After arriving in Los Angeles, he worked a variety of jobs before his first job as an actor, including driving a school bus, gas station attendant, truck driver, ditch digger, picking fruit, and working in a department store's stock room. He applied at, and was turned down by, every film studio and production company. He also applied at the Pasadena Playhouse, known as prime training ground for budding actors and actresses, but he was turned down there, at first, too. After he took singing lessons, he decided to give the Pasadena Playhouse a second go, and much to his surprise, he was accepted. His first role at Pasadena was as a spear carrier in a William Shakespeare drama.
