Sam Ayers: Online Chat

Sam Ayers met with fans at the Sam Ayers Appreciation Club for an online chat February 2, 2002. Below is the transcript of the questions and answers given during the chat.

Chat Participant: Sam was it different filming 24 where each episode is one hour in a day versus filming Alias or The Pretender, are there different production things they do.

samayers1: Re: 24, it's pretty much the same as shooting tP or Alias.

Chat Participant: So it isn't timed differently or clocked differently. What is...Kiefer Sutherland like?

samayers1: I can't really answer that. I got to say "Hi" in passing, but our scenes aren't together.

Chat Participant: Is it harder being a stunt or a speaking character?

samayers1: There are different challenges in each craft (stunts vs. acting). I was always an actor first, but I had athletic abilities and saw a way to make a paycheck. There are really good stunt men out there who are professionals and are incredible. They can do STUNTS and know the tech and gadgets and everything that goes with that. And some don't act. But I started out as an actor first.

Chat Participant: Isn't it usually the other way around, they start has stunts then pass on to acting

samayers1: Yes, that's very true. And some do just one or the other, not both. My career really started out in a vaudevillian way. I was a pro mascot and I did games -- it was like a little schtick. People really liked it. I created a character called The Medicine Man. I would spell teams names out with my body. But I wasn't in a costume (ala the chicken) so you could see me.

Chat Participant: What was the mascot of the Texas Rangers?

samayers1: The Rangers mascot was just a guy in shorts and a shirt, a "guy in the stands" character. I wanted to develop the Texas Ranger because Waco is close by to the stadium; the Texas Rangers hall of fame is in Waco. I wanted to get into the history and costume of it and start a Deputy Rangers Club. The program would be geared around anti-drug, etc., and would be a kids club -- they could meet the team, etc. It would use the synergy of the Rangers. But they didn't want to budget for it. Later in life I did get to play a Texas Ranger in the Wild West Stunt Show in Florida.

Chat Participant: What's the hardest letter to spell with the human body?

samayers1: Q is the hardest letter.

Chat Participant: How do you do that one?

samayers1: You try it...then you'll know. I can't reveal my secrets; we're in pre-production for the aerobic alphabet for kids.

Chat Participant: Did you ever play in the California Wild West Show?

samayers1: Yes, I did both FL and CA, though they were two totally different shows. Two different shows dealing in horsemanship.

Chat Participant: What time frame? (I may have caught your act.) and What did you do in the shows?

samayers1: Last millenium, '97-2000 was the Wild West Show in CA. I was an alternate. I probably did maybe 100 shows, compared to over 1400 in FL. I played Brett Taylor, was a stunt coordinator and did all the horsemanship in the show.

Chat Participant: Sam, Did you have the chance to work with Jennifer Garner when she appeared on TP? And, how was it working with her on Alias?

samayers1: Didn't meet or work with Jennifer Garner prior to Alias. She was wonderful to work with.

Chat Participant: Wow that is alot of shows, so you are an expert horseman I presume?

samayers1: I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I know my way around a horse.

Chat Participant: Did you learn horsemanship as a hobby first or did you take it up for your craft?

samayers1: I learned it at the Wild West Stunt Show, trained by Gibb Stepp -- went to Gibbville a lot. And I learned some training from Jugg Reynolds here in CA.

Chat Participant: What is Gibbville?

samayers1: "DO IT AGAIN, ONE MORE TIME!"

Chat Participant: Did you fell many or very few times, from a horse i mean?

samayers1: I was shot off the horse every show, at a good gallop, hitting a 4'x8' pad covered in fybar (fybar=wood chips, sort of like a mulch but with more texture).

Chat Participant: Did you ever miss the pad? and Ever break anything valuable? Like bones?

samayers1: It's a great stunt...looks good, riding out at a 3/4 gallop, coming around the back of the stage. If you miss...well you don't want to miss. No bones broken. Some great subcutaneous hematomas.

Chat Participant: Did you and that particular horse became friends? Because i hear that if you talk to a horse he will go easy on you the next time. and Sam are you a Horse Whisperer?

Goldie put me in the hospital. Knucklehead was the most spirited. And Cody, the palomino, was consistent, muscular and could do a rear that would reach the moon. Check out the pic of me on Cody that's in the gallery on my site. Knucklehead was a great horse though -- fast, an old track horse. Before Universal was built up in FL, we had probably 40 acres of open land. We used to go out riding. There was a road that ran alongside for a clip. I would always pretend I was in an old western movie; Laurel and Hardy or Chaplin would come driving along in an old Model T, and I would ride in behind and pretend I was shooting at 'em. We'd go racing down the road like the old Roy Rogers flicks.

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