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Back to One

A podcast about acting -- just the work. by Peter Rinaldi

“The Fear Was Real”: John Christopher Jones on Returning to Set with Advanced Parkinson’s (Back to One, Episode 219)

A middle-aged white man with dark wavy hair

Esteemed veteran actor John Christopher Jones returns to the podcast (his first time was episode 13) to talk about conquering the “real fear” he had of going back to work, in a guest starring role on the television series New Amsterdam, while dealing with the unpredictable and often debilitating effects of worsening Parkinson’s. Then he takes us on a brief tour of the various directors that worked well for him over the years, and others that, sometimes hilariously, fell a little short, like José Quintero and his maddening direction in the 1985 production of The Iceman Cometh with Jason Robards. He shares frustrating stories of being the understudy who’s thrown into Mike Nichols’ 1984 production of Hurlyburly, and having to survive the antics and proclivities of Ron Silver and others. He tells us about the least successful role he ever performed, the most successful, and how looking back on all of it makes him realize how lucky he is. Plus much more!

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