Gladiator, Pirate and King
Ian Rentoul caught up with Tony Todd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whilst he was preparing for the opening of his latest play. Forever known as ‘the man who killed Iolaus’, Todd has played three characters to date in Hercules and Xena.
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 05
It seems The Fates decreed early on in his life that Tony Todd was destined to be an actor. “I grew up in Connecticut and was an only child,” he said, “so I spent time playing on my own and amongst other things, I did puppetry. I also developed an intense imagination as a result and I played all the childhood 'icons'.”
Acting ambitions developed early in the young Todd. “My first stage appearance was during High School. I remember the play and it wasn't a very good one, but I was about 14 years old at the time and appearing on stage gave me recognition from my peers, which I enjoyed. You see, I wasn't an athlete so this was my own way of getting recognition. During school days, athleticism was the only other real way of achieving this in the school system.”
Of his early acting opportunities, Todd recalls, “I had a number of scholarships, and developed an interest in Sam Shepard’s work and political theatre. The result was that I was fired from my first few acting jobs, as I wasn’t what they were looking for. I asked too many questions about the reasons why my characters did things. However, I had an Equity Card when I reached New York and I started work with the Modern Times Theater. So I guess that you can count that as my first ‘real’ acting job.”
To get to New York, Todd had obtained a scholarship from the University of Connecticut, which led on to a further one at the Eugene O’Neill National Theater Institute. This was followed by periods at the Hartman Conservatory in Stamford Connecticut and then the Trinity Square Repertory Theater Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. So Todd learnt his ‘trade’ by ‘treading the boards.’
His career really started to take off when he was noticed by film director Oliver Stone during a performance of Johnny Got His Gun at the Westbank Theater whilst still in New York. As a result, he was offered the role of Sergeant Warren in Slone’s Vietnam war film Platoon.
Todd's first role for Renaissance Pictures was in Gladiator, a first season episode of Hercules. Here he played the title role, a gladiator, unjustly imprisoned and required to fight in an arena for the pleasure of his captors. He says, “I was given the role of Gladius in Hercules. I didn't have to audition for it. I had known Sam Raimi for some time previously, and respected the work of the director Garth Maxwell, so I agreed to do it.”
However, he had almost featured in an earlier production for Raimi’s Company. “I had previously been offered the role of The Blue Priest in an earlier Hercules TV movie,” he says, “but at the time I didn’t do anything about it. This wasn't a ‘slight’ against Renaissance Pictures but I had been doing Star Trek shortly before, and in view of the proposed character, I didn't want to have to be in make up six to eight hours a day again so soon, whilst prosthetics were fixed in place!”
If he had taken that role, Todd would have been playing alongside Kevin Sorbo and Renee O’Connor in Hercules and the Lost Kingdom, the second of the five Hercules TV movies that were ultimately produced. In the event, the part went to Nathaniel Lees, who later reprised the role of The Blue Priest in the later Hercules episode The Marriage of Alcemene.
Following on from Gladius, Todd was asked to go back and play Cecrops in the Xena second season episode Lost Mariner, which was again directed by Garth Maxwell. He had a simple reason for returning to Renaissance: “I went back to play Cecrops because when I read the script I liked it.” He further recalls, “For Cecrops, I wanted to convey his character as a pirate. A man doomed to a solitary life, but a man who had compassion for his crew.” It was to be a pirate without the ‘Yo ho ho!’
There are strong parallels between the character of Cecrops and the subject in the Epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Here, however, Cecrops is ‘cursed’ to be immortal by Poseidon and forever to sail the seas as a punishment for choosing the goddess Athena over him as the local deity in Athens - after whom the city is named.
Greek Mythology refers to Cecrops as an offspring of Gaea (the earth goddess), so here we once again have a ‘twist’ to Greek mythology - something for which the Xena script-writers are renowned - as the 'spirit' of the Coleridge poem is added in to the story.
Todd recalls, “I was given a ‘clean canvas’ on which to develop my characters. I wasn’t given any instructions. Being a television script, I was able to pick up and use a lot of cues from the writers. The only concern was the costumes. Because of the shooting schedule, you go in to wardrobe almost as soon as you arrive in New Zealand for a fitting and that is after a 14-hour flight from the West Coast of the US! I do recall that on my first visit, I was concerned about the helmet that Gladius was going to wear, but as the director was Garth Maxwell (a director that I trust), I agreed to go with his choice.
“When you step in to a show like Hercules or Xena all the ‘mechanics’ are already there for the production and you just go in and do the job. When you are shooting television shows like these you don't get time for rehearsals in advance. However, you do get the script before you get there, so all the rehearsals that take place are on set, on the days when you are filming. You rehearse there and then, go through your lines and then shoot. It’s a good idea to ensure that you know your lines by the time you arrive!
“I spent about 10 days in New Zealand for each episode I filmed. I was on set between about 10 and 11 hours each day with a five-day work week. I wasn’t working all the lime I was there, which meant that I could go and do some sightseeing. I made a point of doing that.”
This time off from filming was no doubt welcome, particularly during Lost Mariner as Todd recalls that all but one day of the filming was spent aboard ship. Which, perhaps, for an episode about an immortal 'pirate' isn't too much of a surprise. Does he get seasick? “No,” he replies firmly. “Earlier in my career I did a film called Voodoo Dawn and there I remember the crew got sick, but I didn't.”
He recalls that whilst shooting Lost Mariner, “On one of the days we were out in the ship, the crew decided that they would go swimming. I wanted to but couldn't. When they came back aboard, they were all covered in jellyfish.”
Of filming with Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor he recalls, “I enjoyed being in New Zealand. Lucy and Renee were great fun to work with. They were also very gracious. In the middle of all the ‘hype’ that surrounded the show, they were very down to earth about it all. I loved playing opposite Lucy's strong female lead. We spent a lot of time on the ship for Lost Mariner, so it was ‘tight in’ acting, and I had the impression that she enjoyed it as well. The set didn't allow much opportunity for chakram throwing or back flips!”
As Cecrops survived, would he like to play the character again? He replies, “I think that there was a suggestion of a script at one point, but it didn't happen in the end.”
And did he base any of the three characters he has played on any real life individuals? “Well,” he says, “Cecrops relied heavily on the character from The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner - I really couldn’t do anything else as the two stories paralleled each other. For King Gilgamesh, I did a lot of research on the Internet, to find out as much as I could about the story. Whilst for Gladius? I can't say I went out and watched Spartacus.”
Todd's last character to date for Renaissance Pictures has been in the Hercules fifth season opener Faith under the directorship of Michael Hurst, who plays lolaus. It is also an episode that will be remembered by Hurst's fans for it was Todd as King Gilgamesh who killed lolaus.
Loosely based on the Epic story of Gilgamesh, which dates back to the year 2000 BC, this literary work from the Middle East, found on 12 clay tablets, is a poem that tells the story of a Babylonian king who was a tyrant over his people. He ruled the City of Uruk, which is now in modem day Iraq. The citizens were oppressed and when they prayed to the gods, a champion was sent to fight the king in a wrestling match. The fight ended in a draw, and the two combatants became friends.
The ‘twist’ that occurs in Faith is that Gilgamesh’s people are being oppressed by the Sumerian gods and as a direct result of this, their king turns to Dahak (last ‘seen’ in the Xena episode Sacrifice, Part Two) for help. Hercules becomes an unwitting pawn in Gilgamesh's plans and, helping him find Ambrosia, is on the verge of unleashing the evil god. All that is required is a ‘warrior’s heart’ by way of the sacrifice of Gilgamesh’s sister Nebula. A dagger thrown by Gilgamesh at his sister is intercepted by lolaus, who dies as a result.
Appearing in Faith, his character has become known as 'The Man Who Killed lolaus.’ Todd himself was unaware of the fall-out that this episode caused with lolaus fans and was surprised to hear of his notoriety.
Having played two heroes and one villain (or at least, a good king turned bad by circumstances) in Hercules and Xena, Todd felt his villainous turn came over better on television.
“I enjoy playing both, although on a television programme, I think a villain is a more intense character as you don’t get a lot of time to develop it... although I felt that maybe Gilgamesh turned into a villain a little too quickly. I think that the Cecrops arc was delineated very well.”
Did any of the roles call for him to have an interest in Greek Mythology? “Well, I'm not a professor in it but I do enjoy reading,” says Todd, “so I have picked up a knowledge of it that way.” So other than those characters he has already played from Ancient Greece, are there any that he would still like to? “Ajax or Zeus. But I would be more interested in playing Cassius in Julius Caesar. I would prefer that to Othello.
“I love working in television, films and on the stage, but for me, I think that television is shot too quickly. It’s a machine, there for the purposes of making a particular episode and then moving on to the next. I have never made a regular appearance as a character on a television show and I don’t know whether I would want to.”
Having appeared at a number of fan conventions in the US and one in Bournemouth, England, Todd says that he likes meeting his fans and getting feedback from them. On doing more, he says “I have tried to ‘re-invent’ myself recently, as I have in the past done a lot of science fiction work. I felt that it was time to move on to other areas. I want to do something that lasts more than 45 minutes! I have to say that I like to meet the fans who look at my career as a whole, rather than the more single-minded ones who just follow one show. I would like to be known for the variety of roles that I have had.”
He certainly has had a varied career. In addition to his acting, for a while Todd taught playwriting to high school students. His work with children didn’t stop there: he has also spent a period as the Artistic Director of Free Me Truth Troupe, which works with ‘problem’ children around the US. “I would like to do some directing,” he says. “I am currently working on a script with my fiancée. My current ambition is to be in a play a year. Recently, I've been lucky enough to have been in plays by two of the greatest minds in modern theatre: August Wilson and Athol Fugard. So, one play and two good films a year is what I am looking at. It would have to be a special television series to attract me back, and there aren't any that I really want to appear in.
“I currently have several films ‘in the can’. One is Flight ISO, written by James Wong and Glenn Morgan of The X-Files, whilst another is The Secret which was shot in France... this was the first time I had ever done a love scene!”
If Tony Todd ever returns to Xena, perhaps to play a fourth character, can we really rule out the possibility of a love scene with the series' leading lady...?