I used to work as a journalist in Los Angeles and I had a colleague named Cliff who had tried to be an actor before he was a journalist.
Cliff told me a story about a film he was an extra on one time. It was the low budget debut of this Oscar winning/Oscar nominated duo who would go on to have much success.
The lead actor in the film ,who is still active, is someone who has been called an “actor’s actor” . Not a huge star but a professional who is generally well thought of by his peers and whose presence two well known deceased critics who worked together observed automatically raised the level of a film.
This is one of his few if not his only leading roles as he is the definition of a character actor and has been in scores and scores of films. The film he was most praised for prior to this featured him in a villainous supporting role with this permanent A+ Oscar winning/Oscar nominated actor who recently had #metoo problems.
Cliff had approached the actor on behalf of some of the other extras for advice and the actor had been more than helpful giving him much useful information about starting an acting career. When the actor discovered that the other extras had put Cliff up to this, he summoned them all to a room on set in between shooting and spent time answering all their questions. He gave out his personal phone number as well. He did not want anything for this and was not trying to pick up anyone. He is just a very generous down to Earth guy.
