I knew me and Art Hindle would break the brioux.tv record for longest podcast.
The actor, who will be honoured with the Award of Excellence next month at the 20th annual ACTRA Awards, is one of my favourite storytellers. He has a million of ’em, over a career that dates back to the early ’70s in Canadian film and television.
It’s fun talking about his breakthrough feature, “Face Off” (1972). This isn’t the John Travolta flick “Face/Off” (1997) written by earlier podcast guest Graham Yost but a 1971 Canadian feature pairing Hindle with Trudy Young.
Hindle played Toronto Maple Leafs forward Billy Duke and was doubled on ice by real life Leafs defenseman Jom McKenney. Stanley Cup-winning Leafs captain George Armstrong is in the feature, holding his own in scenes opposite John Vernon, who played the coach. Bruins’ centre Derek Sanderson sneaks into a few scenes.
Hindle looks back fondly at that low-budget Can-con classic. He went on to make a couple of other Canadian films for director Bob Clark (he insists I look like the late filmmaker): “Black Christmas” (1974) and “Porkys” (1991). In between, he headed to LA and shot a string of guest appearances on several classic US network cop shows, including Baretta, Cannon and Starsky & Hutch before landing on Kingston Confidential opposite Raymond Burr.
That 1977 series was short-lived, but it got him on one of the best TV reality shows ever — Battle of the Network Stars. In events such as kayak racing, golf, tug-of-war and the obstacle course, Hindle found himself on Team NBC with Kurt Russell, Jane Seymour, Dan Haggerty (Grizzly Adams) and team captain Robert Conrad. The hosts of the show were Howard Cosell, Bruce Jenner and O.J. Simpson. Opponents included LaVar Burton, Jacklyn Smith, Penny Marshall, Gabe Kaplan and Kristy McNicol.
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Ah, the seventies.
Things were going very well until Hindle got injured; a famous TV nurse came to his rescue. Listen to the podcast for the full story.
There is much more with Hindle, including his days on Dallas, E.N.G., Paradise Falls and more recent films and TV shows. He talks about acting opposite Chuck Norris in “The Octogon” (1980) and Walker, Texas Ranger in the ’90s and how being in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978) opposite Donald Sutherland landed him his highest honour — being caricatured by Mort Drucker in the pages of Mad magazine.
All that plus one series that got away: Tuckers Witch. Originally titled The Witch of Laurel Canyon, it was all set to star Hindle and Kim Catrall. A pilot was shot, but then US network executives saw Catrall’s racy scenes in “Porkys” and, well, let Hindle tell the rest.
Follow the blue and white arrow at the top of this column or click here to listen to the full podcast.
