Scott Baio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scott Vincent Baio (born September 21, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor, best known for the roles of Chachi Arcola on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi, and Charles on Charles in Charge. He is the cousin of actor Jimmy Baio.
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[edit] Career
In 1976, he played the title character Bugsy Malone in a cult film kiddie musical directed by Alan Parker that also co-starred Jodie Foster. They were reunited again in the 1980 teen girl drama Foxes helmed by Adrian Lyne.
When he was 16 years old, Baio landed his most famous role as Fonzie's tough little cousin, Charles 'Chachi' Arcola, on the popular television show Happy Days. For his charismatic juvenile performance in the series, he received his first Young Artists Award as Best Young Comedian in Television or Motion Pictures, during the Third Annual Youth in Film Awards. In 1982 he starred in a spin-off of Happy Days entitled Joanie Loves Chachi, which lasted only one season (Baio would return to "Happy Days" for its final season).That same year, he appeared opposite future Charles in Charge co-star Willie Aames in the film Zapped!, the story of a boy who obtains telekinesis and uses it to "zap" the clothing off of attractive females.
Baio made his first album for RCA in 1982. The eponymous album featured such songs as "What Was in That Kiss," "How Do You Talk to Girls," and "Wanted for Love." He recorded a second album, The Boys Are Out Tonight, for RCA in 1983. The album featured songs such as "Some Girls," "She's Trouble,"and "Fingerprints".
During his Happy Days run, Baio also became known as the star of after school specials such as The Boy Who Drank Too Much and Stoned, which earned him a second Young Artists Award as Best Young Actor in a Television Special. He also received two Emmy Award nominations, for Stoned in 1981 and for All The Kids Do It in 1985.
In 1984, after Happy Days ended, Baio starred as a male nanny on Charles in Charge, a show that remained on the air until 1990.
Since the end of Charles in Charge, Baio has appeared in various short-lived sitcoms, including Baby Talk (1991) and Rewind, which was picked up by the FOX network in 1998 but was canceled before any episodes aired. Between 1992 and 1995, he played Dr. Jack Stewart in Diagnosis: Murder. He also became a television director, working on a variety of programs, and worked for Thirty Second Films, a production firm specializing in TV commercials.
Baio also starred in the independent films:
- Very Mean Men directed by Tony Vitale was a gangster comedy involving a mob war between two syndicate families. The ensemble cast included Matthew Modine, Martin Landau, Ben Gazzara, Burt Young, Charles Durning and Louis Fletcher. Scott enacted the pivotal role of impetuous crime scion, Paulie Minnetti, who instigates the crime feud by refusing to tip a waitress. Baio garnered this laudatory quote from Variety: "a career-reviving turn by Scott Baio with hair dyed blonde and sporting a white goatee." Baio also served as a co-producer (with his older brother Steven).
- Face To Face (a.k.a. "Italian Ties") helmed by Ellie Kanner was a bittersweet comic drama about three young men (Scott Baio, Thomas Calabro and Carlo Imperato) who kidnap their fathers (Dean Stockwell, Alex Rocco and Joe Viterelli) for a weekend of genuine male bonding. It won the Audience Prize for Best Comedy at the Marco Island Film Festival, the Silver Screen Accolade in the Reno Film Festival and the 10 Degrees Hotter Best Feature Award during the Valley Film Festival. Scott co-wrote the screenplay with Jeffrey Gurian.
- The Bread, My Sweet (a.k.a. "A Wedding For Bella") directed by Melissa Martin and produced by Adrienne Wehr was a gentle romance about love, family and delicious cooking among the Italian-American community in Pittsburgh. Baio starred as Dominic Pyzola, a hard-edged corporate raider in the daytime and a kind-hearted local baker at night. This independent picture collected multiple top accolades from the Santa Monica, Stony Brook, Marco Island, Houston Worldfest and Iowa Hardacre film festivals. Scott himself earned three Best Actor prizes in the Atlantic City Film Festival, the Kansas City Halfway To Hollywood Film Festival and the San Diego Film Festival.
Baio also had a recurring role on Arrested Development for the FOX sitcom's third season in autumn 2005, playing the Bluth family's new lawyer, Bob Loblaw (so named because it sounds like "bah blah blah" when spoken, similar to his Happy Days catchphrase of "wah wah wah"). He took over the role of legal counselor from his former Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler (Fonzie). Baio appeared in four memorable episodes of the cult show before it ended: "Forget Me Now," "Notapusy," "Mr. F," and "Making A Stand."
In August 2006, Scott Baio was formally invited by the AIA Actors Studio to discuss his professional experiences as a working thespian and director in television and movies. He offered a unique insider's perspective on the entertainment business and talked about his lengthy acting career plus his recent forays into writing, directing and producing.
[edit] Personal
Baio is of Italian-American descent. Scott Baio had attended Xaverian High School for a short period of time. He later graduated from North Hollywood High School.
Unlike many of his fellow actors in Hollywood, Baio is a very conservative Republican. He was a member of Young Americans for Freedom. He was one of the famous guests in attendance at President Ronald Reagan's state funeral. The New York Daily News published Michelle Caruso's article "A Goodbye as the Sun Sets in the West" (dated June 12, 2004), which mentioned Baio, who had been seated near former UK. Prime Minister and Baroness Margaret Thatcher: "Scott Baio, who played Chachi on the hit sitcom Happy Days, said: President Reagan made me feel proud to be an American. Today, I feel sadness."
Baio is also famous for dating several very popular actresses over the years. Among them, his Joanie Loves Chachi co-star Erin Moran, Baywatch actresses Pamela Anderson, Erika Eleniak and Nicole Eggert (the latter co-starring with Baio on Charles In Charge prior to Baywatch); Natalie Raitano, Nicolette Sheridan, Brooke Shields, Denise Richards, and Heather Locklear. Baio twice was engaged to Anderson, but it was called off both times. His success with women led to his induction into The Man Show Hall of Fame on July 21, 1999.
He recently wrote a book (in collaboration with Keith and Kent Zimmerman) entitled "BaioWatch: How I Dated and Loved Hollywood's Most Beautiful Women and Ended Up Alone". Scott blows the lid off his relationships and sexual exploits as well as losing his virginity to Erin Moran, who played his girlfriend Joanie on Happy Days and its spinoff. [1] Now in final form, said memoirs is currently being shopped around for a publisher.
In 1992, a University of St. Thomas fan club was established for Scott Baio, which was the 10,000th recorded Scott Baio fan club. Fan club president Mark Quayle organized a letter writing campaign seeking 10,000 letters to Baio to try to persuade him to come to St. Paul to commemorate the event. Despite his failure to appear, the club still meets regularly.
[edit] Cultural references
- More obscurely, Baio has become a recurring character in the online comic strip Goats.
- In the first South Park episode, Cartman said he had a dream where Baio gave him pinkeye.
- In the movie Orgazmo, created by and starring the creators of South Park, the character of Sancho says, "Are you Sancho? No you are not. Neither is Scott Baio Sancho. Frank Gifford is not Sancho. But I... ."
- Two of Baio's TV roles were mentioned in the song "Hey Ladies" by the Beastie Boys.
- Scott was also mentioned in the episode of Family Guy called "Fore, Father", when Peter says, "They call this the magic hour. The day's not quite gone, but the night's not quite here and somewhere, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love."
- There is a reference to Baio in an episode of the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear. Greg and Jimmy go clubbing, and they hear that Baio is inside the club performing magic tricks.
- In a Season 1 episode of the Canadian TV hit show, Trailer Park Boys, while exercising his one-of-a-kind ability to talk his way out of yet another small crime (stealing auto parts), Ricky, Sunnyvale Trailer Park resident, ridicules one of the police officers present by calling him Chachi to which the irritated officer responds, "It's Officer Poole, not Chachi!"
- There is also a reference in a song "You Gonna Eat Alla That?" by the band Here Come the Mummies: "Hey oh, hey oh...got your meat and two potatoes, hey oh, hey oh white and creamy like Scott Baio."
- In the online game Kingdom of Loathing, there is an item called the Talisman of Baio. This item is obtained by fighting "The Baiowulf," a monster with the appearance of Baio as a werewolf.
- There's a local Grindcore band in Denver named the Scott Baio Army.
- On the Late Night with Conan O'Brien talk show, Conan O'Brien frequently references Baio as a nostalgic but now presumably obscure celebrity. (For example, on a bit about SAT analogies- "Model T:Impossible to find a part::Scott Baio:Impossible to get a part.") He often follows such a reference with an a cappella rendition of the first lines of the theme song to Charles in Charge.
- Christian punk band Relient K cover the "Charles in Charge" theme song (with their own additional verses) on their self-titled 2000 album.
- In an episode of the third season of NCIS (episode 6) Scott Baio is mentioned as making an appearance in a nearby mall.
- In The Simpsons episode "Homie the Clown", Homer boasts that the kids weren't complaining when he got them this close to Chachi while impersonating Tom Bosley. Bart then asks "What's a Chachi?"
- In the 1980's, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait would open many of his stand-up concerts by shouting "Scott Baio is the Anti-Christ!"
- In the 1998 teen flick "Can't Hardly Wait", Ethan Embry feels unrequited love for Jennifer Love Hewitt and later obtains some needed romantic advice from Jenna Elfman who remembers her own intense crush on Scott Baio and recalls seeing him up-close at a grand supermarket opening.
[edit] Selected Filmography (actor)
- Van Stone: Tour of Duty (2006) (TV) .... Lt. Perry
- "Arrested Development" .... Bob Loblaw (4 episodes, 2005)
- SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004) .... Stan Bobbins
- Face to Face (2001) .... Richie
- The Bread, My Sweet (2001) .... Dominic
- Face Value (2001) .... Barry Rengler
- Dumb Luck (2001) .... Steve Hitchcock
- Very Mean Men (2000) .... Paulie Minetti
- "Veronica's Closet" .... Kevin (2 episodes, 2000)
- Bar Hopping (2000) (TV) .... Damian
- Detonator (1998) .... Zack Ramses
- "The Nanny" .... Dr. Frankie Cresitelli (1 episode, 1998)
- "Rewind" (1997) TV Series .... Rob DiPaulo
- "Diagnosis Murder" .... Dr. Jack Stewart (1993-1995)
- I Love N.Y. (1987) .... Mario Cotone
- "Charles in Charge" .... Charles
- The Truth About Alex (1986) (TV) .... Brad Stevens
- Alice in Wonderland (1985) (TV) .... Pat (The Guinea Pig)
- Zapped! (1982) .... Barney Springboro
- Senior Trip (1981) (TV) .... Roger Ellis
- Stoned (1980) (TV) .... Jack Melon
- Foxes (1980) .... Brad
- The Boy Who Drank Too Much (1980) (TV) .... Buff Saunders
- Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979) .... Richie
- "Fantasy Island" .... Rob 'Robbie' Collins (1 episode, 1979)
- "Happy Days" .... Charles 'Chachi' Arcola (1977-1984)
- "The Love Boat" .... Graham (1 episode, 1977)
- Bugsy Malone (1976) .... Bugsy Malone
- Luke Was There (1976) (TV) .... Julius
