Where Are They Now?

[Pink Flaming0]

From the book "The Making Of Miami Vice by MacGregor and MacGregor.They added this chapter in 2010 and I found it pretty interesting.When this book was published by Ballantine in 1986, Ronald Reagan was presidentand George H.W. Bush was the VP.The Berlin Wall still stood.Microsoft held its first initial public offering of stock in the company.The Oprah Winfrey Show premiered.The median household income in the U.S. was less than $25,000 a year,unemployment was around seven percent.Fox, the fourth TV network, was in its infancy.Pixar was created by Steve Jobs and Apple introduced the Mac Plus, which had onemegabyte of RAM, a new keyboard that contained cursors and numeric keypad. It soldfor $2,600.Cell phones were the size of coffee makers.The space shuttle Challenger blew up 86 seconds after its launch.In Hands Across America, 5,000,000 people joined hands from New York City toLong Beach, California to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.Out of Africa won the Oscar for best picture.And Miami Vice was the ninth most popular TV show, after just one season.A sense of history helps to put it all into perspective.On a personal level, we had been married for about three years. We had quit ourfull-time jobs (reporter, teacher) when Trish had sold her novel, In Shadow, to Ballantine,and Rob had landed a ghostwriting project for the CEO of a company in Washington,D.C. that had been contracted by Ballantine. We needed another project and the VICEproject came our way.The project included accommodations in a Miami Beach condo near the VICEheadquarters while we were interviewing the cast and crew. We also were sent to LosAngeles where the editing and music was handled, and that's where we interviewedMichael Mann.The project had a short deadline, about two months, so we put all of our efforttowards it. The tight deadline was common for such projects in the 1980s whenpublishers were bringing out numerous movie tie-in titles. While reading the book overafter all these years, we were surprised by how much detail we were able to pack intothe chapters, and we wondered how we had done it in such a short time.From actors to directors to the behind-the-scenes people, nearly everyone we met inMiami and LA was helpful and accommodating. The two big exceptions here were DonJohnson and Philip Michael Thomas. Johnson turned down our request for an interviewfirst, then Thomas followed suit. Our chapters on the two main stars of the series werepatched together from information provided by people who worked on the show, fromour observations of the men when we were on the set, and our research.When we spoke with Michael Mann that day in his cave-like office with its blackwalls and starry black ceiling, we asked him if he could encourage Johnson and Thomasto grant us interviews. He looked sort of embarrassed and explained he didn't have anycontrol over who they spoke to – or didn't. End of story, in other words.As a result, we gave no preference in placement or length to Don Johnson's chapter.He appeared not as the star he was, but as one of the cast members. When the bookcame out, one of the other actors told us she saw Johnson reading the book on the set.We laughed and wondered if he regretted not giving an interview to bolster his chapter.By contrast, Eddie Olmos invited us to his home, where we sat out on his beautifulporch and talked movies and karma. John Diehl invited us to his apartment and servedus cake and we talked about cats, life, and the universe. Michael Mann and his music,editing, sound people, casting director, assistants and sub-assistants were gracious andgenerous with their time.Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas apparently believed the hype aboutthemselves. They were the guys who made the show. They could do whatever theywanted. They were going places.So it seems appropriate to start this retrospective with Don Johnson and PhilipMichael Thomas.Don JohnsonAfter the cancellation of VICE in 1990, Johnson didn't find steady work until 1996with Nash Bridges, another cop show, this one featuring Johnson as a smart aleck SanFrancisco cop with an oddball partner played by Cheech Martin. Sounds okay, right? Itnever compared the VICE, and Johnson filed a lawsuit claiming he was stiffed out of his50 percent copyright interest in the show. He was originally awarded $23.2 million indamages, which a judge increased to $50 million after factoring in interest. Not bad. Butan appeals court trimmed it down to $20 million.In May 2008, Johnson came within hours of losing his Woody Creek, Colorado hometo foreclosure. He paid off his $14.5 million debts less than 24 hours before a scheduledauction of the property.Johnson has appeared in several European movies in recent years, and plays asecondary role in Quentin Tarrantino's Django Unchained, about a slave-turned-bountyhunter.Philip Michael ThomasFor a guy who was such a poster child for Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, it'skind of sad that Thomas faded into obscurity. This was the guy, after all, who wore anecklace with the letters EGOT on it. That stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony,the awards he set out to win for his various performances. Unfortunately, he hasn't wonany of these awards and after VICE was cancelled, he struggled to find steady workanywhere in Hollywood.His emphasis on positive thinking has led him to make some unusual commentsover the years, such as: "Once you get to the mountain top that's where you really beginto climb." He also is quoted as saying: " Some people never live a day in a lifetime. I livea lifetime in a day."He appeared in a few B-movies and finally, in 1994, signed up with Florida basedPsychic Friends Network (Dionne Warwick and psychic Linda Georgian were alsofeatured) where he became the spokesman for the Philip Michael Thomas PsychicConnection. He was subsequently replaced with Miss Cleo. Thomas sued for breach ofcontract and won. In 2002 a New York arbitrator awarded Thomas $1.48 million forimproper use of his name and likeness and an additional $780,000 in interest.In 2007, he reportedly was working on his autobiography. As he once said: "Lookdeep into the mirror of your soul and discover a wonderful truth, the greatest bookyou'll ever know is written and lived by you."Saundra SantiagoShe played Detective Gina Calabrese on VICE. When the series ended, she spentthree years playing a crime boss, Carmen Santos, on CBS's soap opera, Guiding Lightand simultaneously appeared in a recurring role on The Sopranos. She has been on OneLife to Live and has had roles in various TV movies.Olivia BrownShe played Trudy Joplin on VICE. When the series ended, she continued to act onother TV shows - Designing Women, Beverly Hills 90210, Moesha, Lois & Clark, Dear John,and 7th Heaven. She has also appeared in several movies.John DiehlHe played Detective Larry Zito and quit after three seasons to pursue other projects.To date, he has appeared in more than 80 films and has made more than 40 appearanceson various TV shows. One of his more notable roles was in The Shield (2002-2008), wherehe appeared in eight episodes as Ben Gilroy, Assistant Chief of the LAPD, who was afriend and supporter of Vic Mackey.In the 1994 film Stargate, about an interstellar teleportation device, he played CharlesKawalsky. In Oliver Stone's movie, Nixon, Diehl played G. Gordon Liddy. (Oddlyenough, the real Liddy was a guest on VICE in an episode called "Back in the World.")Michael TalbottHe played Detective Stanley Switek on VICE. Since the series ended, he has been inother TV series –M*A*S*H, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Eight is Enough. He also hashad minor roles in several movies - Carrie, Big Wednesday, Any Which Way You Can,Manhunter, First Blood. He is also known as an outspoken advocate for the NationalRifle Association.Eddie OlmosHe played Lt. Martin Castillo. After VICE ended, Olmos went on to appear innumerous movies, was the first American-born Latino to be nominated for an Oscar forbest actor in Stand and Deliver, and from 2003-2009 he was Commander William Adamsin the Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica miniseries and in the related television seriesthat followed. Most recently, he appeared in the sixth season of Dexter.Olmos is an activist for Latino issues.Michael MannThe executive producer of VICE impressed us as the consummate multi-tasker, soit's not surprising that he found life after VICE, primarily as a director of feature films.Here are some of them: Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Ali, Collateral, The Aviator,and the film adaptation of Miami Vice, with Colin Farrell as Crockett and Jamie Foxx asTubbs.In 2010, he directed the pilot for a new HBO TV series, Luck. It was renewed for asecond season, but was eventually cancelled because of the deaths of three horsesduring production.

[Matt5]

Great info - thanks

[Pink Flaming0]

Bump!

[Icemanmike]

I found it interesting that Saundra was in Soprano's.... Cool!!

[Matt5]

I cant remember Sandra Santiago having a very big part in "The Sopranos" at all - she also appeared in a very small role in Damages Season 1 in 2007 starring Glenn Close and Ted Danson

[Matt5]

Sandra Santiago  appeared in 4 episodes from 1999-2001 in a small supporting role just checked, B)

[miamijimf]

Here is Carlos Cestero (full name Carlos Augusto Cestero Moscoso) who guest starred in Kill Shot as: Frank Ariolla and in Borrasca as: Arturo Oribe as well as the the anti-drug international crusader that Tony was supposed to kill in Scarface.  He is my Facebook friend under his full name, is doing well, and is a nice guy.  Unfortunately he doesn't know what happened to María Duval who played Isabell Batista in Kill Shot.  I think she retired from acting.

 

[Dadrian]

Crazy piece of info (you may already know):

Scotty Palmer (good ole “Miami Vicer”) now owns the screen-worn suit in the pic above. 

[miamijimf]

Dadrian - Interesting, news to me.  You should friend Carlos on FB and tell him, he would like that.  If you're not a FBer I'll tell him but would have to know more about it.

 

[Dadrian]

14 minutes ago, miamijimf said:

Dadrian - Interesting, news to me.  You should friend Carlos on FB and tell him, he would like that.  If you're not a FBer I'll tell him but would have to know more about it.

 

I’m not on FB, but Scotty is, and he told him.

I’m sure it was a “touching piece of nostalgia”.