How She Got the Role In Police Academy by Georgina Spelvin

Georgina Spelvin on Police Academy- Pt 2 by Georgina Spelvin

Police Academy – Part 3, Final by Georgina Spelvin

More than the thrill of meeting Big Bubba Smith, playing scenes with Steve  Guttenberg and Scotty Donovan, having pizza and watching TRON with the  producer’s teen-age son (no matter what the producer may have had in mind by  sending him to my room) or seeing some of the GREAT local theater in Toronto, I  am grateful to Paul Maslanski, the producer, for casting me in these two movies  primarily because the residuals enabled me to receive health-care benefits from  my union, the Screen Actors’ Guild until my retirement at age 65 made me  eligible to receive them anyway. God bless the union!

Not that I’ve had much occasion to use these benefits. I was blessed with the constitution of an iron bucket. Except for the self-inflicted damage to my toes from years of dancing on top of them, I have no maladies and rarely even get a cold. I think my scurilous past has provided me with the immune system of a sewer brat. Yes, John and I go to the gym every day after morning tea for me and coffee for him, but the truth is, John goes to the gym, I go to the spa  While he is cycling madly to nowhere, I’m in the sauna relaxing and getting a good massage.

Granted I have to do the massaging myself, but that – and getting myself basted  all over with Jergens lotion first – involves maximum stretching in order to  reach everything. Next, while he does his stretches and sit-ups and stuff, I  pose in front of the mirror – trying to get as close to proper ballet placement  as my challenged physique allows. I do make the round of the running track once,  doing not so very grand jetes, before heading to the steam room, jacuzzi, more  sauna, and finally a swim the length of the pool. I could swim all day, but  unless I want to drive to and from the gym myself – and I don’t – I have to  limit it to one sprint, but that’s enough to make me breathe hard. I had a  fishing buddy once down in San Diego who used to say, “Every day you gotta do at  least one thing that makes you breathe hard.” A hard swim wasn’t exactly what he  had in mind, but it works for me.

Other than Scotty (Donovan Scott), with whom John appeared on stage in improve  groups on several memorable occasions, I’ve not been in touch with any of the  cast or crew of the Police Academy films. But then, I didn’t keep in touch with  anyone from any of the films I was in. Probably because of moving every few  months during my childhood (Daddy was a “doodle-bugger” for an oil company) I  just never expected to see anyone I ever met ever again. I’m always delightfully  surprised when I do. Even the show folks I worked with in summer stock and  industrial productions were all the old “I loved you, Baby, but the show closed”
sort of relationships. Men were either current lovers, past lovers, or  prospective lovers; ladies were competition. Does rather narrow one’s field of  social interaction.

Why did I not tell more in my book about being in the Police Academy films – one  of the most treasured of my past experiences? I think I was still smarting – may  still be ambiguous about – the stigma thing. I was hired to play a hooker  because I made a reputation for myself as a sex film actress. I longed to be  hired because I was a good comedic actress. Hell, I was never hired because I  was a good comedic actress. Why should I have expected anything to change?

Now that I can see things from the lofty perspective of a grand old dame, I’m  sooooo grateful for ALL the rosey gardens I’ve fallen into. This current one of  having a Cindi Loftus to prod me into writing about my salty adventures, may be  the greatest one since John said he thought we ought to get married before one  or the other of us had to argue with a nurse in an emergency room.

Thanks, Cindi, for keeping the memory machine bubbling. Keep those questions  coming and I’ll keep trying to remember what happened. Sometimes I succeed better  than others. Times when I was sober – such as when I was in the Police Academy  films which were post AA – are somewhat easier to remember than the earlier ones for some reason. How about that?

(Cindi says- Georgie, you rock. I love you!)

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