Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Ill Street Blues by Joe Martin Ill Street Blues by Joe Martin. Charlie Daniels can be found here www.chat2charlie.co.uk. Michael Conrad played the unforgettable desk sergeant Phil Esterhaus. As the adorable sergeant, he brought a sensitive, calming influence amongst all the haste, chaos and drama and was known for his subtle turn of phrase. During the fourth series in 1983, Conrad became seriously ill but he didn';t let urethral cancer stop him going to work. He wanted to be surrounded by his "on set family" and he passed away during the shooting of the police drama. Charles Haid (Andy "Cowboy" Renko) said "he died in the saddle" Esterhaus was written out of the show in a moving episode called Grace Under Pressure in which he dies making love to Grace Gardner. When the sergeant';s cause of death is announced, Andy Renko can be heard saying - "Damn that was a good way to check out" His successor Robert Prosky (Stan Jablonski) hard had shoes to fill so thankfully was written as an entirely different character and changed the famous roll call end phrase from "Let's be careful out there!" to "Let's do it to them before they do it to us." Born October 16th 1925, New York City Passed away: November 22, 1983, Los Angeles, California aged 58 Won two Best Supporting Actor Emmy Awards, 1981 and 1982. René Enríquez was a Nicaraguan-born actor and according to IMDB the nephew of General Emiliano Chamorro, one-time president of Nicaragua.Enríquez played the Hill';s Latino captain Lt. Ray Calletano. A character often caught between the open racial ignorance of Lt. Howard Hunter and his inability to rise in the department. Enríquez died of pancreatic cancer, the same year as Kiel Martin also passed away. Born Nov 24th 1933 Granada, Nicaragua Passed away March 23rd 1990, Tarzana, California, aged 56. Kiel Martin was best known for his role as lovable-loser, rogue Detective John La Rue. Known as JD on the Hill, his trademark Italian shoes were as cheap as his chat up lines and his Rolex as fake as his integrity. JD showed the darker and more complex effects of being a cop. JD was a real sleaze too, if it moved he tried to "nail it" and one particular encounter with the glamorous Joyce Davenport is one rebuttal not to be missed. Real life mirrored his on screen battles - chain smoking, heavy drinking and twice divorced – he wasn';t so much acting as revealing his own soul. Martin';s first wife was the daughter of actor/crooner Dean Martin. It was eventually a bitter battle with lung cancer which finally took his life. Martin was once in contention for the lead role in the Oscar winning film Midnight Cowboy. He also acted alongside Robert Mitchum in the movie Moonrunners, which inspired the TV series Dukes of Hazzard. Like many others in the series, he also starred in iconic TV favourites - Perry Mason and Ironside. Born Kiel Urban Mueller, July 26th Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Passed away December 28th, 1990 Rancho Mirage, California, aged 46 years. Trinidad Silva (JR) played the Diablo';s gang leader Jesus Martinez. Known for his catchphrase "hey Frankie!" Jesus was a clued up character (*spoiler alert*) who later in the series transformed, when he switched sides to work for the justice department. In 1988 he and his family were involved in a serious car accident. Silva was killed at just aged 38 years old. Silva';s wife and son escaped with only minor injuries. The driver of the other vehicle pleaded guilty to drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter. The film he was making at the time, UHF was later dedicated to his name. Michael Warren who played Bobby Hill believed Silva died on the verge of becoming a huge star. Born January 30th 1950, Mission, Texas Passed away 31st July 1988, Whittier, California (aged 38) Ill Street Blues by Joe Martin. This is a section for those 'fleeting recollections' and other thoughts about HSB by those that were part of it, if you wish to add something here please email us) About Trinidad Silva : Just wanted to add an addendum regarding Trinidad Silva. Prior to his accident Trini had just completed working on a television pilot (Home Free) that I helped create and produce in 1988 for NBC. He was magnificent in it, as you probably can imagine because he was such a fine actor. His wife and his son survived the automobile accident. Trini, I believe was on the verge of becoming a big star. Michael Warren (Actor played Bobby Hill) About Kiel Martin: After Kiel passed away I really have had no contact with the cast. I did meet several of them at Bruce's golf tournaments and had really nice conversations with them. I talked with Ed Marinaro a few times because he liked skiing in Vail and I was paired up with one of his buddies two years in a row in the golf tournament. His name was Joe Stone and was stunt co-ordinator for a TV show called Falcon Crest. I spoke a few times with Barbra Bosson. She told me she lived in Miami for a while when she found out Kiel and I were buddies there. She told me she was a bunny at the Playboy club for a time. I know her husband Steve was instrumental in saving Kiel's job and getting him into Betty Ford for rehab. They had already brought in Ken Olin to replace Kiel and be partners with "Washington". Kiel made it back, super clean I might ad, and Ken Olin's character was subsequently killed off for Kiel's return. I did see something on Kiel's bio that said there were no funeral services. In fact what happened was in Kiel's will he set aside some money for a party in some park in Palm Springs for close friends. He then was cremated and his ashes were flown over the gathering and spread from the sky. His mother Eileen called me in Miami to see if I was coming to Palm Springs for the celebration and I told her it was too tough for me. Her response was "If you're not going neither am I." Guess I'm not the Hollywood type. Kiel and his mother and father were very close friends of mine. I worked in downtown Miami for 25 years and Kiel's dad Karl was a court recorder and would stop by once in a while and keep me posted on Kiel's career. I wish all the group could have visited the set in Studio City. It was something special. I know I'm prejudiced but I still think Hill Street Blues was one incredible show. It was still very popular when it was canceled but Kiel told me the huge success brought big increases in pay to the actors and the producers decided to do another show, NYPD Blue. Ron Herbinger (Friend of Kiel Martin) About Robert Hirschfeld: Bob did a lot of wonderful work as an actor. His best was probably before Hill Street--on the stage at Berekely Rep and Magic Theater in the Bay Area. He moved to NY from LA to be with me, and acting was only occasional, so Bob started a whole new career as a writer, writing about 30 books for kids and young adults--mystery and science fiction, mainly! He was, indeed, an amazing guy. Here's a recent brief quote from a friend that says a lot about him: "Amazing guy, always the smartest in the room, heart of gold." Nancy White (Wife of Robert Hirschfeld) About Mick Belker : I had known Steven (Bochco) since we were at Carnegie Tech together and when he got the commission for Hill Street he said he could get me a part in it. That part was John LaRue, but when I read the script I could see the potential for Belker. What interested me about him was his vulnerability,or at least the potential for vulnerability. Although he was this super tough guy on the outside I visualized him as lonely and hurt on the inside and fortunately for us, the writer had the same idea. So I got Belker and left the door open for Keil to LaRue. People often ask if we knew how good it was at the time, well although others have said not I know some of us did. You could not read that script with so much going on and not know this was something unique.There was a feeling of responsibility many of us felt towards Steven (Bochco) and Michael Kozoll. to do the best we could for them and the script. Bruce Weitz (Actor) About The Theme Music : When I was asked to come up with the music for the series I went to the Studio and watched the first episode. Within seconds I knew this was something special and that ending with Renko and Hill going down in slow motion was just incredible! Afterwards I went to a meeting with Bochco and some of the executives, I had an idea in my head for something dramatic sort of down and dirty, but then Hoblit said he wanted something to go with an idea he had in his head, for a opening garage on to a desolate inner city street, with a police car speeding out of it! Then Bochco asked me what I thought and I suggested doing something opposite to that, light but conveying the non stop excitement that would shortly follow. I went home (which was nearby) and within half hour I had written it. I called Bochco and he and Hoblit come over to hear it and instantly we all knew we had found what we wanted, something that would exactly go with the film. I real don't know where the music came from, but I am grateful I get the chance to create wonderful art, that can be laid on someone else's art. Mike Post (Composer) About The Cast: : I worked as a lighting technician at CBS Studio City during the filming of most of the episodes of Hill Street Blues. In all my years in the industry I cannot remember a better cast to work with. Unusually there were no egos and attempts to steal another actors scene. I can even remember cast members giving a round of applause after a difficult portrayal was pulled off by one of the number and on the odd occasion been moved to tears by story line, particularly the scene where Veronica Hamel takes Barbara Bosson in her arms (filmed incidentally in one moving take). There was also much comedy and some of the cast and especially one of the writers (no I am not saying which), loved to play practical jokes on each other. Sometimes causing delay or retakes in production, much to the annoyance of the on set accountant. I think most people can see this comradery in the finished program and remember that despite all this most, episodes were filmed in less than a week I know one thing for sure, I will never work with a crew like that again. Joe Califano (Film Technician) An interview with Joe Spano (Lieutenant Henry Goldblume) Interview, kindly given on the 25th September 2013 at the Corner Bakery, Calabasas Commons. Kiel Martin, an Actor, Dies at 46; Played a Detective on 'Hill Street' Kiel Martin, who played the wheeler-dealer detective J. D. LaRue on the television series "Hill Street Blues," died here on Friday. He was 46 years old. Mr. Martin died of cardiovascular collapse caused by lung cancer, said Michael Werk, a Riverside County deputy coroner. Mr. Martin, who worked at different times as a musician, stand-up comedian and soap-opera actor, was best known for his portrayal of LaRue, who tried to interest his fellow officers in get-rich-quick schemes that invariably failed. He said the character grew out of conversations he had with many real-life police officers. Mr. Martin's acting career began when his father urged him to try out for a bit part in a high school production of "Finian's Rainbow." That led to repertory theater work in Florida, where he grew up. He was a regular on the daytime drama "The Edge of Night" before joining "Hill Street Blues." After "Hill Street" left the air in 1987, he appeared briefly as a dead man given a new shot at life in "Second Chance," a short-lived Fox television series. His film credits included "The Panic in Needle Park" in 1971 and "The Lolly-Madonna War" in 1973. CAREERS SHOT AFTER `HILL STREET BLUES`? When Sgt. Phil Esterhaus would advise his fellow police officers to ''be careful out there,'' he was warning them about the dangers of the fictional city in which ''Hill Street Blues'' was set. But the late Michael Conrad, the actor who played Esterhaus, might well have been warning his colleagues of the career perils after a successful prime-time series ends. On May 12, 1987, ''Hill Street Blues'' concluded a seven-year run with an episode called ''It Ain`t Over Till It`s Over.'' A year later, some of the actors in the NBC series are wondering whether their careers are over. Only one of the regulars-Barbara Bosson, who played Capt. Frank Furillo`s high-strung ex-wife, Faye-has turned up as a regular on another TV series, ABC`s ''Hooperman,'' which happens to have been created by her husband, Stephen Bochco, one of the cocreators of ''Hill Street Blues.'' Several other cast members have had movie or stage roles, but none has managed to duplicate the celebrity or the success of ''Hill Street Blues.'' Of course, for some actors who had already established reputations, ''Hill Street Blues'' was a good, steady job. ''I prefer working on the stage,'' said Robert Prosky, who played Sgt. Stan Jablonski in ''Hill Street Blues'' and who will be seen on television again Sunday night during the Tony awards, as a nominee for ''best actor in a play'' for his performance in Lee Blessing`s political drama ''A Walk in the Woods.'' ''But I do not prefer the money and recognition of the stage. You get to be very rich if your TV show is a hit.'' (In addition to salaries paid during shooting, actors receive additional payments, known as residuals, when a show is syndicated.) But the fact that ''Hill Street Blues'' was so successful may have hurt rather than helped the careers of some of its lesser-known cast members. Ironically, the more carefully they honed their performances over the years, the more they became identified with their respective characters. ''If an actor creates a character with a lot of baggage-like Henry Winkler did with the Fonz on `Happy Days`-he can hurt his career no matter how good an actor he is,'' said Lynn Kressel, a casting director who works on. ''Kate & Allie'' and for Universal Television. And thanks to syndication (''Hill Street Blues'' has been sold to 50 stations across the country, including WGN-Ch. 9 in Chicago, which will air the drama in prime time Monday through Friday beginning in the fall), those characterizations are never far from the audience`s mind. As surely as large numbers of viewers had trouble seeing Jackie Gleason, say, as anyone other than Ralph Kramden, so, too, may they forever link Ed Marinaro with macho-but- sweet officer Joe Coffey. ''The great thing about `Hill Street Blues` was that no one character was more important than any other,'' said James B. Sikking, who played the by-the- book Lt. Howard Hunter. Yet being part of an ensemble may also have its drawbacks. In an ensemble, no one actor is on-screen for long, and while this may protect less- experienced actors, it does not prepare them for the more conventional world of television, in which two or three actors are expected to carry a show. ''The people who weren`t perceived as being such great actors may have more trouble,'' Kressel said. Some other ''Hill Street Blues'' alumni who have ventured out alone are working, though not in a weekly TV series. For instance, there`s Daniel Travanti (the level-headed and reserved Capt. Furillo) as the distraught son in the American Playhouse production of Robert Anderson`s autobiographical drama ''I Never Sang for My Father'' (at 9 p.m. on June 15 on WTTW-Ch. 11); Veronica Hamel (Furillo`s public-defender companion Joyce Davenport) as the love interest in Alan Alda`s latest feature film, ''A New Life,'' and Bruce Weitz (the gruff undercover specialist Mick Belker), who recently took over the role of Johnny, the romantic lead in the off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally`s ''Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.'' ''I haven`t felt confined by my role on `Hill Street` at all,'' said Sikking, who has just been cast as the lover in ''Leave Her to Heaven,'' an NBC movie remake of the 1945 Gene Tierney-Cornel Wilde romantic drama that will air next season. ''I have that professional, intelligent look in my eye that hires me as doctors, lawyers, professional people. I`ve never seen typecasting as a problem.'' Other ''Hill Street Blues'' graduates have, however. Marinaro, for example, left the series after the penultimate season because he wanted more professional freedom and greater acting challenges. ''The first four years were great,'' said the former Cornell University running back. ''But I think it`s unnatural to ask an actor to do a series for five years. You want to do a different character, stretch a little.'' In his two years off the ''Hill Street'' beat, Marinaro has played a few different kinds of roles: He was a doctor in the 1987 TV movie ''Sharing Richard'' and had a brief role as a mercenary in the CBS nighttime soap. ''Falcon Crest,'' but he still finds himself being offered-and accepting-parts as a police officer. His latest film role is as a plainclothes detective in ''Mace,'' which so far has been released only in Europe. ''I don`t mind playing a cop as long as I don`t have to wear a uniform,'' he said. ''Besides, there are so many movies about cops-everybody plays cops.'' ''I`m not playing any kings, that`s for sure,'' said Weitz, who portrayed Rick Whitehead, the garbage-collector husband of Mary Beth Whitehead, the surrogate mother in the recent ABC mini-series ''Baby M.'' ''If there`s a thread in my work, it`s that I always seem to play blue-collar characters.'' Other former cast members of ''Hill Street Blues'' are striving to avoid the typecast trap by rethinking their careers. Charles Haid (the Southerner Andy Renko) is trying his hand at producing. (''Flying Blind,'' a theatrical film for the Sundance Institute); Michael Warren (Renko`s partner, Bobby Hill) said that he also is looking for vehicles to produce and star in. Rene Enriquez (the ambitious Lt. Ray Calletano) has augmented his acting work in such one-shot productions as last November`s. ''Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel'' and has used some of his earnings from ''Hill Street Blues'' to found a production company that creates TV shows for the Spanish-language market. Betty Thomas (Joe Coffey`s partner Lucy Bates) said that she always wanted to direct television more than act in it but that cast members were. ''not allowed'' to direct episodes of ''Hill Street Blues.'' Thomas recently became the first woman at Chicago`s Second City to direct a mainstage show, ''Kuwait Until Dark or Bright Lights, Night Baseball.'' '' `Hill Street Blues` was the ultimate experience of my life up to that time,'' Thomas said. It also left her financially secure, she added. ''But even before the show closed, I was long ready to go into another mode. It was time to take risks, and now I could afford to.'' Still, sticking with the tried and true can be risky, too, as Dennis Franz discovered when he tried to reprise his role as the maverick officer Norman Buntz on the spinoff ''Beverly Hills Buntz.'' The short-lived show, which had the slightly sleazy Buntz working as a private investigator in the affluent California community, was produced by two of ''Hill Street`s'' producer-writers, Jeffrey Lewis and David Milch. ''I think we created the spinoff because the writers hadn`t had their fill of writing for Buntz yet,'' Franz said. Although the viewers and the critics had theirs after less than one season, Franz said he ''really gets a kick out of playing cops'' and would play another Buntzlike character if the premise were more promising. ''There was life before `Hill Street Blues,` '' said Sikking, who is waiting to hear if CBS will pick up his latest pilot, ''Mad Ave.,'' as a midseason replacement. ''I guess there will be life after it.'' Kiel Martin Dies; Was Detective on ‘Hill Street Blues’ Actor Kiel Martin, best known for his portrayal of seedy Detective Johnny (J.D.) LaRue on the long-running, Emmy-winning television series “Hill Street Blues,” has died at his Rancho Mirage home after a lengthy illness, it was learned Monday. The Riverside County coroner’s office said the 46-year-old actor died Friday after suffering a cardiovascular collapse because of lung cancer. Martin, who was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and grew up in Hialeah, Fla., studied drama in high school and at Trinity University in Texas and the University of Miami. He then moved to New York City, where he worked as a guitar player, stand-up comic and dockworker. After signing with Universal Studios, Martin appeared in several feature movies, including “The Panic in Needle Park” and “Moon Runners.” He also performed as a regular on television’s “The Edge of Night” and acted in numerous TV series and movies. Martin’s television credits include “The Virginian,” “Delvecchio,” “Harry O,” “The Bold Ones,” “Ironside,” “Kung Fu,” “The Blue Knight,” “Matt Houston,” “Perry Mason,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Father Dowling” and “L.A. Law.” He leaves his mother, Eileen A. Mueller of Miami, Fla., and daughter, Jesse Martin of Corvalis, Ore. At Martin’s request, there will be no funeral services.