The next time I saw him was on the set of Brian Mason's Chez Upshaw, starring Kevin Pollack, Molly Sims and Illeana Douglas. We were among an even smaller group of extras who played the people who went to Chez Upshaw to be put out of their misery.
We finally met again, on the set of Spike TV's "Auction Hunters," starring Allen Lee Haff and Ton Jones. We were among another small group of extras competing against Allen and Ton.
Graham wore a black and white gingham shirt and faded jeans, and chain-smoked cigarettes like a chimney.
La Libertad: Where were you born?
Graham Mackie: Dagenham, England.
Graham Mackie: My father was George Edward, from Dagenham, England, and my mother was from London.
La Libertad: How many siblings do you have?
Graham Mackie: I have one brother, named Glen Edward.
La Libertad: How did you end up in the United States of America?
Graham Mackie: My father died. Then, my mother married a man who was in the U.S. Air Force. Later, we moved to Van Nuys, California, because my stepfather was stationed at March Air Force Base, in Riverside.
La Libertad: What's your date of birth?
Graham Mackie: [Such-and-such a date, making him approximately sixty years old...]
La Libertad: How many children did you have, and what are their names?
Graham Mackie: Seven: Michelle, Jennifer, Michael, Graham Jr. and Christopher... The last two, I won't name, because I don't talk to them anymore
.
La Libertad: Which version of A Christmas Carol is your favorite?
Graham Mackie: I didn't start singing Christmas carols until I came to the States. When I was about twelve or thirteen years old, my friends and I used to go Christmas caroling near Lafayette Park, at 3rd Street and Lafayette. We used to go to the home of a wealthy man, who was an undertaker named Utter McKinley. It was a mansion downtown. He used to pay us twenty or thirty dollars EACH! Now his mansion is an apartment building and a historic site. [Note: Research reveals that, according to www.uttermckinley.com, Maytor H. McKinley sold his mortuary business, which he had inherited in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he became an employee of the L.F. Utter Company, in 1934. He eventually purchased that company, and changed its name to Utter-McKinley Mortuaries, and established a total of eighteen mortuaries throughout Los Angeles County.]
La Libertad: Charles Dickens' wrote a book entitled A Christmas Carol, and its story took place in London, so I thought it might have a special place in your heart. Are you not familiar with it?
Graham Mackie: No.
La Libertad: What was your first job or employment?
Graham Mackie: At age sixteen or seventeen, I was an offset printer for Sonelle Greeting Cards, for two years. My second job was as a postman. Then I was a furniture deliveryman; I delivered office furniture to studios in the 'Seventies.
La Libertad: Didn't you retire from one of the companies you worked for?
Graham Mackie: Yes, I retired from Gilette-PaperMate after twenty-eight years. That was a good job.
La Libertad: What did you do for them?
Graham Mackie: I was a maintenance mechanic.
La Libertad: People see how skinny you are, and assume that you abuse drugs and alcohol. Is that true?
Graham Mackie: No, I've never used drugs or drank alcohol. I lost a lot of weight when I had aorta surgery. I used to weigh 165 pounds. Now I weigh 128 pounds.
La Libertad: So, your only vice is smoking tobacco?
Graham Mackie: Yes, I've been smoking since I was twelve years old, but it's a bad habit. My father threw me a pack in the back seat of a car when he was driving me around when I was fourteen. He told me he knew I was smoking, so I might as well have them.
La Libertad: Did you ever try to quit?
Graham Mackie: No, not even when I was in the hospital. I used to go in the bathroom and stand on the toilet, and open the window...
La Libertad: Are you a Republican? Did you vote for Romney?
Graham Mackie: No, I didn't vote. I don't like any of them - Republicans or Democrats.
La Libertad: How do you feel about the Democrats trying to prevent people from smoking?
Graham Mackie: I think politicians should just leave people alone.
La Libertad: So, you think smoking is a bad habit, but you think the Democrats should let you smoke if you want to?
Graham Mackie: Yes!
La Libertad: What episodes of "Sons of Anarchy" [starring Ron Perlman] were you in?
Graham Mackie: It doesn't matter, 'cause all my scenes got cut.
La Libertad: What's the most money you ever made on a gig?
Graham Mackie: Fourteen hundred dollars for eight hours.
La Libertad: How much did they pay you for your full, frontal nude scene in Hit and Run [starring Kristen Bell]?
Graham Mackie: [Not telling...]
La Libertad: OK.
Graham Mackie: They promised to use me if they make a Hit and Run 2.
La Libertad: Do people recognize you?
Graham Mackie: Yes, when I take Rosie [his significant other, Rosibel Hidalgo] to the mall, women will start following me around. People have started sending me Skittles from all over the world, too. For some reason, they think I need Skittles from another country. But I found out that Brube means "pubic hair." I looked it up.
Nathan Barnatt says I was more of a hit than he was, in the Skittles commercials. (By the way, he makes $90,000 a year with his YouTube channel.)
La Libertad: Do you have a YouTube channel?
Graham Mackie: No.
People kept calling me all day [Christmas Day, 2012], to wish me a Merry Christmas.
I made a mistake and posted my cell phone number on Facebook. I didn't know you could send Private Messages. And it's in my Profile. I'm just going to leave it there, because it makes me seem more approachable, and, so far, everyone who has called me has been nice.
https://www.facebook.com/graham.s.mackie
Interview by William Mortensen Vaughan
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