Another quiet weekend here in the Garden of Eaton. I'm spending most of the time studying for my audition Monday. I haven't been this nervous in years. While acting is the way I wish my life had gone I've never really been on a real audition. A cattle call for extras more than once, but never a one on one audition.

The mini-series, "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" was filming in Newport and the call went out for extras. I jumped at the opportunity. I went down with a Polaroid "headshot" to fill out some paperwork with about a thousand other wannabe's. Simple procedure; fill out the paperwork, sign something and leave.

When more than a reasonable amount of time had gone by, and I was sure I wasn't going to be called, I got a call from the casting company. A very nice woman was calling to ask me to do something more than simply be an extra in the background. My heart began to beat faster. I was being asked to be Charles Durning's stand in. I would not be on camera but would get to watch Mr. Durning rehearse a scene and then, while he relaxed in his trailer lights and cameras would be set and I would be in his place...his stand in. It paid more money than being an extra so I opted for cash over my moment of "Oh, oh....that was me walking by."

At the time I was probably close to what I weigh now and nothing near my bypass surgery weight, but still "husky". The casting director put this in the most polite phrasing ever.

"Mr. Eaton, we want you to be Mr. Durning's stand in because you.....carry a certain girth."

I agreed to the job just on that.

It was a heady experience being on a real filming set. All the people. All the equipment. The Craft Services!!! And then I was called to "work". Hammersmith Farms was being used as the setting for Bobby Kennedy's wedding; historically inaccurate but OK. As I walked up to the set I was met by Mr. Durning.

"Call me, Charlie," he said holding out his hand.

I was in heaven. I had been a fan of his work for years and now I could call him "Charlie" because we were colleagues. And remember the casting director mentioning a "certain girth"? Well, Charlie had much more girth than I did. They say the camera adds 10 pounds; somehow it had been able to take it off in Charlie's case. He looked much heavier in person. I know, I know; people in glass houses....but, WOW!

I watched intently as Charlie ran through a scene for blocking. He went off to the comfort of his trailer and I recreated his every move for the lighting and camera crews. Time and again until everything was right, then Charlie and the others were brought back and the scene was filmed.

Then came a moment that still haunts me. They were filming a scene with Charlie as Honey Fitz and Steven Weber as John Kennedy in the garden to the back of Hannersmith. This was just outside the porch which had these huge sliding doors with thick lead glass panels.

Filming is a slow and tedious process, so as they went through a shot for the tenth time I leaned back against what I thought was the solid part of the porch. It turned out to be two of the sliding glass panels. As the heavy lead glass and their frames slammed together they made a thunderous clap of thunder. (Well, to my ears that's what it sounded like!)

The first set of eyes I saw make contact with mine were those of the director who's shot I had just ruined. And was it some hack director who had never done a film before? No, of course not. It was Lamont Johnson. This guy uses Emmys as doorstops. Check him out on the Internet Movie Database to see just how sure I was I'd never work in movies again!

Let's hope this foray into acting goes a little better.