Charlotte TV weatherman reflects on the time he worked on horror movie with Ozzy
Ozzy Osbourne, who died at age 76 on Tuesday after a years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease, will be best remembered by his fans as the Black Sabbath rocker who had a career resurgence as a reality-TV star.
But WCNC personality Larry Sprinkle will best remember him as a delightful scene partner.
Forty years ago, the two were hired for small roles in a heavy-metal-themed horror-comedy “Trick or Treat,” the very-famous Osbourne as a buttoned-up reverend who rails against the abominations of the devilish musical genre and the then-brand-new-to-WCNC’s-weather-team Sprinkle typecast as a TV journalist.
Production on the $3.5 million film took place in Wilmington. It was Osbourne’s first movie ever, and Sprinkle — who dabbled in acting before making it in the local-news business — remembers the rock legend being anxious about it.
It didn’t make it into the story, but Sprinkle recounted the experience during an interview earlier this year with The Charlotte Observer:
“When I did that film, Charlie Martin Smith, who was an actor — you know him from ‘The Untouchables’ and a bunch of other movies — he was directing it, and he called me. He said, ‘Larry, Ozzy is very nervous about doing this, ’cause, you know, he’s only been on stage.
“He said, ‘I want you to go in’ — we shot it at the NBC affiliate in Wilmington — ‘go in there, and ... just make him feel comfortable.’ So ... I spent probably eight, 10 hours just hanging out with him before we shot. That’s why, on camera, he’s so at ease. ...
“We got to know each other.”
The weatherman and Ozzy Osbourne
While hanging out, Sprinkle recalls Osbourne humoring his stream of burning questions.
He asked him about his reputation for hard living, and says the singer responded by saying — and here Sprinkle affects a British accent — “I know Larry; I know it. But I’m okay now. ... I’m doing a little drinking now, but I’m not doing drugs or anything like that.”
He asked him to tell him the truth about biting the head off of a bat. “Yeah, one time,” Sprinkle says, continuing his Ozzy impression. “Rest time of the time I’d just use a rubber bat. No one knew. But ... yeah, I did, once. I did bite the head off. I was a little out of my mind, you know.”
Sprinkle also says Osbourne told him, as hairstylists were braiding the rocker’s hair for the scene: “If me mom saw this, she’d want me to come back to England and be a truck driver again,” adding, “I’m not going back.”
When the director was finally ready for them, Sprinkle says, “I just went right into it, like we were doing a talk show. And it was a talk show — everything that you see in that clip is just like that. ... He (was) ready and he (felt) comfortable.”
Sprinkle says Osbourne ultimately did “a pretty decent job” as an actor.
But the WCNC veteran had even more glowing reviews for the rocker as a human being: “He was such a nice guy.”
