The actor and comedian Cliff Arquette is more widely known as Charley Weaver, the alter ego he performed for over thirty years. He always played Charley as a shrewdly funny codgerly type, even when Arquette himself was a younger man. Nearing his 60th birthday, he was asked by an interviewer how his approach to the role had changed over the years. He said, “Well, now it takes me no time to get ready to go before an audience. The older I get, the less old-guy makeup I have to put on.”
Arquette once ad libbed a comic line during the filming of an episode of Dragnet, causing the stoic and sober Jack Webb (as Sgt. Joe Friday) to break character and actually laugh. Webb, also the producer, never permitted deviation from the script or actual funny moments… except this one time. The ad lib stayed in.
The actor and comedian Cliff Arquette is more widely known as Charley Weaver, the alter ego he performed for over thirty years. He always played Charley as a shrewdly funny codgerly type, even when Arquette himself was a younger man. Nearing his 60th birthday, he was asked by an interviewer how his approach to the role had changed over the years. He said, “Well, now it takes me no time to get ready to go before an audience. The older I get, the less old-guy makeup I have to put on.”
Arquette once ad libbed a comic line during the filming of an episode of Dragnet, causing the stoic and sober Jack Webb (as Sgt. Joe Friday) to break character and actually laugh. Webb, also the producer, never permitted deviation from the script or actual funny moments… except this one time. The ad lib stayed in.