Craig T. Nelson Is Back On TV Once Again On ‘Young Sheldon’

Whether you consider Craig T. Nelson to be predominantly a comedic actor or a dramatic actor depends mightily on when you first became familiar with his work. If you look at his filmography, though, you can see why many people can’t immediately decide whether he’s more consistently in Column A or in Column B. This is, after all, a guy who went from doing courtroom scenes with Al Pacino in …And Justice for All to playing the deputy warden for the prison housing Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in Stir Crazy, and his career has remained similarly schizophrenic ever since.

The last time Nelson was on TV with any real regularity was in 2015, when Parenthood wrapped up after a six-season run, but last season found him accepting a recurring role CBS’s Young Sheldon as Dale Ballard, who – in addition to coaching Sheldon’s sister’s baseball team – has evolved into a romantic interest for Sheldon’s Meemaw, played by Annie Potts. Last season ended with the Dale / Meemaw relationship in shabby shape, but with Nelson coming back for more episodes this season, you never know what might happen.

In advance of Young Sheldon‘s season premiere, Nelson hopped on the phone with Decider to discuss how he found his way onto the series, how much he’s been enjoying the cast, and how COVID-19 protocols have affected production. In addition, Nelson was kind enough to endure a few flashbacks as we asked him about a variety of his past projects, resulting in stories about why he’s partial to Poltergeist II: The Other Side, how much he learned about comedy from working with Jerry Van Dyke on Coach, and whether or not he’s heard from anyone about that Troop Beverly Hills sequel that’s in the works.

DECIDER: The last time you and I talked, you were preparing to start the final season of Parenthood, and now you’re about to return for your second season of Young Sheldon. What made you decide to return to the small screen to do this recurring role?

CRAIG T. NELSON: Well, Chuck Lorre called, and they had come up with an idea for a character and wanted to know if I wanted to do it, and it just seemed like the opportunity was there, the timing was right, and I liked the idea, plus I got to work with Annie Potts. So it was pretty much a good thing all the way around!

At the time you joined the show, did you know it was going to be a lengthy arc, or was it originally conceived as a brief thing?

I think it was three shows, as I remember.

Well, you and Annie definitely found some great chemistry from the get-go.

Yeah, well, I mean, she’s really easy to work with and a lot of fun, so we just had a good time. I really enjoyed the cast and the character as well as the arc they developed, so one thing led to another  and I ended up doing a whole bunch.

How have you enjoyed working with Raegan [Revord], who plays Sheldon’s sister, Missy, whose team Dale coaches? 

Oh, she’s great. I mean, it’s really a lot of fun, because it’s a fairly large cast, so you get rotated in and out. That’s good for me. But you’re working with people who are just coming up in the business, who’ve never done something like this before, and you get to just watch ’em go! That’s a really neat experience.

It must be nice to be able to do a relatively straightforward comedy after doing a drama like Parenthood for several seasons.

Yeah, although… [Hesitates.] I think the role also has in it the opportunity to do both comedy and drama, at least in the arc they’ve had for me. But it’s primarily comedic…or at least it should be!

I don’t know how much you can really say about the upcoming season, but given that last season ended with Meemaw throwing eggs at Dale’s house, I’m guessing there’s some residual tension between you when the show starts back up.

Oh, yeah. [Laughs.] Dale’s had a change of heart, and he wants to pursue a different avenue, and I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun. Hopefully it will be, because it’s contentious, and it’s certainly not something that Annie’s character wants. She doesn’t want to be involved, I don’t think, with someone who’s on the road that Dale wants to go down.

I guess the obligatory question for anyone who’s on a series at the moment is about how things have changed with production as a result of COVID-19.

Well, it’s all about COVID-19. I mean, that’s the master that you’re serving now. The protocols are so… Well, first of all, they’re numerous and restrictive, and it’s quite a difficult working environment, I think. It’s really hard to get used to. For me. You know, you’re tested… Well, like, I’ll go in on Monday to have the big test. I don’t even know what they call it, but you do that one, and then you’re tested 20 minutes before you go in, and it’s three times a week. And then you’re social distancing, and it’s masks all the time except when you’re shooting in the scene, right up until “action.” So… I don’t know. For me, it’s very restrictive.

I would think that you guys have the added disadvantage of being a period piece, so not only can you not work it into the script, but you also can’t explain anything that might be done differently because of the protocols.

Yeah, that’s right. Although I don’t think about it like that so much as I do just the inability to socialize to any great degree. You realize that we’re having to maintain this distancing, and it’s restrictive…or at least it’s restrictive to my ability to communicate. So that’s the thing that gets a little…onerous, if you will. It’s ponderous.

Well, when I mentioned on social media that I was going to be talking to you, I was bombarded with a list of things I should ask you about, and while we’ll never have time to go through all of them, I wanted to hit a few highlights. For instance, several people just wanted to know what it was like to work with Sam Peckinpah [on The Osterman Weekend].

Oh, Sam was extraordinary. We got to be really good friends, and… Oh, gosh, we had some really great times together. He was a neat guy. He had a really big heart, but he was very curmudgeonly and he…initiated some of his retribution.

You guys met kind of by accident.

Right! Yeah, I wasn’t acting at all. Well, maybe I’d been doing some. But I think I was working on a documentary at the time he was doing the film The Osterman Weekend, and I had an office in the same building where he was doing the casting. He came down the hallway, and he was listening to the music I had playing, because I kept my door open in the office. I can’t even remember what I was blasting, but he peeked in and said, “Well, this sounds like a lot of fun in here!” So we started talking, and… I didn’t even know who he was! [Laughs.] But he introduced himself, and he said, “Hey, what are you doing? I want you to come down and read for this part.” And that’s what happened: I went down, and the next thing I know, I’ve got the part and I’m doing this movie.

Am I remembering correctly that you guys went out and got drunk together that first night you met?

No, I think I was already drunk. [Laughs.]

Well, there you go. 

At least as my memory serves. So I wouldn’t know what we did that night. It may have happened! I do know that the audition went very well, as I remember. I ended up somehow underneath a table in his office doing the scene. I don’t really know why… But, yeah, I was down there, and he just thought that was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. So we just had a great time together.

When Jerry Van Dyke did a guest spot on The Middle, I had a chance to interview him, and I mentioned to him how you’d said that you had to kind of work to find the chemistry that you two had together on Coach. He cackled and said, “I don’t think he ever found it.”

Well, I felt I did! [Laughs.] Oh, that’s funny. It was an ongoing process…

He said that once you guys found that groove, you really hit it off, and that the show was the greatest thing that ever happened to him, because you were so good at what you did. 

Well, Jerry’s the comic genius. There’s no way around it. He was funny walking into a room, he had a delivery that was so unique and so special, and he had a comedic mind that was just alive all the time. I learned so much from working with him, and once we found a rhythm and a style where we could fit in with each other… And it was mainly me, I think, having to really register where I needed to be. Because Jerry was so natural. I didn’t have that quality. He just was doing it instinctively. And it was wonderful. So it was up to me, then, to find some kind of niche that I could fit into that made his rhythm work.

I know there was going to be a Coach revival a few years ago, but it just kind of…went away.

Yeah, we did a pilot, and…it just didn’t work. It wasn’t going to happen. That’s a hard thing to recreate, especially without Jerry and Shelley [Fabares]. I mean, you just don’t do that. It’s not like you can bring that kind of chemistry back.

Are you surprised at the enduring popularity of Troop Beverly Hills and how it’s become a touchstone film for a certain generation?

Oh, uh, gosh… Yeah, a little bit. I mean, I do get kids – well, I mean, they’re adults now and married! – who come up and talk to me about it and remember it. It’s one of those things that I kind of did and forgot! [Laughs.] There’s a lot of that! So, yeah, it’s always a little bit of a surprise.

Have they approached you at all about being in the sequel they’re doing?

No. No, they haven’t.

If they came to you, would you consider it?

Well, I’d sure look at it and see what it was, yeah!

Since we’re talking about sequels, I was so psyched that we finally got The Incredibles 2.

Yeah, that was a surprise to me, also! I didn’t think they were going to do it, it had been so long. And then for it to be as successful as it was… That was pretty phenomenal.

Now, would you say you learned anything from doing Flesh Gordon that you brought to The Incredibles?

[Hesitates, then starts to laugh.] That’s funny. It’s a “no,” but that’s funny. When I was working at the Comedy Store, Bill Osco and Howard Ziehm would come in. Howard only came in occasionally, so I didn’t know him very well, but Bill and I became friendly. Anyway, that’s how I got that…opportunity, I guess you’d call it.

I feel like “opportunity” was in quotation marks there.

[Snorts.] Uh, yeah.

So you were the voice of the stop-motion creature called The Great God Porno, doing your best William F. Buckley impression…or trying to do one, anyway.

Yeah, I was trying. [Laughs.] But that’s my William F. Buckley!

When you mentioned being at the Comedy Store, I was reminded how it still fascinates me that you and Barry Levinson had a stand-up duo…or maybe calling it a sketch duo is more apropos. Somewhere between the two, I guess.

Yeah, it was. And it really provided a forum for us as a team to go on and write together. Gosh, you know, I met with Barry and Rudy [De Luca] just the other day… Uh, well, actually, it’s been awhile now. But we were reminiscing about all of the early days and how free it was, the freeform comedy, and how it just seemed like it was so much more fun. Maybe it was because we were younger and didn’t have any expectations about restricting ourselves. But it was a very special time. It would’ve been the late ’60s and early ’70s, and it was just a great time for discovery and exploration and…just having a lot of fun!

You mentioned the writing. I know you guys did some stuff for Tim Conway.

Yeah, Tim, who was a comic genius. Watching him work in rehearsals was so amazing, as to how he would figure out the different moves, the different physical bits he was going to do. That was an education. And then we worked with John Byner, we did an Alan King special… You know, it was just a wonderful experience all around.

Were you surprised when Barry decided to go off and be a director instead?

Oh, no. Not at all. Because we had talked about film and what he wanted to do. In fact, that was something we talked about a lot. A lot of his emphasis was on what later became Diner, about the guys he knew in Baltimore, and he’d recount some of the stories, and also stories about his grandfather and his dad. And I knew his dad, so I kind of knew the upbringing he’d had. So it wasn’t a surprise at all.

Having just revisited Poltergeist for Halloween, I will say that – aside from a few special effects – still holds up. 

Yeah! Well, I think so, too. I guess. I haven’t seen it in a long time! But people remember that film. A lot. And it was kind of amazing, because Steven [Spielberg] was prepping for E.T. at the time, so he wasn’t spending a lot of time on the set, and then you had Tobe Hooper, who was wonderful to work with. And even though it had a big look, I guess, it was still kind of a smaller film, comparatively speaking.

And the sequel holds up relatively well, too. Maybe not quite as well, but…

Well, see, I liked the sequel a lot. But that’s just me remembering working with [director] Brian Gibson and [screenwriters] Michael Grais and Mark Victor again, and trying to kind of restructure something that had been a surprise hit. But it was just a lot of fun working with them, and working with Will Sampson, who [as Taylor] was helping the family, so… I suppose it was richer for me.

I think what I loved most about the second Poltergeist was Julian Beck 

Well, Julian was extraordinary. He was very ill at the time, you know.

I had heard that, yeah. 

Yeah, but he was a legend, with the Living Theater and all kinds of new approaches to performing live. Almost performance art, if you will. Controversial, but really an interesting guy.

 And it just occurred to me that you also got a chance to work with Geraldine Fitzgerald in that film.

Oh, yeah. You know, she was so mannered and so wonderful. So gracious. Really a fine lady.

I mentioned Parenthood offhandedly when we first started talking, but how do you look back on the overall experience of doing that series?

Well, that was for me such an interesting run, because initially in reading the pilot script, I think I had, like, three or four lines. But at the same time, I knew – or at least really felt deeply – that the story was gonna work if it was done correctly, because it was so well-written. And then when I met the cast, it was so apparent that this was going to happen, because it was just perfect casting. Also, they were so good! And then in the run itself, it was so much give and take, and it was so free and so much fun, that I really hated to see that end. I thought it could’ve gone on a little bit more. And I was surprised that NBC didn’t really push it that much. That was disappointing. But for whatever reason, they didn’t. But at the same time, it was just a wonderful experience.

I thought it wrapped up about as well as it could have. 

Yeah, well, if you’re gonna wrap it up, then you’re gonna wrap it up, I suppose. But it was so fast.

Agreed. I would’ve been happy to see it go on a little longer, too. But the way they did wrap it up, I thought it was good. 

Yeah, I just… I thought we could’ve gone on another year. But what do I know? It’s just a feeling. But when you have that kind of an opportunity and you get to work on something that you’re very proud of and that’s a lot of fun… It was just a great experience. And a lot of us still stay in touch.

Now, is it true that you had the opportunity to do Modern Family but passed?

Yeah. I just didn’t care for the premise.

Hey, at least you got to do Parenthood that way. 

Well, you know, I think I was deciding whether or not to do Modern Family, and then the Parenthood script came, and I knew that that was the one I wanted to do.

Is there a favorite project you’ve worked on over the years that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

Um… [Long pause.] No. I don’t think so.

I was wondering if Call to Glory would qualify or not, but…

Well, you know, that’s the one that ran through my mind!

To be honest, the reason I wasn’t sure if it qualified was because, although I remember it fondly, I haven’t seen it since it originally aired.

Well, you know, it was… [Hesitates.] How do I put this without sounding pompous? I believe at the time we did the two-hour pilot, it was the highest rated movie of the week that ABC had ever had. You know, they called them movies of the week back then. I didn’t even know that it was a pilot! I had gone to New York to do a play, and that’s when I heard that it was sold as a pilot. I was absolutely stunned! “Huh?!” [Laughs.] So when we came back, we’re doing this, and I just thought, “Wow…” I felt like it was a really good show. It was a very expensive show to do. Tony Thomopolous was the president of ABC at the time, and they… Well, anyway, one thing led to another, and we did one season and that was it. But I really loved doing it, I loved the people that the stories were about, and I loved the cast. I mean, you had to move on, of course, because it was cancelled, but at the same time, there were still so many stories left to tell.

If IMDb can be trusted, you actually directed the final episode.

I may have, yeah. I don’t remember. [Abruptly.] Yes! I did! You’re right. I’m sorry.

Well, IMDb has betrayed me before. But I’m glad they got it right this time. 

No, I remember that Keenan and I worked together on that. I just loved Keenan Wynn, and I wanted to make sure he was featured in the show, so… Yeah, I directed that. I’d just forgotten it!

I know we’re in the home stretch, but I have to ask: do you ever regret being complicit in the death of Hooch?

Oh, geez… [Laughs.] Oh, God. You know, it’s so strange, because when you’re doing a film – or at least when I did that one! – you don’t have any idea. When you’re doing the special effects stuff, it never seems to register as how it’s gonna be cut together and how you’re gonna see it. And the battle in the warehouse in Turner and Hooch… That was a movie where I didn’t even know what I was doing. I was totally lost!

Well, I appreciate you being willing to hop on the phone, Craig. As you can tell, I enjoy mixing things up and asking about a variety of projects. 

No problem. Thank you for reminding me of things! [Laughs.]

It’s what I live for: asking actors about stuff that no one else thinks to ask them about.

Yeah, I mean, you look back on it, and you think, “Gosh…” The actors that you’ve worked with who are no longer here, and the experiences that you’ve had with them and around them doing movies or television… It’s pretty phenomenal.

And sometimes even the actors themselves don’t even consider how many stories they’ve got until you ask them about these things, so when I dig up something obscure and the end result is a story that they’ve never told before, I feel like I’ve really accomplished something.

 No, I get it. I totally understand. You look back at just about any actor’s career, and it’s so rich and it’s so interesting. When I was doing The District, Ernie Borgnine was on the show, and I sat down with him and… My gosh, man, all of the things that I remember him for, from when I was a kid growing up and then into my early acting career… I just had a wonderful time talking to him about all kinds of things. How he studied, how he worked, his approach to Marty, how he looked at what he was doing now… It’s such an interesting historical perspective that you get from legends and Oscar winners, but then he also worked with some people I knew, so what was his experience with them? Also, he came out of the studio system and that whole thing. It was really fascinating.

Okay, I really will close with this one, but you just made me think of a question that I enjoy asking when I have the opportunity: who was the first major actor that surprised you by being willing to stay on set and read their off-camera lines for your shots? 

Oh! [Pauses.] You know, I think it was Al Pacino [in ...And Justice for All]. He was just so dedicated and involved in everything.

Sam Elliott told me a story about how, early in his career, he did an episode of Hawkins, a short-lived series starring Jimmy Stewart, and that Stewart not only stuck around but actually got back into costume to read his lines. He said that that’s stuck with him ever since.

Oh, yeah! I think there’s only one time I’ve encountered a situation – or at least it’s the only one I remember – where an actor wasn’t there to read, and it was very alarming to me, because it was a two-character scene. I needed the actor there! But as it turned out, there was a reason for it, and it wasn’t in any way a rude thing or a dismissal. It was a health issue. But it really does affect you if they’re not there.  And it’s also kind of an honorific. It’s an extension to the other person you’re working with: you’re saying that you care enough that you want to be there for them.

Will Harris (@NonStopPop) has a longstanding history of doing long-form interviews with random pop culture figures for the A.V. Club, Vulture, and a variety of other outlets, including Variety. He’s currently working on a book with David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. (And don’t call him Shirley.)

Watch Young Sheldon on CBS All Access