Transcription
Uh, you and Eric had great chemistry on air.
Yeah, indeed we did. We're actors.
Are you telling me it wasn't that way from the beginning?
No. Well, you know, it was again another evolution, a chronology of toxicity, if you will, and again, lens issues. At the time, it seemed to me like I was working with the biggest egotistical I'd ever met in my life. Swagged in and out of the toilet, swagged on the set, boast about his feathers, his hair, always priming for makeup, always hitting on every girl, taking her to his motor home and so on. Who is this jackass? Right.
And and then for a long time uh for so for five years I kind of endured that but I endured it on two levels. I endured it because this series wasn't about you Larry. So get over it or make a decision and find a solution and be resilient but don't wallow in this toxicity. It maybe it's his fault, maybe it's your fault, but don't wallow in it.
And so at at five years I go to Brazil to do a personal appearance in S. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and I come back. I mean when I'm in S. Paulo 40,000 people meet me at the airport. Literally 40,000. I got to be Elvis for an hour, right? And I couldn't believe it. I'm thinking my goodness look. And they had their little chips uniforms on and all this kid little kids and stuff. And Macan Ericson the largest advertising agency one of them. and this was one of their capitals had really promoted me coming to do this personal appearance.
So I come back and my agent and you know an actor is only as good as his agent contrary to what people say. You can be a great actor but if he doesn't have a stable you're going to be a wannabe. It's a matter of time. And so he says hey I just got a call from your friend over at NBC. What friend's that? He said Brandon Tarnikov. I said oh yeah how's he doing? He said good. He said you know he loves your work. Okay. Yeah, but they're going to let you go on chips. What do you mean they're going to let me go? And I He said, "Well, they're caught in a hard spot because you know Eric Estrada wrecked his motorcycle and almost died and you gave him first aid. You remember? Because you were in the Marine Corps. You know how to do all that." So I said, "Yeah." And he said, "You saved his life basically." And he says you saved his life. I said, "Yeah." and they took him to the hospital, gave him last rights and everything. I mean, they thought he punctured his aort and ruptured his lungs, broke his sternum, wrecked the motorcycle, hit a truck, and you did what's called a high side where the motorcycle flips up in the air and hits you, right? And it's treacherous. And so he Eric was basically they said he's not going to live. His lungs are filling up with blood. He's bleeding out and so on. So I went to the hospital with him and so on.
Anyway, long five years later, I come back from Brazil, right? Uh to jump forward jump and uh I'm not in the series anymore. And they said, Eric had you fired. I said, "What do you mean? How how did he do that?" And they said, "Well, you know when he wrecked his motorcycle?" Yeah. Well, he remember he wrecked it the second time. I don't know if it was real or on purpose, but he sued MGM and NBC over that wreck. And he had both of them by the you know what because now either they agreed to what his demands were or he was going to walk and they were in the position that they had five years but they needed that sixth year for syndication in order to have an ROI return on investment they needed that sixth year. So Brandon said as much as he hates to do this, he really has no choice. And Larry, you're the Eric wants you out of there and some other actors also. And you're gone. I'm sorry.
So I said, "Oh now this is where the spiral begins, right?" So I'm a businessman more than really as actor, I think. And so I said, "Okay, my Rogers and Cow was my PR agent. That's a whole another bunch of crap, right? God, I'm so sick of PR. But anyway, so I called him up say, "Hey, and my attorney, Martin Leadeds, and we said, "Hey, we we really need to begin the defensive strategy immediately or an offensive one before NBC or anyone else, Eric Estrad or anyone else makes a statement about this because I I look like the loser here. I'm not the loser. I'm the victim, right? But I don't believe in victimhood. So, let's find a solution, right? So, I hurried up and had this guy, one of their favorite LA Times writers, of course, he comes over and we have lunch at Lasser uh in the valley here with famous French restaurant, one of my famous or favorite places. And, um, and you know, I do an interview and it's it's a pretty good interview, excuse me, for being pompous. And some certain quotes were in there that were perfect on target, right? And so they published that Larry Wilcox has left Chips, made a decision to leave Chips. So everyone thought I left the show, right? The act tour is going to go on and be an act two, right? Lo and behold, did I know what was going to happen, right? But it worked really well. And for a long time, I went on angry at Eric and pissed off. And the hick in me said, "I hope I don't meet him cuz if I go behind the barn, I might teach him a lesson." Right? Not a good path. But anyway, that was the punk in me at that time. And I apologize.
So I go five years and I sit down with the producer Sai Sherack who says I said, "Hey, I wrote these two scripts. I'm I produced this television series, the Ray Bradbury Theater for five years all over the world. Obviously, I can I did the Dorothy Stratton Death of a Playmate I produced and bought the rights to that. I'm a hustler, you know, when people were asleep at midnight. I'm getting a contract signed by some investigator or whatever. Wake Cole, I heard it and got that before anyone. So, I I was hustling. So, I said, I'm going to do these shows and you know, how would you like to produce them for me? Because I'm not a line producer. Don't want to be and you know, I'm a visionary and I I get deals and I like to make deals and so on. And I said, 'You know, maybe I'd even I don't know. Maybe I should hire Eric. I don't. He said, 'Are you kidding me? What do you mean by that? Why? Why you say that? I was in that meeting, Larry, when he had you fired. What do you want to hire him for? Right. So, I I said, "Really? What happened?" He told me the whole story I won't bore you with. And it was kind of like troubling to say the least, right? Abandonment, disloyalty, all the things that I get upset about.
And about five years went on and one day my brain clicked on. I said, "Wow, dude, are you gonna wallow in vengeance?" Does it make you happy? You want to have a drink tonight over it and get and then another drink and another drink and then pissed off and want to get mad at someone? No. So, I said, I'm I'm going to love on this guy. I'm going to love on him unconditionally. Don't fake it. Either you do it or you don't. And if you can't cross that line, don't go there because that's manipulative. So that's what I did. I just became his best friend. Said, "Hey buddy, how you doing? What can I do to help you?" And any stage that he wanted to upstage me, I helped him. He always gets all the girls. No problem. Get with Punch. You do the photo with Punch. He'll want to do I I just compromised. Submitted submission on every single level. and I got back all the rewards. Now we have a great re relationship and we have lots of fun.
I realized that my new lens when I look back is that he was a New Yorker from Harlem. Grew up in a tough, broken family, a victim of that. No trust, no loyalty, you know, all the things that screw up personalities. And why are you taking it personal? He was fighting for his life to be the star of the series and in a way you were in his way. He didn't need any parasitic drag. He needed to move forward. So I actually enjoy now I watch him as a spectator. And uh yeah, you know, like all of us, I see good and bad in Eric Estrada, but but a lot of entertainment. He's an entertainment that loves to be an entertainer. So So be it. God bless him.