EddieDeezen.com: MAURY CHAYKIN - R.I.P. (1949-2010)

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I WAS IN AN ELEVATOR YESTERDAY, AND A GUY RECOGNIZED ME FROM WARGAMES. I THANKED HIM AND WALKED HOME. AS USUAL, WHEN I GOT HOME, I LISTENED TO MY PHONE MESSAGES.

MY PAL, FREDDY, HAD CALLED AND LEFT A MESSAGE - A FRIEND OF YOURS DIED.

OF COURSE, YOUR HEART STOPS FOR A MINUTE WHEN YOU HEAR SOMETHING LIKE THIS. THEN HE TOLD ME MAURY CHAYKIN HAD PASSED ON. MAURY WAS MY COMPUTER PARTNER IN THE MOVIE WARGAMES (1983)

YOU MAY HAVE ALSO SEEN MAURY IN THE HBO SERIES ENTOURAGE OR IN THE MOVIE MY COUSIN VINNY (1992) OR ANY ONE OF HIS DOZENS OF ROLES IN MOVIES OR TV.

I REMEMBER THE DAY BEFORE WE WERE TO FILM OUR SCENE IN WARGAMES, MAURY CALLED ME UP. HE WANTED TO REHEARSE OUR SCENE IN THE DRESSING ROOM BEFORE WE FILMED IT. JADED AND BLASÉ (AND LAZY), I SAID:

LOOK, IT'S NOT THAT IMPORTANT, IT'S JUST A MOVIE.

(AFTER ALL, I WAS A "VETERAN", I HAD DONE FOUR OR FIVE FILMS BY THIS TIME). MAURY WAS A BIT PUT OFF BY MY ATTITUDE. HIS EXACT REPLY WAS:

WELL, IT'S IMPORTANT TO ME!

HE HAD DEFINITELY PUT ME IN MY PLACE, AND I REALIZED HE WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. MAURY WAS A TOTAL PRO. THE NEXT DAY, I FOUND MAURY IN MY DRESSING ROOM:

IN OUR SCENE, HE SAID, I'M GOING TO CALL YOU “MISTER POTATO HEAD”.

I IMMEDIATELY LOVED THE BIT AND IT WAS KEPT IN THE SCENE. MAURY AND I WORKED FOR A DIRECTOR NAMED MARTY BREST - WHO LATER DIRECTED BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984). I REMEMBER AS WE FILMED, I KEPT SCREWING UP MY LINES. FINALLY, AFTER MANY TAKES, MARTY TOLD ME THEY WERE GOING TO GET "IDIOT CARDS" FOR ME (HE MAY HAVE BEEN KINDER AND CALLED THEM "CUE CARDS").

MAURY WAS NOT AT ALL IMPATIENT OR UNKIND AS I MESSED UP SCENE AFTER SCENE WITH MY MISTAKES. I READ MY SCENE OFF THE CUE CARDS AND WE WERE DONE.

WARGAMES WAS MATTHEW BRODERICK'S FIRST FILM, AND MATTHEW AND I WERE DRIVEN TO THE SET TOGETHER. MATTHEW, MAURY AND I BECAME FRIENDS AND HUNG OUT TOGETHER THAT DAY, BUT IT WAS A SHORT-LIVED FRIENDSHIP, BECAUSE MAURY AND I WERE ONLY IN THAT ONE SCENE AND OF COURSE, MATTHEW WAS THE STAR OF THE FILM.

SHORTLY AFTER WE FILMED THE SCENE, OUR DIRECTOR, MARTY BREST, WAS REPLACED BY JOHN BADHAM. I THOUGHT FOR SURE THAT MY SCENE WITH MAURY WOULD BE SCRAPPED BECAUSE OF THIS, BUT NO, IT WAS LEFT IN - INTACT.

AFTER THE FILM CAME OUT, IT WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL AND I WAS DUBBED "THE MOVIES FIRST COMPUTER NERD". (TO THIS DAY, STRANGERS WILL MEET ME AND CALL ME "MR. POTATO HEAD"). I OWE MAURY A LOT FOR IMPROVING OUR SCENE AND MAKING IT BETTER.

I RAN INTO MAURY YEARS LATER, I THINK IT WAS ON HOLLYWOOD BLVD. WE HUGGED AND BRIEFLY CAUGHT UP AND HE WAS GONE. THAT WAS THE ONLY TIME I EVER SAW HIM AFTER WE FILMED WARGAMES.

MAURY WAS SUCH A FINE CHARACTER ACTOR, USUALLY PLAYING A SLOB OR A VERY UPTIGHT, ANGRY PERSON. I'M GLAD I MET MAURY AND HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO WORK WITH HIM. HE WAS A GREAT COMIC PARTNER.

A GREAT GUY TOO.