From LA to L.A.

When Louis Herthum, Sr. took his 12-year-old son to see the newly released Steve McQueen thriller Bullitt, he had no idea the impact the famed car-chase scene would have on his child. “I knew right then what I wanted to do,” Louis Herthum explains 40 years later, “I wanted to be a stuntman.” While Herthum’s goals eventually morphed beyond his initial reaction, there was never any turning back from a life in the movies. He has worked steadily as an actor, producer and stuntman on stage, film, and the small screen for three decades.

A Baton Rouge native, who splits his time between his hometown and Los Angeles, Herthum has enjoyed a steady career in the film industry. In the late seventies, he got his start as a model in print ads and commercials. Talent agent Dee Cothern took Herthum on, and he began taking acting lessons from Barbara Chaney, who taught in Cothern’s Baton Rouge studio. After stints in several one-act plays around town, Cothern encouraged Herthum to audition for The Rainmaker at the Baton Rouge Little Theater. Herthum recalls being terrified at the thought of reading for any part against all the local actors who had been at it for some time.

“But I thought, if I couldn’t find the courage to read for the part, how could I find the courage to jump off of a six-story building when I made it to Hollywood and became a stuntman?” Herthum says. He auditioned for a supporting role but was ultimately cast as the lead, Starbuck. There was no turning back. After starring in a few more local productions, Herthum packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where he knew only two people.

After about seven years of living the typical part-time actor, part-time jack-of-all-trades life in L.A., Herthum managed to achieve the often-elusive ability to support himself as a working-actor. Herthum performed in numerous plays from the late 1980s through the early 1990s. He also enjoyed a steady gig as Deputy Andy Broom on the final five seasons of the classic television show Murder, She Wrote. Herthum describes star Angela Landsbury as both “royalty” and “very approachable.” This combination of a commanding presence and grounded outlook seems to be the very thing that most impresses Herthum, and most recalls his Louisiana roots. Ours is a culture that encourages us to take our work and not ourselves so seriously. Herthum shared a small scene in the recent film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with part-time New Orleanian Brad Pitt, and describes him in similar language. “Brad treated everyone, including me, with the utmost respect and was also very approachable and down to earth.”

Louis Herthum’s resume since 2008 includes four television appearances and a dozen film roles, plus three projects currently in development or production. Red Ridge, a film he produced and starred in hit DVD earlier this year. The movie is about human trafficking and is based on true events that occurred in Dallas. “It is a dark, edgy film, and not the easiest to watch,” Herthum says. “But what we were trying to do was tell everyone that this actually does happen here. It’s not just in third world countries. Women are being kidnapped and forced in to slavery, mostly sex slaves. And the rate is alarming. Since we made the film some stars like Angelina Jolie have spoken out on this issue, making it one of her causes.”

One scene in the film takes place in an isolated area, where a roadside “Free Puppies” sign lures unsuspecting women. “A woman and her young daughter actually drove back to our location, about a mile and a half off of the main road, and asked about the puppies. Had it been a real setup, they would have fallen victim. It was a real sobering moment for the entire crew and gave us all chills.”

Herthum can next be seen in the Jeff Bridges and Justin Timberlake drama The Open Road and in the Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor comedy I Love You Phillip Morris.