MICHAEL MADSEN INTERVIEW & LAWRENCE TIERNEY'S NEPHEW TIM

Michael Madsen as Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs

Michael Madsen has been in a large number of films dating back three decades, and is beloved by countless fans as the cool, tough and sinister Vic Vega  aka “Mr. Blonde” in the Quentin Tarantino masterpiece RESERVOIR DOGS. He also worked with Tarantino along with the late David Carradine on KILL BILL (and right below is an interview with Tim Tierney, the nephew of Madsen's DOGS boss Lawrence Tierney and son of Lawrence's brother, actor Scott Brady, born Scott Tierney)...

Michael, how was it doing the RESERVOIR DOGS office scene with Lawrence Tierney and Chris Penn?

Lawrence was angry and Chris and I were having fun. Lawrence didn't really like Quentin at that point. We did three wrestling takes. We broke a lot of stuff and kept going out of frame. Lawrence kept yelling at us because he wanted to go home. Finally the third one was the only one usable and that's the one in the movie. If you look at our close ups you can see how sweaty and out of breath we were because they did all three takes really fast. It was a long morning. 


Michael Madsen, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi in Marvin Nash's POV

How about working with Harvey Keitel: especially during the fight scene in the warehouse?

It was my idea to drink the soda. Quentin had that pole put in there for me to lean on. Harvey encouraged me to amp it up so I did. Harvey's very good when you throw some real energy at him...

He doesn't like fakey actor bullsh*t. If you don't bring it he has no problem telling you. He was wonderful to work with and later became godfather to my son Max. I first met Harvey on Thelma and Louise but our scene together was cut out of the final film. 


David in Michael's POV ala KILL BILL

The torture scene with “Marvin Nash” (played by Kirk Baltz)?

He asked me to put him in the trunk of my car so he could see how it felt to be locked up. After he got in I drove around the neighborhood for a little while because I then realized it was a good idea for me also to get into character. I don't think he appreciated it so I had to later remind him it was his idea. He was so good in that scene. Sometimes someone can be so good you don't even see it. He really sold it. He was very brave and that scene bound us together in cinema history. 


How about David Carradine (and Quentin once again) in “Kill Bill”?

I had met David before. I made two pictures with David before Kill Bill but we never got to really know each other well until we played brothers for Quentin. He turned out to be one of the most interesting gracious men I ever met. I could not say enough about David so I won't try and obviously working with Quentin again was one of the best moments of my career.  



Father Scott Brady born Scott Tierney and son Tim Tierney

INTERVIEW WITH TIM TIERNEY ON UNCLE LAWRENCE TIERNEY & DAD SCOTT BRADY

Tim Tierney is the son of legendary actor Scott Brady, and the nephew of Scott’s brother, the one and only wild man himself, Lawrence Tierney...

Who began acting, like Scott, in 1940’s Film Noir and whose career, unlike Scott, sporadically hit the skids with drinking bouts, fights, and prison... 

In a candid writing style, Tim recollects about his father Scott Brady, known for an eclectic mix of cult classics from HE WALKED BY NIGHT to JOHNNY GUITAR to GREMLINS, and his uncle Lawrence Tierney, famous for DILLINGER,  BORN TO KILL and whose career was rejuvenated in Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS (that of course co-starred the above-interviewee Michael Madsen).

Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs

Tim, what are some memorable experiences hanging out with your uncle Lawrence Tierney?

It was always fun to see the deference he got from people. I was there when they were trying to get him to agree to do "Armageddon" and he didn't want to do it. It was a one-day job and they were offering him a lot of money, but something put him off about it and he told them no. They had to up his pay substantially beyond their first offer and then get some young production assistant girl to sweet-talk him until he agreed. And after all that, they didn't use his footage.

Did your dad and uncle not get along too well?
 

Scott and Larry were estranged in later years and my impression is that they were never very close to begin with. I think that what caused the falling out from Scott's perspective was an accumulation of incidents over the years (consider Larry's very public record of being a difficult person to deal with) combined with both their parents dying in close succession in the early 60's putting extra stress on their relationship. Sometime in the mid-60's they had a major knock-down fight and that was the last time they spoke for years. It was after this that Larry quit acting and moved back to NYC.

Lawrence Tierney's peace through threats in SILVER BULLET

What are some Lawrence Tierney “antics” that happened through the years (as shared to you by Lawrence himself)?
 

I remember the first time I met Larry was in 1983 when I was 13 and he came out for my uncle Ed's funeral. It was the first time he and my dad had seen each other in about 20 years, and it was tense.

I was accustomed to other aunts & uncles being glad to see me, but this guy just grunted and growled, so I kept away. The craziest thing he did in his later years was during an off day in the filming of "Reservoir Dogs" when he tried to shoot my cousin (his nephew) Michael and ended up doing some time at a prison camp for it. Tarantino said of it "He was taken from his bail arraignment to the set."

Lawrence Tierney on Seinfeld

One time we were driving up the PCH and he [Lawrence Tierney] noticed a seaside bar and recounted a story to me about a time back in probably the late 40's when he was in there on a night when the place was mostly empty and he got into a loud argument with a guy he was shooting pool with. The bartender produced a revolver from behind the bar and told them both to shut up, which bothered Larry that the guy needed to intimidate people with a gun. Later, the bartender went into the back room for something and Larry jumped the bar and grabbed the gun: "I swear, I was just going to ask him if he still felt like a tough guy", but when the bartender came back out and saw Larry with the gun he ran down the street screaming. Another time, we were in Venice together and a restaurant he wanted to visit saw him coming and they shut the door and put the "closed" sign in the window. I never found out exactly why, but I did not blame them.

And finally, it is important to understand that Larry never truly calmed down later in life, he just slowed down. For example, Larry had some friends who liked to talk about the old days when they would tear the town apart before they all settled down – but the thing was that these guys were middle-aged and talking about their crazy days in the 1980s, when they were in their 20's and hanging out with a guy in his 60's! Larry had probably gone through several crops of such youngsters in his life.

Scott Brady head shot

What key memories do you have of your father Scott Brady?

I recall my dad being around the house a lot, since much of an actor's life is spent being in between jobs. Scott was a nut for Notre Dame football and was very active in the ND "subway alumni" community and knew a lot of people involved in the team. In fact, back in the 50's he used to throw a party for the team at his place in the Hollywood Hills each year when they would come out to play USC. Besides that, he also read a lot and loved doing the NY Times crossword puzzles. For him at that point in his life, acting was just his job and he rarely talked about it or about his past as a star. He liked to refer to himself as an "ex-celebrity" and would sometimes rant about all the "Hollywood phonies" he had no further use for.

Scott Brady

He was conservative, hated hippies, and often told my brother and I to keep out hair cut short, never smoke pot, and never use hippie phrases like "hey, man" or "cool." He was also very patriotic and hated flag-burning Vietnam protesters even though he was against the war himself.

When Scott did talk about his old days, it was often frank stories about mistakes he had made in his career or life with an intended lesson for my brother and me. For instance, he once recounted how he didn't keep good track of his money and ended up getting fleeced by the IRS over back taxes. Several times he talked about all the wild parties he threw at his house, and the crowd of no-goods he attracted who were always ready to enjoy themselves on his dime.

Scott Brady as Dancin' Kid in Johnny Guitar

Another story was about the time he drove down to the beach after he had been drinking and swam out into the ocean a long ways, all alone. The next day he realized what a crazy risk that was, and how the papers would have gone nuts over it if Scott Brady had disappeared leaving only his clothes on the sand...

His most dramatic early-days story was about a time when he was in a bar and two guys started giving him a hard time about not being so tough in real life as he was on screen. He finished his drink and left, but they came out after him. "I could tell that one of them was following directly behind me, so I took exactly two steps into street and then turned & swung. I caught him right on the jaw: Bing! A perfect shot! The guy fell back and hit his head right on the curb, and I turned white – I thought I had killed him. Now his buddy is telling me they were only joking and I'm imagining my career is over and I'm going to jail. It turned out the guy was okay, but I was scared to death."

Ed Tierney in THE HOODLUM

How was it growing up related to famous actors?

Before I get into Scott & Larry I want to make mention of their lesser-known younger brother Ed. He acted in some American films in the early 50's (including "The Hoodlum" with Larry in 1951) and then moved to Germany for several years where he became fluent and acted in several German films. He returned to the USA by the early 60's and did some TV work playing German characters in American war-shows, but gave up acting for more steady work as a building contractor (one of the apartments he built was the scene of the notorious Wonderland murders!). Ed became a ranked grand-master in chess, and got his own boys into it as well as my brother and me, as he and Scott generally stayed close and we saw his family a lot.

Scott Brady in a lobby card for DOLLARS aka $

Growing up with my dad was fun since he had a job that was so interesting. We got to go onto movie sets, and watch his shows on TV or in the theatre when they came out and always root for the character he played...

Of course by this time he was older and often played bad guys who would lose in the end, but along the way we enjoyed it when he had the good guys on the run. For instance, he guest-starred in an episode of "Welcome Back Kotter" where he played a tough coach who didn't like Travolta's character (Barbarino) and ends up slapping him in a confrontation – I remember my brother and I cheering at the TV when he did that. "Dad slapped Travolta! Yes!"

Lawrence Tierney takes aim in the Film Noir era

As for Larry, his name was never mentioned in my house and I was about ten when I first learned my dad had a brother named Larry who was also an actor – shocking news for anyone, especially a kid. Like I said earlier, I first met him when I was 13 when he came out for uncle Ed's funeral, but it was over ten years later just after my mom died that I decided as a young man to make an effort to get to know him since he represented a way of learning more about my dad, who died in 1985 when I was only 16.

I had a lot of questions about things now that I was older but Larry initially wanted nothing to do with me: it was as if he was a window into the past, but with the curtains closed. Later, as he became more open he also grew too erratic to have a normal conversation with: the window had the curtains open but was becoming opaque. Upon his death the window became bricked-over, replaced by his unspeaking portrait. So, I got to know him well in certain ways but at the same time don't feel that I got to know him well at all. He could be very guarded about himself and also moody about what he wanted to talk about or do on any given occasion. I never did find out much about my dad or even Larry's own history other than a handful of random stories.

Lawrence Tierney in Reservoir Dogs, 1991

One thing I want to make clear is that Larry was far more than the thug that his reputation casts him as. He was well read and even wrote poetry. He also could discuss philosophy (he had lived in Europe and knew Jean Paul Sartre), and spoke good French and Spanish...

He was chivalrous towards women, and had a strong sense of dignity (he was once hired to recite Bukowski, and declared the material "vulgar" and walked off the job). Several times he admonished my brother and me not to repeat the kind of mistakes he made when he was younger.

In closing, I will leave you with this short poem Larry once told me:

"The finest things a man can do are to LIE, STEAL, SWEAR, and DRINK:
**LIE for the one that you love.
**STEAL away from bad company.
**SWEAR by your country.
**...and when you DRINK, drink with me!"