Schriever navigator makes movie magic

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Phyllis Duff
  • 50th Space Wing Public Affairs
SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) --  He has been a Confederate infantryman, a Union surgeon and a prisoner of war killed at the Battle of the Bulge, but his best role is a navigator with the Air Force Space Command Battle Lab here.

As a Hollywood extra, Maj. Allen Vickrey enjoys working in historic epics that bring the past to life.

Vickrey's journey to the silver screen began in 1980, while stationed at then Buckley Air National Guard Base, Colo. He answered a casting call in the base newspaper for a made-for-television movie about Marilyn Monroe, starring Catherine Hicks, scheduled to film at Fort Carson, Colo.

A call went out for extras, specifically servicemembers from local installations wearing fatigues, the olive green work uniform similar to the ones worn by both the Army and Air Force in the 1950s. Vickrey, a collector of historical military uniforms and battle re-enactor, stood out because he had the authentic uniform from that era.

"When the directors saw me, they immediately put me right on the USO stage with the cast and with Marilyn (Hicks) herself," he said.

From that point on, he said, "I was hooked on Hollywood."

Vickrey said he does not act for the money, but for the chance to depict the heroes he looked up to as a child. He "simply tries to" portray the average Joe in the military of whatever era or war.

"The greatest satisfaction is that I get to represent the past in a way that people can relate to," he said.

Vickrey's resume would be one any Hollywood actor would envy. His films include Civil War epics "Glory" and "Andersonville."

He was also seen in the movie "Pearl Harbor" playing an Army Air Corps major during the attack at Hickam Field.

Vickrey had the first-hand opportunity to help stars Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett get in character by locating an authentic Army Air Corps P-40 pilot orientation film at the Strategic Air Command Museum in Omaha, Neb., for them to view.

One of his most unusual acting parts was in the movie "Dances with Wolves."

"I was the hands and feet of a surgeon in the beginning scenes as they worked on actor-director Kevin Costner's wounded foot," he said.

He switched sides briefly to play a Confederate Army lieutenant colonel in the Civil War scenes.

In "Gods and Generals," Vickrey's most recent cameo, he plays both Union and Confederate infantrymen during the battle of Fredricksburg.

"I can be briefly seen beside a tree packing down my musket," he said.

In "Saints of War," an independent film scheduled for release next fall, Vickrey plays a World War II Army artillery officer taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge.

Vickrey said that to keep returning to films for low or no pay, it "becomes important that the project is worthy of supporting, that the story has some redeeming quality or that it commemorates and honors the service or sacrifices of men and women in uniform."

Playing in movies and re-enactments of past wars seems to all fit together in Vickrey's desire to commemorate U.S. veterans.

"It is my hope that people know about our country's military heroes, not just the battles they fought," he said.