Flatfoots and Hijinks: An Interview with Police Academy Series Stars Bubba Smith and George Gaynes

Judge Patrick Naugle

April 7th, 2004

In what may be considered comedy's answer to the neverending Friday the 13th series, the original Police Academy went on to spawn six sequels (one film every year from 1984-89) and two TV series (one live action, one animated). 2004 marks the 20th anniversary of the original film, now available on DVD in a special edition, along with its six sequels.

DVD Verdict's Patrick Naugle sat down and talked with stars Bubba Smith ("Sergeant Moses Hightower") and George Gaynes ("Commandant Eric Lassard") to find out the secrets behind the laughter of the men in blue...

Patrick Naugle: How did you get involved with the Police Academy series?

George Gaynes: The way I got involved was through Hugh Wilson, director of the first film. He had a series called WKRP in Cincinnati. I did some work there, as did my wife, and he knew me as an actor and thought I would be right for this part. He talked with Paul Maslansky [creator and producer of the Police Academy series], we had lunch in Los Angeles, and the deal was made.

Bubba Smith: Actually, I was the last one hired. I happened to hear about it and had just signed to do a television series called Blue Thunder. I went in for the interview and Hugh Wilson was in there and he was best friends with a guy I played football with. We talked, not about the script, but about his friends and he said, "You want the job?" And I said of course! And I'm looking at it like, I'm getting ready for the pre-season game and I'm then getting ready for the Super Bowl. And it turned out that what I thought was the Super Bowl was the pre-season game [the failed 1984 TV series Blue Thunder] and Police Academy turned into the Super Bowl!

Patrick Naugle: What is one memory that really sticks out in your mind from the series's production?

Bubba Smith: In the original film we were learning to drive, and Steve Guttenberg had taught me how to drive the night before. We had to go through the police test and in going through the test something happens that's never happened in films before, and hasn't happened since. That's where a black man stands up for a black woman at the risk of losing his job. That's when Marion [Ramsey] ran over the guy's foot.

George Gaynes: Police Academy: Mission To Moscow was pretty important because of the location. Since I'm half Russian it sort of brought my mother's country very close to me. The famous podium scene in the first film was very hard to do. It could have very easily become vulgar, but I don't think it was. I think it was erotic, if you like. (laughs)

Patrick Naugle: Do you still keep in touch with any of the cast?

Bubba Smith: Yeah, I talk with Marion and Leslie [Easterbrook] all the time, as well as the Captain [G.W. Bailey] and his little mate that runs behind him and does everything [Lance Kinsey], they work out with me at the gym. I try to get them all to work out because when that metabolism slows down you blow up. So I work out five days a week whether I'm working or not. So I check on them and say, "How's your weight? Let's go to the gym!"

George Gaynes: No, I don't. For a while I'd see G.W. Bailey. David Graf lived not far from me, but as you know he died. Also Leslie [Easterbrook], I'd see her once in a while. But we lived in Los Angeles then, and in the last 14 years we've been living in Santa Barbara and we've lost touch. I can't believe it's been that long since we did one of those movies!

Patrick Naugle: Bubba, did you catch hell from your football buddies for wearing a dress in Police Academy 3: Back In Training?

Bubba Smith: They know better. (laughs) They really know better. I had no idea I'd have to do that. I showed up that morning and we never really got the script before we get there, and I guess that's to keep us in the hotel learning our lines. I went to work that morning and they said, "Bubba, try on this dress." I said, "For what?" Then they had this wig for me and I said, "Hey man, what's going on here?" So they told me that in this scene they have a guy whose snatching purses and he's gonna run and snatch your purse and then you're going to flip him over your back. I said I'd do that, but I wasn't cutting my moustache off. They said they'd be shooting me from behind.

Patrick Naugle: What happened to Hightower in Police Academy: Mission To Moscow?

Bubba Smith: You know, the cast wasn't there. They'd written Marion out and I didn't understand why because we'd done six films together, so I said I'm out, too.

Patrick Naugle: Do you have a personal favorite from the series?

George Gaynes: The first Police Academy. I think altogether it's the most accomplished one. The rest are just sort of sequels. The fifth one [Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach] I thought was not too bad, either.

Bubba Smith: The first one. That was directed by Hugh Wilson and he would do things like change the script daily, and the way he would change it and suggest it to us was funnier than any of us could do it. So we would just try and do it the way he did it.

If you remember at the end of the first film I got put out of the academy and I went on the roof and saved the two guys [Guttenberg and Bailey]. When I was up there Wilson told me to open my mouth a little bit to make my cheeks and lips quiver to say "I'd like to kill those pigs, too." But I wouldn't open my mouth that much. Hugh asked why I wouldn't open my mouth and I told him that I had a gap in my mouth, right in my front teeth. And Wilson's gap was twice as big as mine! And he started laughing and I told him that I'd try it, and I guess my gap became my trademark!

Patrick Naugle: Was doing a Police Academy film every year for six years grueling?

Bubba Smith: No, that was just like football. When you go to training camp your body almost gets conditioned for it. And if you don't do it your body still goes into that mode. I wanted to keep doing Police Academy, we could have done six or seven more and put them in different countries.

Patrick Naugle: Bubba, what was it like working in a real Florida swampland with alligators and snakes in Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach?

Bubba Smith: You know what? That scared the hell out of me! (laughs) I knew it was a fake alligator, but what's to say another alligator wasn't going to come over there? I wanted to get in and out and they wanted me to take the alligator under and wrestle him and stay under for a while. So I'm under the water with this fake alligator. And then your mind starts to wonder..."what happens if something grabs my foot?" (laughs) I came up out of that water so fast! Then I had to come up and take Captain Harris [G.W. Bailey] and swim him over to the boat, and he's not helping, and I'm tired! I almost went down myself! So much stuff happened on those Police Academy films. (laughs)

Patrick Naugle: Bubba, do you tend to get recognized more for Moses Hightower or your football accomplishments?

Bubba Smith: (chuckles) I lost my whole identity! I was an all-pro football player when the Police Academy movies came out, and I'd walk through the airport and people would yell out, "Hey, Hightower!" It's like I never played football before! I went to Yale for the All Time College Team and Peter Warwick, who'd just made All-American, yells out to me, "Hightower!" And I yelled back, "I can play football too!" (laughs)

Patrick Naugle: George, is Commandant Eric Lassard the character you're most recognized for?

George Gaynes: You know, it depends on the generation and gender. The males usually go for Police Academy and the young women now in their late 20s or so go for Punky Brewster. I am recognized quite frequently because they're still playing that stuff on television!

Patrick Naugle: Any word on an eighth Police Academy sequel?

George Gaynes: I have heard of something from Paul Maslansky, a possibility. Some of us may have to come in wheelchairs, such as myself. (laughs) I'm 87 years old, still walking and doing yoga. Nonetheless, if it doesn't happen soon it will have to be in a wheelchair!