Crimson & Gold
Whether he’s behind the desk or in front of the camera, Robert Norsworthy gets good reviews.
Robert Norsworthy appeared as the Bartender with Kevin Sorbo as Preston Biggs in Prairie Fever. Photos courtesy of RHI films. |
Madison Avenue. Where else would you expect to find somebody with 40 years in advertising? Robert Norsworthy an executive vice president for Omnicom, the world’s largest marketing firm has a Manhattan office with that iconic address. In addition to the expected computer and a telephone with wireless headset, his office sports a chart the size of a ping-pong table listing the conglomerate’s 25 largest clients (including Bank of America, ExxonMobile, McDonalds, Sprint and Pepsi) and which of Omnicom’s companies they use to reach their customers.
More personally, there are a few family photos, posters of Winston Churchill and a famous New Yorker cover, and on his desk a stack of DVDs of such classic films as High Noon, Double Indemnity and The Last Picture Show. The movies are the only clue to Norsworthy’s other career acting in made-for-TV movies and television series. He has shared the screen with James Garner, Corbin Bernson, David Arquette, Jennifer Garner and Clint Black, among others.
And although it seems against type, he almost always plays the heavy.
The First Picture Show
“I like westerns best I have a southern accent so they’re easier for me to do,” says Norsworthy. “I think people who are in advertising probably all could act, because we do that for a living. We’re presenting ideas and trying to sell ideas. So if you’re a person who can sell, you can probably act.”
Not that the Kentucky native was looking to get discovered. Several years back he was shooting skeet with Robert Halmi, Jr., who with his father heads RHI Films, a company that produces about 50 films a year. An accomplished trap shooter himself, Norsworthy offered some pointers, which led to a close friendship between the two. Ultimately, Halmi asked Norsworthy to act in one of his films a small part that would make use of the executive’s rugged looks and soft drawl.
“I said, ‘Halmi, I’ve produced 200 commercials in my life. I hate shoots. I hate actors,’ but he kept after me.” That persistence led to Norsworthy playing a preacher in the 1995 film Black Fox, headlined by Christopher Reeve. “He flew me up to Calgary. I did the scene in two takes and got the bug.”
Norsworthy’s biggest role to date is in Cadillac Jack, which starred Clint Black and his wife, Lisa Hartman-Black. (As part of his portrayal of a Texas Sherriff, he sat in the same cell that once held Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald.) His most recent film is this year’s Prairie Fever shot last year with Kevin Sorbo, best known for playing Hercules in the television series.
In a city full of waiters and waitresses waiting for their big break, Norsworthy keeps his own acting in perspective. “It’s hard work but a lot of fun. I do a couple roles a year. I’m in SAG [Screen Actors Guild] so I try to make enough money to fulfill my pension, which will only be about $50 a month maybe enough to keep me in chewing tobacco,” he says, laughing.
The Back Story
The southern accent Norsworthy puts to good effect in his acting comes by way of his upbringing in Kentucky, where he lived until he was ready to enter high school. His parents were intent upon him being the first in the family to earn a college degree, so they moved north in search of better schools. After graduating from Highland Park High School near Detroit, Norsworthy did a three-year hitch with the army and worked at Ford Motor Company for a year before enrolling at Ferris, where he began laying the groundwork for his success in business by earning his degree, broadening his horizons and discovering his first mentor.
“I was pretty limited in my world view. I didn’t even know what side of the plate the fork was supposed to go on, recalls Norsworthy. “Joining the Lambda Chi fraternity and being able to congregate with guys from different backgrounds and stations in life really helped mold me as a person.” He was also student body president and manager of the basketball team that went to the NAIA championships in 1962. He credits coach Jim Wink with having an enduring effect on his life. Wink actually coached at Highland Park High School before coming to Ferris at about the same time as Norsworthy. “I didn’t play on his team in high school, but I knew him back then, and we became very good friends after I graduated from Ferris. Had a great influence on my life because he was just such a disciplined person and demanded excellence.”
Within a couple years of graduating, Norsworthy became involved in politics in the Detroit area and worked for Senator (then-Representative) Robert Griffin’s 1964 campaign before moving to Lansing to work for Governor George Romney ultimately spending 1967 in New Hampshire in support of Romney’s presidential bid.
Returning to Michigan, Norsworthy ran a congressional campaign for candidate Peter O’Rourke. During a fundraiser he met the head of the advertising firm J. Walter Thompson, which led to Norsworthy working at the firm (now named JWT) for 20 years before heading to Ogilvy and Mather. And then to Omnicom where he has been for the last 10 years.
“I started as an assistant account executive and worked myself up to worldwide account director,” says Norsworthy, whose accomplishments also include being named a Ferris State Distinguished Alumnus in 1977. “Coming out of the army, I didn’t have many options. Ferris provided me the opportunity that made the difference in my life. Throughout the years I’ve tried to be a good alumnus.”
Applause, Applause
Of course, isn’t the role of advertising executive a plum one? Sharp suits, expense accounts, two martini lunches…
“That image of the Madison Avenue executive is long gone,” says Norsworthy. “Actually, this is probably the best time to be in the business.”
The advent of the digital world has created myriad ways to reach consumers. “When I started the business, there were five media: outdoor, magazine, radio, newspaper, TV. Now there are probably 200 media to reach a consumer,” he says.
Omnicom is a product of the changed marketing landscape Although media have fragmented from the time of the big three broadcast networks, the ability to solve the marketing puzzle has driven companies to become bigger so as to have the resources to put all the pieces together. In 1986, the advertising agencies DDB Needham and BBDO merged to form Omnicom, which expanded with the acquisition of TBWA Worldwide in 1993. Today, Omnicom encompasses more than 200 different companies specializing in public relations, direct marketing, sports marketing, branding and more. Norsworthy’s task is to connect clients with resources.
“My day is made up mostly of connecting our companies and providing our clients with resources whether that’s direct marketing, PR, sports marketing, NASCAR whatever it is, we’ve got companies that are in that business,” he says.
Most aspiring actors have day jobs rather than careers, but Norsworthy doesn’t exactly “aspire” to acting. While he studies his craft and has, by his own admission, gotten better since his first role, he is content to grow his list of credits slowly. “Halmi tells me I could certainly go and become a character actor, but I’m not that ambitious. I’m an advertising guy; I’m not an actor,” he says.
But there are plenty of would-be actors who would be thrilled to have appeared in two movies released in 2007: Pandemic, starring Tiffani Thiessen, Vincent Spano and Faye Dunaway; and Hybrid with Justine Bateman. And plenty of executives would like to be an executive vice president with a company whose net income for the third quarter of 2007 was $202.2 million, an increase of 14.2% over the third quarter of 2006.
In both his roles, Norsworthy can take a bow.