After the service he relocated to California. He first began to study acting at Orange Coast Jr., College in Costa Mesa, California (quite a difference from the Bronx). Talbot quickly took over the theater department and was the first student in school history to produce and direct a main stage show, which before then was only done by the instructors. In 1975, his final year at college he was cast and played five characters in the play “Lenny” for which he was nominated for, and won the “Irene Ryan Award” for “Best Actor“ and awarded a scholarship.
Using his scholarship he went on to study at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Hollywood, Ca. At the “Institute”, he studied with Pat Randall (who was Lee Strasberg’s favorite instructor).
Talbot also studied with Vera Vlasova, from the original “Moscow Art Theatre“ . Vera was a member of Stanaslavski’s original Prague Touring Group.
The first Hollywood play he auditioned for character Pepper White in a revival of the classic Broadway hit “Golden Boy”. After Talbot auditioned the director ran up on the stage, hugged Talbot and gave him the part right on the spot. Since then he’s done over 30 plays and a dozen or so films in which he’s played everything from characters to co-leading roles.
Besides acting, writing, producing and directing he has also successfully worked in film finance with several successful Hollywood production companies assisting them in raising capital to finance their films. Using his aquired knowledge from those jobs Talbot was able to personally create a partnership and personally raise all of the funds to make "Still the Drums".
Talbot has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television Artists, since 1975. He has been writing, and directing plays, writing screenplays, performing on stage, TV, and in films for over 30 years but "Still the Drums" represents the first written work of Talbot's ever produced. "Still the Drums" marks Talbot's writer, producer, director debut as a filmmaker, while simultaneously playing one of the lead roles.
Over the years Talbot has consistently received rave reviews and has been awarded for his work for both comedy and drama six seperate times.
Talbot has also performed stand-up comedy at some major clubs in Hollywood, on the Sunset Strip, like the "Laugh Factory", "Carlos and Charlie's", and the regular MC for Skippy Lowe's "Belly Room" at the world famous "Comedy Store" Talbot says that, "Without a doubt "Still the Drums" has been the hardest undertaking of my life and has given me a whole new respect for all filmmakers."
Mr. Fulvio is the former owner
and founder of the Venture
Theater in beautiful downtown
Burbank, California which he
personally built in 1983. He
was the recipient of the 1994
prestigious “Valley Theatre
League Award” for Best Stage
Manager. Mr. Fulvio has
designed sets, built sets,
painted sets, dressed sets,
lit sets. He has been hands on
with contracts, insurance, press materials and all other applications concerning the operation of production.
As always Mr. Fulvio has been, and is taking this same hands on approach to assure that no stone is left unturned in providing the highest production quality for the motion picture “Still the Drums”. It was Mr. Fulvio’s brilliant idea, to first shoot a video storyboard, which to date has saved well over $1 million in production costs and has helped to immensely raise the production quality and production value of the film.
A graduate of Loyola University, Los Angeles, CA Richard Fulvio entered “the biz” by enrolling in acting class at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Hollywood, California. There he studied under one of Mr. Strasberg’s protégé’s Pat Randall. Upon moving to New York City he continued his studies under world renowned acting teachers Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen. He also studied Script Interpretation with Stella Adler. While in New York he appeared in the theatrical production of “When the Young Wine Blooms” with Academy Award winner Celeste Holm and the theatrical production of “Arrival and Departure” written and directed by two time Academy Award winning screenwriter and Pulitzer prize winner, Horten Foote (“To Kill a Mockingbird” 1962 & “Tender Mercies” 1983).
Upon returning to Los Angeles he founded and built The Venture Theatre in Burbank, California. The ribbon at he grand opening ceremony was cut by special guest Olivia Newton John. Most notably at the Venture he produced the musical “Pepper Street” and the comedy “An Oasis in Manhattan”. “Pepper Street” starring Jill Schoelen had a hit run of nine months.
March 14, 1989 was officially proclaimed “Pepper Street Day” by the City Council of Los Angeles and Mayor Tom Bradley for it’s “sponsoring of over 2,000 troubled youths” (re: drug abuse, teen suicide) and its “entertainment that inspire, educate and promote self-esteem, respect for life and the triumph of the human spirit.” “An Oasis in Manhattan” starring two time Golden Globe winner Vic Tayback.
Throughout his career Richard has been very hands on. He has dealt with contracts, insurances, press materials and all other applications concerning the operation of both individual productions, and the owning and operation of the day to day activity of a live theatre. He has designed and collaborated on flyers, programs, and all other production materials. As a theatre owner he has done everything from selling tickets to customer relations. As an actor, producer, and crew member he has worked with fellow actors, crew, designers, writers, producers, and directors to their joy in his presenting only the finest quality in all forms of production.
"Still the Drums" is post Vietnam war mystery about friendship, patriotism, heroism and post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.).
It‘s about the men not the war. About the unsung war heroes. The heroic frontline soldiers who while on the battlefield and under the most extreme, and adverse life threatening conditions are still able to hang on to their humanity and make a stand to do what's right.
“Still the Drums” is a revealing story about the suffering of soldiers who have kept their deeds, guilt and war experiences buried in their hearts and minds forever. Never to tell their stories….Until now!
Producer, writer, director,
“THE ILLUSION OF WAR”
by Richard LeGallienne (1866 - 1947)
War
I abhor,
And yet how sweet
The sound along the marching street
Of drum and fife, and I forget
Wet eyes of widows, and forget
Broken old mothers, and the whole
Dark butchery without a soul.
Without a soul--save this bright drink
Of heady music, sweet as hell;
And even my peace-abiding feet
Go marching with the marching street,
For yonder, yonder goes the fife,
And what care I for human life!
The tears fill my astonished eyes
And my full heart is like to break,
And yet 'tis all embannered lies,
A dream those little drummers make.
O it is wickedness to clothe
Yon hideous grinning thing that stalks
Hidden in music, like a queen
That in a garden of glory walks,
Till good men love the thing they loathe.
Art, thou hast many infamies,
But not an infamy like this;
O snap the fife and still the drum,
And show the monster as she is.
The title of "Still the Drums" was derived from a line in a poem titled “The Illusion of War” written by Richard Le Gallienne, at the end of American Civil War. The poem is about the lure of the music and how easily our spirits are captured by the false illusion created by the beat of the marching drum and joyful sounding fife as the parade goes passing, thus causing us to forget what the real horror of a march off to war truly means.
Please donate to the Veteran's charity of your choice.
"Still the Drums" was completely financed by hard working Americans who want to live in peace.
Mr. Simons and Mr. Fulvio started American Patriot Pictures, LLC on January 17, 2007 and Patriot Partners, Limited Partnership on February 15, 2007
Dedicated to Allen Lee Kalman and George Albert Simonelli.
