My Worst Moment: Beau Bridges and the surreal moment on stage

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike

The career of Emmy winner Beau Bridges began early. Both he and brother Jeff Bridges appeared with their father on “Sea Hunt” as well as “The Lloyd Bridges Show,” and Beau’s career since has encompassed movies such as “Norma Rae,” “The Hotel New Hampshire,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” as well as TV series including “Homeland” and “Masters of Sex.”

His newest film is “Dreamin’ Wild,” where he plays the father of two middle-aged brothers who find musical success late in life. It’s based on a true story. “I’m always drawn to family stories,” said Bridges. “And I also love true stories. The guy that I portray, who has now become a friend of mine — I think he’s 91 now, still hauling timber up in the mountains — he had thousands of acres on this farm in Fruitland, Washington. His boys showed an interest in music when they were teenagers, so he sold off most of his farm and built them a recording studio there. This was back in the ‘70s. We actually filmed at their farm. But when they cut their first album, which was called ‘Dreamin’ Wild,’ the one part of the equation they left out was marketing. So the record kind of crapped out.” The story of the film is the rediscovery of that album three decades later.

Bridges will also star in the upcoming Apple TV+ series “Lessons in Chemistry” with Brie Larson, plus a film coming out called “The Neon Highway” which was “fun for me because I love music, especially country-and-Western music, and it’s about an older guy who’s a singer-songwriter who reinvigorates his career and has a second chance at finding fame.”

It’s been a long and varied career. When asked about a worst moment, he set the stage: “We’re talking March 1966 at the Billy Rose Theatre on Broadway. It was an incredible opportunity for me.”

He picks up the story from there.

My worst moment …

“I was in my mid-20s and I had the lead role in a play called ‘Where’s Daddy?’ by William Inge. I was working with a very celebrated Broadway actor named Hiram Sherman.

“We had a pivotal scene in the play where he was angry at me and he says something that upsets me. So after this argument between us, my character goes into the bathroom and I slam the door. Then Hiram has this long, very poignant monologue, it takes about three or four minutes, and then I come out and I’m still supposed to be upset.

“And one night, as I’m sitting there on the toilet while he does his monologue, all of a sudden the whole craziness of what I’m doing — being an actor — hits me. And I just start laughing as I’m waiting for my cue. And I’m laughing because, as actors, we’re called upon to do so many weird things and this just struck me as hysterically funny in this moment — that here I am, a young guy sitting on a toilet waiting to come out, and I’m supposed to be all emotional.

“It’s like when something strikes you funny when you’re in church (laughs). It’s the worst timing imaginable — and that makes it even harder to get ahold of yourself and control your emotions. I needed to go out and finish the scene and I’m supposed to be in tears. And I’m sitting in this little bathroom set and I’m laughing.

“It was just terrible because people paid good money to see this play.

“As it got closer to my cue, I was laughing so hard that I was actually crying. And it occurred to me that if you’re laughing really hard and it brings you to tears, you’re emoting in a way that’s very close to what it sounds like when you’re sobbing.

“So I was hoping that would fly (laughs). I’m sure Hiram saw what was going on and probably half the audience did too. I didn’t get booed off the stage or anything, but it was pretty horrible. I felt really bad about the whole thing.

“The play closed after two weeks and, now that I think of it, that probably increased the pressure on us as a cast, because we probably knew it was not being received well. So maybe that’s where some of that feeling was coming from.”

“I had done a lot of roles on camera at this point, but I had not appeared on stage much at all. And then I didn’t do Broadway again until about 10 years ago when I did ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ with Nick Jonas.”

Acting was the family business when Bridges was growing up, so why does he think he was suddenly struck by the absurdity of it all in this moment?

“I’m not sure. I enjoy the profession so much — it really is so much fun — so the humorous aspects of it don’t escape me. I feel it. But sometimes that can get in the way, because you can’t be distracted by any of that. You have to be disciplined and keep your focus and keep your behavior in line so you can do the job. And I think at that time, I was very young and still trying to figure it out.

“On stage, I was a novice. And in the theater, you’re out there without a net. There’s no take two. You’ve got to go for it.”

The takeaway …

“It was just a bizarre experience. But what we do as actors is bizarre.

“Something my dad told me that I’ve always tried to keep in mind is to be deliberate. Be prepared, be deliberate and stay focused. And this was one time when that got away from me.

“I was laughing in church, and you can’t do that. You have to respect the process of telling a story. It’s not just entertainment. It’s such an ancient, age-old thing. We were doing this thousands of years ago around the campfire, telling stories about what’s going on in the next village.”

Nina Metz is a TV and film critic at the Chicago Tribune, where she writes a regular series, “My Worst Moment.” Actors recall their worst moments and how their careers were shaped by them.

nmetz@chicagotribune.com