Stephen Furst, Dec. 16, 1988

"St. Elsewhere" cast, with Furst at center

By DONALD PORTER
Standard-Examiner staff

OGDEN -- Stephen Furst had just finished co-starring in "Animal House," and was talking with an agent about the possibility of working in commercials.

"The agent told me I was too fat," Furst said with a smile, "and that nobody would want an overweight spokesman for their products." He didn't believe the agent, and in the ensuing years has appeared in about 50 commercials.

Furst, who plays , Dr. Elliot Axelrod on the TV series "St. Elsewhere," spoke at Weber State College convocation lecture Thursday. But it wasn't really a speech or lecture in the traditional sense; it was more of a mix between stand-up comedy and question-and-answer session with the student audience.

"I'm not famous -- I hate that word 'famous'," he told the crowd as he paced back and forth across the stage. "The thing now is that people don't know my name. They're mistaking me for other people. They think I'm Oprah Winfrey."

Britt Leach, Oct. 30, 1987

Britt Leach in "Baby Boom"

By DONALD PORTER
Standard-Examiner staff

For people who go to the movies and watch prime time television; the name Britt Leach probably won't ring any bells. But if you saw the man's face, you'd recognize him.


Leach makes his living as a character actor in Hollywood, and he's finally scored a good part in a film that may make his face and name more recognizable -- and bankable. The movie is "Baby Boom," and Leach plays second banana to no less than Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard. And he even gets to sing in the film.


"Charles (Shyer, the film's co-writer and director) called me at home and said, 'Do you sing?' And I said, 'Yeah, I sing -- in the shower, and around the house, and I have for 40 years,' " Leach said during a phone interview from the United Artists offices in Los Angeles Thursday.

Casey Siemaszko, Oct. 9, 1987

By DONALD PORTER
Standard-Examiner staff

OGDEN -- Filmmakers must wonder if half the kids in America want to be in the movies. Before the casting calls for “Three O'Clock High" were over, about 3,200 actors had auditioned for the lead role.

Chicago-born actor Casey Siemaszko was one of the 3,200 who showed up for casting calls in Los Angeles, New York or Chicago – or who sent in a videotape (they came from 17 states) – hoping to win the part of high school journalism student Jerry Mitchell. Two and a half months later, in September 1986 – after a series of readings and screen tests – Siemaszko got the part. Four days later, he was in Ogden preparing for his first starring role in a motion picture.

"The first time I read for (the part) I had just finished 'Gardens of Stone,’” Siemaszko (pronounced Sham-OSH-koe) said during a lunch break at Ogden High School last November. "I was a soldier in that film and I had a buzz-cut and flat-top and I wore a white T-shirt. … I didn't feel like I looked right for the part.