His face is as familiar as the family friend you see every year around the holidays. Actor James Hampton has a career that spans nearly 60 years.
"He did all kinds of television shows, different genres and he always had lots of stories and people would always say gosh Jim you really need to do a book and tell other people these stories. We hear them at dinner parties and their great" said Mary Deese Hampton, wife of the actor.
Hampton took the advice. "What? And Give Up Show Business" is Hampton's lifetime story of an Oklahoma youth who served in the military and emerged to a show business career that started in 1962.
Mary Deese Hampton
His resume is long and illustrative, with roles that make Hampton familiar to generations from the Baby Boomers to his last film five years ago.
Hannibal Dobbs on F Troop, Saul Taylor on Days of our lives, the Doris Day show, the Bob Newhart show, the Longest Yard, Sling Blade and Teen Wolf. The list goes on.
These days Hampton calls North Texas his home. For the last six years, he has shared a dubious coincidence with his co-star in Teen Wolf, Michael J. Fox.
Both men suffer from Parkinson's disease.
"He was diagnosed with Parkinson's back in 2014" said Deese. She says the first hint was rooted in Hampton's speech. "He would be in the middle of telling a story he had told a thousand times and he couldn't recall a word… like pencil. And you wouldn't call what he wanted to say the wrong word, he just couldn't find the word."
Deese likens the issue to, what actors call, "going up." It is when an actor is on the stage and forgets the lines.
As the speech problem progressed, Hampton visited one neurologist after another, finally going to a speech pathologist at the Mayo Clinic. 30 minutes into the appointment, the Parkinson's was diagnosed.
"He never had the tremor. At this point his speech is very limited. He can say short phrases. His cognition is fine. He knows everybody and everything. He just can't articulate what he wants to say."
She adds Hampton still has his sense of humor and "he's still Jimmy."
"He said to me one day 'I want people to remember me for the smile. I want people to think about me in their favorite movie or their favorite TV show.' So he chose to step back."
Mary Deese Hampton
The break gave Hampton the chance to write the book. Deese says "What, And Give Up Show Business" is intended to be an easy stroll through some of the golden years of Hollywood and television production. Hampton chronicles a lot of behind-the-scenes antics that took place during production, and his years in front of and behind the camera. It also takes the reader back to Hampton's days in the military.
Come to think of it, Deese says, he has served in nearly every branch, if you count the movies. Hampton was in the Naval Air Reserve for four years, before he was drafted into the Army. In the movies, he was Dobbs in the U.S. Cavalry.
"He served in two branches of the service. He played a Marine in 'Gomer Pyle,' and he was in the Air Force in 'Hanger 18.' So except for the Coast Guard he covered it either in real life or the movies!"
