Arts & Entertainment

William Tennent Grad Finds Comfort Zone with TV Role

Mike Vogel, a member of the cast of ABC's new drama, 'Pan Am,' recalls a childhood completely surrounded by aircraft and family members who built them.

As a child growing up in Warminster, Mike Vogel knew his way around planes. Now he is both a pilot in real life and playing one on TV.

Vogel plays Dean, a cocky, charismatic, ambitious new pilot on Pan Am, a new ABC drama set in 1963 and premiering on Sept. 25.

"I grew up within spitting distance of the Johnsville Naval Air Warfare Center and Willow Grove Naval Air station," he told the WarminsterPatch. "My grandfather and his family built planes at the old Brewster plant that used to be in Johnsville. As a kid, I could tell which airplane was flying over by the sound of the engine."

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Some of his best childhood memories, he said, were of working with his grandfather to restore an old Brewster dive bomber. "I was always just kind of surrounded on both sides by the world of aviation," he said.

Airplanes were on his mind, even as he attended , not acting. "You don't grow up in Warminster and go, 'Hey, Mom, I want to be an actor.' It's not a reality."

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In fact, acting was just about the opposite of any career plans he might have had, he said.

So how did Vogel get plum roles in films like Blue Valentine and the newly-released, much-acclaimed film, The Help? And how did he become part of the high-profile cast of this new ABC drama?

"Honestly," he said, "I think the Man Upstairs was pulling some strings because it was such a diversion from the path I was on. I grew up plumbing with my dad."

And then came the day when he accompanied his then-girlfriend on a modeling call. She never got called back, but he did. "That was a prompt end to that relationship but, at the time, it started to become a reality that this was something that I could actually pursue as an occupation. I would take the train from Trenton to New York City and do my auditions."

Playing the role of a pilot on Pan Am is like enjoying the best of both worlds, he said. "Rarely do you get something that sort of encompasses all of your loves in one great little package," he added.

Vogel's aviation expertise was both a blessing and a curse, said the director of the Pan Am pilot, Thomas Schlamme. "The good news is we hired a real pilot so he knows what he's doing. And the bad news is we hired a real pilot so he knows what he's doing. "

At one point, when the TV plane is coming in for a landing, the director wanted to have the pilots fidgeting with controls to make it look more dramatic for television. Only that's not how it's actually done, Vogel said.

Schlamme insisted the pilot had to do something. "He's got to be doing something. This is television. We've gotta."

Viewers may scarcely believe what flying was like less than 50 years ago.  "These airlines were competing over who had the shortest wait period to get a ticket," Vogel said. "You could show up five to ten minutes before your flight, purchase the ticket and go. You can't fathom that now. So it's fun to bring that back and to see people getting on an airplane and enjoying the experience."


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