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Swansong: The Michael Swan Interview
The Battlestar Galactica Fan club is honored to feature this interview with veteran actor Michael Swan, perhaps best known for his roles in daytime television but who also is a part of the Battlestar Galactica legend with his appearance in Galactica: 1980!
I always enjoy speaking to him & I'm sure that some of you folks who attended the Galacticruise back in '08 remember him visiting with us all at the pre-cruise dinner aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California...
On to the interview!
Shawn: Michael, what made you think of acting as a career?
I know your mother Alys was an actress but at the same time your family was very involved in the wine business...
Michael: Mom dropped me off at the Palo Alto children's theater when I was 9 years old.
I stayed with the PA children's theater until I was 14 & at some point in all those plays it just seemed that I was meant to be in the theater.
Shawn: Interestingly, you were a wine consultant in Westwood...what does being a wine consultant entail?
Michael: Because I had grown up partially in Sonoma County helping my Uncle Joe Swan in his vineyard & winery and later worked for Louis M. Martini, wine became a hobby and passion.
When I first came to L.A. to start a recurring role at MGM Steve Wallace hired me as his first wine consultant.
I was in charge of buying, displaying & recommending wine's to Wally's customers.
Shawn: Let's talk about the Illegitimate Theater...and improv company you worked with...and David Alexander, he was a mentor to you?
Michael: The Illegitimate theater was in the upstairs room at the Tangent in Palo Alto, founded by Philip Schultz & it was very much in the classic improv tradition and thriving at the same time as the Committee in San Francisco.
This was 1968 and Phil paid me ten bucks a show.
David was Elia Kazan's protege out of the remnant's of the group theater and taught a hybrid technique based on Kazan's group & Yiddish theater experiences.
David coached many well known actors, most notably Jack Lemmon, who consulted with David well into the late Seventies.
He provided me with indispensable rehearsal tools.
Shawn: At some point the floodgates opened and you went on to literally a hundred different shows...such as "Brock" with Jack Palance & "Medical Center" with Chad Everett...when did you realize that your star was rising?
Michael: I worked at MGM recurring in "Medical Center" & "Bronk" (with Jack Palance) and just considered myself very lucky to be a working actor.
That has never changed.
Word of mouth between casting directors brought me to different shows at all the studios & TV Production companies of the day.
Shawn: Among all that television you did this Sci-Fi thing...this show called "Battlestar Galactica"....actually "Galactica: 1980"...where you played a character called Collins...actually Deputy Collins in "The Super Scouts"...anything that leaps out about that role?
Of course, with all the roles that you've done I'm sure it can be a blur...
Michael: One of my acting coach clients at the the time was Robyn Douglas & I remember much more about helping her than I do about the role of Collins!
Shawn: Let's talk soaps...at least two BSG original cast members...Richard Hatch & Jack Stauffer got their starts working in daytime TV...you played Duncan McKechie on "As The World Turns" for what...nearly 10 years?
Michael: I played Duncan for 9 years & 8 months...but this was after 17 years in prime time
Shawn: Then a turn on "The Bold And The Beautiful"...what about that?
Michael: I met two of my favorite all time people, Darlene Conley & Bobbie Eakes.
Darlene is no longer with us but I see Bobbie and her husband David Steen several times a year.
Shawn: You also do a lot of commercial & voice over work too...how is that playing out for you?
Michael: Nice to be working!
Shawn: Current projects?...anything you have a particular yen to do? Be it theater, TV or film?
Michael: I currently announce "We're Alive!" which is a zombiepodcast & can be seen in the recently released "Piranhaconda" on SYFY & on Charlie Sheen's "Anger Management" episode 5.
Also in the soon to be released "I Love Your Moves" playing a famous Russian ballroom dancing champ.
Shawn: I'm gonna hit you with the question I always pose...this is the advice section...what would you tell someone trying to break into show business...what's your advice on making their way in?
Michael: To quote Stanisavsky, love the art in yourself...not yourself in the art...
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