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He’s been on both
sides of the lens. Hollywood actor settles down in Neenah studio.
By Cathy McLain
Neenah Citizen Newspaper
How does a man who once acted in the hallowed soap operas -- Edge of Night, Search
for Tomorrow, The Guiding Light—a man donned wings and became the lead angel in
the Exorcist III, a man hobnobbed with George C. Scott, a man who roomed with
Fabio, for crying out loud.
How does such a man end up happily working in a Neenah photography studio?
Here’s the story.
A simple twist of fate. That’s what happened back in 1985 when Craig Augustine
answered the telephone in his New York apartment. It was for his roommate, but alas, the
roommate was in L.A.
As a result of that call, Augustine began a four-year affiliation with Groundlings
East, an offshoot of the famous Groundlings West comedy improv troupe that launched the
careers of Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz and Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman). Augustine would
also meet his wife Tammy who was working with the troupe.
It was a simple twist of fate in a winding road that led Augustine from his Milwaukee
home to the Big Apple, and then chase his California dream and back again.
When Augustine attended Cardinal Stritch University he earned his B.A. in art,
specializing in photography and art history. Photography, it seemed, came naturally. He
was comfortable with it.
It was when he was at Marquette University that he first was bitten by the acting bug,
and in 1981 he and a friend set out for New York City to seek their fortunes. The friend
lasted four months, but Augustine was beginning a journey that would take him from coast
to coast for the next 14 years.
As fate would have it, the Music Under the Stars Program needed extra slaves for its
production of Kismet.
"I thought I’d take the city by storm," he admitted.
But first it was a matter of finding a bit of practical shelter from the storms of the
New York streets.
"Existence in New York starts with finding an apartment," he said.
Augustine found himself ensconced in an upper west side 17th floor
apartment, sublet from a couple who traveled with an opera company.
In practically no time he landed a role on the venerable soap opera The Edge of
Night, playing an unscrupulous gigolo called Johnny Gentry.
After Johnny ran off with on older woman, Augustine did an about-face and took an
"all-American, Michael Landon type role" on Search for Tomorrow. Unlike
the shiftless Gentry, Keith McNeil "moved in with his little sister and worked on a
horse farm," Augustine said.
If nothing else, Augustine was getting to show off his range of emotions and
character depiction.
Along with the daily drama on the screen, Augustine’s own life drama was
unfolding. He fell in love, with an actress. The relationship broke up. He, broken
hearted, went bi-coastal.
"It was the promised land," he said of L.A., "I was going to get into
movies."
Well, he didn’t end up parking cars and pumping gas, but he could have. He spent
his money; he found no acting work; he rode the bus, and that experience, in L.A., is as
he said a bummer.
Eight months later he was back in New York, finding work as a Lucky Strike model, his
image plastered on billboards and sandwiched in magazine pages. Then it was back to L.A.
again for T.V. pilot season.
This time he did end up parking cars, and waiting tables. But he also landed a role in
an episode of Paper Dolls with Lloyd Bridges and Morgan Fairchild, and acted in
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.
But the bouncing bi-coastal life was taking its toll, and his California dream was
fading into a surreal drag.
"Those sunny long days, the drone of the traffic, I felt disconnected," he
said, "not in harmony." Only once, I remember, on the freeway, it seemed like
everything was going at the same speed – there was a moment of harmony."
Augustine decided to try to nurture the moment of freeway harmony. He drove back to
N.Y., doing a bit of soul-searching along the way.
"I remember sitting in a hotel in Oklahoma," he said, "thinking
‘nobody knows where I am, or who I am.’"
Waiting for him back in N.Y. was a letter from his bank telling him to come claim
$7,000 or it would be turned over to the state. He claimed his forgotten windfall and hit
the catering circuit.
"Lots of artists did it," he said. "I got to go to rich people’s
parties and wear a tuxedo."
Before too long he got that fateful call and joined Groundlings East where he helped
write comedies and performed in original works for the next four years.
Although the time he spent with Groundlings East was rewarding, Augustine began to
consider that maybe he should think about more steady work. He made a few more last
efforts as a professional actor, most notable his appearance as the lead angel in Exorcist
III, which was filmed in North Carolina. There he met George C. Scott, and yes he
roomed with Fabio, who, he said, was "very nice."
With his wife’s encouragement he decided to send a sample of his photographic work
to a contest offered by the Center of Media Arts. To His surprise, his photo of the view
from his 17th floor apartment taken one snowy day won him a full scholarship to
attend the school.
His parents sent him classified ads from Wisconsin, and Augustan, his wife and young
son packed up and left the big city behind.
After a stint with a new studio in Madison, Augustan found his present position with
Munroe Studios in Neenah where he has discovered his niche as a photographer for the past
three-and-a-half years.
He does miss the acting life and the Big Apple sometimes, and his days of
"rebellion, youth and freedom."
But now, at 43 with two young children, he is very happy to be working with a
photographer’s set props instead of an actor’s. He feels he is where he should
be, back on the path that started with those vacation snapshots years ago.
"I think acting was something maybe someone else chose for me," he said
recalling the influences of friends and teachers. "Photography was something I
chose."
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