At 60, Bryan Cranston has built a reputation as one of the most consistently good actors working today. Since 2000, he's been nominated for 10 acting Emmys (winning four as his meth cooking Breaking Bad alter ego, Walter White), plus a Tony (which he won for 2014's All The Way) and an Oscar (for 2016's Trumbo). Thus readers of his new memoir, A Life in Parts (excerpted here and here), might be taken aback to learn that his life has actually been filled with upheavals. Here, we count down 10 quirky, devastating, perplexing, and triumphant reveals from his very personal book.
Before Becoming a Full-Time Actor, The Odd Jobs Cranston Held Were Very Odd
Although Cranston's father was an actor and aspiring screenwriter, he spent most of his career struggling and abandoned the family when his middle child was just 11. The Hollywood-born Cranston owes none of his adult success to nepotism. In fact, before he was cast in a soap opera at age 26, Cranston carved out quite an eccentric resume of non-Tinseltown pursuits, among them flea market vendor, paper boy, housepainter, supermarket security guard, wedding officiant, waiter, lifeguard, dock loader, special effects production assistant, dating consultant, and farmhand—a role that required him to slaughter chickens.
Cranston Seriously Pursued a Career in Law Enforcement
At 16, Cranston followed his older brother into the LAPD Explorers, a teenage program that allowed its brethren to travel the world when not studying police procedures, manning parade routes, or witnessing autopsies. Out of his 111-person class, Cranston came in first, excelling in both scholastic and physical endeavors. While awaiting his 21st birthday—when he could apply to join the LAPD—he earned an Associate's Degree in Administration of Justice while working a string of security guard gigs. Eventually, he turned down a promotion that would involve carrying a gun and set out on a two-year motorcycle trip, packing a book of plays (he'd taken acting electives in junior college). Before the trip concluded, he decided that he wanted to be an actor, not a cop.
The First Time He Had Sex, He Paid For It
Cranston visited Europe with his LAPD Explorers unit. One night in Salzburg, he and two peers visited a brothel. Through Cranston planned to merely wait downstairs while his buddies had a good time, he was escorted into a room with a twin bed by an unnamed woman in a blue dress, who proceeded to take his virginity (and the few bills he carried).
Cranston Was Briefly Wanted for Murder
Midway through the aforementioned cross-country road trip, Cranston and his brother were employed as waiters at the Hawaiian Inn Polynesian Restaurant and Showroom in Daytona, Florida. The chef, Peter Wong, was a "culinary dictator" who "would bitch and shriek about your complete worthlessness and stupidity." His staff regularly fantasised about killing him, and Cranston admits to wanting to serve him up on a plate. Around the time the brothers set out north on their hogs, Wong went missing and was soon found dead. When police asked the staff if any former employees expressed ill will towards their boss, fingers were pointed at the Cranstons, who were the subject of all points bulletin for two days. Police determined that Wong was bludgeoned to death by a prostitute who saw him at the dog track with copious amounts of cash.
Proposing to His Wife Was a Slippery Situation
Following a divorce in his mid-20s and an ex-flame-turned-stalker, Cranston fell in love with Robin Dearden, an actress he met while guest starring on CBS's helicopter-centric series, Airwolf. Cranston was adamant about not wanting to cry while proposing, so he devised a way to pop the question without facing Dearden: taking a bath (in the woodside cabin he co-owned with John O'Hurley, another eventual Seinfeld scene-stealer). Once Dearden said yes, Cranston presented her with a ring—on his pinky toe.
His High School Reunion Was a Somber Occasion
Though a married new father, Cranston decided that his 20th high school reunion was the right time to reveal his childhood crush to Carolyn Kiesel, whose hair he once covered in paste. However, when he arrived, he learned that Kiesel had died in a car crash three years after graduation.
Cranston Was Nearly Fired From Malcolm in the Middle Before It Aired
When FOX picked up Malcolm in the Middle—in which the once and future Power Rangers co-star played Hal Wilkerson, the protagonist's hyper-emotional, hijinks-fueled dad—the network intended to reshoot the pilot, recasting Hal. Instead, thanks to an endorsement from series creator Linwood Boomer, Cranston played Hal for all seven seasons, earning three Emmy nominations, unaware of FOX's early reservations towards him for years. And thanks to a tip from the show's music clearance officer, Cranston received quarterly composing checks for his improvised humming and whistling, which the actor used to fund cast parties.
Ferris Bueller Had a Shot at Walter White
Although Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan (who wrote a 1998 X-Files episode starring Cranston) always lobbied for the Malcolm in the Middle vet to play the lead, AMC originally wanted to audition five or six actors for the part of Walter White, including Matthew Broderick, Steve Zahn, and possibly Christian Slater. In the end, Cranston was awarded the part—which Gilligan described as the evolution from Mr. Chips to Scarface—sans audition.
One of Breaking Bad's Last Goodbyes Was an Airport Casualty
In the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad, Cranston's White calls Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte) at his high school, an anguished exchange where the former chemistry teacher tearfully attempts to justify his life of crime and set aside six figures of untraceable cash for his family. Walt Jr. hangs up on his father, and they will never speak again. That scene's 35 mm film was immediately shipped from the Albuquerque set to Los Angeles for processing, but the canister fell off an airport luggage cart and was run over by a tow truck. The destroyed footage mandated a reshoot.
Cranston's Father Likely Helped the Paparazzi Keep Tabs on His Progeny
Over his nine decades, Cranston's father tried to stay afloat with a variety of businesses, including a trampoline center and instructional golf videos. His most profitable venture (in Cranston's estimation) was Star's Homes, a magazine catered to Hollywood tourists. Late in the elder Cranston's life, he even published his son's address in its pages. Cranston's father died in 2014.
