Lebanese families. We had last names like Skaff,
him. But before I go into detail on that you asked how
Haddad, Shibley, Farah, Abdo, Jamra, Sahadi, Saba,
did I become an actor...
Zouharry, and many more. You may have some of
As I mentioned I attended the Pasadena
those names in your great country of Australia.
Playhouse of Theatre Arts in 1952 and did numerous
Might even be related.
stage plays while there. I did not have enough money
We knew every family individual by name
to continue my schooling but I was offered a small role
and how many were in the family. Sometimes we
in one of the plays we had done on the Main Stage,
dated but it always felt if you took out one of the
which was to open in Hollywood for a nice run. The
girls your age it was like dating your sister. Many
show was the Navy comedy “Mr. Roberts”. I got my
times the grandparents lived in the same house and
first Union Card, my Actors’ Equity Card, while doing
often in the mornings before going to school the
the show and it ran for an entire year. My pay was fifty
grandmother would be in the kitchen baking bread.
dollars a week. After that I did other shows and finally
Nothing tasted better than some of that hot fresh
Arabic bread with a spread of labne on it. If
someone was out of work the other families would
take food over so they would not go hungry. It was
a very close group of caring people.
Danny Thomas, who was also of Lebanese
descent, and from your neighbourhood in
Toledo, was a well-known performer in the
entertainment world at that time. Was he one of
your mentors?
Actually that is false. Danny Thomas never
Jamie as Santini in Blackboard Jungle
encouraged me to go into show business nor was he
ever real friendly to me at the beginning of my
got a role back at the Pasadena Playhouse Main Stage.
career. I, of course, was a great admirer of his since
The show was a comedy called “Bernadine”. A talent
he was Lebanese and came from the same
scout from MGM saw me in the show and asked me to
neighbourhood. I never missed any of his radio,
screen test for the role of a teenager in a new movie
television nor movie performances. He was a
about to be produced, entitled Blackboard Jungle. I
remarkable performer. It was the great comedian
took the screen test and won the part of Santini. That
Red Skelton who was my mentor. I did his live TV
was my first film role.
broadcasts at CBS carrying half of the show with