He’s starred on Broadway and graced television and movie screens for decades. But even with a nearly 60-year-old career, bring up Barry Bostwick in polite conversation and the first response will certainly be “Oh, Brad!” Bostwick’s turn as Brad Majors, the uptight fiancé of Susan Sarandon’s Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has endeared him to generations of midnight moviegoers eager to do the “Time Warp” again.
Bostwick, though, was racking up credits before Rocky and continues a fruitful career to this day. He is the O.G. Danny Zuko of Grease, receiving the first of three Tony® nominations for his role as pompadoured object of Sandy’s affections. (He won in 1977 for his role in The Robber Bridegroom.) He played the mayor of New York City opposite Michael J. Fox on the television series Spin City. He also appeared in the 1971 rock opera Soon that closed after just three performances, and played in a Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus-sponsored band called The Klowns, who performed in full makeup years before KISS discovered greasepaint. He knows his ups, he knows his downs, he knows the answers to all our questions. These, anyway.
How did you get started in the business?
I did a play with Walter Pidgeon. I overacted and he overreacted in front of the audience but I got my Equity card and now I have to explain to people who Walter Pidgeon is … or was.
What’s always in your refrigerator?
Twenty-five assorted condiments.
What is your worst quality?
Thinking I have no worst quality.
What music is on your playlist?
I have no playlist. In fact, I very seldom even listen to music.
Pineapple on pizza? Discuss.
Pineapple cuts the heat of the habaneros.
Read any good books lately?
Sherwin B. Nuland’s How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter. I thought it would kill me as the print was so small.
Cat or dog person?
Dogs. They foolishly trust me that they will be fed.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Write your own obituary.
What “guilty pleasure” show are you streaming?
I don’t feel guilty about any of my pleasures.
In the movie version of your life, who would play you?
Anyone of the Munchkins who are still alive. They would really have to rise to the occasion.
Who or what inspires you?
Our children, because they have the same insane drive that I had when I was their age.
What do you consider your greatest successes – personally and professionally?
Not truly understanding what “getting older” means.
If you hadn’t chosen this career, what career path do you think you’d have followed?
Being a potter. But it would bore the crap out of me making the same old “same olds” everyday. So I would probably try acting, then do my pottery and making stuff as a side hustle. Wait? That’s what I do now … go to barrybostwick.com!
Catch Barry Bostwick along with co-stars Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn at The Rocky Horror Picture Show: 50th Anniversary Spectacular on Oct. 22 in Straz Center’s Morsani Hall. For tickets, go to strazcenter.org or call our ticket office at (813) 229-7827.
