"It's Always Sunny's" Frank Reynolds Shows Up at Our Interview with Danny DeVito

The Archive recently had the pleasure of conducting an interview with Mr. Danny Devito. Interviewer Amy Harrington of the Pop Culture Passionistas shares a few thoughts about the experience:

I knew that Danny DeVito was a great actor when I signed up to interview him for the Archive of American Television. After all I'd been watching him since I was a little kid and he was the dastardly Louie DePalma on Taxi.  And I grew to admire him over the years for his roles in films like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Throw Mama from the Train,” the latter of which he also directed.

But it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through my sit down with the Emmy-award winning actor that I got a first hand glimpse of his incomparable talent. DeVito was discussing his role on the edgy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In the course of his response he started to talk about his time in Vietnam.

My mind frantically rifled through his resume for the period in his life when DeVito had served in the military — wondering how I’d missed his turn in the Armed Forces. That’s when I realized I was no longer talking to Hollywood’s Danny DeVito, I was speaking with Sunny’s Frank Reynolds.

At that moment I looked into the eyes of the character, not the actor, and noticed an oh-so-subtle but undeniably present shift. DeVito had disappeared and Reynolds sat there in his place.

Luckily Danny came back for the follow-up question and I was back on track. But I'll never forget that moment of pure, unadulterated talent staring me in the eyes.

- by Amy and Nancy Harrington, Pop Culture Passionistas

http://www.popculturepassionistas.com

Watch Danny DeVito's full interview here.