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| Photo taken by Matt Hardeman. |
Wilford Brimley was one of the guests at Texas Frightmare Weekend 2017 for The Thing reunion. Any horror fan knows that. Everyone else probably remembers him from his Liberty Medical and Quaker Oats Company commercials. Many of them probably had no idea that the iconic actor starred in a Star Wars movie. Okay, so it wasn’t one of the Skywalker Saga films. However, it was a movie nonetheless. Brimley played stranded Human male trader and mid-level scout Noa Briqualon in 1985’s TV-movie Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.
I was fortunate enough to get a few moments to talk with Brimley about his time on the set of Ewoks: The Battle for Endor while attending Texas Frightmare Weekend 2017. As soon as I heard the actor was going to be a guest, I knew I had to meet him as a spokesman for ROT5 and a huge fan of The Thing. Brimley was everything I expected him to be based upon his onscreen personas.
I approached Mr. Brimley and asked him if I could ask him a couple questions about his time shooting Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. He replied, “If I can remember.” I laughed and moved on to the question, “What was the most memorable part of making Ewoks: The Battle for Endor?” Without pause he exclaimed, “Working with them midgets.”
Now before all you PC folks out there get all up in arms over his use of “midgets” to describe little people, let’s remember he’s from a different time where the world wasn’t so sensitive. Brimley is 85 years old and a wonderfully polite man. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt he wasn’t using the term to be offensive.
He continued to expand on his experiences making Ewoks: The Battle for Endor and wanted me to know that there were actors in those costumes. He said he had a good time working on it. I was most impressed when he stated “God Bless” as we parted ways. Just a good old boy who never forgot his Salt Lake City, Utah roots.