After Christopher Hewitt served us well on “Mr. Belvedere,” he served up laughs and knowledge on “California Dreams” as Mr. Green. It was his penultimate role before dying in 2001 from complications from diabetes.
Eddie Mekka’s Uncle Frank was a bad influence on Jake, as he took up smoking to be just as cool as him. Mekka has always been a cool guy though, playing Carmine on “Laverne & Shirley” and recently as a coach of a football team filled with sumo wrestlers in 2018’s “Hail Mary!”
Robert Pine played a wealthy dad who wasn’t fond of his daughter having an interracial relationship with Tony, and in real life is the proud father of actor Chris Pine. The former “CHiPs” star still rides high in the industry at age 79, and can now play a grandfather.
Hey, hey, it’s a Monkee! Peter Tork hung ten as the Grand Surf Guru presiding over the ill-fated soul swapping vows of Tiffani and Sly, in a rare role for him outside of the goofball bassist of The Monkees. He continued to tour with his bandmates up until his death in 2019 at age 77.
Strange that the owner of Sharkey’s would appear in only two episodes, but Johnny Williams bit into his bit part. He went on to play many an Italian goomba, with his most famous being Johnny Roastbeef in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”