Part of the original cast
of Dynasty, Bo Hopkins takes a few minutes to chat about how he
got involved in the monster 80s hit TV show Dynasty.
When did they approach you to do Dynasty?
When I was doing Rodeo Girl, I was sent a script out for me to read in a hurry called
"OIL." I read it, of
course they described Matthew Blaisdel was a cross between John Wayne and
Montgomery Clift in Red River and of course that got me
because that is one of my favorites.
Did you sign on
right away?
Actually, I still did not want to do a series, I had done one early called
Doc Elliott and of course I did
The Rockford Files, that was great because they would let me off to do
movies. I never wanted to do another series so I turned it down that night.
So What Changed
your mind?
The next day I came on the set and they made a big offer.
I went and talked to Jackie Cooper (director of Rodeo Girl) about it and said I don't know what to do.
They offered a lot of money but I really don't want to do a series.
Cooper said "Listen it's a pilot maybe it
won't sell." I said, damn your right. I figure I get paid for doing a pilot and if it went series I would think about it then.
Of course I did signed and I think the second week into shooting they got an ok for
twelve shows. I was in the make-up I remember I looked in the mirror I was white on one side and
sprayed with color on the other side.
On one hand I was happy and the other I wasn't. Then they started talking about 5 years, 10 years and that scared me. At that time I was not think so much about money I was thinking doing parts I enjoyed doing.
OIL (aka Dynasty) was great fun because I was working with Dale Robinson and George
Peppard (The A Team), who originally played Blake Carrington.
Why
did George Peppard Leave?
George kept calling Ester & Richard Shapiro (Dynasty's
creators/producers) and saying he didn't want to be another JR. and he wanted to change this and that.
Three weeks later we where shooting at
20th Century Fox. One day, I came in and they said George was fired yesterday so they
had hired John
Forsythe and we have to go back up to Hearst Castle to re-shoot everything again
What was the
difference between George and John?
George and I played off each other and we could have
knock down drag out fights. We had to re-shoot and John was a lot older and I
couldn't hit him so we had to use stunt guys. But I really
enjoyed working with John.
Why did you leave?
After the first year that's when Ester &
Richard Shapiro and I left.
Because they didn't like how they were turning the series into a
"Bold & the Beautiful" - rich
peoples problems, rich ladies getting their hair done., which it didn't
start out that way. I think we could have been good as DALLAS if they kept that whole cast together, and if
George would have stayed.
To find out more on Bo
Hopkins visit his official website @ http://www.bohopkins.com/
