Tag Archives: background performer

Mark Vogt – In Memoriam

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December 25, 1959 – July 29, 2024

I joined the Staten Island Athletic Club in 2008 just before Mark became the club President. At the time, we were both friendly, but not friends. I regarded Mark as a fast runner compared to my much slower pace and the difference in our abilities made me feel like I was not worthy enough to run with him. One day I was looking for a partner to run the High Rock Challenge with, an adventure race that required teams of two to compete together. I casually mentioned my request to Mark thinking that he would refer someone of my ability that I could be evenly matched up with. Mark surprised me by immediately saying, “I’ll do it with you!”. Seeing how quickly he offered to team up with me was the beginning of my understanding of the kind of fun and spontaneous person that Mark was.

Our team name was the “Damn Dirty Apes” which paid homage to our mutual love for the Planet of the Apes. And boy, did we get dirty! The following year, our team name was “Stupid is as Stupid Does”, this time an homage to Forrest Gump. During the race, we quoted famous lines from the movie and while we were running, we acted like the characters Lieutenant Dan and Forrest Gump. We competed again the following year as “Mild Mannered Men”. We each started the race dressed as two awkward Clark Kents in three-piece suits, large glasses and all. As soon as the start gun went off, we began to undress and throw our suits onto the ground to reveal our real identities as two supermen with the letter “S” emblazoned on our shirts. During that event, Mark and I both regressed to our childhood and assumed the role of Superman by ‘saving’ a pair of female runners who had lost their way along the course. “We’ll save you! Just follow us!” was something we probably said at the time. Year after year, Mark and I would participate in this event and have the time of our lives emulating various characters from film and TV.

Realizing how sociable and creative Mark was, I began to encourage him to join me in the world of background acting. I knew that his weakness was women, so I would share with him photos taken of me from film sets dressed in period clothes sandwiched between two adoring female fans. At the time, he was still working in the corporate world, but when that ended, he signed up to be a film extra. Working his first gig, he instantly fell in love with it.  Mark was a natural in front of the camera and got many juicy background roles including a cardinal, a high-ranking German ambassador to the UN, a gambler, a police officer, a doctor, and a zombie. Mark had many friends from background acting since he was funny, gracious, and very easy to talk to. Mark could make friends instantly with anyone who was within earshot of him.

Mark and I had the pleasure of working together as background actors in two different film productions. One was Masters of Sex, and no, the show wasn’t about men who physically conquered women. We portrayed doctors at a black tie event and were both dressed to the nines in tuxedoes. Boy, what an upgrade from that sweaty runner look! The other was The Knick which took place in the year 1900. Mark portrayed a low-class Irish tenement dweller while I was an Irish subway worker who survived a dynamite explosion…. but barely!  With a bloodied and scarred face and a fake bone protruding from my neck, Mark wryly exclaimed, “Josh, you look pretty blown up there buddy!

Mark was one of those friends who was both spontaneous and readily available for all situations. When I was very depressed. Mark took a bus from Staten Island and spent time with me in Brooklyn to help cheer me up. I’ll never forget that moment.

Mark and I began writing a book together years ago that we never finished. It’s about a man’s relationship to a woman, but with a superhero theme. The working title: Mild Mannered Men.  It was going to illustrate how a man can be the best version of himself in a world where respect for women by the opposite sex is often lacking. From my time writing with Mark, he was an excellent writer who was able to paint an elaborate picture using a pen.

We once recorded a rap song with the sound and style of Biggie Smalls.  Mark wrote the lyrics that he dedicated to SIAC.  We performed it live dressed as white rappers at the High Rock Challenge with large chains and race medals hanging from our necks.  Boy, did we have balls!

For a few years, I dabbled in filmmaking and Mark was always available when I needed someone to assist me. I once asked him to be the cinematographer for a music video about a father who lost his daughter due to a misunderstanding. The video starred my daughter and me and I needed Mark to help me film the scenes. Mark had just run many miles that morning in the snow and was physically knocked out. After his run, he graciously mustered the energy to film us performing in the snowy woods of the Staten Island Greenbelt. He captured all of the scenes and facial expressions beautifully which made this project extra special for my daughter and me. I view this video from time to time. Its message is forgiveness, something that we all need to practice more in our lives.

This music video was lovingly filmed by Mark Vogt

I was once asked to film a promo for a fundraiser that required someone to play a zombie. The zombie had to clack three empty beer bottles together like that famous bottle-clacking scene from The Warriors. Mark was totally game to portray the zombie who would later get his comeuppance by a sword-wielding child played by my daughter Emma. Before we filmed, I had to buy three ice-cold bottles of beer from the local store so that we could use them for the scene. Knowing that he was a dedicated beer drinker, I told Mark that I needed help emptying the bottles and if he could help me with that job. Boy, what laughs we both had as we savored those beers together!

Mark started as a runner who I knew but became a lot more to me as our friendship blossomed and grew due to our common interests. Our favorite phrase, ‘carpe diem’, inspired us to take chances and do adventurous and crazy things together, and at times, we were two men who became inseparable.  As Mark would say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”.

Mark was a poet, an actor, a writer, a photographer, a rap artist, and a filmmaker. Most importantly, he was a committed friend who was a role model for how I should live my life by living his own life to the fullest.

Mark, myself, and Lisa Cueva ‘rapping’ together after completing the 2014 High Rock Challenge. Mark and I pre-recorded the audio with Diane Klayman as the female singer, then lip-sang to our own words at the event. Notice the large chains and finisher medals around our necks. Video credit goes to Andy Cross. I am so grateful that Andy took this precious footage of us engaged in something that was way beyond our comfort zone.

Click on the button below to hear the complete audio track featuring the voices of Mark Vogt, Josh Pesin, and Diane Klayman. The melody was written by Biggie Smalls and the lyrics were rewritten by Mark Vogt.

Notorious S.I.A.C

In the promo for a fundraiser below, Mark agreed to star as the zombie who gets his comeuppance in the end by my daughter Emma. I thank Matt Lebow for asking me to create this promo.

Abra-Cadaver

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As a background actor, I’ve been trying to get work on the CBS show Blue Bloods for many years now.  The show stars Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg as members of a family of cops living a cop’s life in New York City.  After submitting for roles on that show for the past several years to no avail, I finally got my big break portraying a cadaver in a medical examiner’s room.  But this was not an ordinary dead guy casting call: they wanted experience.  Oh boy, did I have experience playing dead!  Several years ago, I played the featured dead body on an episode of Law & Order: SVU.  You can read all about it here.  When the casting agent from Central Casting called me, he told me that a lot of other actors they hired in the past didn’t know how to play dead people well.  I explained to him how effectively I played a dead guy before and he was impressed with my mad death skilz.  I was hired!

Dead Body Experience

The required wardrobe I needed to bring for this role was a bathrobe and a pair of warm-up pants.  This was in preparation for playing a cadaver who was pretty much lying naked on top of a medical examiner’s table.  Another actress and I were both to play dead and we were brought outside the studio to an awaiting makeup truck.  The truck was a large 18-wheeler, but designed inside with a fully-functional makeup room.  It took about an hour for the makeup people to apply the “Cadaver Grey” and “Dead Flesh” colors (you won’t find those in a box of Crayolas) to the upper half of my body as well as to my legs and feet.  I wasn’t going to be completely naked in the scene; this was network TV after all.  My nether-region would be covered with a sheet because dead people on these shows are never completely naked.  Underneath, I was actually wearing my warm-up pants.  The transformation from living to dead was unsettling even to me, especially once I closed my eyes to take a dead guy selfie before I was escorted off to set.

Healthy
Not looking too well
Dead as a doornail

Once on set, I hopped up on the stainless steel medical examiner’s table and was told by a crew member to lie down while they adjusted various items that would support my comfort during the scene.  They expected me to be lying half-naked on that table for the next few hours, so my comfort was their top priority.

After lying down for awhile, a very pretty-looking actress who was to portray the chief medical examiner approached me.  We shook eachother’s hands to introduce ourselves and then engaged in some small talk.  Another beautiful woman came by and stood next to her.  That woman was a real medical examiner.  Her job was to show the actress how to make the role look real.  One of the actions was for the actress was to lift up my limp arm, study it, then drop it back down.  During rehearsal, she man-handled it like it was a piece of dead meat.  The real M.E. showed her how to study it more thoughtfully and with more care.  Lying there with two hot women playing with my right arm is a memory that I will always keep.

Once all the actors were in their first positions, rehearsal of the scene began.  Actor Steve Shirripa of Sopranos fame portrays a police officer coming into the medical examiner’s room with his partner.  They’re discussing a woman’s death.  As they are approaching the M.E. to talk to her about it, she’s in the middle of examining a cadaver and that would be me.  In the scene, my body is awkwardly turned on it’s side while the M.E. is  examining my back.  After she says a few lines to the other actors who approach her, she topples my lifeless body back onto the table with a thud.  Being the consummate actor that I am, I just let gravity take it’s course and let it fall onto the table.  She then picks up my right arm, carefully examines it, gets irritated due to the topic of the conversation, then drops it down onto the table.

steve-schirripa-bridget-moynihan-blue-bloods-cbs

Actors Steve Shirripa and Bridget Moynahan.

During the entire scene which lasted for about three to four minutes, I had several challenges to contend with.  One was not moving, breathing, or even letting my chest move up and down.  As you can imagine, playing a dead person is not an easy thing to do.  As the camera began rolling during each take, I inhaled a bunch of breaths and then held my breath during the entirety of the scene.  Once the camera moved away from me did I catch my breath again.  Another challenge was to let the actress treat my body like a limp piece of dead meat.  I had to let my body flop down with a thud after she examined my back, then let my right arm flop down as well.  Running hard for seven miles a few hours before this gig helped to put me in a physically tired state which made my deadness look more believable.

In between takes, the site of me looking dead to the cast and crew was the butt of many jokes.  One of the crew members shouted out, “Is he really dead?!”.   Even Steve Shirripa made a comment about me.  From his angle, he saw the M.E. with her hands behind my back, but couldn’t see exactly what she was doing with those hands.  He said, “It really looks like she’s giving him a proctology exam”.  I cracked up which made everyone else crack up seeing the dead guy in stitches.

I worked this gig for about four hours.  When the scene was over, the crew began to break everything down to call it a day.  A toe tag was removed from my big toe.  I kept it as a souvenir.  According to the tag, my name was Tony Hernandez.  Sounds about right.

Screen Shot 2019-02-23 at 12.00.19 AM

The money I made from this cadaver role will help to pay for my daughter’s college tuition.  I hope that she knows how much her daddy has to kill himself for her education.

Post Script

A few months later, the episode aired on national TV and my scene came on as shown in the screenshots below.  I never had so much fun or made so much money laying down on the job.