James Avery at Fred 62’s

A couple weeks ago, my entire family descended upon Los Angeles for Memorial Day weekend. The best thing about family visiting, outside of getting to see them of course, is that they'll often foot the tab when you go out to brunch. Such was my scheming when I suggested that we go to Fred 62's, a great 24hr diner run by a crack-team of short order cooks and punk-rock waitresses.

My family, Emily, and I got into an uproarious discussion as is our want, and at some point San Francisco popped up as a point of conversation. It was at this time that the substantial man enjoying a breakfast of eggs Benedict next to us interjected with "I love San Francisco."

The man expressing his ardor for the foggy city reminded me a lot of Will Smith's dad in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." He had the same stately presence and Yale-ey affect to his voice. This makes perfect sense, because this man and the actor who played Phillip Banks are one in the same: James Avery.

He essentially joined our table in conversation for the rest of the meal. We ended up talking about horrible high-concept Shakespeare modernizations and brilliant stripped-down plays with little more than actors and words. Mr. Avery also talked about how much he enjoyed his undergraduate work at UC San Diego, and that many of his classmates left to NY to do theater while he opted to move to LA to try and make a living as an actor. Given over 150 film/tv acting credits to his name, it seems he made the right choice.

At some point in our conversation my parents' curiosity got the better of them and sparked the following exchange:

DAD: Have I seen your work?
JAMES: Well, I have done quite a bit of film and television.
MOM: Oh yeah? I thought the back of your head looked familiar!
(BEAT)
JAMES: I've never gotten that before.
MOM: What shows were you on?
James Avery doesn't want to say this...
JAMES: I played Will Smith's father on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
I smile and nod my head.
MOM: Huh. (No recognition)
DAD: Huh. (No recognition)

It was shortly after this awkward moment that we went back to eating our respective meals in silence.