Photo: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Alan Ruckis reminiscing about his acting career, including a difficult period that came after what is arguably his most iconic role.
TheSuccessionstar, now 65, chatted with Marc Maron for hisWTF podcaston Thursday, and Ruck’s role as lovable goofball Cameron from 1986’sFerris Bueller’s Day Offcame up.
Particularly, Ruck recalled how the role became so strongly associated with him that it was difficult “to scare up any work” afterward –– so much so that he resorted to working at a Sears warehouse at one point.
“In those years where I couldn’t seem to scare up any work, I was like, ‘Oh, well. I guess [Ferris] was my shot,’ " Ruck said of the period after theMatthew Broderick-starring film came out, which lasted into the early ’90s.
Alan Ruck.Steve Granitz/WireImage
“That movie came out in ‘86, and then I stumbled around New York. In 1988, I did a pilot in Thailand about a photojournalist in Vietnam, and I really wanted it to go [ahead to series]. In a network way, it was likeSuccession. Things weren’t going great. So, theBuellerthing got to be a pain in my ass when people would bring it up during that period and I would go, ‘I’m done.'”
Later on in Los Angeles, Ruck recalled working on a Nell Carter pilot that bombed and didn’t pay him anything, which led to him being so “flat-ass broke” that he called a temp agency to find work to help make his car payment.
RELATED VIDEO: WATCH: What’s Your Favorite Moment From ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’?
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
That led him to working at a Sears warehouse in East Los Angeles for three to four months. Of that time, the actor said he “showed up” and felt “humble,” trying “to make myself invisible” so that no one would notice him from the movies.
Things eventually turned around for the star, after spending some time bartending. He went on to score a role in the 1994Keanu Reevesaction classicSpeed,before landing a series regular part in the hit ABC sitcomSpin Citythat ran for six seasons.
Much more recently, of course, Ruck has played older half-brother Connor Roy on the Emmy-winning HBO MaxSuccessionfor two seasons, opposite Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook andBrian Cox, with the third season premiering this Sunday.
At the premiere event for the series in New York earlier this week, Ruck and his costars weighed in on how the embattled dynasty at the center ofSuccession,the Roys, would fare if they had to quarantine together in a pandemic.
Ruck didn’t miss a beat, answering the question with only one word: “Death!”
Successionfollows the Roy family as they prepare for the next phase of their media conglomerate, Waystar RoyCo, amid family patriarch Logan’s (Cox) declining health.
Succession’s third season premieres this Sunday, Oct. 17, on HBO.
source: people.com
