Today I visited with two partners at Food Chain Films, David Cress and Vance Malone, as part of a story I'm working on. Food Chain creates a lot of TV commercials for ad agency clients and so on. Somehow we got talking about a commercial they produced for the Oregon Lottery a year or two ago that starred Mr. T, of The A-Team fame.
Apparently T is very deliberate about whom he engages and whom he doesn't. While eating dinner with the producers at a high-end Portland restaurant, for example, he turned down opportunities to meet the owner and head chef. But Mr. T went out of his way to say hello to the dish washer. Same thing at his hotel. No manager on his list, but a friendly greeting for all the maids and desk clerks.
Granted Mr. T is not at the level of celebrity he once was, but more than most B-list actors, he is still instantly recognizable to everyone. Something about the mohawk and the massive gold chains, I guess. I just love the fact not only that he's stayed true to what clearly are his modest roots (he ordered a well-done steak at that restaurant--'nuff said), but that he's clearly put some thought into it all. You have to go out of your way to handle your public self like T does.
And yes, I'll say it: I pity the fool who does it any other way.
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