I love the TV series That 70’s Show, and really enjoy the performance of Kurtwood Smith as the eternally-angry and insulting father Red Foreman – but it was one year prior to the show’s debut that I sent an autograph request to Kurtwood Smith on October 14, 1997. My primary reason for writing him was because of his appearance of the quirky psycho killer Barry Jenkins in my all-time favorite episode of my all-time favorite drama Picket Fences – perhaps the most appropriately cast role in the history of television. That guy really scared me.
In truth, despite Mr. Smith’s 100-plus appearance in film and TV, the only other film appearance of his that I had seen up until That 70’s Show began was when he portrayed another psychotic killer in Robocop (although he did star in one episode of Newhart). It took me a while to adjust to his role as a crotchety domestic sitcom father, before I realized that he wasn’t actually going to slash up his family!
I”m not sure how long it actually took to get the signed photo (along with two signed notecards) back but I know it was a long time – well over a year. In fact, I never indicated any response at all on the list I was keeping. The photo that he supplied was in fact from one of the two appearance I was familiar with, that of Clarence Boddicker in Robocop.
Autographs of 1997 will continue…
Our computer had been down for 8 days, so I’m catching up. When I was reading this entry it just so happened that the TV was on “That 70 Show”.
Bev
October 25th, 2008