Steve Guttenberg created a long prosperous career by lying his way INTO Hollywood, literally.
As a teenager he came to Hollywood from the east coast with 300 dollars in his pocket. His first contact with an agent did not go well. He was told his name wouldn’t sell and he didn’t have a “Hollywood look”.
Guttenberg ignored the agent’s advice and decided to try a con. He told security at the Paramount gate that he was the son of Michael Eisner, the Paramount CEO at the time. But Guttenberg didn’t stop there. He set up shop in an abandoned office and between phone calls to high ranking producers to walking onto sets like he owned the place, he started getting roles.
One of his early roles in the movie “Can’t Stop the Music” could have been a career killer, The movie was universally panned and is often included in the list of movies that spawned the creation of the “Golden Rasberry” awards.
But this con man could not be stopped. He continued to get roles and struck gold in the “Police Academy” movie series.
Perhaps my favorite role in his career was, “Three Men and a Baby”. The movie was a huge success. Costarring with Tom Selleck and Ted Danson helped pave the way to iconic 80’s stardom even more so than his somewhat corny comedic roles in the Police Academy movie series.
I saw Guttenberg interviewed many years ago and not only was I impressed with his audacity, I was shocked he was coming clean with the whole scheme, admitting he lied about being the son of the CEO of Paramount. He came clean very early in his career and did not seem to suffer any backlash. You have to tip your hat to a gambler who goes all in and wins big. Good for you Steve Guttenberg! Fortune truly favored the bold in your career.