Hollywood movie experiences

Kearney at the "Long Road Home" location in San Juan Bautista, California.

Kearney poses with car,dog, shack town and "Grapes of Wrath" type costume, ready for his role in "Long Road Home". Usually you are not allowed to shoot photos on a movie set, but this crew didn't seem to mind.

Kearney has a speaking scene in:"Creator" with world famous actor Peter O'Toole in downtown Santa Cruz, California! Here are newspaper clippings about some of the films I was involved with. Some other films I got to work on were: "Sudden Impact","Long Road Home","Terminator II" and "Pursuit of Happyness". (Mariel Hemingway and Peter O'Toole's autographs are on the card. Click photo to see more detail.


Candid Photos of Peter O'Toole by Ken Kearney.



Candid photos of Peter O'Toole with Ken Kearney during filming of "Creator". Location: downtown Santa Cruz.


Ken Kearney with Vikki Dougan on Rodeo Drive, L.A. during her birthday party dinner. (It was just the two of us.) I was doing some photo work in Los Angeles, California in the 1980's and got to know this famous and beautiful model. Vikki had appeared in several films too. She had even been on the cover of Life Magazine. (Polaroid camera shot with self timer).

Here are some of the magazine covers Vikki appeared on.


Vikki was known as "The Back". In her heyday,everything came to a halt when she walked through the door! Here is a Hollywood Associated Press photo of her at a party. (This shot appeared in a 1957 Playboy magazine story).



"SUDDEN IMPACT" candid photos by Ken Kearney
Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke on location:Pacific Ave. Santa Cruz, CA
Actress Sondra Locke talks with crew prior to her next scene. Location: Pacific Ave. Santa Cruz, California.

Clint Eastwood on location in Santa Cruz (circa:1983) during the filming of "Sudden Impact". note:The female in the background is also in the insert studio photo I shot. I was an extra portraying a "cop" in a scene at Natural Bridges State Beach in this movie.

Cartoon I created of the movie action. I'm the cop holding back the crowd at a murder scene. Pat Hingle, Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke are the center of attention. This was my first time at being a movie extra!

Here's the story that appeared in Hollywood Studio Magazine. click on photo for detail.



Candid Photos by Ken Kearney of actor Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon during 1975 filming of "The Entertainer" at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.


Crowd of extras with Jack at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, California. Click photos to see more detail.


Jack Lemmon rests between scenes.


Candid B/W Photos of Heuy Lewis at Santa Cruz Beach during music video shoot.
Heuy Lewis gets cozy with make-up artist for a touch-up. B/W photos by Kearney.

Candid photo by Kearney from the San Jose, CA location for "Kiss Shot", starring Whoppi Goldberg. Kearney was an extra playing the part of a body-guard.

Rough Sketches From Memory to do With " The Pursuit Of Happyness" starring Will Smith. circa 2005
POH as "The Pursuit of Happyness" was called on the set, employed a hugh supporting cast and crew. Every evening before the next days shoot, the extras needed to call in to the casting phone number. The extras were then informed where the shooting location would be in San Francisco, and what time to report to "home base". I worked for over two months on the film, mostly as a driver. I had a tan 1981 Buick-Skylark, just what was needed for the time setting of this movie. When I would get to "home-base" (one of the piers along the waterfront) early in the morning, the full moon would be lighting up the San Francisco skyline. The extras would line up for breakfast under the starlit skies before going to costume and make-up.
The crew was interesting to watch. They all had a certain job to take care of. Their clothing had a "grunge-look". They had to work tirelessly. There were a lot of props and people to keep track of. Sometimes whole city blocks were shutdown while the film action took place!

Casting Agent: Judy Bouley. Candid photo by Kearney in Aptos, CA location during "Brotherhood of Justice". circa:1983
Judy Bouley was a very kind casting agent. She placed me in my first role as a cop with Clint Eastwood in "Sudden Impact". Then there was the Peter O'Toole film "Creator" and "Lost Boys". Judy has worked on many big film projects.

Esther Williams/MGM swim star!

Esther Williams made a big impression on me as a young guy. Years later I wrote to her and told her so...and got a signed photo back!

Kathryn Grayson/MGM singing star
I also wrote to Kathryn Grayson and told her how much I enjoyed her films and recieved a signed 8x10 from her too!