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Recent Bios FAQ

4917 dcaddy@m... 1996‑08‑29 My real bio
When I was born in Chicago, Ill. on July 13, 1942, the doctor slapped my 
mother. Badda-BING! Thank you very much. Life was pretty much like any 
kid's until I discovered acting in a college production of "The Skin of 
Our Teeth" at Ripon College in Wisconsin. (I was thrown out of school my 
senior year.) I failed all my senior courses. I slept through the entire 
year, waking up only to eat pizza. I didn't want to be anything. Shortly 
thereafter I married my honor-student wife (to the obvious delight of 
her parents) and moved to California.

My goal was to become an actor. I got a contract with Columbia for $150 
a week. This was in 1965 when studios were still telling their contract 
players what kind of haircut ot get and what women they should have on 
their arms at the Oscars. I was cast as a bellhop in "Dead Heat on a 
Merry Go Round", so I acted like a bellhop. I was told I'd never make it 
in Hollywood because I didn't act like a movie star. They were 
determined to send me back to acting school until I learned how not to 
act like a bellhop.

I did the usual starving artist bit until I tired of starving. Decided 
to become a carpenter. Hey, if it was good enough for the Son of God, it 
was good enough for me! I was totally self-taught, learned from books 
and the exercise of logic. It was wonderful. My first paying job was 
building a recording studio for Sergio Mendez in his backyard. I got bit 
parts in couple of big movies in the late seventies, but I made my 
living as a carpenter for almost eight years. It beat going to parties 
and introducing myself as an "out of work actor". I finally made it 
"big" as an actor, but I still feel like the carpenter I was all those 
years ago. 

I have a pretty hectic schedule these days, but I still make time for my 
woodworking. I've been able to afford a pretty nice place in Beverly 
Hills, complete with woodworking shop and all the p*wer tools a guy like 
Norm could want. But I still get the most pleasure from the simple 
sharpening of a chisel, or a plane blade...From hearing that sound of 
the blade cutting a wisp of wood... from the smell of wood molecules as 
they meet the air for the very first time. It's not really practical for 
me to go to garage sales and flea markets anymore. (You guys don't 
realize how good you have it.) But on the plus side, I own everything 
Lie-Neilsen ever made.

No, I haven't won an Oscar yet, but if I ever do I'll probably just melt 
it down to make ornate little plumb bobs. If any of you ever figure out 
who I am, don't let it get out or I'll have to lose this psuedonym and 
come back as somebody else. Thanks for letting me hang out on the porch 
with you all. I'm learning a lot about the historical handtools. (A 
SPECIAL thanks to those of you who answer my "newbie" questions.)

Darren C. Addy



Recent Bios FAQ