Episode 6: Terry Bolo (performer - yogi)
Creating something from nothing. In this episode I talk with Terry Bolo, cult film actress, about the birth of The Groundlings, an improvisational sketch comedy troupe and school that she was a part of, and Paul Reubens creating Pee-wee Herman and Pee-wee's Playhouse. We also talk about how she changed her diet to get off all pharmaceutical drugs, and of course, yoga.
Terry Bolo is originally from Detroit, Michigan, spent some formative years in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as a young teen, moved to Hollywood, California.
She was a student at the Strasberg Institute in the early 70s and became one of the original founding members of the improv comedy troupe, The Groundlings.
After 5 years of performing with the group, she went on to other theater and film projects (including a student in "Carrie", a party girl in "Big Wednesday", a passenger in "Airplane 2", and a biker chick in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", to name just a few), including a stint as a casting assistant at Warner Brothers.
She became a stand-in, first for children, and then worked with actresses Julia Duffy and Roseanne Barr. On "Roseanne", she also worked as a dialogue coach. She has taught improv classes and coached actors.
Besides film and TV work, Terry is also a Hollywood tour guide. And she appears in the award-winning documentary "Strictly Background," which centers on Hollywood extras/background artists.
The Groundlings are an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques were used by Del Close and other members of the Second City, located in Chicago and later St. Louis. They used these techniques to produce sketches and improvised scenes. Its name is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: "...to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise." In 1975 the troupe purchased and moved into its current location on Melrose Avenue.
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