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Break a Leg, Beck! LAPD Chief to Appear on TV's 'Southland'
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck is ready for his closeup. Sure, he regularly appears on television for interviews and during press conferences, but now he's going to be on the small screen on a fictional TV drama, in a cameo appearance on the season finale of "Southland."
Beck is filming his star turn Friday afternoon, according to L.A. Now, who report that the setting for the scene is a news conference about a "high-profile crime." They're filming outside of the old LAPD headquarters, Parker Center, in Downtown.
Parker Center wasn't the original planned location, though: "The scene was supposed to be filmed at the new police headquarters, but an unscripted anti-police protest required the shoot to be moved to Parker Center."
Beck joins a line of predecessors in his role (as Chief) taking on roles in scripted entertainment. Former Chief William J. Bratton was in the film "People I Know," Daryl F. Gates played himself ont he 80s cop drama "Hunter" (and was in a TV movie about Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss), and Bernard C. Parks played himself on the sitcom "Girlfriends."
Not too long ago, both L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti appeared on TV's "All My Children." And then it got canceled. Hmm. We kid!
Break a Leg, Beck!
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