‘The Bold and the Beautiful’: How ‘Superfan’ Tom Arnold Landed His Daytime Role

Actor and comedian Tom Arnold will appear on CBS‘ The Bold and the Beautiful on July 30 and July 31 as Captain Deuce Stevens, the new Forrester family pilot who will take Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye), Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang), and Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) to Monte Carlo.

The gig came about thanks to Arnold’s friendship with Bradley Bell, the show’s executive producer and head writer. “He’s a guy I’ve known for about 25, 30 years, and he’s a very nice guy with a very nice family,” Arnold begins. “And then all of a sudden, that friendship paid off and he’s like, ‘Hey, what do you think of The Bold and the Beautiful?’ I said, ‘I think a lot of it. I’m a superfan,’ and he’s like, ‘How would you like to come on?’ ”

After Bell outlined that it would be two episodes but would only take a few hours to film, Arnold had some burning questions. “I said, ‘Do I have parking?’ Because when you’re 65, you want to know where you’re gonna park,’” he points out. “And then I said, ‘Are there restrooms close by? And last question, this is a dealbreaker: What is my character’s name?’ And he said, ‘Deuce.’ I go, ‘I’m in. Deuce the pilot. I could work with that.’ ”

Despite his decades of experience, Arnold admits he had to battle some nerves before reporting to work. “I am nervous any time I go to a new set with a new situation and new people. If you’re not nervous then there’s something wrong,” he asserts. “I know Brad, I hopefully will still be friends after this. He’s taking a leap of faith on me, and he’s known me through at least three of my four marriages. But you’re nervous until you do your first shot and look over at the director and they go, ‘That’s good. Let’s move on.’”

Sean Smith / Bell Phillip TV Productions Inc.

The newcomer says he was impressed by the behind the scenes operation at the soap. “It was so eye-opening for me,” Arnold marvels. “I’ve done a lot of different kinds of stuff. I’m in the middle of a Netflix show [Fubar] that takes a long time to shoot, and this really happened in two or three hours. They do move fast and the actors are incredibly skilled. There’s no, ‘Oh, I gotta go back to my dressing room and try to fix this line; this line’s not working for me,’ which you hear a lot from sitcom people. They just make everything work. They’re on top of their stuff, so it was great.”

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This wasn’t Arnold’s first time on a soap set. He and ex-wife Roseanne Barr appeared on General Hospital in scenes with the legendary Genie Francis (Laura Collins) and Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer) in 1994. “That was a dream come true,” he shares of the experience. “We both had grown up with that show. I remember missing classes in college because we would watch General Hospital, One Life to Live, and All My Children, and then to get to a point where you’re on the same freaking show as Luke and Laura? They’re so professional and they were fun to work with.”

He is equally enthusiastic about the actors at B&B. “Jacqueline Wood and Thorsten Kaye and Katherine Kelly Lang were so good,” he praises. “In the script, it said Steffy had to start throwing stuff out of her purse because she’s looking for her passport and they said to Jacqueline, ‘We need you to throw it all from the ground up to Tom’s face or head, and make it funny,’ and she really Lucille Ball-ed it. She killed it! So there is humor in the scenes, and probably always has to be when I’m around.”

Sean Smith / Bell Phillip TV Productions Inc.

Arnold enjoyed doing the soap so much that he has already booked a return trip. “Brad has assured me that any time I want to do it again I can, and I let him know last week. ‘Okay, let’s do something,’ ” he reveals.

In addition to B&B, the actor is also shooting scenes for Fubar, where he has found himself in familiar territory toiling alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, his True Lies co-star. “It’s great,” he enthuses. “I love working with Arnold. I play a very specific character, an interrogator, sort of torture guy, and we sat down at this table to interrogate someone and there were other really good actors there and immediately, Arnold and I started our thing. You pick it up, the chemistry, the back and forth, and you could see the other actors thinking, ‘These guys know each other really well.’ Arnold said, ‘Let’s smoke a stogie by my trailer. I’m making you schnitzel for lunch.’ I’m like, ‘I need more of this.’ He is just killing it and it makes me so happy that he’s doing so well.”

As for Arnold, he has other irons in the fire until Deuce dons his pilot uniform again. “I have another little movie to start shooting in August and I do stand up on the road and here in [Los Angeles],” he says. “I’ll do whatever. I have four ex-wives and two little kids, so there’s no retiring.” 

The Bold and the Beautiful, Weekdays on CBS