There's a Gary Cole for everyone.
Whether you know him from The West Wing or Veep, The Good Wife or Office Space, Dodgeball or Midnight Call, you most likely know his face.
He was briefly a “schoolyard hero” among his daughter's classmates for appearing in “Cadet Kelly” opposite Hilary Duff. These days, however, it was his role as Alden Parker on the long-running CBS crime procedural NCIS that stopped him on the street.
The show, which focuses on the US Navy's investigative unit in Washington, is currently airing its 23rd season.
“It's a very powerful influence,” Cole says of the program's devoted audience. “So a lot of people followed the show, and they followed it, some of them, forever,” he adds.
Cole's character was brought in in season 19 to lead the team following the departure of Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). In the Veterans Day special, a first for the franchise, “NCIS” and “NCIS: Origins” will cross paths with back-to-back episodes on Tuesday. The historical mystery in “Origins” – featuring Harmon as a guest on the series chronicling Gibbs' early career – will find its way into the present day in “NCIS,” which will air immediately after.
The Associated Press spoke with Cole about the show's success, the real-life service members he met and those classic still images from NCIS. This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Was the popularity of NCIS a plus or minus when you were thinking about the role?
COLE: I didn't think too much about how big or small the audience would be because it's so different today. I mean, nothing has the big, overwhelming impact on audiences that television shows have had for 25 years, when you could be consumed by just one image.
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I'm old enough to say I was on television when there were three channels here in the States. That's it. It was your choice. And once they turned on and then repeated once, maybe twice if you're lucky, they really went away.
Now… if you look hard enough, you can find almost anything you've done in your entire career. It's broadcast somewhere.
AP: Is there any show you wish would disappear and never come back?
COLE: Not much of a show. There were probably a few network movies of the week, as we called them, that kind of cut me.
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By this I don't mean the choice of material, although that was part of it too. But it was a kind of laboratory where you could get comfortable in front of the camera without much effort – if you're in a show and it's successful, your visibility is just there. If you study a lot, make mistakes and correct them, you don't want to do it every week in front of everyone.
AP: How did they change Alden to make him a little bigger than you?
COLE: They didn't want him to be like Gibbs. They certainly wanted, you know, they needed someone they could buy as a leader. Our old producer, who has since retired, had a great line about the show, sort of a joke about the show, which was that in the original NCIS, all the kids were trying to please their dad, meaning Gibbs, right? They wondered what his reaction would be, and whether they would be held at gunpoint if they made a mistake or took the wrong step? There was some kind of, you know, uneasiness around him. And now he turned it over and said: what if father leaves? And the crazy guy showed up? And how will they react to them? And at first they're not really sure, like, “What's the story with this guy?” …And I liked it.
AP: Did you communicate with veterans after participating in the show?
COLE: We have a great technician named Mike Smith who has organized a lot of tours and meetings. Katrina (Law, co-star) and I visited the carrier about a year and a half ago and spent what they call a family day. … And we actually went out to sea and they kept doing what they do and showing us literally planes landing and taking off. And we were able to see something that civilians usually wouldn’t see. And just be with the sailors and chat with them. Many of them knew this show. Many people knew other things I had done. We visited a real NCIS office here in California.
AP: How do they feel in the (real) NCIS office?
COLE: They were very curious, but mostly about the characters. They weren't even bothered by the procedures because they knew, well, you know, it's a TV show, right? So, but what I realized when I walked in there is funny, don't tell anyone this, but I said, I looked at them and their average age, the guy who was leading them was probably 20 years younger than me. And every agent is barely 30 years old—if. So, I thought, you know, based on that, if this is really the case, I should have retired 15 years ago.
AP: Have you ever gotten to the end of a scene and froze because you knew it was going to cut to black and white?
COLE: No. We joke about them, they call them, what do they say? They call it a “poof move” or a “poof moment.” “Oh, it's definitely going to be a kick. You're going to get a kick.” POOF.
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You know, someone will choose it. And it certainly won't be me or anyone else in the cast who will be responsible for figuring out where your moves are. So it's better to leave it to a higher mind.
AP: These are great, I didn't know how to describe them.
COLE: This may be a mythological story, I've been told there is a corresponding sound, right? That is, when it is frozen? I was told, I don't know if I believe it, but it's actually the voice of Don Bellisario, the original creator, into a microphone with reverb where he just said, “Poof.” Now you can believe in something you can let the internet go crazy for.
I've been told that and I have no reason not to believe it, you know, because I call Sean Murray the historian of the show because he's been there for 23 years and I think he's the one who told me that. I always forget who told me what, but you know, I'll blame it on him.
