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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