by Herbie J Pilato
It was 2004, and I was working as one of the producers on Bravo’s hit five-part series, The 100 Greatest TV Characters.
As the author of The Kung Fu Book of Caine and The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom, companion books to the 1972–75 ABC-TV series. This legendary “Eastern-Western” starred David Carradine as fugitive Asian-American-Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine, a.k.a. “Grasshopper,” who I suggested be included in the Bravo series.
My colleagues agreed, we contacted Carradine’s camp and within a few days, I found myself at the actor’s doorstep one afternoon, somewhere in the San Fernando Valley.
While I had interviewed him several times for The Kung Fu Book of Caine (for which he penned the Foreword), we had never met in person.
But that all changed after I knocked on his front door.
David was told that a driver would be arriving to take him to the studio for the interview, but he had no idea it would be me. Usually, a producer’s assistant, or production assistant serves as “limo-driver” in such circumstances. But I requested this particular assignment….
Writer/producer Herbie J Pilato is the host of the TV talk show THEN AGAIN WITH HERBIE J PILATO, now streaming on Amazon Prime and the author of several pop-culture/media tie-in books. He has been part of TVWriter™ for over 20 years and is Contributing Editor Emeritus. Learn more about Herbie J HERE