Dina Moldaur, Richard Hatch, Jack Stouffer, and others.

They had eight days to film a show, and if they kept doing multiple takes, they'd have to into overtime to complete filming, and would go overbudget. CBS poured more money into Hawaii Five-O than their other shows, and Jack was a co-producer, so he had to make sure the money was spent properly. CBS could have canceled it if they wasted money because they had to do so many takes.

That comment about him blowing up came from one cast member, but others spoke of how Jack worked with him to help them learn their lines and taught them so much. He did not blow up people messed up their lines, but if they didn't memorize them at all. Some actors showed up on the set drunk or hungover. What is Jack supposed to do, wait a few days for them to sober up and waste the network's money in the process?

Here are the photos:

[KurtPikachu2001]

It was cool to see Ed Asner on the new Hawaii Five-0 on an episode as the same character he played in the original! His character was killed off in the next episode he was in on the new H50.

[AB]

^ Yeah, it's too bad they killed him off, I would have liked to see him on another few episodes.

[biffbronson]

Regarding Lord and guest actors' lines: Another actor has also mentioned that Jack Lord himself worked in the re-recording studio for the series, going through that with the actors week after week, even though he didn't personally have to. There's no question that Lord was very dedicated to the series -- he worked hard to ensure its quality.

[vrinda]

Yes, Biff, Jack was very dedicated to the series. I just spoke with an actor who remembered how Jack would be there for rehearsals, when many actors would often not show up for them. Because of Jack's pushing everyone to be their best, they did their best, and turned out a quality product as a result.

[king of comedy]

I have to now go get the dvds of the original to see Ed.

[#1 Sinatra Fan]

I think it's dumb to have had Ed Asner appear in an episode of the new Five-0. They clearly tried to distance themselves from the original show. The only thing they kept were the theme song, the character names and the title of the show. At first McGarrett and Danno don't like each other, Chin is young, Chin and Kono are related, Kono is a girl, Danno has an ex wife and a daughter and overall McGarrett's character is just different. In the original he always wore a suit and tie and was a real hard nose. If he was interrogating you, you told him what he wanted to know. In the new series he's just different. I think Alex O'Loughlin said it best "My McGarrett is a lot different than Jack Lord's McGarrett and Scott Caan's Danno is a lot different than James MacArthur's Danno". They just kept the names and gave the characters a 90 % change. Obviously they didn't want to be connected to the original. They wanted to be distanced and recognized as their own show, so it's pretty dumb to make a connection like that, where they start bringing in characters from the original. I wouldn't be surprised if next they brought in Gavin MacLeod to play "Big Chicken".

[king of comedy]

If they do it the same way it was done in the original, it'll be a carbon copy. The way it is done is more fresh.

[#1 Sinatra Fan]

Originally Posted by king of comedy

If they do it the same way it was done in the original, it'll be a carbon copy. The way it is done is more fresh.

I understand but I do think they made some bad decisions. But if they went through all of the changes so it wouldn't be a carbon copy, why would they start bringing in villains from the original. It's not like someone is going to say "that same villain was played by the same actor in the original. THIS IS A CARBON COPY!!!!" but still, I don't see why they would differentiate the 2 series so much and then start bringing in villains from the original. Plus we can't forget... THEY BROUGHT JACK LORD HIMSELF INTO THE SHOW!!!! They had a retired cop in the show named "Jack Lord" and they tried to use CGI to recreate his face. I have I admit, it's cool, but like I said before, I don't know why they are trying to make ties to the original, when this is clearly supposed to be a different series.