Bob Gunton has spent five decades building one of the most quietly essential careers in American acting, from originating Juan Perón in the first Broadway production of Evita to becoming the face of institutional evil as Warden Norton in The Shawshank Redemption.
He talks about how a pseudo Spanish accent almost got cut from Evita until Hal Prince intervened, what it took to make Sweeney Todd his own after watching Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury do it upstairs, and the wig audition that landed him Shawshank. He also shares his Vietnam service, the Bronze Star at Firebase Ripcord, and the dog tag that found its way back to him decades later, plus the story behind playing the ghost of Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters Afterlife.
Show Highlights:
- Bob auditioned for Hal Prince in cavalry boots and a three piece suit with his hair slicked back, and when he dropped the Perón accent in rehearsal because nobody else in the Evita cast sounded Hispanic, Prince pulled him aside and told him to put it back in.
- Working alongside Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin in Evita earned him a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award, though he values the seven or eight Al Hirschfeld drawings on his wall more, since every one of them has a Nina.
- His Sweeney Todd revival at Circle in the Square played directly beneath the theater where he had watched Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury, and he reframed the show as a family story rather than a Victorian class parable, with his own wife and daughter sitting in the audience.
- Sweeney Todd was his last Broadway show, and he explains why climbing that particular Everest made the jukebox musicals that followed impossible to care about, plus how California gave him Follies and On the Twentieth Century opposite Carolee Carmello.
- He walked into the Elvis Meets Nixon audition in full character with nose plugs and a Nixonian haircut, improvised a bit about Ed Muskie crying in the snow, and had to do the whole thing twice because nobody thought to tape it.
- Playing Captain Benjamin Maxwell in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Wounded let him sing Minstrel Boy with Colm Meaney and work opposite Brent Spiner, his Big River castmate, in one of Gene Roddenberry's sharpest ethical conundrums.
- Frank Darabont wanted him for The Shawshank Redemption from the start, but Castle Rock made him camera test opposite Tim Robbins wearing a custom wig, because he was shooting Demolition Man with a shaved head at the time.
- He wrote a full backstory for Warden Norton for the first time in his career, built around shame and religion, and explains why the movie only works if the warden is the single source of darkness rather than the three wardens in Stephen King's novella.
- Bill Murray in full Ghostbusters gear was the first thing he saw stepping out of his trailer on a movie he had been told was called Rust City, where he was cast as the dirt farmer, which turned out to be the aged ghost of Egon Spengler.
Also discussed: The Perfect Storm and the unsalted Warner Brothers water tank, 61* shot at Detroit's Tiger Stadium with Billy Crystal, The 33 and playing the president of Chile, Argo, Dead Silence, Elvis Meets Nixon with Rick Peters, Morgan Freeman's narration, Ted Turner and the TBS rotation that saved Shawshank, and his finished memoir Or Am I Being Obtuse.
You're going to love my conversation with Bob Gunton
Follow Jeff Dwoskin (host):
Ways to support the show:
SPONSOR: STAMPEDE SOCIAL Drive engagement from your social channels and podcast with Stampede Social's Instagram and Facebook DM automation! Visit https://stampede.social Also check out: Why Instagram + Stampede Social Is the Growth Strategy Podcasters Need in 2025 (and Beyond)
Thanks for checking out Classic Conversations! Dive into pop culture nostalgia with comedian Jeff Dwoskin as he hosts the best TV and film interviews. Hear inspiring stories from actors, comedians, musicians, and pop culture icons about the road to success. Part comedy, part drama—always entertaining.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
