Military Man Hopes to Take on New Role

LOS ALAMITOS —  Lt. Col. James C. Ghormley III knows the pressures of military leadership.

He deployed troops from the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center across the globe to Operation Desert Storm.

Then he sent them up the freeway to the Los Angeles riots and the havoc of the Northridge earthquake and back down the other way to the Laguna Beach fires.

If that’s not enough, he is in charge when Air Force One lands at the center.

But now the 56-year-old base commander is headed for a real hot zone: Hollywood.

After nearly 33 years in the military, 24 of those at Los Alamitos, Ghormley will retire Tuesday to, among other things, pursue an acting career. But is a man more accustomed to being called “sir” than “babe” ready to take orders from producers and directors?

“I don’t have any fear,” Ghormley said. “What are they going to do, send me to southwestern Asia?”

The colonel recently landed his first role, a Sears commercial. He will plays a bride’s father in a wedding-themed spot.

“I was just being me,” Ghormley said of his audition, in which he affectionately talked about his family before a director and a camera that he did not know was rolling.

For Ghormley, the motion picture business beckoned enticingly.

“Growing up so on the edge of the entertainment industry, I’ve always wanted to be a part of it,” he said of his childhood in Downey.

The Reserve Center has had its brushes with show business, too. Scenes from “Apollo 13,” “King Kong” and “Clear and Present Danger” were shot there.

At the urging of his wife, Ghormley enrolled in an Irvine acting school, Del Mar Media Arts, a few month ago.

His deep voice, strong build, silver hair, welcoming grin and focused eyes won him on-camera auditions. Being an Army colonel didn’t hurt. He’s accustomed to public speaking and high pressure situations.

“He has a presence, so I took him on,” said Jackie Ashman of Mission Viejo’s Burkett Talent Agency. “We’ve had some actors that never book. He went right off the bat and booked a major network commercial, and that’s pretty impressive.”

The rookie actor, green as fatigues, will remain for now in the acting boot camp of commercials. He wants bigger roles when he is ready, maybe in a year or two.

“He’s new, so he’s not a seasoned actor for his age category,” Ashman said. “I don’t think he’s going to book feature films right off the bat. But he’s doing well in commercials and that, quite frankly, is where the money is.”

After enlisting in the National Guard in 1965 and attending Army flight school in 1969, Ghormley, then a captain, was posted to the Los Alamitos base in 1973, when the reserve center opened at the Naval Air Station. He served as public affairs officer and second-in-command before becoming base commander in 1996.

Local elected officials say Ghormley often reaches out to neighboring Orange County communities of Cypress, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor and Seal Beach, where he lives.

“Any time anyone in the community wanted the base’s involvement in anything, it automatically went to Ghormley,” said Los Alamitos City Councilwoman Marilyn Poe. “He was always willing to help and participate.”