Today I bring you my conversation with one of the stars of the USA Network's fake psychic comedy/crime show, "Psych." Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Corbin Bernsen.
I know you come from a big entertainment background. (His dad is Hollwood producer, Harry Bernsen, his mom is "Young and the Restless" star Jeanne Cooper.) Do you think acting was inevitable for you?
Yeah. You know, that's a funny question but yeah I guess it seemed to line up.
How much of an impact were your parents on your career?
Well when you grow up around it like that, I guess very much so.
I read a couple things about you that I was curious about. IMDB says that you trained in Jeet Kune Do with Bruce Lee. Is that true?
No, absolutely not true. It's one of those Internet things. Mind you I don't mind saying its true so no one wants to (expletive deleted) with me. But no, never did that.
You have one of the world's largest snow globe collections with over 7000. Where did that fascination come from?
You know I started collecting them during LA Law. People started giving them to me when I traveled places and I guess it just sort of happened. It's sort of art to me. And actually I just bought about 400 more yesterday.
Have any favorites?
Oh, I have a souvenir of New Orleans that was one of my first expensive ones from 1940. I have one from the original "Batman" TV series. I just got a couple really beautiful ones yesterday from some of the national parks.
And you're thinking of opening a museum for them?
I want to put them in a museum and maybe start selling. I had this idea called Corbin's Classic Domes.
Well getting to your career, I know you've done a lot of TV work. Do you prefer that over film?
Nope. I'm one of these guys who loves to do it all. I don't like one or the other really. I like the whole thing.
Is there a different mindset for you going into each media?
Yeah, there is. Film is a much more self-involved short-term thing. The family is different. You're there for a certain period of time. It takes a different kind of promotion. With television it's sort of longer term. It's more of a job. But you really prepare yourself for the long haul. You pace yourself. Film is sort of a burst of energy and preparation. You need sort of a breakdown time to recoup afterwards. Television, again, you pace yourself. You build your character over years. You keep finding more about the character. It's a longer job. You put more into it.
You've done "The Dentist" and "The Dentist 2." Now you're directing "Dead Air" with one of my favorite horror actors, Bill Moseley. Are you a big horror fan?
I do like horror. I like all kinds of it going back to the, you know, cheap horror to all the new stuff, the sort of teen horror, to the experimental qualities of like a "Blair Witch." I like horror but I really love to explore inside the genre, kind of find new ways to do it. I love what 28 Days Later did for the genre. As much as I like "Saw," we've always sort of had the teens in jeopardy thing. With the one we're doing, "Dead Air," for instance, it really has this political dramatic underside to the whole thing. And while it is horror and holds onto those horrific qualities, it's another type of art form. I love experimenting with the genre. It's one of the few you really can experiment in.
How is working with Bill Moseley?
Bill is just a classic in the genre. And it's cool cause I think we're one of the first to really use him as like a leading guy and not in like make-up and all that. He has a wonderful face and people are really interested to see him like this.
So you were going to be the host of a game show called "How Much Is Enough?" What can you tell me about Corbin the game show host?
I guess I would say not completely tried and tested yet. I liked doing it but I think the show I did, didn't get to be exactly what I could do. The particular game wasn't good enough so it depended so much on me that I didn't get to sort of be at ease with it. Again, I'm one of these guys. I think my whole career has been sort of experimental, do a little of this and a little of that. My whole object is to entertain, to make you laugh cry, wonder, be afraid, whatever it is. My job is to move people. It's tough sometimes. It's like some people say you're not a movie star because you've done this. Others say well you're not a television star cause you've done these movies. You've never been the guy. You've never been Ted Danson in "Cheers." But I've enjoyed sort of being all of it.
Do you think that's led to a more fulfilling career for you?
I like the fact that I continue to work. I don't think I'm ever fulfilled. I'm an artist and I don't think the canvas will ever be finished. It's always sort of a search. Every actor, and I don't care how big they are, we all worry about what the next thing is going to be. Not so much for a paycheck, I mean if you make $20 million for a picture you should be able to figure that much out. But there's this ego connection, and not in a bad way. It's what drives us to do these things and that's never really satisfied. So a more fulfilling career? I don't know. But it's led to a more full career.
And now you're on USA's "Psych." I have to know, is working on that show as much fun as it looks?
It really is. It's an experience like "LA Law." With the exception that I'm not deep in it. I sort of have a secondary role. I'm not there all the time. It's stress-less. It's fun to go to work. It's a great group of people. Just like "LA Law" was.
What's your opinion of your character Henry Spencer?
Henry Spencer is not very far from what I am. I'm a father. I have four kids. As you get older, if you're even halfway responsible, you want your kids to do well, to succeed, life to work out for them. But you think you know the best path. Henry is a guy who is very set in his ways and I think I'm a little more adaptable. I think I'm a little bit cooler. But Henry has that path and wants Shawn (his son) to follow it. The huge wonderful irony of this relationship is that Shawn is doing exactly what he wants him to he's just not doing it his way. And that's the source of disruption in the relationship. And for Shawn, the better he gets at it, the more he can thumb his nose at his dad. If Henry was smart, her would say "What a second, let the kid be. He's not in trouble, he's a decent kid." But Henry's not going to do that. Henry wants him to be a cop in a uniform.
Looking back over an amazing career, would you do anything differently?
You know, know that you say it, yeah. When I was at "LA Law," I had a bunch of different movies I was offered. To give you some background, I was doing "LA Law" around the same time Bruce Willis was on "Moonlighting." He was the star of the show and I was in this ensemble cast. Well, he was filming "Die Hard" and I chose a movie called "Hello Again" and turned down this other filmed called "Cousins" with Joel Schumacher. You know there was a time where if you were a TV guy, that was it, you were a TV guy. It did happen eventually. Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen all came out of television. Then again in the 70's if you did TV, you were a TV actor. Lee Majors, whoever. You just didn't make the jump to film. Then in the mid- to late-'80s, you saw all these actors from television being invited into the film world. Guys like Jeff Katzenberg, you know they said 26 million people are watching this show let's put these guys in the movie. Now with like Jennifer Garner, David Duchovny, you can move all over. So I guess the thing is, I took a really wrong movie, not necessarily a bad movie, just the wrong movie. At the end of the day I jumped into a movie that was a comedy and I'm not sure if I should have done something that was more action or drama. Could I have gone done a Gene Hackman path? Who knows. I would love to do more films like "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." But do I regret it, nah. But I do wonder if it would have been different. But I always look back and ask if "Hello Again" was a mistake.
