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Neon Empire
This movie is about the New York Jewish mob building the first Vegas casino.
This was a made-for-TV mini-series telling the tale of how Las Vegas, Nevada came to be built into the legal gambling capitol of America back in the 1940s and 50s. Showtime was a fledgling cable net when the series went into production. Directing was Hollywood TV veteran Larry Peerce who I would work with later on The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson. He cast me as Walter Bates, Sheriff of Clark County, Nevada in the days when mob money was being poured into the area to finance Bugsy Seigel and Meyer Lanskys dream of a gambling oasis rising from the Mojave Desert.
Mine was a solid role and I got to arc the character across episodes from straight- forward country cop to crooked politician on the take. We shot a lot of the film in the Nevada desert and it was great fun after work sitting with veterans like Martin Landau and Harry Guardino telling old-time Hollywood stories. Those guys could make the finest Caesar Salad in the world with just some basic ingredients from the hotel kitchen
and they insisted on doing it themselves. Fellow actors Ray Sharkey and Gary Busey both of whom I would work with later in other films were also were great fun on and off the set. At this point, I was beginning to feel as if I could really be a working actor and generous tips from vets like these guys were extremely helpful.
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