In 1993 Scott Mann was a sometimes model, more oftentimes bartender in Cleveland. One day his agency called and asked if he was up for doing a nude scene in a movie and they needed him to drive down to Mansfield immediately.
“I wasn’t doing anything that day, so I said, ‘Ok, where’s Mansfield?’ and I drove down for the audition,” he explained. When he asked about the movie he was told that it was a horror flick. “Odds are they didn’t even read the thing, they must have seen Stephen King and assumed,” said Mann.
His audition was so convincing that the casting crew cut it short, they weren’t quite sure how far Mann was going to go. He accidentally shut off the lights in the room while performing the role of Glenn Quentin, the golf pro and lover of Linda Dufresne, who meets a sticky end in the opening scenes of the film.
James Kisicki was already an accomplished actor in his own right before being cast as the bank manager. In 1975, Detroit Free Press theater critic Larry Devine created the James Kisicki award which is given annually to the “most versatile actor” of the year in the greater Detroit area.
Warden Samuel Norton is the kind of character that audiences love to hate and actors dream of playing; and Bob Gunton is forever indebted to this roll for his ongoing success after the film. “Bigger names than mine were considered; I got roles as a direct result of this,” he said.
Locals also had the opportunity to shine on the silver screen. Janet Kelly Irey, now 91, was 71 when her friend invited her to go to the audition. With an impish grin Irey said, “I got the part and she didn’t. Folks at Kroger call me the bus lady.”
The nickname comes from the scene in which Irey sits prominently in front of Morgan Freeman on a bus. Irey wasn’t intimidated by the movie experience; she claims she was accustomed to being bold. As the first female bank officer in Richland County, Irey developed a strong sense of self and is happy to dispense advice to young women, “Whatever you want to do, try it. Whether you fail or win, just try. In the end you’ll win.”
Charles “Bud” Miller was in his jewelry shop downtown when some movie executives came in to replace a watch battery. They struck up a conversation about the photograph of Bud’s 1936 Plymouth Coup that hung on the wall. Bud’s car ended up being a key focal point in the film. “It didn’t pay well, but it sure was fun,“ said Doris Miller, Bud’s wife. The couple drove up from Claremont, Florida to take part in the festivities and the car made several appearances around town throughout the reunion weekend.
The actors that visited Mansfield and the homegrown talent were all impacted by the experience of being in the iconic film. Mann remembers that he was in a theater on a date when the preview for The Shawshank Redemption flashed across the screen. As soon as he got home he called his mother, who promptly went to see the same movie, just to see the trailer. Gunton reminisced that over and over he meets people in his travels that are deeply moved by the film, “It’s almost like I’m a priest of this cult,” said Gunton.
Life after the film’s release and exponential growth to cult status has been varied for the actors. Gunton credits the role in the film with putting his career on a decidedly more successful track, and he isn’t shy about the residuals he receives either. Kisicki continued to be successful on stage and as a voice actor and is forever grateful to be a part of the legacy that is Shawshank. Mann has retired from modeling and now works on the other side of the camera as a photographer and artist in Cleveland.
What about our locals? Miller’s jewelry is now in the Appleseed Center and run by their son, and Janet Kelly Irey keeps an active social life as Mansfield’s “bus lady.”
“Bigger names than mine were considered; I got roles as a direct result of this,” said Bob Gunton.
