Casey's Acting Career

[at40petebattistini]

I believe Casey's camera appearances are noteworthy for this thread. And here's one that's appropriate for Halloween 2010.

This weekend marks the 35th anniversary of a unique TV program that featured Casey as an actor. "The Night That Panicked America" was a made-for-TV movie that literally gave Casey microphone time as a radio actor. His part in the movie wasn't one of major star billing, but it certainly was fitting.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_That_Panicked_America

I wish ABC (or another network) would resurrect and re-air this movie, if for no other reason than for its historical re-enactment of the power radio once had in America. Perhaps if it airs this weekend, someone will note details.

[jdelachjr2002]

I checked Zap2It and I don't see "The Night That Panicked America" slated to air anywhere on a national level.

[mrjukebox]

In 1971,Casey appeared in a movie called "The Incredible Two Headed Transplant" which co-starred Bruce Dern & Pat Priest,who played Marilyn on TV's "The Munsters"-It's appropriate for Halloween-I have it on DVD & hope to watch it at some point.

[80sfan]

Casey was on an episode of Charlie's Angels. He did a silly impersonation of Columbo.

[Big Red Machine]

Nov 15, 2010 0:04:57 GMT -5 80sfan said:

Casey was on an episode of Charlie's Angels. He did a silly impersonation of Columbo.

I remember that show. He was a golf announcer in that one. I also remember him in 2 Hawaiif Five O episodes and Quincy.

[Big Red Machine]

On the 11/10/73 show this past weekend on SXM, Casey mentioned that he was going to be in Houston for a movie premiere in "The Hustler."

[mkarns]

Nov 15, 2010 18:20:11 GMT -5 Big Red Machine said:

Nov 15, 2010 0:04:57 GMT -5 80sfan said:

Casey was on an episode of Charlie's Angels. He did a silly impersonation of Columbo.

I remember that show. He was a golf announcer in that one./quote]

On the 10/14/78 AT40, he announced that he'd be on "Charlie's Angels" the following week and said "See if I'm the good guy or the bad guy."

Seven years earlier, on 11/13/71, Casey noted his absence from the previous week's AT40 (the first guest hosted show) and said that he was making a film called "That Lovin' Man Jesus", which also included 50s/60s teen idol Fabian Forte. I looked on IMDB and couldn't find it, but I did find a 1976 release called "The Day the Lord Got Busted", which included him and Fabian. Maybe the film was shelved for five years and then issued with a different title?

[mrjukebox]

On You Tube,there's a clip of Casey portraying Adolph Hitler on a Dean Martin celebrity roast-It's pretty hysterical.

[mkarns]

Oct 30, 2010 12:17:15 GMT -5 mrjukebox said:

In 1971,Casey appeared in a movie called "The Incredible Two Headed Transplant" which co-starred Bruce Dern & Pat Priest,who played Marilyn on TV's "The Munsters"-It's appropriate for Halloween-I have it on DVD & hope to watch it at some point.

Casey referred to that film on the 11/17/79 AT40, saying that it disproved the saying that "two heads are better than one." This was said in his introduction to Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's hit duet "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough.)

[at40petebattistini]

Here's an oddity...

You may be aware that Casey was an actor in a B-movie called Wild Wheels. And I'm not sure if this is connected to that movie other than they both have a similar theme. Below is a link to a 45 (now for sale on eBay) that was used as a means to distribute commercial spots for a movie called Angel Unchained. The seller was kind enough to provide an audio sample which, without question, is Casey Kasem. Was he in this movie? Or was it the same movie (Wild Wheels) with a different title? (I checked Leonard Maltin's TV Movies, 1984 edition, and neither are listed.) After you listen to the audio, I'm sure you'll agree that the movie Angel Unchained is worthy of your next Netflix order.

Just a little more insight to Casey's career.
cgi.ebay.com/ANGEL-UNCHAINED-orig-AIP-biker-radio-spot-7-NM-hear-/300573713497?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item45fb96e459

[mstgator]

No mention of Casey in the IMDb for "Angel Unchained" (1970), but that movie is paired on DVD with another biker flick called "Cycle Savages" (1969), in which Casey played Bruce Dern's brother. Casey is also listed (along with Mike Curb) as executive producer of "Cycle Savages" (released the same year as "Wild Wheels").

www.imdb.com/title/tt0065604/fullcredits#cast

And I now know far more than I ever thought possible about Casey Kasem and biker movies.

ETA: Just listened to the clip on the eBay listing, and the completely straight-faced description Casey gives of "Angel Unchained" ("The story of a savage war between weirdo freaks on cycles and redneck straights on dune buggies...") sounds a lot like the IMDb description for "Wild Wheels" ("A group of surfers use dune buggies to protect their beach from a gang of invading bikers"). Guess that was a popular B-movie plot at the time!

[mrjukebox]

I had an opportunity to view "The Two Headed Transplant" last week-Casey's screen time was minimal at best-There was one scene that contained a reference to a gentleman that Casey used to work with at KRLA in Los Angeles-Casey was a newscaster on a local station-His closing words were:"That's the news for this hour-Now stay tuned for Dave Hull"-Hull was the first person who filled in for Casey on AT40 the week of 11/6/71.

[statenislandfan]

Casey was also a guest star on "The Hardy Boys - Nancy Drew Mysteries" on ABC that aired on Sunday nights. The show aired in the fall of 1977. I believe he was the bad guy on this 2 part episode.

[mrjukebox]

I believe that Casey was a guest star on the Jack Klugman series "Quincy".

[Big Red Machine]

^Yup, I saw that Quincy episode. He was picking up on chicks at a bar....lol. That was in 1977, and he helped Quincy solve a case.