The Ori Priors were key to executing the final two seasons of Stargate SG-1, not to mention “The Ark of Truth.” One in particular, the one-eyed Prior, was played by actor Doug Abrahams. This was his second role in SG-1, behind the Langaran Commander Hale, but he was unrecognizable under the makeup! The actor joins us to share some stories from the Stargate sets and discuss his love of coaching actors!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Hello. Welcome to Episode 289 of Dial the Gate, the Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. Thank you so much for being with us today. Doug Abrahams, who played Commander Hale, the Kelownan Commander Hale in Stargate SG-1, as well as the one-eyed Ori Prior, has joined us for this episode. I’m really looking forward to talking to him. If you have questions for him or his career, check out his IMDb page. Submit those to the moderators in the chat and we’ll get them over to him. Hello, sir. How are you?

Doug Abrahams:
I’m just about as good as I can be.

David Read:
Excuse me.

Doug Abrahams:
Bless you.

David Read:
What an omen that is.

Doug Abrahams:
No. That’s all right. I played a priest once, so I’m good to bless you for that. I’m feeling a little underdressed. As I told you, I just got back from hockey practice, and you’re wearing a tie, and, of course, here I am, Sunday morning.

David Read:
I almost always wear a tie. You’re good. Sir, it is a pleasure to have you, I really appreciate you being on here. Out of the Priors, you were probably my favorite, so I’m really looking forward to getting to talk to you about that particular character, as well. But first of all, I wanted to know how you got into acting and how you got the bug. How old were you? Were you young? Were you older? At what point in your life did you fall into this, and how did it occur?

Doug Abrahams:
Actually, when I was in high school, we didn’t even have a drama program at that time. I grew up in a really small town in Ontario, and it wasn’t until I was going to Ryerson University in Toronto, and myself and two of my buddies, we took our spring break, and we got on our motorcycles and rode down the East Coast and spent some time in Florida and on the way back, in Georgia, I guess it was, we met these girls from the next state north, and they said, “Why don’t you guys come on back down again?” And I said, “Yeah, guys, let’s go.” And the other two guys said no. I went and ended up blowing my semester at university, so I applied for the next summer all over the place and ended up going to Niagara College in Ontario and my third choice was theater arts. And I got an interview, and the head guy at the school – Frank Norris, terrific guy – he said, “What sort of theater do you like?” And I said, “The comedies, of course.” And he said, “And what are some of your favorites?” Do you think I could think of a name of a play of any kind? Not a chance.

David Read:
Really good for a start?

Doug Abrahams:
He knew I was trying to bluff my way in there, so he put me on a probationary thing and I got caught by the bug. I got put in the first play with the third-year students, and I thought, “Wow, this is kind of fun.” And from there, when I got out of there, I didn’t complete the three years. I did two years and then got a job offer, and I went and did my first theater job, and then from there, I worked my way across Canada. I went to Thunder Bay and then Winnipeg and then Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and I thought, “Wow, this is way too much fun.” And then I ended up going back to university, at the University of Guelph, and studied theater there, and got my honors BA in theater there, and right back to work again. I’ve been doing that ever since. But when I finally came to Vancouver to work, I realized that I could make pretty much double in one day what I was making in a week in the theater, and so I became a sort of jaded film and television guy and started doing that.

David Read:
“This is a butchery of the art.”

Doug Abrahams:
I know, it kind of was. And then from that, I got into doing voice work, and dialects has been something that I’ve loved since I was a little kid. When I was a kid, my parents took my brother and sister and I to church, and the minister had this rich Scottish brogue, and he’d preach… And I’d try to mimic that, and every time I would hear another dialect, I’d try and mimic it, and then a couple of actors said, “Hey, I’ve got an audition. Can you help me with the dialect thing?” And I said, “Yeah, but I’m gonna have to charge you something.” They said, “That’s OK. It’s OK.” And then, out of the blue, I don’t know what it is, it’s probably close to 30 years ago, I got a call from a production company, and they said, “We understand you’re a dialect coach.” And I said, “Yes, I am. How can I help you?” So, from there it just blossomed. I kept doing the acting work as well, and the voice work, but I preferred the dialect coaching because I was always working with the number one or the number one and the number two, and I never had to learn any lines and be up all night studying dialogue. I just had to work with them to make sure they sounded like what the production company wanted them to sound like. So, that’s how that developed. I’ve done a ton of bad acting. I always label it that way in case somebody sees me and wants to agree.

David Read:
Look, you only have the material in front of you as a base to start with. You gotta pay the bills. Colin Cunningham and I had just had a similar conversation last week.

Doug Abrahams:
Yes, but that material that’s given to you, you can quite easily butcher that too.

David Read:
I suppose.

Doug Abrahams:
It’s always been fun. For me, it’s always been fun. I can’t really complain about that. That’s been a while now.

David Read:
Is there a role, a part, a character that pushed you in a way that you didn’t expect, made you discover an aspect of yourself that you didn’t see coming, that’s never left you?

Doug Abrahams:
I gotta tell you, two of my favorite shows to have worked on were, of course, one of the ones you wanted to talk about, and prior to that it was The X-Files, which was originally shot here. And the thing about it was, it was an anthology, so every season you could do a different role and each role would be different from the one you did before. So, that was something I really enjoyed. There was one show called Cold Cases or something like that, and in the storyline, the dad – I was playing the dad – and the dad accidentally ends up killing his son.

David Read:
An X-Files episode?

Doug Abrahams:
No, this was this cold case show.

David Read:
Called Cold… OK.

Doug Abrahams:
That I never forgot, because my younger brother had passed away recently before that, and I used that to pull as the emotional thing for the scene, and it blew me away that that all came out. So, that was something that took me in a direction I really didn’t expect to go. I thought I would just be acting, but it turned out that it was real. So, things like that happen. And then working with actors in the coaching regard, you’ll be working on a scene before they ever go to camera and then that same kind of thing will happen. Rehearsing the scene with them and then you realize, “Oh my goodness, they’re breaking down while we’re rehearsing this, because we’ve made it pretty real.” Things like that, they’re experiences that never leave you. They’re always there if you wanna touch on that.

David Read:
To take a page from your coaching, I would think that I would be afraid of, “Don’t run outta gas. Save it for when we roll.” What if you can’t reach that place again and the actor finds a way to cope with it and then, when cameras roll, you can’t bring it back?

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah, that’s the good side of coaching because it’s not up to me to bring it back. I’ve had the good fortune to work with some terrific actors that bring it to the table and amaze you, take after take after take. And when that happens, it’s a good feeling too, because you see them doing what you spent all that time rehearsing, even though my part was to make… I worked with a lot of Latin-based actors, and for them it’s not teaching them how to talk American, it’s teaching them how to talk in a manner that an American audience will be able to understand them. Whole different deal.

David Read:
That’s an interesting way to approach it.

Doug Abrahams:
I don’t know if you’re a Netflix fan or not, but–

David Read:
Some of it.

Doug Abrahams:
Narcos, for that matter.

David Read:
My parents watched it.

Doug Abrahams:
So, Wagner Moura, the guy who played Pablo Escobar, I coached him in a Matt Damon movie called Elysium, and that was his first English-speaking project. That guy is energy personified, he just is full of it. But when he gets talking, he tends to use his own Portuguese pace for English. And then he would get talking so fast that an audience would never understand what he said. You see? So, that was my job to slow it down and make it so it would be totally understandable. I’ve had a lot of great experiences that way, that things will come up and remind me of that, and I don’t think those things ever leave you.

David Read:
Once we wrap on Stargate, I wanna get back to your coaching a fair bit more. How aware were you of Stargate before your audition for Commander Hale, and how did that come about?

Doug Abrahams:
I knew you were gonna ask me that.

David Read:
Of course.

Doug Abrahams:
I never like to not be truthful about it.

David Read:
Honest answers only, please.

Doug Abrahams:
First of all, I’m more a movie fan than a TV fan. I had seen the Stargate movie, of course, which I quite enjoyed, and I knew Stargate was going on. I think I had one audition before the Commander Hale thing. But I sort of got busted twice in that one because it said “Commander Hale, the commander of planet Kelowna.” Kelowna, as you may know, is a city in central British Columbia.

David Read:
Correct.

Doug Abrahams:
I thought, “OK, I guess he’s an alien then.” So, I went in to the audition and I was trying to do my best alien voice. “If you chat, we will destroy you,” and I’m doing all this stuff. Peter DeLuise was directing the episode, so I went through it and he said, “OK, look, I have to explain something to you. We can’t afford aliens that talk like that, so you’re just gonna have to use your own voice.” I did it again and he ended up casting me in it. There were a few funny things. We had our first rehearsal, and I had the sides and I’m looking at it and it says, “He is taken prisoner by the Goa’uld.” And I said, “Who’s playing Goa’uld?” And everybody’s looking at me and shaking their heads, and the Richard Dean stand-in said, “You’re busted, Doug. They know you never watch the show if you don’t know what that is.” And I thought, “Shit.” But what could you do? That was fun. But our first day of shooting, we had this beautiful set. They had this massive boardroom table and then along the side of the set, it was all windows – not real windows, of course, we were in the studio – but just a brilliant looking set. They finished blocking the scene before that and they came in, we’re gonna do a rehearsal for this one, and they had maps on the table. I’m looking at the maps and I thought, “That’s interesting. They’re BC roadmaps,” but they had photocopied them backwards. All the letters were backwards and everything. Anyway, I was looking at these and Peter comes in with all the crew to see what’s going on, and they’re all back there and they get quiet, and Peter said, “OK, Doug, I’ll have you bent over the table there,” and I said, “God, you mean just like in the audition?” And of course, that broke the crew up and he said, “OK, you get one of those a day and that’s it.” And I thought, “OK, fair enough.”

David Read:
Good guy.

Doug Abrahams:
He is so much fun to work with. I’ve worked with him a couple of times and then I did some coaching with him on a couple of series that he was directing too. It was good, the Commander Hale thing, and of course I think I got killed after two or three episodes, but I’ve been killed in better locations than that.

David Read:
Especially with that first one, which is “Shadow Play.” I just re-watched it. It’s static boardroom scenes that you’re in, and you’re talking about nuclear annihilation. How do you go from, “We cannot afford to allow ourselves to be destroyed,” convey all of that in a static situation, talking about the worst circumstances that we’ve experienced here on Earth so far? How do you make a meal out of it? Or are you there like, “This is the material, I execute the material. I’ll play with the others back and forth. That’s it.”

Doug Abrahams:
In the blocking, that’s what you’re doing. But then you have to find a way to make it real. I remembered that, because the first Stargate convention I went to, in London, and we were in this massive hall, I don’t know how many hundred people were there, but they had microphones everywhere, and people would come up to the mic and ask you a question. They asked me a question about the destruction of the planet based on that scene. And they said, “Well, what if they had used the da-da-da-da-da-da and destroyed you?” And I said, “That’s a very good question. Who’s got a thought on that?” And of course, all the hands are going up. I had no idea what to answer, but they answered it all for me. So, it was good.

David Read:
You are an instrument to play a part. You’re not there to research the methodology of the character.

Doug Abrahams:
No, that’s for sure. And the other actors that I was working with at that time too, Gillian Anderson, I’ve known her for years and worked on other shows, and so that always made it helpful. It’s usually the guards that have no lines that are the ones that take a beating when you turn to them and go, [looks], and they don’t know what to say and you see their face freeze. I shouldn’t do that, but I like doing it.

David Read:
Whatever you can to get some energy out of people, absolutely.

Doug Abrahams:
A little bit.

David Read:
What did you see, especially in the second episode when he double-crosses Earth and gives the crystals to help the bad guys? Were there any takeaways for you as this character? Do you see him as a Langaran patriot? Do you see him as self-interested? Is there anything that you took from this character?

Doug Abrahams:
Your second choice was the one that I thought. He’s more trying to save his own bacon by taking that route and in the end, it ends up not really saving his bacon.

David Read:
Baking his bacon.

Doug Abrahams:
Yes, exactly. That’s more where, when I read it over, I thought, “OK, so this guy may be, in all pretext, looking to save his planet, but there’s something he wants to save before that, and that’s numero uno.” That’s how I looked at that, that really, he was… If it worked out, that would have been great. But the way it worked out for him? Well, that was the end of his Stargate stage, so to speak.

David Read:
And it’s interesting because you could have played that either way. You really could have played it like, “Look, Earth has not helped us. We’ve gotta get this alien off our asses. This is what I’m gonna do for our people.” And it would have altered your performance only slightly to do that. But instead, to be like, “Getting Anubis and getting this ship out of our city skyline, that’s great, but it’s really great for me.” And you can play it just a slightly different way. It’s just another note.

Doug Abrahams:
True, but for me at least, I’ve been fortunate enough to play a lot of bad guys or bad cops or bad whatever, and usually the bad guys, even though they’re the bad guys, are just a little more fun. You know what I mean? That little bit of an edge when they always think they’re fooling somebody, and usually 99 times out of 100, they get caught in the end. That was the way I saw that, but I can see what you’re saying. It could have gone one of two ways.

David Read:
When you look at it-

Doug Abrahams:
God, now I’m thinking I screwed it up.

David Read:
No, no.

Doug Abrahams:
No, I’m kidding.

David Read:
I was like, “Why would you think that?”

Doug Abrahams:
No.

David Read:
You were memorable. I’m having you on 20 years later.

Doug Abrahams:
God, is it 20 years later? Geez.

David Read:
It would’ve aired in ’02 and ’03, so yeah, it’s been 20 years.

Doug Abrahams:
Scary.

David Read:
Have you worked with Peter DeLuise since?

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah, I worked another episode with him. He did one of the Prior episodes that I did. Then I worked with him on two series in the North Shore Studios here in Vancouver. They were both series for young adults. He brought me in to work, ’cause he knows I love working with kids, and that I have kids and all that kind of stuff. So, he brought me in to work with the kids and get them out of their shell to make more things happen. And we had a terrific time doing that. And just to back up a little bit of history, I first met Peter when he was here working on the original 21 Jump Street, and at that time, of course, with the unknown Johnny Depp. At that time, I had got a crew hat with 21 Jump Street on it. After completing those two series, I gave my 21 Jump Street hat to Peter as a thank-you gift, and he said, “I worked that show every day and I never got one of these.” He was very happy to get it, and I thought it was a pretty worthwhile gift.

David Read:
How could they do that? He is one of my favorite humans, period. I can’t imagine what it would be like to work with that energy and that whimsy and that unique perception. How could you not love working with that kind of energy? That’s all I’ll say. How could you not love that?

Doug Abrahams:
True. The last time I worked with him, I think it was either a Hallmark or a Hallmarkish one. We were shooting it on the Sunshine Coast, which is a beautiful part of BC, if you’ve ever been out here. I was a naval captain, and one of my crew had left the Navy and opened up a cruise ship thing, and invited us all to the party. Peter was directing that, and oh my God, same thing. We laughed through most of the day until it came time to actually roll, and then you get your serious face on.

David Read:
You pull it off. If you’re doing 14, 16, sometimes more, hour days, there has to be levity. Otherwise, you’re not gonna make it. You don’t wanna come back, necessarily, the next day if it’s like, “Ugh, we just did this.”

Doug Abrahams:
That is the good thing, I’ll have to tell you, David, about doing Hallmark projects. When it starts creeping up on hour number 12, they start giving you the wrap-it-up scene, because they don’t wanna pay anybody on the crew extra overtime. ‘Cause the crew is on a 12-hour basis. The actors, still the eight and a half. When it gets past the 11-hour thing, you see the producers looking at their watch every two seconds. Those ones are fun and they’re easy, and not to be dumping on Hallmark, but every script that I’ve ever worked on, a Hallmark one, it’s just like, “Insert new name of town here.” “Insert–”

David Read:
They’re a formula.

Doug Abrahams:
They are.

David Read:
They make people happy, and it’s like Bravo programming. They keep hammering them out. People apparently love them, so, you know what? You might as well get paid to do it.

Doug Abrahams:
They start the Christmas movies in November and run through ‘til the end of January. And during the summer in Vancouver, there’s 50 or more Hallmark Christmas movies that are shot. So, it’s all there, and my agent sends me stuff. If I think it’s gonna be fun, I’ll maybe audition for it. But they’re all, like you say, they’re so format. But people like that, because they don’t have to worry about what’s gonna happen in the end.

David Read:
I think it’s the adult version of the kid asking their parents to put on Frozen for the 611th time. There is a blanket about it, and it’s a very defined arc, and people just like it. But now for something completely different. You came in for the one-eyed Ori Prior in, I believe, the end of Season Nine, and these characters had been around for just a few months at this point. Tell me about this role. First, I must know, was he one-eyed in the script, or was this something discovered through the makeup process?

Doug Abrahams:
When I auditioned, I did not know he was one-eyed until I was cast, and then I was sent to the studio where they do all the extra makeup stuff. And that was a new experience for me, too, because they completely cover your entire face, except they leave enough room for you to breathe through your nose. And apparently some people freak right out, after like 30 seconds, they’re, “Take it off, take it off.” But it was interesting, because the stuff goes on and it’s nice and warm, and then it sets, and then they make the mold for your makeup from that.

David Read:
Is this Todd Masters’ team?

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah.

David Read:
He’s brilliant.

Doug Abrahams:
When we did that, it was interesting, and then they made all the different pieces that had to be put on, plus the big eye patch, I guess you’ll call it. If we had a 7 AM call, I’d have to be there at 5 AM, and at that point, Starbucks wasn’t even open. You couldn’t even get a coffee on your way in. But it was interesting. You could almost fall asleep in the makeup chair, because you don’t move while they’re doing it.

David Read:
So, you went in for an original sculpting of your head, I’m guessing?

Doug Abrahams:
Yes.

David Read:
How long did that take? Like you said, a lot of people wig out, they can’t do it.

Doug Abrahams:
They said, for it to completely set, and I couldn’t tell what they were doing on the outside, because it’s covering everything but your nose hole, they said it starts to set almost right away, but to completely set takes about 20 minutes. Then you’re laying back in a chair with this on your head, breathing through your nose, so you always hope you don’t have allergies, or you’re toast there.

David Read:
You have to start all over.

Doug Abrahams:
He’s really nice. He would come in and say, “How you doing? [mumbles]”

David Read:
Like Peanuts.

Doug Abrahams:
The only thing I thought would’ve been fun after, and I said that to him, I said, “When you’ve got that on your face, and somebody’s had it on for 10 minutes, you should start up a chainsaw. And I think that would make everybody think, ‘This is how they get them off.'”

David Read:
That’s funny.

Doug Abrahams:
We were joking, of course. That was interesting, and then of course, the same at the end of the day. They have to take that all off again. So, after you wrap, you’re there for about another 40, 45 minutes to take all that stuff off. And that’s the part I didn’t like, because a lot of the compound that they take it off with is rubbing alcohol, and it would leave your skin kind of tingly, burny sort of stuff. Now, my understanding, it’s a completely different process, but like you say, that was 20 odd years ago. It was definitely an experience. There was funny stuff that happened as a result of all that makeup. That’s for sure.

David Read:
Absolutely. Do you recall the impression that you got when you saw his makeup completed for the first time? What was your reaction to seeing that thing, through one eye, as it were, and did it give you any insight into the character?

Doug Abrahams:
First of all, I’ve almost always either had some kind of beard or mustache or whatever, facial hair, and of course I had to shave everything off for that. And I hadn’t done that for probably, I don’t know, eight or ten years before that, so that part felt weird right off the bat. And then when they finished the makeup for the first time, they took a full frontal and then a side view from both sides, and then printed off 8x10s that they gave me and said, “This is what it’s gonna look like.” And I thought, “Whoa. Wow.” But the thing that I liked about it, the way the scripting was for the Prior, it was not like regular dialogue. It had that more Biblical overtone. So, the pace that you could speak it at was much different. And I liked that because it gave me more of a chance to use more of my voice that I ordinarily would not get to use. So, it was different. And of course, the whole Prior outfit and everything–

David Read:
The staff? I’ve got one. I don’t know if you can see it, but I’ve got one over here.

Doug Abrahams:
Yes, I can.

David Read:
That thing’s heavy. You feel like Moses.

Doug Abrahams:
Yes. I guess the trickiest part was, when they got all that on, of course, then I could not see out of the eye that was covered with that. But before we would start shooting whatever scene it was, there was a woman there, I can’t remember her name now, she was so nice, and she would come in and put the lens in my other eye, and then out of that eye I could just see light, a little bit of light. And then some of the scenes we shot with the Prior, we were in a dark space.

David Read:
You’re effectively blind.

Doug Abrahams:
Effectively blind. That part was interesting because there was always one of the ADs would come and, when we’d do the blocking and they’d take hold of my arm, usually my left arm ’cause I’d had the staff in my right hand, and they’d say, “OK, we’re gonna take three steps forward, and then you’re gonna turn a half step to the left, and now two steps forward, turn to, and then start your dialogue.”

David Read:
Like a tape recorder. Because you can’t reference it, it had better be in there.

Doug Abrahams:
Exactly. That’s what we would do. And even when I was elevated on a balcony or whatever, addressing the throngs below, I couldn’t see any of the throngs. I literally couldn’t see much of anything. I don’t know whether I should tell you that or not, but one of the funniest things that happened – and that was DeLuise again – we were shooting a scene, and I can’t remember what the scene was supposed to be, but it was all white. It was white everything and there were big white boulders or maybe they were snow, I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was all white. ‘Cause I looked at it when they went in and then they came and put the lens in my eye–

David Read:
Sounds like “The Quest Part Two.” They’re going through different planets. And he’s at the DHD.

Doug Abrahams:
OK. Anyway, my trusty guide leads me over and said, “OK, don’t worry about it. You can stand here and do all your dialogue. You won’t have to move.” And I said, “That’s great.” We went through the scene and then we started shooting and I guess they had all arranged it, ’cause it was before lunch. And I’m standing there and what I hadn’t realized is that everybody quietly left for lunch. And I was left…

David Read:
Peter!

Doug Abrahams:
… standing there with my staff waiting for somebody to tell me what’s gonna be next. And I’m finally going, “So, hey, what’s up guys? Hello? Ah. OK. Come on, joke’s over. What are we doing here?” And I finally popped the lens out of my eye and there was nobody there. And I thought, “You buggers.” It was so well executed. I had no idea until I went into the lunchroom, of course.

David Read:
And that was Peter DeLuise. I think that’s how he communicates that he likes you.

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah, maybe.

David Read:
You are not the…

Doug Abrahams:
I guess so.

David Read:
… first person that kind of thing has happened to. Peter DeLuise…

Doug Abrahams:
I’m sure.

David Read:
… not Peter DeLuise, Peter Williams was strapped and bound to a gurney and couldn’t get out, and everyone just left him for lunch.

Doug Abrahams:
I know. It’s a good gag and it made me laugh as much as anybody. I did not find it any way irritating. I just thought, “Wow, got me good.” That is what I thought.

David Read:
I don’t know if you’re aware of the other Priors, or got an idea of what other characters were doing. But despite the fact that they were all very drone-like and had basically their souls extracted from them, they were originally people who were converted into these things and given their powers as a result of passing some kind of test of compliance. They still all had personalities. Some of them were very neutral and some of them were more insidious. And this one that you played, you could tell enjoyed torturing people and was taking satisfaction in doing the bidding of his gods. Did you play it that way or am I projecting onto you with that? After you go through the wall of fire, for instance, at the beginning of Season 10, there’s a smile on your face.

Doug Abrahams:
The way I looked at it, too, was when I was given the background info about this Prior was the fact that he was previously a warrior. So, I looked at it that way, that in order to be a warrior and come out of it with half of his face cut off, basically, he would have a bit of a mean streak, but he would also be one of those guys that has a mean streak that isn’t afraid of anything. And probably a little power hungry because of that.

David Read:
And now he’s got it.

Doug Abrahams:
And now he does have it. I did kind of like that. Plus, as I say, everything he said was said in such a way, like the 11th, 12th, and 13th Commandment. The first 10 were already covered and now he’s gonna start creating the rest of them. I liked that about the character, that even though I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, it wasn’t about that. It was about him having the power to really strike somebody down if he felt like it.

David Read:
Did you see yourself playing this character for what was effectively three years, if you include the Ark of Truth? Did you have that idea? Were you told that? ‘Cause I’ve heard a lot of actors, they’re like, “Oh, this’ll be recurring. You’re coming in at the end of Season Nine. There’s a 10th season that’s gonna be spinning up.” Were you informed that you were going to be back or was it like, “I’m here for this one-off.” I’m curious to hear how that came about.

Doug Abrahams:
No, they did say, which is almost like an actor’s curse, when they give you an audition and it said, “May be recurring,” and then you think, “Oh God.” I’ve had I don’t know how many of those when you’d have a great episode, and then the guy would never show up again.

David Read:
All it means is that you don’t die at the end of this one.

Doug Abrahams:
Pretty much. “You’re good for an episode, no matter what.” But on this one they said, “It may be recurring.” So, I thought, “OK, good. I’m not gonna lose any sleep wondering whether it’ll be recurring. If it recurs, that’s good.” Which it did, and then each time it recurred, I thought, “Wow, I like this. I like what they’re giving this guy to do.” He sort of became more and more about exercising the power that he did have. And then, of course, when they did the movie, I thought, “Whoa, now here he is in the movie too.” And of course, the whole structure of that was a little different, but it was still the same fun character for me to do.

David Read:
What was it like working with Beau Bridges?

Doug Abrahams:
That was, of course, first time I’d met him, and it was quite interesting because right away in the blocking, which is usually kinda done at half speed, he was going full speed. And of course, at that time, I didn’t have a lens in my eye, so when we rehearsed things a couple of different ways, we got into some pretty good head-butting about what was happening here. And I liked that because if you say, “No, no, no, no, come on. We can’t do that like that. We have to think about this and that,” and the other actor just says, “OK, you’re right, you’re right.” But we were not really arguing or fighting about things, but we both had an idea of how things were supposed to play out and our ideas were not the same. So, we ended up working it out and it was kind of fun to do that. He was really nice, by the way. When he’s working he’s very intense, and when he’s not, he’s very amiable. Just a really nice guy.

David Read:
He’s trying to find the material there, especially when he’s been carrying this particular performance for two seasons and now this feature. I’m curious, when you have a professional difference of opinion with another performer on something, is the director or the DP a tiebreaker, or the assistant director? How does that work?

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah, more the director. Because sometimes, in some things I’ve done, you’ll be off to the side with the other actor talking it over. And then you go back to the director and say, “Hey, we wondered about trying it this way. What do you think about that?” Most of the time, they’ll just say, “Let’s give it a try. Let’s see how it goes.” Because there’s one take where you can demonstrate that. If they don’t like it, then you go back to whatever it was that you decided to change in the first place. So, that’s a fairly common thing, and I think it happens more with some actors than others. But I’ve worked with actors that would not do anywhere near the same dialogue that you’d been prepared to do, and then you just have to go along with it–

David Read:
You’re along for the ride.

Doug Abrahams:
I remember Gary Busey was just completely like that. I remember the first time I was working with him, and we did this scene, and he changed all the dialogue, and I just went along with it and threw back what came to my mind. And afterwards, when they cut, the director said, “Guys, where did that come from?” And Busey said, “I know, but it was so effing real.” And he said, “Didn’t you think so, Doug?” And I said, “I had no choice, Gary.”

David Read:
I’m sure the writer will be pissed.

Doug Abrahams:
That was Outer Limits, and I remember Gary had just gone through that reborn Christian thing that he was into, and so before we started shooting, he had everybody on the crew and the cast all join hands in a big circle, and he started going on and going on and going on, and finally one of the producers said, “Thank you, Gary. Thank you, everybody.” Because I think he might have gone on for an hour.

David Read:
He turned it into a little bit of service.

Doug Abrahams:
He sure did. He was a character though.

David Read:
Any more notes from this particular Prior? Was it a satisfying arc, seeing the light at the end, as it were? You wanna talk about a bright, white light, I’m sure that was one. Any final notes on that particular journey?

Doug Abrahams:
I gotta be honest with you, each time that he came back, I enjoyed it more than the time before. And then I thought, “Damn, why didn’t they bring this guy in a few seasons ago?” The only thing I would’ve liked to see were some kind of flashback to his warrior days. That would’ve really solidified how he got to be, or became what he became, as the Prior. But I wasn’t getting any writing credit, so I didn’t–

David Read:
Greg Anderson played the only Prior that we saw was a human.

Doug Abrahams:
A flashback?

David Read:
No. We saw him as a human first and then became a Prior. So, he was the only one who had that arc from the beginning of Season Nine when this plot was introduced, to Ark of Truth, two and a half years later. But what a cool opportunity. Even though you’re effectively… And literally, one of the scripts says, “Pawns for these omniscient beings.” That’s pretty intense stuff to play with. You’re pulling people around and doing stuff. You’re walking through virtual flame, and the end result is kinda cool to watch.

Doug Abrahams:
And again, in those kind of sci-fi situations, they don’t come up that– Vancouver was the home of all the Stargates, and so each one had its own elements that everybody would either love or not. But it was like sci-fi central here for the longest time, and it was great. Have you interviewed Teryl Rothery?

David Read:
I have. She’s wonderful.

Doug Abrahams:
OK. So, Teryl is my ex, and the mother…

David Read:
I did not know that.

Doug Abrahams:
…of our daughter. Yes.

David Read:
You are London’s father.

Doug Abrahams:
There you go, yes, I am! And that’s where I was last week.

David Read:
That’s your daughter?

Doug Abrahams:
That’s my daughter.

David Read:
What a small world. I love London. I’ve met her.

Doug Abrahams:
Have you?

David Read:
She’s beautiful.

Doug Abrahams:
I’ll tell you something else about London. She’s a terrific hockey player.

David Read:
She was going to practices when I met her.

Doug Abrahams:
She and I hang out literally five days a week with her hockey, and then I have my hockey in between that. It’s a great time. There you go, small world.

David Read:
How old is she now? How’s she doing?

Doug Abrahams:
She’s doing great. She just turned 16 the first week of October.

David Read:
Does she wanna do it professionally, you think? Maybe I’m asking too much. I’m so thrilled to hear about her.

Doug Abrahams:
No, she’s changed her mind a few times about what she’d like to do for the future, but of course now, whatever it is, she wants to try and go to university on a hockey scholarship. Combining the two things that she likes, school and hockey. Of course, now that she turned 16 and has her learner’s permit to drive, it’s like–

David Read:
Oh, no. You and Teryl are probably freaking out.

Doug Abrahams:
Oh, my God. A few days ago, she said, “Dad, I was looking online, and I found this BMW. It’s used, of course, and it’s only got 218,000 kilometers on it.” And I said, “Whoa, whoa. That’s a lot of kilometers.” And she said, “Yeah, but it’s in really good shape, and it’s only 10,000.” And I said, “Well,” I said, “You’re gonna have to work a lot of weekends at the Cactus Club to save that up.” She has no idea what it costs, first of all, to maintain a vehicle, to put fuel in it, and pay for insurance.

David Read:
She will.

Doug Abrahams:
She’s got a few lessons ahead of her.

David Read:
I’m thrilled to hear that she’s doing good. We’ve had Teryl on. Teryl has been there for me for a long time. She’s a fixture in the Stargate community and is always wonderful.

Doug Abrahams:
She was at, two weekends ago, at a convention in San Antonio.

David Read:
Spacecon, I think.

Doug Abrahams:
It never ends. It’s great.

David Read:
I’ve got some fan questions for you, Doug, if you’ve got some time?

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah, go ahead.

David Read:
Raj Luthra and Melissa Smith, “Is there a role that you’ve had that you took, perhaps not under the most ideal of circumstances, and you got into it and was like, ‘I can’t wait for this one to end?'” How do you balance those expectations for yourself and getting through the work?

Doug Abrahams:
Once you take the job, whatever the work turns out to be, that’s kind of what you’re stuck with. The only time I really wanted it to end, we were shooting… it was a movie of the week. One of the last scenes, I was a bad guy and I’m holding somebody captive and we’re at this airport. And the plot was that I’m trying to get this girl onto this jet plane and escape with her, and we’re gonna ransom the–

David Read:
Sounds like a charming guy.

Doug Abrahams:
Thank you. They had a real jet engine set up on whatever they do mechanical work on jet engines for, and they fired up the jet engine and then I’m there with this girl and they’re actually blowing all the force of this jet engine. And, I’m not kidding you, we realized afterwards it was burning our skin, but breathing the fumes from that thing, really, after the second take, I said, “Guys, I’m gonna pass out in a second here.” And the poor girl was quite sick. And I thought, “Nobody is thinking this through.”

David Read:
No. “Just get a fan blowing on us or something.” It won’t really be noticed on your hair. “Fix that in post!”

Doug Abrahams:
That was the one that stands out most in my mind.

David Read:
Talk about not thinking about the talent.

Doug Abrahams:
We had an episode… what was that show called? Millennium. And underneath the streets of Vancouver, there are all these tunnels, big, huge tunnels that they used to have an underground railway through there. And we were shooting in these underground tunnels in Millennium and we were way, way in there. And all of the crew were wearing masks, like pandemic-type masks. And of course, myself, as one of the actors was not wearing a mask. And when they turned the lights on, all you could see was all this stuff floating around in the air. And of course, we’re stuck there breathing it while we’re doing all these scenes. I’m trying to remember the actor’s name who was the lead on that.

David Read:
On Millennium?

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah.

David Read:
I can get that for you in 10 seconds.

Doug Abrahams:
OK, ’cause I gotta tell you a funny story.

David Read:
It was Lance Henriksen.

Doug Abrahams:
Yes.

David Read:
What a great guy.

Doug Abrahams:
He was a great guy but he was also, in Seinfeld terms, he was a low talker. Anyway, it’s the last scene of the night and we’re this far apart, and we’re doing a scene. He’s going “[inaudible]” like that.

David Read:
I’ll wear the puffy shirt.

Doug Abrahams:
Exactly. And even though I knew the dialogue, I thought, “I can’t hear a friggin’ word he’s saying.”

David Read:
I can see that.

Doug Abrahams:
So, in response, I just went “[inaudible].” And he looked at me like, “What?” I could see the boom mic start bobbing because the guy holding the boom mic was trying not to laugh. But I just thought, “For God’s sake, man, if I can’t hear you…” So, I had to do that to him.

David Read:
That’s funny. That’s really great.

Doug Abrahams:
I couldn’t resist that. But I was so glad to get out of that tunnel. I loved doing that show. That show only lasted two seasons, and yet it was, I thought, a terrific show. It was all about serial killers and tracking them down. And apparently, the first season, the reaction to it was so intense that, when we started the second season, everybody got a T-shirt that says, “Millennium, Season Two, 80% less serial killers.”

David Read:
Wow.

Doug Abrahams:
Wow. Exactly. So, I guess they had to tone it down.

David Read:
It’s the late ’90s.

Doug Abrahams:
Now, of course, it wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever.

David Read:
No, not at all.

Doug Abrahams:
It’s like, “It’s too intense for mainstream television, better give it to Netflix.”

David Read:
“A Ryan Murphy production.”

Doug Abrahams:
There you go.

David Read:
ChopLo wants to know, “Did you have any stories working with Richard Dean Anderson?”

Doug Abrahams:
Yes.

David Read:
Could you tell he was a particular energy, even across a boardroom table?

Doug Abrahams:
Yes.

David Read:
A very nice boardroom table.

Doug Abrahams:
What was the other series that he was a lead on?

David Read:
MacGyver. Legend.

Doug Abrahams:
MacGyver, thank you. That was where the story– It’s kind of not a great story. Because other than that, when I worked with him on Stargate, he was nice. Except that the first scene we shot, we shot his side of the scene first, which is very common. You always shoot the number one, but then he went to his trailer and his stand-in read his lines.

David Read:
Dan Shea?

Doug Abrahams:
No, not Dan Shea.

David Read:
Not at the time?

Doug Abrahams:
Dan Shea was his stunt guy.

David Read:
Stunt double, excuse me.

Doug Abrahams:
I can’t remember his name. Really nice guy. Anyway, on the MacGyver thing, we all had a really early 6:30 call, we’re all waiting and stuff like that. And there was a little girl there from New Zealand, and she was on the Make-A-Wish program, and her wish was to meet MacGyver. We kept getting, “Hey, we’re gonna flip scene da-da-da. We’re gonna do that one now ’cause Richard’s tied up doing something.” It just went on, and the little girl was there with her mom, and between takes, we were all talking to them, they were so nice. And she was the sweetest little thing. She looked about 7 but she was 13. She was the tiniest little girl. Anyway, when he finally got there and they said, “Richard, the little girl from Make-A-Wish is here.” And he went, “Yeah, OK. Let’s go. Let’s get this done.” And I thought, “Whoa, pretty cold.” So, he went over and did the pictures and the smile and all that, and then left. And that was what they had waited for all day. That I didn’t like. And like I say, I don’t mean to speak badly of the gentleman, but on that particular occasion, I just thought–

David Read:
He was having a bad day.

Doug Abrahams:
He was having a bad day, and there are times when we all have bad days and we end up projecting, sometimes, when we shouldn’t. And that was a time that it definitely shouldn’t have been projected onto that little girl, but–

David Read:
Did the little girl register that or do you think that her wish was successfully made?

Doug Abrahams:
No. You could tell both she and her mom expected more, but they were so nice about it. They said, “No, no. He’s very busy and everything.” And I thought, “Sometimes you can’t be too busy. You’ve gotta take a chunk out of your own life and…”

David Read:
Park it.

Doug Abrahams:
“… relate to someone else.” However, that’s that, although things like that tend to stick in your mind, and that one did.

David Read:
Absolutely. Lockwatcher, “How did you get your video game voice acting to come about? Apparently, you had a major role in the Godfather series.” I was rewatching your episodes, and I gotta tell you, Doug, my first reaction was, “Damn, I hope he does audiobooks ’cause I wanna listen to ’em.”

Doug Abrahams:
I have friends who–

David Read:
“This voice that you have, it’s nothing insubstantial, Doug.”

Doug Abrahams:
I don’t know. It’s just my voice.

David Read:
You’ve been blessed with a great instrument.

Doug Abrahams:
It’s been fun to be able to use it. But referring to the Godfather games, we were at Sharp Sound Studio, which is one of the voice recording studios here. And they do a lot of shows, and I’ve done a lot of work there. And we had a group, a walla group. Alistair Abell? I’m not sure if you know Alistair at all?

David Read:
No.

Doug Abrahams:
But anyway, he’s had what in LA they call the Loop Group. We just didn’t call ourselves anything. We’d just go and have fun doing walla. Just fooling around one day, I think it was Peter Benson had said something, and I said, “Now, Peter, now, don’t even mess because…” And he said, “Are you going to those Godfather auditions tomorrow?” And I said, “No, I didn’t know anything about ’em.” He said, “Hey, listen, I’m gonna phone Abell.” He got me in and I went to where they were doing the auditions. And of course, out in the parking lot it’s all the Voice guys from Vancouver and they’re all out there doing their Godfather versions. And I thought, “What am I doing here?” But I was the last guy to go in, and Peter Rubin, the guy that was directing the game, gave me these sides. So, I went in and I did the scene, and he said, “Hey, listen, are you familiar with the movie at all?” And I went, “Duh.” He said, “OK, I don’t have any dialogue for it, but could we improv? You know the scene where da-da-da-da-da?” So, I improved a few scenes for him and I thought, “That went pretty well.” And he said, “OK, great. What other characters did you wanna do?” And I said, “I didn’t know I could do other characters.” And he said, “Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it.”

David Read:
Sounds like he’s got an early finish to his day. “Let’s hang out a little bit.”

Doug Abrahams:
I got a call the very next day and they said, “They wanna cast you as Don Corleone.” And I thought, “Wow!” Then the day after that I got a call from the production company saying, “Hey, listen, we need a dialect coach for the New York accents.” And I said, “OK, that’s kinda cool. I’m gonna be there anyway.” “What are you doing?” And I told ’em and they said, “OK, that’s great.” And I think, “Wait a minute. Did I shoot myself in the foot here? That they’re only gonna have to pay me for one job and not two?” But they didn’t. They were very good about it.

David Read:
All because of an off-hand impression that you made to a friend.

Doug Abrahams:
Exactly. That’s all it was.

David Read:
What a butterfly effect.

Doug Abrahams:
We went in to do the recordings and, of course, I was in the booth with Peter and the guy doing the recording. First of all, I think it was Clemenza. And he said, “Look at this, do you think you could do Clemenza?” And I said, “Sure, if you want, I’ll give it a shot.” Anyway, I ended up doing Clemenza. Then the next one was McCluskey, the big cop that breaks Michael’s jaw. That wasn’t working out either, and he said, “Do you think you could do that one?” And I said, “Sure, I could do that one.” That went on and on, so I ended up doing The Godfather, Clemenza, McCluskey, and Woltz, the Hollywood producer. “She’s the best piece of ass I’ve ever had.”

David Read:
Man, all these different players. If you are enhancing a performance, I’m sorry to the other actor but, “You’ve got what it takes, man. On my daughter’s wedding day.” There you go. Good for you.

Doug Abrahams:
It was great fun. And of course, the procedure was so much different then. Now, when you go to do the mo-cap for it, you still wear the same mo-cap outfit, but they have a little camera that comes around, about that big, in front of your face and records your whole face. But at the time when we did The Godfather, you’d go in and they’d put 85 markers on your face, and you did it one line at a time. And you had to start in a neutral position and then go, “What do you mean?” And then back to a neutral position, cut, and then do the next line. So, the weird part about it was that you never heard the other guy’s dialogue. You just have to imagine how they were delivering it and then respond that way. The very first Godfather game, we were 18 months doing that, because of how slow the process was.

David Read:
That’s absolutely wild. 2006. I gotta be honest with you, Doug, I didn’t realize that this came out. This is really cool. I’m gonna have to go and check it out now ’cause this is something else.

Doug Abrahams:
That was fun. And then we did… I think there was Godfather, Godfather II, Godfather III, all different games. And then from that, oddly enough, I got a call from another one of Electronic Arts’ teams. They work in teams all over Canada and all over the US, mainly the US, but we have a big studio here in Vancouver, as well. I got a call from this producer who was calling me from Florida, and he said, “So, I understand you’re the guy who did The Godfather?” I said, “Yes.” And he said, “Well, we’re gonna do Superman. So, we want you to play Superman’s father in that.” And I thought…

David Read:
Of course.

Doug Abrahams:
… I thought, “Oh, good. OK.”

David Read:
Thank you, Marlon. My gosh.

Doug Abrahams:
I know! We recorded the whole thing. I wasn’t doing the mo-cap ’cause they were doing that in Florida, of course, but I did all the vocal stuff in, I think, seven or eight days. Then I guess it was three days later, I got a call from the same producer and he said, “Doug, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we can’t use any of that. Sony is not gonna release your voice that you did for The Godfather, I’m so sorry. But we’re gonna record the whole thing again just using your own voice.” And I thought “Oh, OK.” I guess it’s a bit of a…

David Read:
You mean you’re gonna have to pay me more?

Doug Abrahams:
… kick in the butt, but… Yeah, I know. “Dammit, this has gotta stop.”

David Read:
Those contracts, man, I’ll tell ya. They lead to some interesting side effects.

Doug Abrahams:
It can and it does. Plus, there was a lot of characters in the original Godfather because of the setting in New York, so they wanted them to have just a little bit of that New York flavor, get it down there. So, I got to coach the actors that had to do that stuff too, which was a lot of fun.

David Read:
I wanna go into more of your coaching in a moment here, if you’ve still got time with me?

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah, go. Like I said, hockey later this afternoon.

David Read:
Krisztian wanted to know– I don’t know if you knew, but your leader for The Priors was Julian Sands, who played a character called the Doci. Did you ever meet Julian?

Doug Abrahams:
No, I didn’t actually. I was the lone Prior in all the episodes that I did.

David Read:
I wanted to ask though… I’m glad Krisztian brought it up ’cause that was a major loss to the acting community. Just an extraordinary talent. Can you tell me– I love teaching. It’s a passion that my father and I share. He was a flight instructor for a long time and I had an opportunity a few years ago to start more or less instructing people of my own in a different medium, and I didn’t realize how rewarding imparting knowledge was, in a number of different forms. Tell me about how coaching fulfills you.

Doug Abrahams:
Backing up one step, when I first came to Vancouver, just before that I had worked at two different theaters in Edmonton, Alberta, the Citadel Theater and Theater Northwest. And we started the outdoor Shakespeare Festival there. And Christopher Gaze, who’s another actor, when we came to Vancouver, he started the Vancouver Shakespeare Festival, which has been going for I don’t know how many years now very successfully. I was also teaching at the Citadel at the same time, just community acting classes, but when they asked me about it, I said, “Sure, I’d like to do that, but I don’t wanna do kids’ classes because I’d have to be way too careful not to be dropping F-bombs on them and stuff like that.”

David Read:
Oh, come on. What could possibly go wrong?

Doug Abrahams:
Exactly. I ended up doing adult classes. And of course, when it’s an adult class, I feel I can talk to them on an adult level. And it went really successfully well. And then when I came to Vancouver, another actor, Allan Lysell and I started up the Arts Club, which is one of the main theaters here in Vancouver, and we started up and ran an acting school for 11 years. So, teaching was a very regular part of my life, apart from the acting and voice work and all that stuff. And then when we finished that, I also taught part-time at Capilano University here, and I worked with the third year graduating students and taught them dialect. That was a great, fun time for me, and I was doing the dialect coaching at the same time, on set. So, it all fit together really nicely that way, and I love teaching too. The only thing I didn’t like, the union, UBCP Actors Union here, I went in and did, I think, only three times I did classes for them. But the part I didn’t like is they would have 20 people in the class, all working on the same dialect, and you could only go as fast as the slowest person. So, for part of the class, it was the right pace, and for part of the class, it was like, “Oh, come on. Let’s get moving.” So, I prefer, now, I do a lot of Zoom coaching. I coach actors in the UK and Australia and New Zealand.

David Read:
You don’t feel cut off from them?

Doug Abrahams:
When I’m coaching on Zoom, I’m doing one-on-one, and so we can go as fast as they can assimilate and reproduce what you’re trying to teach them. So, it becomes really interesting that way, because some days I’ll be working with four different actors, all on different dialects. For me, that makes it, first of all, more exciting and more challenging as well, because I never say–

David Read:
So, Zoom’s been a blessing over a curse for you. That’s good to hear.

Doug Abrahams:
Yes, but I mean more so post-pandemic. When the pandemic started, as you well know, here, and I’m sure pretty much stateside as well, everything stopped. Then we had the writers’ strike, then we had the actors’ strike. Nothing ever will come back to what it was like pre-pandemic. Now, everything is self-taping for actors. There’s no more going in the room unless it’s a major production and they want you to come and do screen testing and that kind of thing. That’s different. But other than that, it’s all self-taping with no feedback. So, actors could do a really great self-tape, but they’re never gonna find out whether it was a really good self-tape. So, there’s a real downside to that. So, that’s what I like about the one-on-one Zoom things, because that way I can not only hear what they’re doing, I can watch what they’re doing, because dialect is very much about where they place their physical instrument. I always explain to people, it’s not about what you’re saying, it’s about how you’re saying it. It’s a totally different approach to that. Once you can teach someone where all the vowel sounds have to come from, the rest becomes a little simpler to add it together like that.

David Read:
A performer deserves to get notes. If they’re spending two, three, four, six, eight hours on a tape and sending it off into the ether with 200 or 300 other tapes to only get 30 seconds of it watched and to not get an impression of, “OK, where can I steer this performance? I have a 1000 different micro directions I can steer the performance. I just get to pick one.” It could potentially pull your hair out.

Doug Abrahams:
There’s now another generation of actors who never experienced the room. I’d go, and we always used to call it the seven usual suspects. I’d see the same guys, we’d always be auditioning for the same roles, and we always knew one of us was gonna get it. And when you’re in the room, the feedback is instantaneous. “OK, great. Now, this time I want you to try this,” or, “Let’s try this this way. Let’s do this, that, that.” Even if you don’t get the role, you know that you had a good shot at it, and that you’re likely to get called back for another opportunity with the same producers and director and whatnot. But with self-taping, now, my agent sends me stuff. If it looks like it’ll be a fun thing to do, I’ll do it, but I hold virtually no expectation of getting the role. It just gives me something to do in between.

David Read:
But you can’t demonstrate how you take a note. That’s the thing, because you don’t get the opportunity for feedback, to pivot a performance.

Doug Abrahams:
Which is the other thing I like about one-on-one coaching, because it is, it’s instant feedback, and you can stop in the middle of something and explain why you’re stopping. Whereas, like you say, there are people who spend a day doing a self-tape. And usually, 9 times out of 10, I’m sure the first 1 they did was probably the best 1. The energy changes the more times you do it, or you rethink things to the point where, “What is the point?” at that point?

David Read:
You’ll always find another interpretation, but is another interpretation the right interpretation? Maybe your instincts were right the first time around. And all you do is get to sit and stew at home.

Doug Abrahams:
That’s what I mean. I’m not talking out of class here, but that’s what I always tell Teryl all the time. I’d say, “Look, you did it.” I help her tape a lot of her auditions and stuff, and she works a lot. She’s a terrific actor.

David Read:
She’s working all the time. She’s doing something right.

Doug Abrahams:
She’s really good. You don’t get to see her auditions, but I keep telling her, I say, “I don’t know why they don’t cast your reader. The guy is great.”

David Read:
He has his job.

Doug Abrahams:
I’ll tell her, I say, “I don’t know what you could do to make that any better.” ‘Cause she’ll say, “Do you think I should do another one?” And I say, “Happily do another one if you want. But I honestly don’t know what you could do to make that any better. That had energy that was right there.” And it’s the same thing. For someone who works as much as she does, it’s very frustrating not to ever hear back about it. Because things slowed down so much, we’re back about 15 years ago, even the little roles were all cast in LA, and then the actors would fly up and do it and dah-dah-dah. And we’re kinda back to that. Now they have to do the audition process, but, man, there’s a lot of good actors in Vancouver that are not working. And they can get away with it because they can say, “We couldn’t find anybody there we liked, so we had to cast it in LA.”

David Read:
That’s just a get out of jail free card. I’ve heard a lot of you say that a lot. Almost like they recruit, or they send out a signal to the Vancouver acting pool, because they have to. “Well, we wanna get an international option.” How often are you guys really even being considered under those circumstances? It’s someone who’s saying, “We need to do this. Let’s just do it.” And all that work for what?

Doug Abrahams:
The submission process, as you said, it used to be you and the seven suspects. Now it’s you and the 70 suspects, and casting directors now, here, and I’m sure maybe in LA too, don’t even keep a studio anymore. They just sit at home and go, “No, no, maybe, maybe, no.” And because there’s no feedback, if you’re that kind of person, you start self-doubting. You think, “What am I doing wrong?” And likely nothing, nothing wrong at all.

David Read:
What do you see this method of harvesting talent doing to the industry over the next decade?

Doug Abrahams:
Part of it is OK because I find so many shows keep getting geared down to a younger audience. But they still have to have parents and grandparents and all that. So, it’s not like actors are getting culled out that way. But if you’re a young actor, like 16, 17, you’re in the deep end of the pool, and you are likely to get discouraged by that much more quickly, because you’re not getting any feedback, no matter how hard you work, and you just spent–

David Read:
Actors need this.

Doug Abrahams:
If people spend two, three, four years in a program to learn their craft, and then come out of there and can’t apply their craft because there’s no work given that way, they’re gonna get discouraged pretty easily, I would think. I find that sad because it used to be a much more wide-open opportunity. There was definitely the competition, but the competition got harder because you were getting feedback, all the time. Whether you got it in the room or whether they called your agent and said, “Hey, we’d like to see your client come back in and do this again, but we’d like to see these changes.” Like I say, unless they’re calling you back specifically for a role, that just doesn’t happen anymore.

David Read:
In the former circumstance, you’re going in there, you’re sharpening your knives as a performer. You’re getting more precise. You’re getting different points of view in terms of feedback and in terms of assimilating that information to your specific skill set, as a specific instrument in a larger orchestra. That’s kinda wild. Taking it back to my original comment about teaching, it must be very rewarding for you to be able to facilitate that one-on-one. I’m sure you’ve probably got a story or two of standout talent where it’s like, “That person blew me away, and yeah, I did help a little bit.”

Doug Abrahams:
That’s true. That’s the other thing. On my website, which is sadly so out of date now, but if any of your listeners want to check it out, it’s www.77sunsetbeach.com. Sunsetbeach, all one word. In that, there’s a scroll of all the actors’ faces, or at least quite a number of them, that I did coach. It’s been a terrific thing for me. I’ve worked with some really–

David Read:
Henry Thomas.

Doug Abrahams:
Oh, Henry. Oh my God.

David Read:
Ah, what a life he has led.

Doug Abrahams:
No kidding.

David Read:
I saw his documentary on After the Navigator. What a guy.

Doug Abrahams:
He was so much fun to work with. In fact, we’ve kept in touch since then. But he had to do a British dialect on… what was it? The House of the… there was three House movies we did here… The Haunting of Hill…

David Read:
Hill House?

Doug Abrahams:
It was Haunting of Hill House, and then Haunting of Bly Manor. That’s the one I coached Henry on. He is quite a character, but a really nice, genuinely good guy. But he was having a lot of trouble with the dialect. So, I would literally be about a half a foot off frame, and he’d do a line and then he’d go, “What is it again, Doug? What is it again?” And I would do the line for him and he would repeat it. He was great fun to work with.

David Read:
I misspoke. I mixed him up with Joey Cramer. I apologize, everyone. Joey Cramer was the Flight of the Navigator actor. Henry Thomas was E.T. That was my bad. And Kit Harington. Ruby Rose. What a list of talent. That’s amazing.

Doug Abrahams:
I’ve been very fortunate to work with some really terrific talent from outside and inside North America. Jeff Bridges was a character to work with, I’ll tell you. “Hey, Doug. Hey, Doug, we’re gonna…” He was fun. He was a lot of fun.

David Read:
Neil Jackson. He’s a Stargate alum. We’ve had him on the show. What a great guy. This is an impressive pool, and I’m happy to link this to the discussion. What is next for you? Is this what you’re ensconced in, you’re gonna continue to do? Is there anything else you wanna shout out before we let you go?

Doug Abrahams:
I don’t know. This summer, I decided, basically, to take the summer off, although it seems odd to take the summer off to be involved with hockey. My daughter’s hockey team, at the end of their season, they wanted to put a team in this summer league. They said, “Hey, Doug, could you put the team in for us and coach us in the summer league?” And I thought, “Yeah, I’ll…” So, I did, and it actually wasn’t so bad, because a couple of times a week I’d be going from hot, balmy, sunny weather outside and going into a nice cool arena for an hour and a half. It had its upsides, too. Actually, I just heard, now, that we’re about to start… well, they’re supposed to release and then when they do, we’re supposed to start the second season of a show called Shaq’s Garage. It’s an animated series, and of course you can maybe guess who the lead is.

David Read:
I don’t know, man, a certain basketball player?

Doug Abrahams:
Of course they’re all vehicles. I was Shaq’s chauffeur. I’m a big green Bentley with a British accent. That was so much fun to do and I’m looking forward to doing another season of that. Now that we’re into the fall and I’m not gonna be outside as much anyway, I’ll probably maybe start looking at doing another series of coaching. And then I have an interest in an outside company as well that is just starting to really take off too. Totally outside the entertainment industry. In fact, you probably don’t even know what a digester is.

David Read:
No, other than the one inside my body.

Doug Abrahams:
Yes. Basically, the same process, except– never mind. But anyway. We have it–

David Read:
“A vessel used to break down organic materials through chemical or biological reactions.” There you go.

Doug Abrahams:
There you go. And what the end result of that is, natural gas.

David Read:
Are you talking to the…

Doug Abrahams:
Yeah.

David Read:
… the dairy farmer digester?

Doug Abrahams:
Yes. Dairy farmer digesters, although we did have our first conference with the city of LA, and they wanna set up a street program where they have their big bins for all their trash, but now they want them to separate organic trash, and then that all going into a digester, and then producing natural gas. My business partner in that came up with the concept. We’ve built our first four digesters in California, so far. And, of course, that’s the kind of thing that is very future-oriented. Everybody wants, and rightly so, to do as many green projects as possible. As it turns out, investor-wise, a number of athletes, who I can’t name, but happen to be, also, professional basketball players, are very excited about the project and getting involved in the company. That’s kind of exciting too.

David Read:
That’s really exciting.

Doug Abrahams:
So, maybe rather than taking on another show, I’ll just take on full-time retirement and hockey coaching.

David Read:
Especially those instances where you take the summer off, London’s only gonna be young for so long in doing this, and it’s time well spent.

Doug Abrahams:
Absolutely. And the young thing, oh my God, yes. Totally a young woman now, as opposed to just a young kid. It’s fun. It’s a lot of fun. As I said, she’s quite talented in the hockey venue, and when she was 11, she got called up to U15, which is 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds. And then when she was 14, she got called up to U18, which are 15-, 16-, and 17-year-old girls. So, every time she’d say, “Dad, those girls are so big.” And I said, “Yeah, but if you’re faster than they are, it really doesn’t matter.” And she is.

David Read:
You’ve been called to this position. Someone’s seen something.

Doug Abrahams:
For a reason. Exactly. She loves her hockey, and I’ve played hockey my entire life and still do and still love it. So, for us, that’s a great hanging out time.

David Read:
Doug, this has been tremendous. It’s been such a privilege to get to sit down with you and talk with you about these roles, and to finally make the connection. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Doug Abrahams:
OK, good. I wanna keep going till 4:00, if you’re OK with that? I’ve got–

David Read:
I mean… I’ve got another show!

Doug Abrahams:
I know. I shouldn’t be giving you a hard time…

David Read:
No, it’s funny.

Doug Abrahams:
… on our first meeting.

David Read:
This is great. I didn’t know about the connection with Teryl. Can I ask you one thing before we go?

Doug Abrahams:
Sure.

David Read:
I’m getting the impression that she’s getting more work now than ever. Every time I turn around, she is busier and busier and it’s amazing to see her so on fire. What do you think her X-factor is?

Doug Abrahams:
Personally, I think it’s that broad range of characters that she can relate to out of different little sections of her own life. Some of the characters she plays are total badass characters, and believe me, she can play a badass. But on the other hand, there’s the mum, the–

David Read:
The nurturing Dr. Fraiser.

Doug Abrahams:
And what a great ticket to ride that was. That show… As I say, she’s still going to conventions everywhere for Stargate, from all that time ago, which is great. She is really good at nailing the elements of a character that stand out. When I help her with her auditions, which are very frequent, and now, even though she’s probably working more than 95% of the actors in Vancouver, she thinks, “Oh my God, I’m not doing anything, I’m not doing anything.” And I say, “Well, wait a minute. Let’s back that off a little bit.” She’s terrific at finding those little elements that stand out in an audition, which is the important thing.

David Read:
I totally see it.

Doug Abrahams:
Every once in a while, she’ll have one with a dialect, so then I get put to work twice. No, it’s good. Like I said, she is a terrific actor, and Stargate, probably, was the thing that’s given her more — she and London — more global travel than anything. It’s been great that way.

David Read:
Blessings come along in all shapes and sizes.

Doug Abrahams:
They do.

David Read:
It’s important to acknowledge and continue to enjoy them, like she is with the conventions. ‘Cause there’s a lot of actors who won’t do them, and she recognizes that the fans are a huge vessel for what continues to make this thing continue to resonate.

Doug Abrahams:
And I think she had a pretty long run on Virgin River, as well. And now that they’re finished, I think when you get so involved in something like that and then you get to notice that this is our last season, it is kind of a letdown because it’s no myth. Everybody says, “Well, you know, when you’re working on a show, it’s kinda like a family.” It’s true. When you work on a show over anywhere past one season, and when you go back for the second season, wow, it’s like, “Hey, how you doing?” Plus, the people you kept in touch with in between. You spend so many hours a day together.

David Read:
More than your own family, in many cases.

Doug Abrahams:
It is definitely that sort of thing. But it’s not for everybody.

David Read:
Doug, this has been a treat. I appreciate you taking the time, sir.

Doug Abrahams:
It’s been good fun. Thinking back on some of the stuff has been fun, remembering it. So, I appreciate you taking your time to listen to anything that I might have said with half an ounce of intelligence.

David Read:
No, this has been terrific. No need to drink gingko, come on my show.

Doug Abrahams:
There we go.

David Read:
I’m gonna go ahead and wrap up the show on this end. Thank you so much, sir.

Doug Abrahams:
All right. Take care, David.

David Read:
Thank you. Doug Abrahams, everyone, the Ori Prior, the One-Eyed Ori Prior from Stargate SG-1, and the Kelownan Langaran, Commander Hale. You’re watching Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. I really appreciate you tuning in. If you enjoy content like this and you wanna see more, please click Like. It makes a difference with YouTube and will continue to help the show grow. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend, and if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click Subscribe. And giving the Bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops, and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. In about an hour and a half, we are gonna be starting Stargate: Timekeepers, Episode Two, with Simone Bailly and Jeff Gulka, Nicole Rodrigues-Galdo, and myself. Jeff has been playing the second level, and we’re gonna go through it live, so join us for a live playthrough and see if Jeff can keep from dying. My tremendous thanks to my moderating team, Tracy and Antony, as well as Sommer, Jeremy, Marcia. You guys keep the show going on the backend. Thank you all. My producer, Linda “GateGabber” Furey, and my webmaster, Frederick Marcoux, over at ConceptsWeb. He keeps the website going on the backend. We’ve got our next show coming up for you really soon, and I hope you stick around for it. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate, and I’ll see you on the other side.