Steve Guttenberg Talks Hollywood Fame & the Family Who Made It Possible

For anyone who grew up with classic ’80s films like Three Men and a Baby, Cocoon, Short Circuit, The Bedroom Window and the first four Police Academy movies, the name Steve Guttenberg likely summons a wave of nostalgia, as has seeing him appear since in shows like Party Down, Veronica Mars and The Goldbergs.

However, even the biggest fans of his films may not know the wild story of how a Long Island teenager made it big in Hollywood with his Jewish family’s values intact. That tale will finally be told on Long Island when Bay Street Theater, in partnership with the George Street Playhouse, presents Tales from the Guttenberg Bible, written by and starring Guttenberg himself, August 1–27.

After reading The Guttenberg Bible, Guttenberg’s 2012 memoir-esque collection of personal stories, producer Julian Schlossberg suggested using the actor’s experiences to create a new play about a young boy leaving his small-town family for Hollywood fame. That wasn’t the angle Guttenberg had in mind when he wrote the book, so when he agreed to write a play following a similar premise, it was on the condition that his true message would be at the heart of the show.

Steve Guttenberg Discusses The Guttenberg Bible

“I said, ‘You know what, Julian, that’s not as interesting to me as telling a story about a family who spiritually makes the move with the son to Hollywood and is behind him all the way. That’s what the story really is about,’” Guttenberg recalls. “It’s a story about a family that makes a decision as a family to let the young man leave the cave and go out into the unknown … and of all the characters that this young man meets. It’s about all the different gateways and highly powerful gatekeepers that he has to get through to get to where he wants to go, get the rewards and bring them back to his original family.”

Guttenberg’s onscreen career began in 1976, when his parents gave their teenage son $300 for a two-week stay in Hollywood to try his luck at film acting. Soon after his plane had landed, he snuck into Paramount Studios, started making calls to casting directors and agents, and landed a KFC commercial. Next, came an uncredited part in Rollercoaster, then his first credit in Something for Joey, then his debut in a starring role in The Chicken Chronicles, all by 1977.

In the play, Guttenberg will be accompanied by three “extraordinarily skilled” actors — Carine Montbertrand, Arnie Burton and Dan Domingues — portraying 90 total roles, each representing a valued player in Guttenberg’s story, such as his family, godfather Michael Bell, Paul Reiser, Tom Selleck, Brian Dennehy and Merv Griffin.

“When I came out at 17 years old, I stayed with my godfather, but I was basically alone. And when you’re alone, you meet a lot of different people,” he explains. “So I wanted to include all these different people that were able to contribute to the life I lived as a young man. Hollywood is full of eccentric, formidable and charming characters, so there were a lot of them.”

After a year of surprisingly quick success, Guttenberg decided that the Hollywood culture didn’t sit well with him and moved back to New York to attend Albany State University at his father’s request. “Whatever the rules are in normal life, they’re expanded to a hundred in Hollywood,” Guttenberg observes.

As fate would have it, Hollywood came knocking three months into his semester with an opportunity to film The Boys from Brazil in Portugal, and Guttenberg couldn’t resist. However, he felt confident that he could return without compromising his principles; in fact, he credits much of his success to his family’s values.

“Everything I ever learned that was useful in life — whether I was meeting the CEO of an important company, the president of the United States, an agent in Hollywood or a casting director — I learned at my parents’ kitchen table. I wouldn’t be anything without my mom and dad,” Guttenberg says. “The American way is about working really hard, doing the right thing, making our country better every day and helping your neighbor. Those are the values that I grew up with … and that’s what my play is about. I never could have succeeded in my business, in my craft, without those values that my mom and dad instilled in me.”

One of his most valuable lessons, he shares, came from his father: “My dad would tell me all the time, ‘Play the game, Steven. And remember, no one’s bigger than the game.’”

Tales from the Guttenberg Bible is dedicated to Guttenberg’s late father, with the Bay Street production running one month after the first anniversary of his death.

“This play helps me with my grief. … I spent a long time looking at the box with my dad in it. There’s not a lot of room in the box. It was just enough room to put a letter in his hands telling him how much I loved him and telling him that I’ll see him up in Heaven. But, you know, Bezos and Musk, they don’t get a 20,000-square-foot coffin with a gourmet kitchen or a screening room. You don’t get that. You just leave behind your kindness, your love, the nice things you did,” he says, adding later, “That’s how you build a world — not by cheating the system or trying to edge the other guy out — by hard work, fairness, consideration, doing your best, not judging a guy because of the amount of money you make or he makes.”

Guttenberg holds great respect for not only his “mother’s strength” and “father’s wisdom,” but for the generations of parents who passed down their values. “Growing up in a Long Island family, they have great values. It’s all about taking care of the family, all about community and education, especially in a Jewish family,” he says. “That’s why I think people will understand this play, which is a family play, a meaningful play and a very funny play … Being an actor, all my mannerisms, all my humor, all my drama comes from the family.”

Described as a “farcical, laugh-out-loud” comedy, Tales from the Guttenberg Bible, directed by David Saint, aims to get its audience laughing through hilarious but relatable humor and feel-good storytelling. “In life, there is room for sincerity, kindness, character, values and integrity,” Guttenberg says. “Our play is a play that’s for everybody. It’s good-natured, enthusiastic, optimistic, kind and meaningful, and it’s about love. Even in the darkest heart of cynicism and sarcasm, there’s room for genuine kindness, and that’s what you’ll see when you see our play.”

Following its premiere at George Street Playhouse in New Jersey, Tales from the Guttenberg Bible ­­is coming to Long Island in a touching full-circle moment for Guttenberg.

“It’s meaningful times a thousand,” he says, noting that he began working on the play almost a decade ago. “I used to go clamming near the North Fork. I used to go crabbing in (Great) South Bay. I was a Newsday carrier. … I grew up on the South Shore. I bicycled in the summer to Sagamore Hill every other day; I loved Sagamore Hill. I was a caddy on the Bethpage Black and worked in the Bethpage stables. … I had some of my sweetest times on Long Island.”

For tickets, call 631-725-9500 or visit baystreet.org.