If you’re of a certain age, there’s no doubt you remember the 1979–1986 CBS medical drama Trapper John, M.D., a spinoff of the Robert Altman film MASH starring Pernell Roberts as the title character and a young Gregory Harrison as his colleague, Dr. George Alonzo “Gonzo” Gates, a brilliant surgeon.

Nowadays, Harrison doesn’t have a regular role on a television show, but he has something similar in the successful TV-movie franchise Au Pair. The first entry in the series debuted way back in the summer of 1999, and now ABC Family is preparing for the premiere of the third, Au Pair 3: Adventure in Paradise, this Sunday night, March 15, at 8pm EST.

Harrison plays Oliver Caldwell, a wealthy businessman, husband, and father of two teenagers and one toddler, who decides he’s ready for some quality family time in Puerto Rico. Since the previous two movies were such hits, there are definitely a lot of fans eager to share some more quality time with the Caldwell family, too.

Earlier this week, Harrison sat down to answer questions about the trilogy, as well as his career and whether we’ll see an Au Pair 4 eventually. Not only do viewers have Sunday’s premiere to look forward to, but also a couple of pretty smokin’ upcoming feature films and TV projects with Harrison, as well. Continue reading to learn all about it.

What’s So Special About Au Pair & Oliver Caldwell?

What originally drew you to the role in the first Au Pair?

GREGORY HARRISON: Well, I thought it was a really charming, wonderful script. You know, at the time, that was the year 2000, believe it or not, and it just seemed like [Oliver Caldwell] was a humanized character who came from big business, and it just felt like there was a sense of humor and a kind of bonding within the family that I thought was universal and would resonate with people. It was a character unlike any that I had really played before.

I’ve played a lot of big shots, so to speak, in my life, but this guy had a kind of sweetness that I had seldom seen in characters that I’ve been offered, and I wanted to go there with this character. And as we were making the movie, I also realized that there was a kind of sweetness in the family as a whole. And I think that is why the first one did so incredibly well in the ratings and deserved to become part of a franchise, you know, that it led to the next two.

Where do you draw your inspiration from in your portrayal of Oliver Caldwell?

GREGORY HARRISON: Well, you know, the nice thing about this character is that he doesn’t act like your typical CEO rich guy. He wasn’t written that way. He doesn’t deal with his family typically as one would think the CEO does. This character, what I liked about him in the original, and has continued to be a through line for the character, is that he struggles with the balance between business and his family, that it never actually is in good balance.

It’s never really in good balance, and it’s a constant dilemma for him. Well, that’s true in my own life. I’ve always been fighting. I have four kids who are all in their late teens or early twenties now and I’ve never found a happy balance between my work and my family. But I’ve always tried. I always strive for it. So, I related to Oliver on that level tremendously, and that really is, I think, the strongest part of his character through line. You know, and it’s easy—

I mean you play a scene in a plane or you play it in a tent, the scene is the same. You know, if it’s his private jet or if it’s in a banged up old car, the emotions of the scene are the same. So, it’s really not about anything else regarding this character. It’s about what’s in his heart and what his priorities are.

Cast Chemistry

How does the cast continue to maintain such great chemistry with each other?

GREGORY HARRISON: I don’t know that we do anything on purpose to make that happen. It existed in the first one. We became very close friends. I do look at those two kids, then, as family members of mine, and now they’ve grown up and become these young adults that I continue to think of paternally. And they kind of welcome it. I think we just have a really nice chemistry together that continues to translate well to the screen.

What is your favorite thing about working with Heidi Lenhart?

GREGORY HARRISON: Oh, Heidi is just a really wonderful human being. And, you know, besides the obvious attributes of her beauty, she’s got a kind of sweetness and nobility combination that I think attracts the audience. And it certainly was attractive to me the first time I met her.

And she’s easy to work with, you know. Always accessible and interested in the same things I’m interested in, you know, in making the best possible film even under duress and kind of gorilla filmmaking techniques that we sometimes had to employ in all three of these to try and get the best of the locations.

And she was always game. She’s always willing. And I really enjoy her company, and I think it’s mutual. And she loves kids, too. She actually has a couple of her own now. So, I think that she really enjoyed, as I think it translates in the film, she really enjoys spending time with our movie kids, and they totally accepted her [in] the role of mom.

What is your favorite thing about working with Katie Mealia and Jake Dinwiddie?

GREGORY HARRISON: Katie and Jake are, you know, they’re not only adorable at first glance. As you get to know them, you also see a mischievous side that I’m not sure that any of our movies really do justice to, just how mischievous those two can be, particularly with each other.

They’re brutally mischievous with each other, and I can’t even go into some of the things that they have done to humiliate each other while we were on locations. But they’re pranksters and they make each other laugh and they are relentless. And I just love hanging around that and watching them do it.

They’ve done a few things to me, but nothing serious. I think actually there’s a video on the website that shows Jake took great glee in that Katie locked herself out of her room under a balcony one night. And he actually went out and [videotaped] her. Rather than getting help to get her off the balcony, he [videotaped] her stuck out there for the longest time just so that he could put it on the website and humiliate her.

Memorable Moments

What was your favorite part of working on the movie?

GREGORY HARRISON: That I finally was able to actually surf on film, something I’ve been doing since I was nine. It really is probably the passion of my life, and I was actually able to spend a couple of days just filming beach and surf and being probably closer to who I am than anything else I’ve done.

Was Au Pair 3 your favorite of the three movies?

GREGORY HARRISON: Yes, that’s true. It really is where I’m most comfortable. You know, I was born on an island, and any time you put me on an island, I’m feeling at home. Anytime you put me in the ocean, I’m feeling even more comfortable than when I’m on land. So, I was in my element.

What was your most memorable moment while filming Au Pair 3?

GREGORY HARRISON: Gosh, we had so much fun in Puerto Rico. We were up in the rain forest and we were shooting a lot of scenes, sort of struggling to act nonchalant and relaxed in a situation that was filled with mosquitoes and lots of hot sun. And, you know, it’s one of those— Typical of acting in most movies, there’s a lot of external, bothersome elements that you have to pretend don’t exist. So, we had a lot of fun with that and we bonded even more with that.

When I was surfing, there’s a scene. I think you’ve seen it probably in the promos, where I’m actually surfing because I am a surfer. But my son, Jake Dinwiddie — in the movie his name is not Jake, that’s who he really is — had to go out and surf, try to surf. And he has never surfed in his life.

And what little you see of him failing in the movie was just a small taste of just how badly he [was at] it in real life. And I tell you, all of us showed up at the dailies the next day to watch that footage because we had tears running down our faces with what a, in surf lingo, what a kook he was. And I’m not sure he’s lived that down yet.

Puerto Rico

What kind of different challenges were there to filming this movie compared to the other two?

GREGORY HARRISON: You know, all of the movies had their specific challenges because they were all shot on locations that were not necessarily film-friendly. They were all very cinematic and beautiful, but we had to struggle. You know a television movie is shot on a very tight schedule, and weather and language and all these other things can interfere with that schedule.

And we had the same problems in Puerto Rico. You know, not everyone spoke English. Despite the fact that it’s a territory of the U.S., it’s mostly Spanish down there. And we were shooting, as I said earlier, in the rain forest much of it.

And there’s only like one road that goes around the entire outside of the island, and we shot in all four corners of that island. So, we often had to make moves in the middle of the day, and we’d run into traffic jams and not be able to get to our location in time to really do justice to how many shots we had to get.

It was just— It was a constant struggle against the sun, the mosquitoes, the elements of tropical weather. It was a rough go as filmmaking goes. But on the other hand, I don’t want to sound like it wasn’t fun. I mean we are shooting in a tropical place that’s beautiful, and being stuck in traffic in Puerto Rico is a heck of a lot better than being stuck in traffic in L.A., let me tell you.

Did you manage to get in any vacation time while you were in such a beautiful location?

GREGORY HARRISON: Oh, yes, yes, yes. First of all, a lot of what we shoot is on the locations that if you were a tourist you would go to anyway. And Puerto Rico is just filled with beautiful landscapes, some really interesting history in San Juan. And then it has the rain forest, which we shot a lot in, and that’s world class rain forest with lots of environmental and ecological tours and information. And we took advantage of all of it.

We shot in all four sides of that island And, of course, I got to surf. And I did surf— Every time I was off, I found myself surfing one side or the other of that island. So, yes, we had five weeks there, and I felt like I really knew it by the end of it.

Why Another Sequel Now?

It’s been a while since the last movie in 2001. Why the decision to make the third one at this point?

GREGORY HARRISON: You know, I think that’s a very good question, and I was more wondering why it hadn’t been made earlier because the first two were so successful. But I learned long ago as an actor not to question the higher authorities. They have their own agenda and their own rationale.

But I’ll tell you, two or three years after Au Pair 2, I thought okay, that’s it, Au Pair 3 will not be happening. So, I was very surprised when six years after Au Pair 2, we got the call. But I was pleased, and I know the whole cast, that’s why we’re all back, because everybody was thrilled and looked forward to the chance to have a reunion and make another one.

Besides the fans of the previous movies, what kind of new viewers would you expect for Au Pair 3?

GREGORY HARRISON: You know, maybe a new generation of the same kind of viewers. I think it’s people who want— You know, it’s families who want to watch television that appeals to the youth but also appeals to the adults on some levels. And that’s what the first two did. Now, in 2009, I think there’s a whole lot of new kids around who weren’t even old enough to watch the movies in 2001 and 2003, and so they’ll be watching it. So, hopefully they’ll just be adding in to the overall audience.

Au Pair 4?

Are there any plans in the works for a fourth movie?

GREGORY HARRISON: Not to my knowledge. But then again, like I say, I don’t always know what they’re up to on the … up in the suits. The people who wear the suits, they make those choices. So, I don’t always know. I guess we’ll probably see how this one does and then that decision will be made later.

The Acting Bug

What got you started in acting in the first place?

GREGORY HARRISON: You know, I grew up on Catalina Island, and it was used as a kind of poor man’s Hawaii in show business. People would go there to shoot scenes that were supposedly in Hawaii or Tahiti or the Mediterranean. And I watched movies being shot there as I was a child. And my father, who ran the Glass Bottom Boat, was often hired to take casts and crews out to the various bays and coves of the island and drop them off in the morning and pick them up in the evening. So, I met a lot of actors, and I watched a lot of movies being filmed, and I just went, “This is not magic. This is a craft. This is a job. I can do this job.”

And I loved movies. I loved going to movies, and I loved the magic that was being created on a screen. But when I saw that it was just like a complicated puzzle, I thought okay, I can do that. And I was lucky. At 15 years old, I knew what I wanted to be and never wavered from it. I didn’t work until I was about 26, but I studied for many years and prepared myself. I always knew that that’s what I would be, so that’s what happened. That’s how I became an actor.

Coming Soon…

Do you have any new projects coming up besides Au Pair 3?

GREGORY HARRISON: Yes. I’m filming a movie right now, a TV movie, actually. It’s a miniseries called Maneater for Lifetime. And it’s a four-hour miniseries, and it stars Sarah Chalke, who’s the beautiful young blonde actress in Scrubs. And it’s a comedy, and she’s wonderful in it. Maria Conchita Alonso and I play her parents, and there’s a terrific big cast, and it’s going to be terrific. It comes out May 30th and 31st on Lifetime.

And I have a couple of feature films I’ve done that are in the can. I think Love ‘N Dancing is coming out with Billy Zane and Amy Smart next month [or] in May. And then I just shot another feature called Give ‘em Hell, Malone with Ving Rhames and Thomas Jane. And the release date is yet to be announced on that.