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LARRY
WILCOX
©Copyright
2005 United Communications Inc. |
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Nearly
twenty years after CHiP's debuted on NBC, Wilcox is
still an articulate, intelligent talent with a gravelly
Wyoming accent. Wilcox's portrayal of CHP Officer Jon
Baker drew from his own background; like Wilcox,
Jon was a quiet but driven country boy making good in
the big city. In fact, Wilcox was born in California
but moved to Wyoming as an infant. Raised by a single
mother (along with two brothers and a sister), he
remembers that the family had to work hard to make ends
meet. One of my most proud days as a youngster was the
day that I got hired - I was twelve years old and I got
a JOB! I worked in the summer on a sheep and cattle
ranches and slept in covered chuck wagons and in the
mountains in a real teepee.
While he attributes his Mother's influence to his
"sensitive" side, the introspective man
remembers Wyoming as a very macho environment where the
environment beckoned you and mankind slapped you.
Moving
out to California after his freshman year of college,
Wilcox contemplated a career in music until an acting
coach encouraged him to try performing. Soon, however,
Wilcox was drafted into the Army; instead, he joined the
best, the Marines (like his older brother). Although he
was offered a stint as a Marine Officer it required a
6-year additional enlistment and Wilcox decided not to
accept Marine Officer Training School and to pursue
foreign languages and embassy duty as an enlisted man.
The day of his departure, his orders were fouled
up and he was sent to Vietnam during the Tet Offensive,
where he was part of a recon team inserted with a T-16
survey piece of equipment mapping the mountain tops and
jungle for future fire bases where he also worked his
math and slide rule magic in a Fire Direction Control
Center. After
his meritorious and honorable discharge, he returned to
Los Angeles and attended college, where he Double-majored
in drama and dentistry. Thus began a pattern of balance
that would recur throughout Wilcox's career - "economic
security versus right-brain creativity," as he now
calls it. He was accepted into Dental school in Texas and Creighton but
decided that acting was more fun and more lucrative at
this young reckless age.
Wilcox'
first break competing against 300 actors was being cast
as Dale Mitchell in the syndicated series
"Lassie" in 1972. Wilcox had a voracious
appetite for information, and he stated, "it wasn’t
just the acting that was exciting as I used to show up
on the set with my Bolex camera and annoy the
camera guys with elementary questions like what kind of
f-stop, how could I increase grain and push film, how
many ND Filters, and what shutter speed I should
use," he remembers with a chuckle. After
"Lassie," Wilcox got a number of guest starring
roles on popular series such as M*A*S*H, Hawaii
Five-O and The Streets of San Francisco.
When
"CHiPs" first premiered in 1977, it starred
Wilcox (as Officer Jon Baker) and newcomer Erik Estrada
(Officer Frank "Ponch" Poncharello). At
first, the show was more in the vein of "Adam
12" or other police dramas; after the first
season, however, the show took on a glossier, more
elaborate style. "CHiPs" soared in the
Nielsen’s as Estrada and Wilcox became TVs most
popular crime fighting duo - albeit against the glamorous
backdrop of southern California. Roller disco, hang
gliding and go-carts seemed to be plotlines as much
as car theft rings, drunk drivers or freeway accidents.
As the series progressed, Wilcox began to grow
frustrated with his role and yearned for growth and
intellectual stimulation, thus, being more creatively
involved with the series. As he did on
"Lassie," he would bring his own camera to the
set and work on new ways of shooting from the
Kawasaki motorcycles that were Ponch and Jon's primary
mode of transportation.
It was as a result of his vision and tenacity
that some of the cool Point of View camera angles were
instituted. He
states, "I was simply searching for tools to
enhance the experience of the viewer and hopefully
adding longevity to this high paying job that had little
intellectual stimulation." Ultimately, Wilcox
directed two of the series highest-rated episodes
("Ride the Whirlwind" and "Tow Truck
Lady"). "I'm the kind of person who just
likes to participate creatively regardless of the
credit," he admits. Industrious and
tenacious, Larry wrote episodes, filmed on weekends,
created show concepts that were later used, and
convinced the producers to let him direct.
After
he left "CHiPs" in 1982, Wilcox quickly moved
into producing. He aggressively pursued the rights to
"The Dorothy Stratton Story," which starred
Jamie Lee Curtis, and which Wilcox produced for NBC.
The surgically precise negotiations that Wilcox won over
Hugh Hefner, NBC and MGM were very delicate and
aggressive, sometimes warranting all night negotiations
and investigator work.
He consummated the rights to the story within 48
hours while others slept. The story of the Playboy model
murdered by her boyfriend was an all-too-familiar
tragedy to Wilcox, whose own sister had been murdered by
her husband. Wilcox
went on to produce and direct commercials, specials and
television series. He also developed, executive
produced and directed the multiple ACE-Award winning
series "The Ray Bradbury Theater," which, as a
result of Wilcox’s leadership, ran on HBO and the
USA network for five seasons. He negotiated the
deals with HBO, and the Treaty countries and their
special tax allowance programs.
Eventually Wilcox had found ways to produce these
shows with foreign investment and tax incentives by
taking advantage of the currency play and producing the
episodes in France, England, Canada, and New Zealand.
Wilcox states the intangible asset enhancement
that took place was almost as exciting as the standard
GAP P&Ls and Balance Sheets.
These were multi-million dollar productions with
logistics and budgets for 60-100 employees at locations
around the world. Wilcox
went on to produce and develop the beloved, major motion
picture, Flipper, and produced the Lil' CHiPs
pilot for a TV series. His leadership dogma and the teams he picks seem to
perpetuate winners.
Again,
Wilcox' life has always seemed to balance between show
business and other business concerns. Wilcox states
that acting was a fun lark as a young indulgent male
searching for identity solutions in life.
"I feel so lucky I was able to ride the
merry-go-round that most people dream about but never
get the opportunity. If they do, it is later in
life and is sometimes construed as a poor and
untimely reflection of one’s choices.
The film business was a great lesson in business
combat and what it takes to survive.
One’s moral compass will tell you which side of
the line is really survival and what that means to you,
as an individual. I
decided that the entertainment business was a very
emotional culture and I really wanted to move into the
business side of distribution.
One could become an employee of a large
distributor or become an independent distributor in a
small way." Neither
seemed like they offered him a successful and economic
business model. "I have always believed that
the forms of distribution were about to change with the
new fiber networks, the spread spectrum, LMDS, MMDS, UWB,
and BlueTooth and like wireless solutions."
As a result, a few years ago he formed a very precise --
and stealth -- broadband company, United Communications
Hub, Incorporated.
Prior to this he had joined in on
telecommunication and distribution by forming his own
resell organization. Soon after, he flew to
Washington D.C. and signed on a national political party
as an affinity marketing organization.
Wilcox believes that the residual income and fund
raising capability of broadband companies will be key in
the success of his present company, UC Hub and its
affinity and digital city clients.
In
February of 1999, Wilcox became focused on his broadband
distribution company, UC Hub, an ASP (Application
Service Provider) which specializes in proprietary technology
and extremely cost effective integrated solutions over
fiber and wireless systems delivering an enhanced
quality of life to the business and home he refers to as
a Digital City. Wilcox lights up when he starts talking
about UC Hubs achievements and plans for the future. For
Wilcox, his business acumen was "OJT" -
on the job training, in a very litigious and aggressive
film culture. "Negotiating
a film contract with wordsmiths who have 10 different
definitions of net profit demands that you jump into
business combat-mode."
Negotiating film contracts for Unions, for
Countries, each with their unique tax issues, talent
contracts, distribution and logistics was a great
training ground. With
UC Hub we have learned to develop IP while leveraging
marketing, focusing on Blue Line cost analysis, Security
Laws, back office systems and Six Sigma, Human
Resources, strategic partners, and exit strategies that
translate in to disciple like brokers who want to know
market cap and float." Such talk one might
expect from a Fortune 500 executive but certainly
not from a former TV actor.
Wilcox’s technical and business acumen thwarts
any doubters within 5 minutes of his presentations and
from that point on, he navigates the audience to a
relationship that focuses on longevity, integrity and
success.
Wilcox
spends his off time, with his family, including wife
Marlene Harmon Wilcox (a former member of the
Olympic track team) and children Wendy, Derek, Heidi,
Ryan and Chad. "Family is very important to me
because that is the footprint we perpetuate," he
says philosophically. "That is, the ripple in
the water when the rock first impacts the pool and it is
those waves, that energy that one produces, that
determines our direction."
Even
so many years later, Wilcox is somewhat stunned by the
recognition he gets for "CHiPs." "I went
to the graduation of a friend's son from Annapolis and
it was like I was a VIP," he recalls.
"At another evening, I got off the plane in
Brazil once and there were 40,000 fans waiting for
me." Wilcox admits that such recognition is a
sweet panacea that becomes bitter with large
doses. "The respect I really want is simply
from my family, a few close friends with like values,
and investors."
As
an actor doing the CHiPs reunion in 1998 Wilcox
reminisces, "It was wonderful to see the sparkle in
my little boys' eyes when I put on the CHP uniform.
I was their John Wayne for a day and for them to go into
Toys-R-Us and see their own Dad as an Action
Figure! I am very grateful for the experience and
the memories but I am no longer in the entertainment
business. I am focused entirely on UC Hub and UC Hub
only. I
hope the sparkle in my boy's eyes is now reflected in my
excited but older eyes. I look forward when UC Hub is trading successfully on NASDAQ
as I feel an enormous responsibility to the investors
who trusted my vision."
Wilcox,
a solid family man indulges in a myriad of hobbies
including basketball, cutting and jumping horses, WW II
aircraft, reading Jacque Darrida, Michael Foucault, and
biographies of American business icons.
Wilcox is a former professional racecar driver
for the SCCA, and also set 8 International Land Speed
Records at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
He was a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys
Association and competed in professional rodeos around
the country. As
a private pilot, he enjoys flying in formation with
other like minded pilots. In 2002 Wilcox was invited by
the Department of Commerce in Washington D.C. to sit on
the emerging technology board.
Wilcox
still enjoys studying international military
strategists, working with new compression algorithms,
collecting French Burgundy wines or its counterpart,
California Pinot Noirs, and staying up with the
technology of re-configurable computers and field
programmable gate arrays.
He is articulate, intelligent and completely
candid in his interviews, and a fascinating and rich
subject for anyone interested in a deeper conversation
about philosophy, television history, Vietnam, manhood,
ethics, or simply the story of a very introspective,
sensitive and gracious leader who has refused to let
fame or celebrity get in the way of hard work,
discipline, integrity and success.
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