Thorwald

I was born (hatched) in Hamburg, Germany.My father was born in France, my mother in Norway. I lived 19 years in Germany, then 6 years in Switzerland. I came to the US. in 1959. I lived in Los Angeles. were I worked at MGM and CBS as a Cinetechnician on shows like "Hawaii-Five 0" and "Bob Newhart". Chess was always a favorite of mine, and thanks to Chess. com I was able to start playing chess again. Some of my Hobbies: Exercising, Gardening, Cooking, I like to stay physically fit for health and enjoyment through many activities, such as walking, hiking, bike riding and working out at the gym. I enjoy Photography, and of course chess! CENTRAL DISPATCH THE HAWAII FIVE-0 FAN CLUB NEWSLETTER Volume 5 January, 2002 Issue 18 ************************************** Meet Thorwald (Tom) Boie, McGarrett's Double in Welcome to Our Branch Office! I worked as a Cinetechnician on Hawaii Five-0 in Hawaii at Fort Ruger and on the various shooting locations on the all the shows in 1974, 1975, and 1976. A Cinetechnician takes care of the all the motion picture camera equipment, including lenses, etc. Most of the work has to be done after shooting for the day is done. The cameras have to be ready and in the best possible condition for the next shooting day. After shooting in dusty locations, like in the pineapple fields, a little more cleaning is required. My experiences working for Hawaii Five-0 for those three seasons were a very positive one. It was always a pleasure taking to Jack Lord, James McArthur, and Kam Fong when they stopped at the camera truck to say "hello". We also had a great camera crew and a wonderful supporting crew to make the show a success. It was in 1974 when the show "Welcome to our Branch Office" was filmed. It was during lunch break, that the casting director, Bob Bush noticed me, indicating, that they could use me as the "fake Mc Garrett". After finishing lunch I landed in the make-up department and was put into one of Jack's suits for photo tests. Everything worked out and the director send me into the production office as the "surprise" Mc Garrett. Bernie Oseranski, our great Production Manager nearly feel at of his chair when he saw me. Jack Lord was kidding that we should both go in town dressed in our blue suits. Jack and I were both the same size, even our shoe size was interchangeable! The filming of "Welcome to our Branch Office" went well, except, that they had to use a voice-over because of my German accent. This was not a problem since I only had a few lines. Several times people asked me for an autograph thinking that I was actually Jack Lord. After trying to convince them, that I was not Jack Lord the reply was often, "Now look at this, now Jack Lord even puts on a German accent." In several episodes I was also used as Jack's photo double in several drive by shoots driving Mc Garrett's car, etc. Now were comes that German accent in? I learned the Cinetechnician trade in Germany in the Optical industry for 3 ½ years in the early fifties. After that, I worked for 6 years in Switzerland were we developed precision machinery for the watch making industry. It was in Switzerland, that I became very interested in the Motion picture industry. I remember going often to movie theaters were American films were shown with German subtitles or dubbed into German. In 1964-1966 I worked at MGM studios and it was during these years that Elvis Presley made movies at MGM. I had the privilege seeing him often as he used the side entrance were I was working. He had to avoid the main entrance as there was always a mob waiting! After working at MGM, I worked at CBS for several years, again as Cinetechnician on various shows such as Bob Newhart Show, Loni Anderson Show. Through CBS I also worked for Universal Studios on "Smokey and the Bandit 2" and "the Island" with Michael Cane. I enjoyed working on these different shows, but working on "Hawaii Five-0" will always be the highlight of all the shows. After all these years, I finally left Los Angeles to retire in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. ********************************************************