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Michael O’Keefe talks candidly about what it was like on the set of the hit 1980 film “Caddyshack.”
During a recent interview with Page Six, the 71-year-old actor said there was a lot of cocaine on the set of the classic comedy and claimed drugs were even factored into the film’s budget, with the actor noting “there were miscellaneous elements.”
“It was the ’70s,” he says. “That’s what was happening back then. People treated it like it was toothpaste, and you had to do it twice a day to stay healthy.”
The film was filmed in 1979 and released in 1980, and also starred Ted Knight, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield and was set at the fictional Bushwood Country Club.
O’Keefe recalls using cocaine before filming some scenes in “Caddyshack.” (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
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Reflecting on drug use on set, O’Keefe recalled using cocaine before filming certain scenes, telling Page Six that when he watches those scenes now, “it wasn’t my favorite memory” and that he was “not too happy about it.”
“But I can tell you that right after that movie, during that movie, was the last time I did anything like cocaine,” he said. “I realized it was a terrible thing to get involved with, and like so many things in the drug world, it looked like fun, but in reality it wasn’t.”
Part of the reason he decided to take a step back from drugs was the death of Doug Kenney, who co-wrote and produced “Caddyshack.”
He called Kenney’s death a “big wake-up call.” Kenney died at age 33 after falling from a cliff in Hawaii in 1980.
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O’Keefe, it’s true, said he quit drugs after filming the movie. (Orion Images/Getty Images)
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“(He was) one of the most affable, intelligent and funny people in the world. … He was addicted to cocaine, became depressed and committed suicide,” he said. “It really was the result of a drug addiction, and that was a huge wake-up call.”
Before starring in “Caddyshack,” O’Keefe made his breakthrough in “The Great Santini,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
He went on to star in “Ironweed,” “Frozen River” and, most recently, the Apple TV series “Your Friends & Neighbors,” in which he played Ron Cooper, the father of Jon Hamm’s Andrew “Coop” Cooper. His most recognizable role remains that of Danny Noonan in “Caddyshack”.
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O’Keefe played cadet Danny Noonan in the classic 1980s comedy. (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
“We always talk about how we got lucky when we were young and didn’t know what we had,” he told Yahoo in July 2020. “As actors, we don’t want to be typecast, so while I was always happy to be in ‘Caddyshack,’ there were times when I wished people would recognize my other work.”
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He added: “But then I had this experience with a wardrobe designer who told me that her father had died of leukemia and that for six weeks before he died, they would get together as a family and watch ‘Caddyshack.’
It really changed my feelings about what the film means to people and what it means for me to be a part of it. »
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