Biography
Ralph Server brings to the industry some thirty years of experience in the entertainment field. His experience is as varied as the man himself. While a teenager Mr. Server appeared in his first play, an inventive production of the innovative fantasy by Sutton Vane titled 'Outward Bound.' Mr. Server thereafter refined his acting skills at the famed Pasadena Playhouse where he understudied for Dustin Hoffman in the main stage play production of Death of a Salesman. He also appeared regularly in various television shows playing ethnic roles for 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios. Fluent in Spanish, dark and handsome, he was often cast as a Mexican drug dealer. Mr. Server remembers an incident with casting director Milt Hammerman where he went in speaking a kind of broken English. The audition was going well until asked how he had learned to speak English. Mr. Server suddenly dropped his accent and told Mr. Hammerman he was Jewish and born in America. The man turned white. Hammerman was so angry at being fooled that he told Server that he would never work at Universal Studios again. "He called my agent Carlos Alvarado and told him so," quipped Server. "I thought that I was displaying my great acting ability." Undaunted, Mr. Server continued his acting career when producer Sam Wannamaker cast him in a Western series at 20th Century Fox called Lancer, as the tortured Mexican vaquero Gaspar. It was a series short-lived starring Wayne Maunder and Jim Stacy. Westerns were out. Detectives were in. Carmel, in northern California, was the setting for the show and he remembers it fondly. The nicest people. President of 20th, Bill Self, actor Anthony Caruso, Elizabeth Bauer, Amongst many others. It was a fun time. After the fall, Server tried his hand at writing screenplays. His acting career stalled, Server got the attention of the Frank Cooper Agency when his then girlfriend passed the screenplay on to Barney Slater who had written films for John Wayne and Tony Perkins. Server's script about the detailed life of a successful drug dealer was optioned many times but never made into a movie. Drug dealers were out of fashion. Joe Wizan, producer of And Justice For All, Junior Bonner with Steve McQueen, and Jeremiah Johnson with Robert Redford, and who would later produce Kiss The Girls with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, Along Came A Spider,again with Morgan Freeman, wanted to make a a film out of Server's coming of age story Killing Time, about the cultural revolution. But despite numerous options, the script got lost in a heap of executive studio changes. Not to be discouraged, Server went ahead and wrote another screenplay about a heist that Boris Sagal was preparing for filming to star Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinal and Jean Paul Belmondo. Fate stepped in and Sagal was killed on a set in Montana while making a mini-series called 'World War III. The film was put on hold and the option ran out. Server wrote another script called Haggarty's Way. Bob Goldfarb, Server's agent at FCA told Server that John Wayne wanted to make the film, that he had just talked to Michael Wayne, head of Batjac Productions, and they were good to go on Haggarty's Way. Fate stepped in again and the great John Wayne unfortunately died of Cancer. Server went on to produce a film called Programmed To Cry. He returned to acting when Dick Donner cast him as a cop on a tv series. With so many scripts in the market Server was able to make a living as a 'script doctor' for movies that were halted in production because their scripts needed help. Server said it was a hell of a pressure but it was steady money and it kept him going. Server wrote another script that he directed this time. The film called Without Mercy(2005) won the grand jury prize at the New York International Film Festival. At last recognition for Server as actor-writer-director. A long journey. Then he produced several films, one with Jan Michael Vincent and Heather Thomas. Mr. Server's next film is now in pre-production. It will be shot in New York and Connecticut and is presently being cast. Already attached to the project are Magdalena Rozczka, a star in Poland, and starting a promising career in Hollywood, and French actor Philippe Durand who is making a remarkable career on the international scene. The film is called The Devil Never Sleeps, about the biggest bank robbery in Connecticut history. Mr Server is presently casting an American star to play the leading role amongst a star-studded and stylish lineup. The film will be dedicated to Boris Sagal.
