PASADENA, Calif. _ It took Irish actor Adrian Dunbar time to figure out how he would earn a living. He spent 18 months working in a slaughterhouse killing pigs, rounded up a band that performed country music for two years and even played backup for an Elvis impersonator.
So today, the veteran of countless works like Acorn TV's thriller "Blood," the police drama "Line of Duty" and "The Crying Game," says, "I know how hard it is to earn money, so acting was something I could do and something that would earn money. And that's the bottom line for me."
The bottom line has guided him 44 years since he first auditioned for drama school at 17 and was accepted on the first try. Best known as the tough police superintendent in the hit series "Line of Duty," and as the censured doctor in "Blood," Dunbar will be back steeped in more mystery as Season 2 of "Blood" arrives on Acorn TV next Monday.
The oldest of seven, Adrian was 11 when his dad moved the family back to his hometown, Portadown, in search of work as a carpenter. It proved to be a serious misstep.
"It was a difficult place because there was a lot of sectarianism there, a lot of animosity and discrimination against Catholics," he says. "And we were Catholic and lived in a little ghetto in the northwest area at the time. It was tough, tough just being out on the main street sometimes because there was a lot of anger, a lot of riots, a lot of deaths, a lot of bombs.
"That period in that time was probably the worst time," he recalls. "We'd be bundled into the car at night and driven out of there because my parents were afraid things were going to happen and mobs were going to attack the estates that we lived in."
While his two brothers were handy like their dad, Dunbar says he shared no such talent. "I remember my aunt and my mother standing at the kitchen door watching my brother and me playing. My brother was making things, and my mother said, 'What am I going to do with that child? He's got no hands. He's not going to be able to do anything.'"
He was finally able to do something when he left drama school early and snatched an acting job in the Republic of Ireland playing a terrorist. They paid him a hotel stipend, which he saved by lodging in cheaper digs. "The seven grand that I got paid for that was the basis for the first mortgage for an apartment I bought years later when I met my wife," he says.
"You remember these things, don't you? But the days when you're living off your wits are the best days ever because everything's a triumph; just getting through is a triumph," he smiles.
Dunbar has always gotten through as a journeyman actor, never quite luxuriating in the limelight, but always working. "I'm one of these people if I don't have a job (acting), I'll do something else," he shrugs.
"So I've always done something else: I write. I direct. When my brothers were working in London on building sites, I used to go work with them. You gotta get out of the house, otherwise you start getting 'actor.' You think this is really good, and things are going to change _ and then they don't," he laughs.
"As you get older you realize that's how it is. Some people just hit it when they're young and off they go, and other people, like me, it takes a while."
It has taken him a while, but Dunbar learned fortitude at an early age when his father died of a brain hemorrhage at 50. "My mother, I don't know how the hell she did it. She took it on, got on with it, and here we all are at the end of it," he says.
"My father's death made me realize how random things can be. Everything seems to be in place, and the next thing, everything falls apart. So life is difficult, things happen. You have to be somewhat prepared. I don't believe in the afterlife or anything like that, but I do believe in the power of love to make a difference in the world. That's all you have to do, try to be as good a person as you can, help as many people as you can, don't carry grudges or stuff that's not useful to you."
Married for 33 years to former actress Anna Nygh and the father of a daughter, Dunbar says, "Everybody has these secrets to a happy marriage. Some people, like my brother and his wife, have not spent a day apart since they were 17. I couldn't stand that. I think the secret is independently you still try to maintain your own individuality. You're not subsumed by the other person's personality. You grow together. You allow each other the freedom to grow. That's what keeps people together."
OFFERMAN SHIFTS TO SCIENCE
Nick Offerman is known for his trail of comedy roles like the laissez faire boss on "Parks and Recreation" and his serio-comic character in "Fargo," or his many inventive voice-overs in shows like "Bob's Burgers" and "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part."
But Offerman is shifting to the serious side on Thursday when he portrays a brilliant computer scientist in the sci-fi thriller "Devs," landing on FX.
"My character is an incredibly creative genius, so that required some heavy leaning on my classical training," he says.
"I did a lot of homework. I spoke with my cast members, who are much smarter than me. And that was incredibly fun to take this great piece of writing, insert myself into it as though I could remotely come up with even the most basic of programming, let alone get into the realm of quantum computing. So I'm very grateful," he says.
"That's the fun thing about being an actor, is if you get cast right, they can make you look like you can drive a car with great accuracy."
THE NEXT ITERATION OF 'COSMOS' ARRIVES
The next installment of the amazing "Cosmos" series _ originally created 40 years ago by astronomer Carl Sagan _ arrives next Monday on the National Geographic channels. This third go-round is titled "Cosmos: Possible Worlds."
Like the others before it, this 13-parter will not be a boring lecture on the universe, but will focus on absorbing science stories along with amazing special effects. One of those stories is the saga of an intrepid Russian scientist, says executive producer, writer and director Brannon Braga.
"It's the almost-unknown story of a Russian scientist named Vavilov who created the first seed-bank in Russia and ended up being murdered by Stalin," says Braga.
"I'm spoiling the plot for you, I just realized so. ... it was a story of a man sacrificing his life to defend the integrity of science and his colleagues who had also sacrificed their lives to protect his seed-bank, which still exists."
Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's widow and his partner in creating "Cosmos," says she discovered the story by accident. "When I was going through our library and found this little skinny book and in it, I found Carl's very distinct handwriting, writing in the margins, and I started to read the story," she recalls.
"And I thought, 'This was a man who he said (the truth) publicly _ in the darkest time when Stalin had a stranglehold on everyone.'
"And I was thinking at this moment how much we need someone to voice our yearning to know that it matters what's true. That's what we need ... We're going to meet the challenge that the scientists have prophesied and is now coming true in our lifetime, in our present. Then we have to communicate that value. It matters what's true to every citizen, to everyone, so that they'll feel it as deeply as Vavilov felt."
'AMAZING STORIES' REVIVED BY APPLE+
Apple TV+ is digging through TV's box of treasures and will resuscitate Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" on Friday. Each episode will be unique and will take the viewer to various wonderlands of imagination.
Some of the show's directors include Chris Long ("The Americans," "The Mentalist"), Mark Mylod ("Succession," "Game of Thrones"), and the woefully underrated Michael Dinner ("Unbelievable," "Sneaky Pete").
Among the featured stars is Robert Forster, in his last role before his death, Kerry Lynn Bishe, Sasha Alexander and Ed Burns.
Most people forget Ed Burns started out as a writer, director and star of his own movies, "The Brothers McMullen," and "She's the One," which starred Jennifer Aniston.
Lately he's mostly known as an actor in other people's shows like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Mob City," in which he played Bugsy Siegel.
But when he was starting out as a young filmmaker he got a little help from on high, he recalls.
"Robert Redford called me after Sundance and he said, 'The world you're about to enter, Hollywood, is a strange place. If you've ever got a question or any concerns about anything, give me a call. And if I can help you out I will.'
"That's how our relationship started. When I finished (my next) script I sent it to him and asked what he thought. He liked it enough to say he wanted to get involved and give us a hand. So he got involved in the script stage, giving me notes. He got involved in the casting, recommending people or taking a look at audition tapes and saying, 'We like this one, keep away from that one.' In post-production he just made suggestions. If I ever disagreed, he'd say, 'This is your film. I respect that. I'll point things out to you where I see them.'"
