I don’t think that anybody would argue that despite Barry Bostick’s one-hundred or so roles in films and television, his most notorious appearance came early in his career when he portrayed Brad Majors – a hero – in the 1975 ultra-cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. His second most notable role was as Mayor Winston in the popular Michael J. Fox sitcom Spin City. Of course, I am not the average fan – so I naturally have chosen a completely obsure role to call my very favorite.
The role that he played that is most dear to my heart was in a long-forgotten television movie from 1979 called Murder By Natural Causes. He played the sinister role of Gil Weston, who was manipulated by his lover to assist with the murder her husband, a mentalist with a heart condition, by trying to scare him to death. His juicy portrayal of the killer helped to make this an exceptionally memorable film. My family videotaped it from network TV way back in 1979 and we watched it repeatedly – also showing it to visitors when they came over.
So this was why I was most anxious to meet Barry Bostwick. When I asked him about this film, he recalled it instantly – stating that it had been a great experience and then recalled how he had tried to give the poor old guy a heart attack, making him do push-ups and such. He asked me if he ‘got what he deserved’ in the end and I reminded him that the ending had been rather ambiguous.
I also shelled out $20 to get the photo below from The Rocky Horror Picture Show signed and another $10 to get a photo taken with him. I never like paying for that, but when the celebrity has an agent with them, you pretty much have to deal with them, so sweet-talking the celeb themselves rarely works. I don’t usually have photos personalized anymore, but since his most famous role was that of a Brad, I asked him to sign it To Brad From Brad. He took it one step further and added Dammit Brad. For those not in the know, this was a reference to the song Dammit Janet from the film.
Tim Curry meets Barry ‘Brad’ Bostwick and Susan ‘Janet’ Sarandon in Rocky Horror
Looming over me at 6’4″ – Mr. Bostwick nearly gave me a heart attack
This wouldn’t be the only star from one of my personal favorites Murder By Natural Causes who I would meet that week.
UPDATE: After talking to Barry Bostwick on this and at least one other occasion about his role in Murder by Natural Causes, I finally took it upon myself to purchase a photo of him from said film. It was a sharp 7 x 9 original still that came with the snipe describing the upcoming telefilm. I approached him at the HorrorHound event in Indianapolis on September 8, 2013, prefacing my request to have him sign it by asking if he’d be willing to write something kind of long.
He obliged, so I plunked down the $30 fee and had him write one of Mr. Weston’s quotes from the film. He started to sign it a second time after the quotation, and said “I almost signed it again. Give me something else to write.” So I had him add the title of the film.
I was going to see if he would do a photo op with Carolyn since I no longer needed one, but there was an additional $15 charge for that, so we passed. Geez! Later while he was lingering around the convention, she jokingly posed for a picture with his back. He did inform me that he does now have a copy of Murder by Natural Causes. Good for him…and about time!
The celebs of the 2008 Hollywood Collectors Show will continue…
Celebrity encounters from the 2013 Indianapolis HorrorHound will continue…
Im more famous that Barry Bostwick, and all I did was beat a computer at Parcheesi once.
J Heat
October 24th, 2008
For God’s sake, keep a grip on it Janet.
Say! Do any of you guys know how to Madison?
Chris
October 27th, 2008
dammit janet! barry bostwick is good but Tim curry and Susan Sarandon are more to my liking.[no offence]
georgia
April 1st, 2015