Exclusive and unusual interview with A MARTINEZ

- Cruz Castillo on SANTA BARBARA -

Today I’m presenting to you the interview that A Martinez has granted exclusively to "Santa Barbara Blog". His heritage is Native American, Spanish, and Mexican. Martinez was born Adolfo Larrue Martinez, III in Glendale, California. He  began his professional career at twelve years old as a singer earning him a talent competition title at the Hollywood Bowl. He graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, Los Angeles, CA. He was in a rock band in high school and was on the track team. He furthered his education and found his passion for acting at UCLA. He played on a semi-pro baseball team for five seasons. Then he has starred in feature films including The Cowboys, Powwow Highway, and What's Cooking?. He was introduced to daytime viewers in Santa Barbara as Cruz Castillo, a role he played from the show's debut in 1984 until 1992: he won a Daytime Emmy in 1990. From 1999–2002, Martinez appeared on General Hospital playing mobster and FBI informant Roy DiLucca. During his time with General Hospital, he was awarded three consecutive ALMA Awards (2000, 2001, 2002). From 2008-09 he starred on One Life to live as Ray Montez. In 2011, Martinez appeared on the CBS Daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful as Dr. Ramon Montgomery. The role was crafted as a recurring, 4-episode gig. Martinez has also worked on prime time television, including starring roles in series such as L.A. Law., Profiler, JAG, CSI and Criminal Minds. Currently you can see A Martinez on the A&E tv series LONGMIRE as Jacob Nighthorse.

 

 

Reading some of your interviews, I learned that you were initially skeptical to accept the role of Cruz Castillo. Not so much because the role, but because it was a soap opera. What did not convince you and then why you accepted the role?

I had seen some soap operas when I was younger that seemed to be very poorly written and directed.  Actors would be asked to maintain a “look” on their faces when the scene was over, so that the music could build beneath them and lead the audience VERY SLOWLY into the commercial advertisement to come.  No matter how realistic the scene might have been up to that moment, the “frozen face of sadness” would pull me out of the story and remind me that I was just watching a badly produced TV show.  But other possibilities were soon made clear: the casting director of Santa Barbara -- Reuben Cannon -- explained to my manager that Santa Barbara would be different.  And that for me, getting to play a character who would probably “show his heart” would move my career into a new and better dimension.  So I took the chance.  And Reuben was very obviously right.

Bridget and Jerome Dobson. Their fame is worldwide: they have contributed to the success of General Hospital, Guiding Light and As the World Turns, before creating, producing and writing SANTA BARBARA. Do you remember your first encounter with them? Can you make a human and professional portrait of them?

Bridget and Jerry were always very kind to me, as were their children, Mary and Andy, who worked on the show.  I believe they had lived in the city of Santa Barbara itself -- it's an hour's drive north of Los Angeles -- and were well aware of its beauty and charm as a location.  My first sense of them came from a distance -- before I had taken the job -- when Bridget in particular decided not to take my “No” for an answer.  She was determined, it seemed, that I should play Cruz, and for this, of course, I owe her a profound debt.

You played Cruz Castillo starting from episode number 12 of Santa Barbara. Which were the biggest challenges of being part of a newborn show?

The hardest thing was simply to finish an episode in a reasonable amount of time.  The company needs to complete five shows in five working days, but when every one of those days is beginning at 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning and finishing after midnight -- a crisis is assured.  I recall that producer Jeffrey Hayden stopped me in the hall a few weeks into production and said, “You have to stop losing weight.  All of you guys are getting too thin, and you're supposed to be looking strong.”  Some of us were sleeping in our dressing rooms over night, rather than taking the time to drive to our homes and back.  We were desperate for rest.  I remember that the first time we finished an episode before midnight -- it was a major cause for celebration.

Cruz was initially very close to Santana (Ava Lazar). Then suddenly, the writers decided to focus on the couple Cruz & Eden. I believe that the reasons for the success of this pair are essentially two: the extraordinary chemistry between the two actors and, as Bridget Dobson said recently to me, “The relationship between Cruz and Eden was more forbidden, and hence more interesting, than a romance between Warren Lockridge and Eden. Cruz and Eden had to overcome the differences in their backgrounds and their ethnicity. Warren and Eden, though not having the same backgrounds, were more alike. Forbidden is always thrilling. Think of a romance between a priest and a nun. A poor American soldier and a rich Iranian. The wife of the warden and his political prisoner. When the impossible happens, the juices start flowing”. In your opinion what were the reasons for the worldwide success of Cruz and Eden?

In your quotation of Bridget, we understand immediately why the Dobsons have enjoyed such great success, right? 

It might also be worth mentioning that the show was having a bit of difficulty finding and holding an audience at the beginning.  Had it been a runaway hit, it's quite possible that Marcy and I would never had drawn our star-crossed opportunity as lovers.  But at the end of the day, for me, two things stand out.  First, and most important, the Dobsons and all the other excellent talent in the ranks wrote absolutely wonderful story for Cruz and Eden.  Wonderful story that deepened over time and toward the peak years -- occasionally approached genuine transcendence.  Second, good fortune smiled on the two of us when we were paired,  in that we approach the work from a very similar point of view.  We each came to understand the other's needs and intentions without the need for too much explanation, which allowed us to work out the mechanics of the day without a lot of stress or wasted effort.  And left us free -- come showtime -- to just go out and dance.  I always felt that the power between us was so much greater than the some of its two parts.  And I knew, without doubt, that should either of us have an “off” day -- the next day would be rock solid.  That reflex resided at the center of each of us, and it was invaluable to our long term success.  It helped turn the whole experience into one of the great pleasures of our lives.  We came to treasure one another, and for wonderful reasons.

The SB writing team was excellent: along with the Dobsons, my favorites are Patrick Mulcahey, Lynda Myles, Frank Salisbury and Courtney Simon. Did you can discuss your character with the writers? Or was it forbidden?

The writers you mention here were among my favorites as well, Pier -- and indicative of the wealth of riches we enjoyed -- but I think that any discussion with the actor about character would be reserved for the head writer / producers who worked above us all.  I did get to know Patrick pretty well during the run, but rather than discuss Cruz with him, I was more likely to simply wait and see what he would teach me about Cruz with any given script.

At the end of 1987, the Dobsons were locked out from the Studios. I think they were robbed of their “baby”. Were you there that day? Can you tell us what happened?

I don't hold the details of this reckoning in my mind, and I don't recall if I was working on that day -- but the thing that sticks in my mind here is that the “bottom line” of the business generally trumps all loyalty and respect.  It was never comfortable for anyone to be at the helm of Santa Barbara, for a simple reason.  Though the show was made on the NBC studio lot, and aired across America on the NBC television network -- it was not owned by NBC.  Therefore the show's great success internationally was of no financial benefit whatever to NBC.  NBC could only celebrate Santa Barbara if the ratings in America were very high -- and they were not.  The same qualities that set the show apart -- its original, quirky sense of humor and its fast pacing -- were perceived to be weaknesses when measured against the appetites of some of the larger soap audiences in America.

What kind of changes it brought on the show?

I can't say with any confidence -- given that the Dobsons had designed and launched a great ship, as it were, and its course was not easily altered with any immediacy. For me, the years in the middle were the very best years, and I've always thought the key reason for this was the arrival (and eventual departure) of Justin Deas in the role of Keith Timmons.  Justin, it seems to me, was doing something significantly different from the rest of us.  I don't consider myself smart enough to describe it completely, if at all, but there was a level beyond our typical tasks, at which he was routinely operating. 

Sometimes I'd imagine him floating above the set, looking down on the scene like an amused, observing spirit deciding whether or not to depart from a desperate situation -- or swoop down and save it.  At other times, when Keith's rage would arise, or a whiff of tragedy would penetrate his defenses, Justin would shift down and tear at your mind with the depth of his heart.  He was brilliant with effortless regularity, gave me goosebumps on so many occasions, and infused Santa Barbara with an explosively unpredictable aspect that no other show enjoyed.  That was a visitation from the biggest of the “big leagues” right there, and personally, I've rarely enjoyed watching any actor as much as I enjoyed watching Justin during that run.

Jill Farren Phelps was the one who more than anyone else decided to invest more on the couple Eden / Cruz. Which are your memories of Ms. Phelps?

I learned more from Jill than from anyone involved with the show.  And when I say that, I am joining a long list of actors from all the shows she's been associated with who feel the same way about her.  To begin, she counseled Marcy and me to seize the opportunity we were offered when the writers first put Cruz and Eden together in a provocative situation.  It was a three day beat of story, the two of them locked in a room unexpectedly.  “No excuses,” was the core of her message.  No matter what might be problematic in the writing, no matter what might be problematic in the directing -- no excuses.  What doesn't work -- change.  What doesn't feel right -- eliminate.  She basically put it on us to take control of the situation, no matter how inconvenient this might be, or whose feelings might get bruised.  “Decide how to make these days great -- and do exactly that.”  So Marce and I got together and went to work on it with a vengeance.  Those three days earned us some real story, and in my mind, Jill's challenge was a huge reason for our success. The grand lesson from Jill Farren Phelps is that while talent and smarts and the right look and appropriate sensibility all matter -- what matters most is whether or not the actor can find the courage to step into the work without fear.  (Justin Deas comes into my mind at this moment.)

Eden and Cruz were WONDERFUL when they were in pairs, but also separate. When Robert Barr (Roscoe Born) tried to conquer Eden, you have given us your best dramatic performances, I believe. Did you like that storyline?

Yes.  Roscoe is a very strong man and a very strong actor, and he had a very strong connection with Marcy.  He got a lot of stuff out of me that I normally don't access, since it's not at the center of where I usually operate emotionally. 

It is such an imperative in this dramatic form that the lovers must face obstacles which never really cease.  And the honoring of that imperative can sometimes exhaust the people responsible for maintaining it, or allow them to create new impediments that sometimes don't really measure up in comparison to the power of what they must break down.  But Roscoe as Barr and Marcy as Eden were impossible to deny as a legitimate threat to the survival of Cruz and Eden's relationship.  I also thought that the writers were extremely smart to know that Cruz's pride would work against him in this crisis -- and they wrote that beautifully.  That colossal pride is something that Cruz and I share completely.  And life has shown that it can be profoundly destructive to a man's own best interests if he cannot come to understand it for what it really is, and gain control of it.

Which were your favorite storylines? And the worst?

Eden's desperate passage through the aftermath of her rape (for which Marcy won the Emmy) was the best of it for me, as a devoted fan of the show.  It's hard sometimes to hold it in your head -- just how great an actor Marcy Walker truly is -- but that storyline allowed her to demonstrate that greatness on a daily basis to millions, and for a long time.  For me, that was the show at its very best. The worst, of course, was having Eden come back in disguise and pretend to be someone else -- and Cruz falling for it.  I still harbor anger toward myself that I didn't walk away from doing that.  It was a disgrace.  And to have chosen to play it, my contract notwithstanding, was disgraceful behavior on my part.  One of the things I feel worst about in my life, actually.

Patrick Mulcahey said he left the show when John Conboy (the new executive producer) said that he planned to make Cruz a polo player. How Conboy influenced your character and the show?

What I recall most about John Conboy was that he brought a lot of his own guys in, and set them up in important positions on the canvas.  It was also a great personal challenge for many of the actors to deal with the departure at that time of Jill Farren Phelps, who was, as I've said, the most crucial mentor of my career, and the key person at the heart of the day-to-day making of the show. Regarding John, it's important to understand that each of us -- myself included -- is going to approach any new job opportunity with the tools that are already in our toolbox.  We may develop new ones once we start the new work -- but in the beginning we're going to apply whatever it is we already know how to do.  You look at John's previous work, and you see a clear line in terms of how he sought to mold Santa Barbara.  And to repeat -- the network was unhappy with the show's performance in America.  This is a very large part of all that ever happened to Santa Barbara, and that the show did so much so well despite its status as a suspect in its own house seems like a bit of a miracle to me. Any discussion of John Conboy's time would also be highly incomplete without mentioning that it was under his watch that Leonardo DiCaprio briefly graced our stage.

In 1991 Marcy Walker decided not to renew her contract and she left the show. The Eden’s multiple personalities’ storyline was much criticized. Fortunately the Dobsons returned to their show and they managed to limit the damage. Do you think that this was a worthy end for Eden?

No.

Then they tried to put Suzanne Collier (Terri Garber) alongside Cruz, but this couple did not work. In your opinion, why?

I'm not going to agree that the couple “did not work.”  There are many relationships in a life.  The fact that some of them are shorter and consigned by fate to follow in the shadow of something epic does not mean they have no value.  I learned more about myself as a man in the shortest love affair of my life than at any other time.  And I thoroughly enjoyed working with Terry.  To this day, I follow a simple piece of advice she gave me about the rehearsal process.  Which is that running the scene three times will tell you all you need to know about how prepared you are -- or aren't -- and will do so without killing the thing from too much repetition.

Is it true that in 1992 Marcy Walker wanted to come back to the show, but this did not happen because you had already decided to leave SB? News about are not clear. Can you help me figure out what happened?

I never heard about that, Pier.  It may be true, but as I was shooting my last episodes of Santa Barbara, I was also shooting my debuting episodes for LA Law, and pretty much out of my mind.

In 1992, shortly before leaving the show, you wrote a letter to your colleagues where you wrote: "Through all the yammering about the ratings and the future teetering, Santa Barbara shines like a light in the millions and millions of lives. All around this planet people are diverted, soothed and moved by our daily Efforts, Their Hearts and Their spirits brightened raised ". Dear A, I believe that this light is as inexhaustible as the sun, because it still warms the lives of many SB fans. Why this light has never faded?

It was a wonderful show, Pier.  So many things came together to make it special.  Lest we ever forget -- Lane Davies as the alpha son in the central family is kind of tough to beat as a point of departure. The Dobsons' sensibility is unlike any other that had previously undertaken the genre.  They assembled an extraordinary company of producers, directors, and actors with which to execute the vision, and benefitted profoundly, I think, from advances in digital technology that were just entering the marketplace as we began.  Unlike previous soaps, Santa Barbara could capture the intimacy of lovers' whispers and scenes lit by nothing more than candles.  Our directors understood how to take advantage of this -- and much more.  They were revolutionary as a group, really, doing many things with the camera and its relation to the story-telling that had never before been so regularly exercised.  The show just rocked, and, of course, it could be crazy funny, in ways you never saw coming.  A gem.

After SB, you starred on L.A. Law, One Life to Live and many other TV productions. In 1996 you came into the cast of Profiler. How was to find there Ally Walker (Andrea Bedford on SB)? You seem to have much chemistry with all the Walkers ...

Profiler was a favorite not only for the presence of Ally, but for the pleasure of Coop -- a character that worked on a higher energetic level than many I've played.  Defusing bombs for a living will wind a guy pretty tight.  Regarding Ally -- she and I and Marcy and Scott Jaeck (Cain) had a lot of story together during her SB run, and it was, I believe, her first major role.  She had begun her adult life as a scientist in waiting -- I believe her specialty was recombinant-DNA theory -- and she brought that particular acuity with her when she became an actor.  The combination of her smarts and soulful beauty set her up well to play so haunted and brilliant a character as Samantha in Profiler.  Samantha was tuned to some frequency way out on the edges -- primal intuition manifested huge and fierce -- and Ally killed it. I'll mention here that several years ago, my wife and daughters and I attended Tracy Letts' Pulitzer-prize winning play “August Osage County” on Broadway in New York.  It was one of the best shows any of us had ever seen, and who is playing one of the major roles?  None other than Scott Jaeck.  He was, as you would expect, absolutely stellar.  After the show, I sent word backstage that we were in attendance, and Scott came out to the street to greet us.  Knowing that my daughters are both aspiring actors, he then proceeded to spend an entire hour talking to them about the details of constructing and maintaining a life in the theatre.  It was wonderful advice, and so typically generous of him.  You work with certain people in certain conditions, and sometimes they end up feeling like members of your family.

You shared many scenes with Robin Wright (Kelly Capwell). At the time she was a debutant actress. Today she is an affirmed and international appreciated actress. Which are your personal and professional memories of Robin?

I understood immediately that Robin was an extraordinary talent -- whip-smart, real as dirt, stunningly beautiful -- and it was profoundly satisfying to share the stage with her.  She was disdainful of a lot of mainstream thinking and fearless (that singular attribute, again) about expressing that disdain.  She also got the joke in just about everything, and was therefore almost always ready to laugh her ass off.  To this day, her work is as true, deep, and elegant as any work you ever see from anyone who has ever taken up the actor's tasks.  She's made a family with a great man, and she has conducted her career impeccably.  Other than that -- not much to recommend the poor woman...

Currently Marcy Walker has left acting to pursue Christian ministry on a full-time basis. Are you still in touch with her?

I haven't spoken to her in a while.  But I am in constant touch with her.  She's in my soul at this point, and she will be there on the day that I die.

 

Your filmography is endless. Recently you starred on B & B. Can we hope to see you as a regular character on this show? What are your future plans?

B & B has no interest in making me a regular.  They have a lot of excellent characters on a tighter canvas than many shows, and there's really no need to make room for me. I have several movies awaiting release.  One of them – “California Solo” -- was well-received at Sundance this year and will be released in the USA in October.  Next year I hope to do a lot more work on “Longmire,” which is a show I love and offers me -- in Jacob Nighthorse -- a character I love to play.  Meanwhile, I've written a screenplay that I would like to direct and I'm working to get it financed.

 

It seems you recorded only one album "Fragrance and thorn", why haven't you made more ? Do you always compose and write ?

I continue to sing through all other distractions.  But the writing of an album is a huge undertaking (Fragrance & Thorn took two years to write) and there are so many other valuable things you might be doing instead.  Among those things is the mentoring of the children -- helping them learn to write, as well -- and sometimes it's important when you're helping someone begin such a craft that you step back from it yourself and give them some room to find their voice -- without hearing your more experienced voice in their ears. Each of the children has now begun to write as part of their life's journey, which has been a family goal from the beginning.  And now a new phase seems to be dawning for all of us -- the screenplay I wrote has many songs in it, and my son and daughters are co-composing those songs.  Dakota and Devon and I recently performed the first of these songs live, and there may be a video of it to come.

When you look behind, concerning your personal life and your career, what is your assessment ? Did all your dreams come true ?

I couldn't have imagined such a wonderful life, Pier.

When I was a boy, the Dodgers baseball team moved from New York to Los Angeles, and I thought maybe that meant I was supposed to play baseball for them.  Turns out, I wasn't.  But my love for them put me in Dodger Stadium on September 9, 1965.  On that night, the Dodgers' legendary pitcher, Sandy Koufax, pitched a perfect game, in that not a single opposing player ever reached first base safely.  It was one of the most extraordinary night of my life, watching a hero of mine dig down deeper within himself than ever before -- shortening his career, I believe, for the chance, on one magical night, to achieve the unachievable -- and I considered it the best thing that had ever happened to me at the time.  Here the radiocall by Vin Scully. Fifteen years later, I was offered a role in a student film that involved the lead character talking with his father about watching Sandy Koufax pitch.  There was no money in the role, and I was in desperate straits financially, scrambling to finish refurbishing my house so I could sell it.  But because I could not bear the idea of any other actor playing that scene that so beautifully honored Koufax, I went and did that movie.  On the first day of the shoot, I met Leslie.  She would eventually become my wife and together we would make our family, which is truly the best thing that ever happened to me -- and something I couldn't have imagined.

Unfortunately, Eden and Cruz did not have an happy ending on the show. Can you briefly dream with us for a few seconds? If you could write their reunion for a short TV movie, where and how this magical moment would happen ? Which first words Cruz would say to Eden ?

I don't have the nerve to think too hard about this, Pier.  I don't want to jinx it. But no matter where it was set, or what the circumstances might be, I'm sure he'd say, “I've missed you...” 
And she'd know it to be true.

 

And we also know it's true. Thank You for this interview that I wanted to post on the day of your birthday. Today you should receive gifts. But you have given to me and to all of us the greatest gift: one more demonstration of your deep humility, generosity, humanity and care. Hollywood has not affected your integrity and I am proud to have had the opportunity of realizing it with my own eyes.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Martinez, from the bottom of my heart.