Scott McCauley was working in the tool department of a hardware store in Montana when a customer sized him up as a potential actor.
A western indie movie was being filmed, and the Massillon native had the right look.
“He said he thought I’d be perfect for a small part as a bartender in a saloon,” McCauley recalled. “I walked onto the set, and (the man) doing the casting said, ‘Hello, you’re hired.'”
Standing out were his bushy beard and mustache. His cool, calm presence also was adaptable to movies.
“It was real dumb luck,” McCauley said. “I was in the right place at the right time.”
That serendipitous moment led to small parts in “The Big Muddy” western series in 2015. And those films led to more parts in other movies.
The North Canton resident has parlayed his physical characteristics and screen presence into small parts in around 30 films. Not only independent and low-budget flicks, but also “The Unholy Trinity,” a 2025 Hollywood movie set in 1870s Montana, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Pierce Brosnan, David Arquette and Brandon Lassard.
‘I’ve had more fun than any single human should.’
McCauley, 62, has gotten to chat with Brosnan, Nicolas Cage, Gabriel Byrne and Tim McGraw.
He never planned on even bit parts. McCauley had childhood daydreams of the movies, and late “Bonanza” and “All My Children” actor David Canary, who grew up in Massillon, was a friend of the family and bought clothes at McCauley’s father’s menswear store.
But McCauley wasn’t involved in theater in school, and he didn’t pursue acting following graduation from Washington High School in 1981. He attended classes at Kent State University in computer science and business managment before his family moved to Florida. McCauley also played semi-pro football in the early ’80s.
And while he hopes to land bigger parts, McCauley has no illusions of becoming an A-list actor. Some of his roles are so brief you have to eagle eye him.
“I’d love to get into bigger films with bigger roles,” he said. “But I’m not a big name. I never will be at this stage.”
“I look at every film, regardless of the size of the part, the same way,” McCauley said. “If I never do another movie, I’ve had more fun than any single human should.”
Scott McCauley, an edgier Wilford Brimley
Think of McCauley as an edgier Wilford Brimley, the late actor with the distinctive mustache and homespun manner who appeared in the movies, “The Natural” and “Cocoon,” and was a television pitchman for Quaker Oats in the ’80s.
“I generally get hired pretty quickly when I walk onto a set,” said McCauley, who lived in Montana for about 12 years before returning to Stark County last year.
McCauley still works full time in appliance sales, but also travels to movie sets out of state, including Idaho. McCauley said he’s taken acting classes and has learned the trade from observation and experience.
“To play these roles, you’re not playing the role,” he said. “You have to become the character, so you immerse yourself in that character.”
Acting has produced a significant side income, McCauley said. He credited his late father, Lee McCauley, for his drive.
“He was one of my biggest fans,” McCauley said. “The other one is my mother (Shirlee McCauley). My mom lives in Florida, and she and her friends go to see every single release (he appears in).”
Hanging out on set with Pierce Brosnan
Highlights have included working with Hollywood stars like Brosnan, famous for the “Remington Steele” television show of the ’80s and his many movie roles, including James Bond.
While filming a saloon scene for “The Unholy Trinity,” Brosnan made small talk with McCauley, who had a bit part as the town cook. The movie was filmed at Yellowstone Film Ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana. Brosnan approached McCauley after he was inadvertently roughed up in a fight scene.
“It hurt my back, and I had to take a pain pill,” McCauley said. “I sat on the bench on the set taking a break. A gentleman stands up and says, ‘Hi, I’m Pierce Brosnan.'”
“But we’re not supposed to talk to the stars,” McCauley said. “The assistant director scolded me for talking to Pierce, and Pierce said, ‘He wasn’t talking to me, I was talking to him.'”
“The Unholy Trinity” was shown in select theaters and grossed roughly $1 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
McCauley also played the town sheriff in the 2024 film, “Rust,” an American western directed by Joel Souza and starring Alec Baldwin. “Rust” garnered publicity because of the 2021 accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was shot by a live round in a prop gun, according to media reports.
Other film credits include playing a bank teller in the 2024 film, “Outlaw,” featuring Mario Van Peebles, Neal McDonough and John Carroll Lynch. Small roles also include the 2023 western, “Butcher’s Crossing,” starring Nicolas Cage.
“He was very fun,” McCauley said of Cage. “He was very engaged with everybody. Nicolas came across as very sincere.”
He also has about six minutes of screen time in a supporting role as Wyatt in the western drama, “The Redeemer,” which stars Brandon Routh, who played Superman in the 2006 film “Superman Returns.” “The Redeemer” was screened at the Soho International Film Festival in 2022, but hasn’t seen a wide release yet.
McCauley also had a small part as a pioneer in an episode of “1883,” a television series on the Paramount Network starring Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. The show is a prequel to the massively popular and Emmy-nominated series, “Yellowstone.”
McCauley said he enjoyed talking music with McGraw, a country music star. A topic of conversation was McGraw’s drummer, Shawn Fichter of Massillon.
“He was very down-to-earth,” McCauley said of McGraw.
McCauley said the next movie he has a larger role in is “The Postern in the Backwoods,” a short film directed by Kevin Tillman. McCauley said it was filmed in the Boise, Idaho, area and may be released in October.
The small-budget movie is about a traveling college student who reunites with friends on a camping trip, “but things quickly take a turn when her friends try and sacrifice her to a Skinwalker that’s been haunting them for months,” according to IMDb.
‘Confident, honorable, a protector of others’
McCauley most often works with directors and actors who aren’t household names.
They include Jenna Ciralli, who writes, acts and directs, including Montana-inspired films. McCauley also has been a student in her acting classes, and they worked together in the 2022 western, “Murder at Yellowstone City.”
Directed by Richard Gray, the movie stars actors Richard Dreyfuss, Gabriel Byrne and Thomas Jane. McCauley had multiple small roles in the film.
“Scott has an incredible look that can effortlessly go back in time,” said Ciralli, 43. “And he owns who he is − confident, honorable, a protector of others. He is comfortable in his own skin and not vain.
“Those qualities allow him to take on villain roles,” she added. “… He’s an incredible team player. And others … effortlessly root for him because his sturdy, honest character is infectious and safe.”
Making a career out of small parts isn’t uncommon in the film industry, said Ciralli.
She estimated that “90% of actors working are holding up the lead players.”
Scott the actor: ‘He’s like the wise, quiet grandpa next-door.’
Randy Kelly directed the 2021 short film, “The Survivors: A Rider’s Legacy,” featuring McCauley in dual lead roles. The movie was filmed in Powell, Wyoming.
“It was very exciting,” McCauley said. “I was chomping at the bit to do it.”
“It’s not a side hustle,” he said of acting. “There really is no full-time in acting − it’s whether you’re available.”
A post-apocalyptic movie set in the barren desert, the film is available on YouTube, where it’s been viewed more than 200,000 times.
“He’s like the wise, quiet grandpa next-door,” said Kelly, 52, who works in the film industry part time. “There’s something (inside of McCauley). You get a calming effect, but he’s that kind of person, and this is part of the reason it translates on screen.”
“The way he speaks and carries himself, you get this idea that you’re listening to someone who knows what they’re talking about,” he added. “You want to trust him.”
Reach Ed at ebalint@gannett.com. Follow on Instagram at ed_balint and TikTok @edwardbalint.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: ‘Real dumb luck.’ Massillon native makes late-in-life career pivot to acting, movies
Reporting by Ed Balint, Canton Repository / The Repository
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