I just sat through the entirety of CONVOY (1978), because I knew it was Spec's last film appearance. He plays "18 Wheel Eddie", and if you sneeze you'll miss him. Now I have brain damage.
Others share my interest. Some chap on YouTube has uncovered a Spec appearance in a 1961 ANDY GRIFFITH show, which is not listed amongst Spec's credits on IMDB:
Now I look for Spec everywhere — LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, SPARTACUS, you name it.
Is this... normal?
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:11 am
by Changsham
I think you will be OK if you resist the temptation to join the dots on his face.
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:17 am
by daveboz
Changsham wrote:I think you will be OK if you resist the temptation to join the dots on his face.
-----------------------
Now I can think of nothing else BUT!
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:20 am
by Richard M Roberts
daveboz wrote:I just sat through the entirety of CONVOY (1978), because I knew it was Spec's last film appearance. He plays "18 Wheel Eddie", and if you sneeze you'll miss him. Now I have brain damage.
Others share my interest. Some chap on YouTube has uncovered a Spec appearance in a 1961 ANDY GRIFFITH show, which is not listed amongst Spec's credits on IMDB:
Now I look for Spec everywhere — LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, SPARTACUS, you name it.
Is this... normal?
Spec's got more than a sneeze worth's in CONVOY, he's got a whole line!
And that's far drom Spec's last appearance on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, he's a semi-regular that whole first season as one of the Mayberry townfolk and appears in a half-dozen episodes or so. Then he turns up in bits in a lot of TV. We've seen him on PERRY MASON, RIVERBOAT, BURKES LAW, and others. He tend to be a pretty busy bit player in Hollywood films from the 30's to the 50's as well.
RICHARD M ROBERTS
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:40 am
by Changsham
I remember him well from Mary Pickford's LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY. He went back a long way.
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:51 am
by daveboz
Richard M Roberts wrote:
daveboz wrote:I just sat through the entirety of CONVOY (1978), because I knew it was Spec's last film appearance. He plays "18 Wheel Eddie", and if you sneeze you'll miss him. Now I have brain damage.
Others share my interest. Some chap on YouTube has uncovered a Spec appearance in a 1961 ANDY GRIFFITH show, which is not listed amongst Spec's credits on IMDB:
Now I look for Spec everywhere — LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, SPARTACUS, you name it.
Is this... normal?
Spec's got more than a sneeze worth's in CONVOY, he's got a whole line!
And that's far drom Spec's last appearance on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, he's a semi-regular that whole first season as one of the Mayberry townfolk and appears in a half-dozen episodes or so. Then he turns up in bits in a lot of TV. We've seen him on PERRY MASON, RIVERBOAT, BURKES LAW, and others. He tend to be a pretty busy bit player in Hollywood films from the 30's to the 50's as well.
RICHARD M ROBERTS
=====================
Thank you for the info, sir. It's good to know that there are many more Spec appearances awaiting discovery. Probably in fifty years we'll all be chatting about THE FILMS OF SPEC O'DONNELL, Volume XXVIII.
Often I'll watch a film if there are one or two good supporting actors in the cast, like Allen Jenkins, or Charles Butterworth (well, I LIKE him, even if no one else does!), or Ernest Thesiger, or Hugh Herbert, or Monroe Owsley, or... you get my drift.
Spec O'Donnell: “Cloned Lens Op”
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:02 am
by JFK
daveboz wrote:Now I look for Spec everywhere — LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, SPARTACUS, you name it. Is this... normal?
Spec O’Donnell, back in 1975, was cloned by Jack Valenti, and his genetic doubles were filmed and inserted into a wide swath of vintage films and, some suspect, Canadian doggie treat commercials.
This Classified project was Code-named “Cloned Lens Op” (an anagram for “Spec O’Donnell” - but short for “Cloned Film Lens Operation”) . Funding was never provided to have the Spec film clones digitally removed. So, if you think you've seen him wandering the streets of Mayberry, Ancient Rome, or Nitrateville, it was likely a clone or Mickey Daniels.
Re: Spec O'Donnell: “Cloned Lens Op”
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:08 am
by daveboz
JFK wrote:
daveboz wrote:Now I look for Spec everywhere — LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, SPARTACUS, you name it. Is this... normal?
Spec O’Donnell, back in 1975,
was cloned, and his genetic doubles were filmed
and inserted into a wide swath of vintage films, and even,
it is rumored, into Canadian doggie treat commercials.
The idea was to sap enemy morale
in the lead-up to our invasion of Grenada.
This secret cloning was carried out via a
Classified project Code-named “Cloned Lens Op”
(an anagram for “Spec O’Donnel” -
but short for “Cloned Film Lens Operation”) .
Funding was never provided to have the Spec clones
digitally removed from the films into which they’d been dropped.
So, if you think you've seen him in Mayberry, Ancient Rome,
at your local gas station, or wandering the streets of Nitrateville,
you are not quite crazy.
=========================
Well, that answers a lot of questions, including a few I didn't think to ask.
Would you happen to know if Soylent Green is actually Spec?
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:17 am
by Richard M Roberts
Thank you for the info, sir. It's good to know that there are many more Spec appearances awaiting discovery. Probably in fifty years we'll all be chatting about THE FILMS OF SPEC O'DONNELL, Volume XXVIII.
Often I'll watch a film if there are one or two good supporting actors in the cast, like Allen Jenkins, or Charles Butterworth (well, I LIKE him, even if no one else does!), or Ernest Thesiger, or Hugh Herbert, or Monroe Owsley, or... you get my drift.
Once you get to a certain number of films under your belt, you can pretty much watch anything and see old friends. You know it's bad when you're not watching for Guy Kibbee, but MIlton Kibbee, not Hattie McDaniels, but Sam or Etta McDaniels. The great thing about the Golden Era is mostly everyone and sometimes their Brother worked for decades, if not starring, then support, if not support, then bits or extras. Once you know the faces, you see them in everything.
RICHARD M ROBERTS (who had to run MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE for Linda this week so she could take a look at Malcolm Denny, Reginald Denny's Brother)
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:05 am
by daveboz
Richard M Roberts wrote:
[snip]
RICHARD M ROBERTS (who had to run MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE for Linda this week so she could take a look at Malcolm Denny, Reginald Denny's Brother)
-------------
You are truly blessed. Or maybe it is Linda, depending on her reaction to Malcolm Denny.
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:25 am
by Jim Roots
I was watching Old Ironsides, and damned if there wasn't a kid in it who looked exactly like Spec. He was too young to be Spec himself, but maybe he was a younger brother? Or one of the clones?
Jim
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:10 am
by BenModel
I played for OLD IRONSIDES a couple years ago and was pretty close to the screen…that's Spec. He's also got a tiny walk-by in BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK.
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 6:52 am
by Ray Faiola
Spec is in the first cafe scene of FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN. I've always wondered what he would have done if he ran into Larry Talbot after the moon rose. Shoved an ice cream cone in his face??
Re: Spec O'Donnell: Do I need professional help?
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:44 am
by Jim Roots
BenModel wrote:I played for OLD IRONSIDES a couple years ago and was pretty close to the screen…that's Spec. He's also got a tiny walk-by in BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK.
Well, I'll be damned! He sure did a lot of growing in the one year between Old Ironsides (1926) and all the Max Davidson films he made in 1927. He looks 11 or 12 years old in 1926, and 17 years old in 1927, and it ain't all done with clothes and makeup!
