The Advocate

November 27, 1986

By Bonnie Barber

As avid spectators watched the filming of Tough Guys Don't Dance in front of Provincetown Town Hall last week, the question heard most often was, "Who is that guy getting into Ryan O'Neal's Jeep?"

"That guy" was John Bedford-Lloyd, who arrived in Provincetown just two week ago to begin his role as Meeks Wardley Hilby III.  In the scenes filmed last week, it was Wardley's task to sneak into Timothy Madden's (O'Neal's character) red Jeep while Madden was removing a bloody machete from Chief Regency's (Wings Hauser) police car.

After sneaking into the car, Wardley then forces Madden to drive him to the West End breakwater for a nervewracking and revealing discussion about life as they walk out to "Hell Town Beach."  

In the book, Hell Town Beach seemed to be at the other end of the breakwater, Wood End.  But in the film it will be shot at the Seashore in Truro.
Wardley is despondent over his inability to win back his former wife, Patty Lareine, who is now married to Madden.  This discussion between the two former classmates is decisively concluded on "Hell Town Beach."

Bedford-Lloyd feels that Wardley serves as a bit of a tease throughout the movie.  "You get glimpses of him throughout the film, until the penultimate of the last half hour," he said.

Bedford-Lloyd said he has been questioned several times about the decision to cast him as Wardley.  "People think Wardley should be older, shorter, less good-looking," Bedford-Lloyd said.

But he pointed out that since Wardley and Madden were school chums, the person playing Wardley, therefore, had to look like a peer of O'Neals.
Bedford-Lloyd had never acted until his freshman year at Williams College, when a friend asked him to appear in the school production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Finding his niche among the theater crowd at Williams, he decided to pursue acting further and studied drama at the Yale Drama School.

Upon graduation from Yale in 1982, he moved on to New York to try his luck in Broadway and off-Broadway productions.  "Unless you're lucky and go right to Los Angeles," he said, "you start out in theater.  And that Yale stamp only gets you in a few extra doors."

He soon made his home at the WPA Theatre off-Broadway.  Bedford-Lloyd appeared in Tennessee William's Vieux Carre and the Incredibly Famous Willie Rivers.  It was also at the WPA that he met his wife, actress Anne Twomey, who was nominated for a Tony award a couple of years ago for her performance in Nuts.

In addition to his theatrical experience, Bedford-Lloyd has a television show to his name, and some "blink-and-you-miss-'em" movie roles.  He played "a skirt-chasing English profession" in CBS's Big Chill take-off, Hometown. 

"We didn't capture America's hearts," Bedford-Lloyd said of the show, which was canceled a few months after its debut last year.

However, despite this aborted start on television, the picture is looking brighter.  He plays Telly Savalas's sidekick in a Kojak TV movie that will air early next year.  Of his experiences working with Mr. Show Biz on location in New York City, Bedford-Lloyd said, "It was like we were with the president every day. Half of the people on the crew were used to keep the crowd off Telly."

Bedford-Lloyd's movie career is obviously looking promising as well. In addition to snaring the role of Wardley, he played one of Dan Akroyd's stockbroker cronies in the blockbuster, Trading Places.  He also has the leading role with Maureen Stapleton in Sweet Lorraine, which will be released this spring.

Upon being asked the inevitable question about what differences he has found between theater and film, Bedford-Lloyd cited a quote from Gene Hackman.

"In movies they pay you to wait, and the acting is the gravy."

Citing his own opinions, Bedford-Lloyd said that in film they rent ou for 12 to 13 hours a day, and you have 15 minutes of "fantasyland" when you actually act.  "It's weird to have a camera jammed in your face," he admitted.

Beford-Lloyd arrived in Provincetown two weeks ago, having previously only come up for a week of rehearsals in early October.  One of the things Bedford-Lloyd said he enjoyed the most during rehearsals was "the process of watching Norman write.  It's fun to watch him create and work on lines."

"Norman is very accepting of whatever you happen to bring to his words," he said. "It's fun to work with someone who cares about words, The King's English is to be valued."

In addition to finding him enjoyable to work with during rehearsals, Bedford-Lloyd said Mailer also made the auditions more bearable.
"Norman presided over probably the most gracious audition," he said. "Auditions are a medieval task that most actor's dread.  He was very accepting of actors going out on a limb."

Staring out the window of his harborside room, Bedford-Lloyd said Provincetown reminded him a lot of his hometown, Southport, Conn., which overloos Long Island Sound.  Now that he is in town, he will be here until the filming concludes on December 13.

"I'm glad to be here for the duration,' he said.  "I can really sink my teeth in now."