Havertown man lives dream, films movie at Radnor Hotel
RADNOR >> The next Sylvester Stallone might be the owner of the local car service, Hybrid Planet Chauffeurs.
Ray Martin, 37, is the man behind a movie that was recently filmed in and around The Radnor Hotel. The flick, “Stealing a Survivor,” was a long time in the making with many twists and turns.
At 15 Martin, who grew up in Bensalem and went to Archbishop Ryan High School, knew that he wanted to act and also that he’d like to own his own business. After high school, Martin broke into show business by approaching an agent who steered him to tryouts for extras for the television show “Ed,” which was filmed in New York. Martin was hanging around waiting for his turn and getting hungry when he saw a table of food and, not knowing that it was for the crew, he helped himself. Tom Cavanagh came over and asked him what he was doing and Martin explained. The two hit it off and it turned out Cavanagh was the actor playing the character, Ed, and the star of the show.
Cavanagh told him that he would be “waivered in” to the Screen Actors Guild. Martin got a recurring gig on “Ed” as a high school football player.
Martin also had appearances in “The Sopranos” and “Law & Order.” And Martin even was in the hot dog scene in the Chris Rock movie “Down to Earth.” When his mom, Peachie Martin, watched it at a movie theater, she stood up and yelled, “That’s my son,” he said.
But after the fourth season of “Ed,” he found out his mom had colon cancer and Martin, an only child, knew he had to return. She died in 2002, shortly after his 21st birthday and Martin stayed around to help his dad, Ray Martin Sr.
“I quit acting cold turkey,” Martin said. “I knew my father needed me.”
After his mom died he learned that she had had five miscarriages before he was conceived. Then both he and his mother nearly died when he was born. His mother prayed to God to let Martin live and told God that he could take her once her son turned 21.
“She passed away three months after my 21st birthday,” he said. “I learned quickly, never make a deal with God unless you’re going to keep it.”
Martin believes that she watches over him to this day.
Martin got the idea of starting a car service using hybrid cars and, with his then girlfriend now his wife, Andrea’s blessing, on Earth Day 2008 he started his own business using ecofriendly cars to drive people
Ray Martin, 37, is the man behind a movie that was recently filmed in and around The Radnor Hotel. The flick, “Stealing a Survivor,” was a long time in the making with many twists and turns.
to the airport. The Radnor Hotel was the first hotel to use his car service. His dad, who bought him his first company vehicle, a hybrid Toyota Highlander, and a cousin are also involved in the business.
But Martin never got over the acting bug. He came up with the idea of a TV show where he would interview celebrities in his hybrid cars about what they do to help the environment. This was before Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” or other shows with a similar theme, Martin said. He learned that he needed a “treatment” to get the show launched.
You might say that Martin has chutzpah.
He heard that Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon were shooting a movie in Philadelphia and went to find them. He located Rudd on set and started talking to him, asking him about submitting a treatment. Rudd was very nice, he said, but Witherspoon came over and intervened.
“She made me feel like a crazy person, like I was stealing Paul Rudd,” he said. But later he got to thinking about it and an idea for a movie with that
title, “Stealing Paul Rudd,” came to him. Martin went home and wrote the outlines for 15 scenes, he said.
In the meantime, he got a business call from David’s Bridal. He went over to that company’s office and spoke with a woman there. They got to talking and Martin told her about his movie idea and she told him that her husband was a writer.
That’s how he met his writing partner, Walter Haley, who worked on the script with him.
In the meantime, Martin also sponsored celebrity basketball games to raise money for cancer research in memory of his mother. Gervase Peterson, who has appeared on the television show, “Survivor,” took part in a game and they became friends.
For several years, Martin took every opportunity to pitch his script to whoever would listen, buttonholing various actors. A few times it seemed like the movie might be made but circumstances intervened taking Martin back to square one.
Finally, Martin asked Peterson for help and Peterson
“You might think it’s called ‘Survivor’ because Gervase was in ‘Survivor’ but it’s about more than that. It’s about a father and son surviving the loss of a mother and wife. It’s about a family business and it’s about people coming together and helping each other make it through this ‘crazy thing we call life.”
— Ray Martin
agreed. Peterson now stars in the film. With Peterson and Martin acting and local cinematographer Matt Mahoney behind the camera, “Stealing a Survivor” was filmed at The Radnor Hotel in July and is now being edited. Another friend, Chris Morris, plays the role of Coach Tanner and former Philadelphia 76ers cheerleader, Adrienne Santoleri, portrays Peterson’s assistant. George Wendt, the actor who played Norm on “Cheers,” and who knows Morris, agreed to play Martin’s dad in the film that Martin called “a comedy with heart.”
“You might think it’s called ‘Survivor’ because Gervase was in ‘Survivor’ but it’s about more than that,” said Martin. “It’s about a father and son surviving the loss of a mother and wife. It’s about a family business and it’s about people coming together and helping each other make it through this ‘crazy thing we call life,’” he said, quoting Prince.
Martin, who lives in Havertown with his wife and children — Nola, 8, Stella, 6, and Brody, 16 months — is eagerly awaiting the film to be released in October.