Ed O’Neill is one of successful actors cum comedians of all time, with some of his best acting gigs being the superhit sitcoms Married… with Children and Modern Family.
In fact, he is such a tremendous influence in his field that he has even been nominated for Golden Globed twice for his remarkable comedy skills, along with other accolades including the Critics’ Choice Television Awards.
Yet, before he earned this much fame in Hollywood, there was a time when he desperately struggled with his life after a tragedy happened to him while he was in college. That was also the time when he even started contemplating something incredibly dangerous: joining the mob.
Truth be told, Ed O’Neill would have even ended up becoming a part of the damaging crime had it not been for one tiny yet meaningful conversation with his father.
Ed O’Neill Contemplated Joining The Mob Before His Acting Fame
Recently, Ed O’Neill appeared on the Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson podcast, where he talked about how lost he felt after getting cut by his football team the Pittsburgh Steelers while still in college. That was the time when he desperately struggled with everything.
But then came the plot twist, as he shared:
“I had friends whose fathers were in organized crime.”
As it turned out, most of these “organized crime” friends of his weren’t actually in the Mafia but were “gangsters in Youngstown all associated with these maid guys.” One of them was his dear friend Jim aka Jimmy.
So when he got cut in the late 1960s, this dear pal of his hit him up and talked to him about what he was going to do now since he got cut and had no money. To this, an inevitably confused-with-his-life Ed O’Neill admitted he had no idea what he was going to do next.
Looking at this as an opportunity, his friend took him to a “fancy place I never would go,” and went in to ask the bartender about a guy. When even after much explaining the bartender couldn’t remember, his friend put a $20 note in the bartender’s pocket and said:
“Look, he’s an old friend of mine, I haven’t seen him in years, you know, I’m looking to reconnect, but I’d like to surprise him. So if he comes in again, this is my, you can call this number. You can reach me.”
That was that, and the pair made their exit after that. That was when Jim tried to offer him the job that he almost couldn’t resist.
“He said, ‘You can do this kind of stuff for me, you know, I’ll protect you, I’ll give you easy stuff. Just you collect here. You do that. You run, you drop something off here and there. You know, you may have to lean on a guy. You’re good at that. You can make some good money.’”
And he just might have had, had it not been for his father.
Also Read: 1 Phone Call Changed Modern Family Star’s Whole Life After Ed O’Neill’s Prophecy Came True
Ed O’Neill Would’ve Had Taken The Job Had It Not Been For His Father
Continuing, Ed O’Neill shared that while he was pondering on the idea, his father, who didn’t even know anything about his conversation with Jim (or so O’Neill thought) except that the pair met up and went out together, called him out to talk to him and presented him with one single question.
He asked: “Can you do time?”
As simple as the question was, the Modern Family star knew he couldn’t do it, no matter what. So that’s what he told his father, no, he couldn’t do time.
“[My father] said, ‘You couldn’t do time. You’d have a hard time being in jail, right?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t think I could do time.’ He said, ‘OK.’”
This small yet meaningful conversation put so much in place for Ed O’Neill that he immediately went to call his friend Jimmy to tell him he was thankful for the offer, but would be leaving for New York soon to pursue his acting gig.
From there onwards began his acting career that has spawned over multiple decades but is still going as strong as ever. For what it’s worth, we’re grateful O’Neill never got into the mob, for then the world would have been deprived of his excellent comedy chops!
