A Golden Voice

A lot of an actor’s appeal comes from not only what you see, but by what you hear.  I’ve always thought Simon had a marvelous voice, and his voice has always been an integral part to his characters.  There are some roles where his voice is everything; the Empyrian from The Outer Limits episode “Second Chance” comes to mind.  As many have described, if you were going by appearances alone, you would never recognize that the Empyrian is, in fact, the same man who would go on to play Tony Vincenzo.  But all you need to do is merely listen, and it soon becomes clear.

Simon’s natural Brooklyn accent has always been very appealing to me; it’s part of what gives Tony Vincenzo his tough exterior, and, at the same time, also lets slip Tony’s softer side, given the right opportunity.  Initially, I was surprised to find out that Simon’s Brooklyn accent was, in fact, his natural one; the first time I saw him was in “The Day Smart Turned Chicken” in Get Smart, where his character as the Cowboy had no accent at all.  That is the hallmark of a good actor, of course: to be able to work his voice in such a way that the viewer believes it.

Brooklyn is not the only accent that I’ve heard Simon speak in, of course; he was able to work his voice to a number of accents that were believable each and every time—from Stawski’s Jersey accent in The Sand Pebbles to Colonel Vasily’s Russian accent and Alonzo Galezio’s Italian accent in Wagon Train.  The accents don’t seem forced at all; they sound natural, as though he had been speaking that way for years.  The accent also helps to make the character more endearing; how can anyone not like Alonzo, with his almost boyish enthusiasm and joie de vivre that are so plainly evident in his words alone?

All accents aside, there is the sheer quality of Simon’s voice itself: a strong, golden baritone that exudes an aura of both charm and even reassurance.  Yes, reassurance; most of Simon’s characters—the good guys, at least—are the ones you’d want to hide behind if there was something scary out there.  I, for one, would have no hesitation in asking Lt. Schrank to be a police escort if I was traversing Manhattan at night.  If monsters were crawling around Chicago, I’d sooner stay in the INS building knowing that Tony Vincenzo was holding the fort.  Simon’s paternal characters, like Daniel Gorman from Tucker’s Witch and General Moore from Black Sheep Squadron, pretty much live and breathe this aura of security when they speak.

And even some of the villain characters haven’t lost everything in the reassurance department; why else would so many people trust someone like William Poole?  It’s because Poole talks with a comforting, sympathetic vibe, cheerfully singing and whistling his signature song, that people are automatically put at ease by his words.  As much as I’d hate to admit it, I probably would’ve believed that he was a harmless traveling man like the rest of Virginia City did.

Of course, Simon also used his voice to showcase how disturbing the villain characters could get, as well.  Once Poole’s charade is unmasked, his voice turns to a low, almost pseudo-growl before he strikes—and then, later, an all-out roar as he yells at Little Joe.  And then there’s Joshua Broom, from the Cimarron Strip episode “The Beast Who Walks Like a Man.”  Joshua Broom is a role unlike any other that Simon has played, and it’s his voice (low and gravelly, and he does indeed really growl and roar this time) as much as his appearance (a bizarre combination of Hagrid and Wolverine) that seals the character and makes him utterly unforgettable.

Perhaps another testament to Simon’s wonderful voice is that he has done his share of voiceovers, able to have a presence without actually being seen.  No matter what the role or what the accent, it’s always a joy to hear his wonderful golden voice.  And it seems so fitting to remember the voice and the man today, on what would’ve been his 96th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Simon.  You are greatly missed.

~Crystal Rose

The Comedic Side of Simon Oakland--Understated Humor at its Best

For my first official musing, I decided to muse about the comedic roles that Simon played (which, incidentally, happens to include my first encounter with him), and why I find them so appealing.

There are different kinds of humor in the world, but, by far, the most challenging kind of humor to present is the understated humor—making people laugh without actually acting crazy or resorting to random slapstick or jokes.  It takes talent; not everyone can pull off understated humor, but those who can do so with the ability to have you in stitches.  And Simon Oakland could.

Simon did this by always playing the straight man to whoever was sharing the scene with him.  Get Smart is a perfect example.  Simon’s cowboy character is best described as a “dying informant” (one of many “dying informants” in the series, I might add) when he desperately tries to communicate to Maxwell Smart about a KAOS plot.  In a comedic series, there generally is an opportunity for “dying informants” to ham it up with their waning breaths (and I’ve seen several that have—both in Get Smart and in another show where the situation was played for laughs), and while that can be amusing, Simon went with a different approach—he played his part of a “dying informant” as straight as possible.  And it worked.  He had a wonderful foil in Don Adams, who bounced off all of Simon’s seriously-delivered lines in a back-and-forth actors’ tennis match that was a joy and an amusement to watch.  Simon proved that a “dying informant” does not have to be melodramatic to get laughs.  And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was this skill in understated humor that made me adore this episode for the longest time.

In pretty much all of the comedic roles I’ve seen him play, Simon plays them as straight as possible while still making them funny.  Two examples that come to mind are as Lieutenant Murphy in the pilot episode of My Favorite Martian and Mr. Cordner in the Car 54, Where are You? episode “Hail to the Chief.”  Once against playing opposite wonderful foils that complimented him, Simon made the roles of these exasperated authority figures believable and hilarious—you can see them try to maintain some level of sanity when all seems to be going crazy around them.  And it’s hilarious.

One of my favorite comedic roles that Simon has played is the crafty casino owner Nick from Follow that Dream.  Simon’s foil here was none other than the King of Rock & Roll himself—the interaction between Simon’s serious, calculating character and Elvis’ laid-back, naïve character is done marvelously. Elvis’ character, Toby, is also humorous without even trying too hard.  It’s not even a battle of wits—Nick tries a variety of schemes to get Toby out of his hair, and Toby’s naïve innocence baffles and frustrates Nick to no end.  It culminates into a magnificently hilarious scene where both actors keep the straightest of faces—though the audience will find it impossible to keep one themselves.

But, by far, the best foil that Simon Oakland had was Darren McGavin, for both drama and comedy.  True, Kolchak is not a comedic series per se, but the most humorous parts of any episode (and the pre-series movies—particularly the sequel) was the banter between Tony Vincenzo and Carl Kolchak.  The ending of The Night Strangler proves this perfectly—you have Carl in his car, monologing into his tape recorder, and you assume he’s alone… but then you suddenly hear Tony grousing in the background—cue the camera pulling back to reveal Tony there, on what is promising to be a very long road trip indeed, without ever overstating the comedic angle—it’s just so believable and amusing.  The series proper has many examples, as well—the looks of annoyance on their faces as one of their many arguments gets interrupted by the roar of a passing train, another argument in the middle of a ransacked office, a series of long-distance arguments over the telephone, and Carl coming to the rescue after Tony’s latest attempt at yoga ended with him getting stuck in the Lotus Pose, to name but a few.  And, in all cases, the humor is never overstated—even something like the aforementioned Lotus Pose fiasco could’ve easily been hammed up for all it was worth, but that’s not what Simon and Darren did.  And how they kept it to be so understated, yet still hilarious, takes talent.  Of course, the chemistry between Simon and Darren had a lot to do with how this understated humor worked so well, but that is a musing for another time.

But, when all is said and done, it becomes clear that Simon’s skill at being able to make people laugh with understated humor is a very special gift.  Understated humor is the most realistic, in my opinion—we don’t go through life laughing at people hamming it up or constantly tripping over things; we go through life laughing mostly at the little things, the understated things.  Perhaps this is one of the main reasons Simon appealed to me so much as an actor—his comedic roles are a window to what is amusing in life.

 ~Crystal Rose