Movies that reference actuaries or the actuarial profession

[Anonymous]

I am trying to come up with a list of movies that reference actuaries or the actuarial profession. I'll supply the first one:
1. Fletch

That was easy, any others?

[Guerilla poster]

Do we seek recognition:

Do people in other professions sit around and list movies that reference their profession?

I think there was a movie called Double Indemntiy or something where James Wood's played an actuary. I never saw it but have heard it discussed before.

[Patience]

From SOA.org

Caught on Film
by Kelly Mayo Public Relations Intern

Did you know actuaries have been portrayed by Hollywood for decades? The November/December 1991 issue of Contingencies (the American Academy of Actuaries' magazine) featured an article, "Hooray for Hollywood" by Dan Abramson, that cites several movies spotlighting the profession.

The 1948 film, "Are You with It?" was the first to feature an actuary. Donald O'Connor played an actuary who is forced to join a carnival after misplacing a decimal point on a statistical table. According to Abramson, patrons at the premiere bought savings bonds instead of admission tickets.

Actuaries have been portrayed in murder mysteries, comedies, and even love stories. The 1968 film, "Sweet Charity," documents the romantic life of an actuary, this time played by John McMartin. Shirley MacLaine is his love interest. The legendary film, "Double Indemnity," starred Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. An insurance investigator uses actuarial tables to solve the crime.

Recently, the film "Class Action" featured Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as father and daughter lawyers on opposite sides of a civil suit. Actuarial analysis plays a key role in the outcome


Was also mentioned in Groundhog Day

[RTackle]

Actually, James Woods was in a movie called "The Billion Dollar Bubble". He played an actuary who got caught up in a scandal involving reinsurance on life policies. It was part of the FAC (maybe still is). Two other interesting points:

1) While Woods played the role of Art Lewis, supposedly another actuary was really the key player in this scam. I think he was kicked out of the SOA and is now a recruiter.

2) You can tell the movie was made in the late 60's or early 70's - when Woods and a computer guy are hatching this scheme, they're sitting in the office, smoking some doobage!

I don't think James Woods posts this credential on his resume.

[Mr. Grim]

Is that what happened to Andy Lang?

[Anonymous]

You're talking about the Equity Funding scandal. Read about it here:

http://www.scripophily.net/equityfindb.html

[Carlos]

I remember something about an actuarial program in "Tron."

[Crystal Dragon.]

There was an Animaniacs cartoon that opened with someone reviewing actuarial tables. Not that I watch that show, but, you know...

[ne11er]

Animaniacs rock! Don't be embarassed to say you watch that show! There is some good humor there! I just wish they would have it on TV more often and have more of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot...they focus on Pinky and the Brain too much nowadays. And which episode do they start out looking at actuarial tables...I might have to watch a couple of my tapes tonight. Hehe...

[Dr T Non-Fan]

There's a great web site that contains just about everything anamaniac you'd want to know: changes to lead song (after "totally insany"), changes to credits, the very end of the show, etc.

Can't remember it, but it's Yahoo!-able. It's in unformatted typeset.

[Joined10MinBefore911Hit]

On 2001-10-15 11:13, Guerilla Poster wrote:
Do we seek recognition:

Do people in other professions sit around and list movies that reference their profession?


Yes. It's a fun pastime. Chess players do it. I remember an article in Chess Life tracking the portrayal of the game both on TV and the movies.

[Damn, Dirty Ape]

Mathematicians also track their movie peers. "Good Will Hunting was okay, but it should have more math!"

It's totally normal to get somewhat excited when something close to you is portrayed in the movies or on TV. Like when you see a TV commercial for your company, you point it out to everyone in the room. It's like if you have an "insider's perspective" into something related to mass entertainment.

So what professions are most often seen on TV and in the movies?

My list:
Cops
Lawyers
Doctors
Pro Athletes
Prostitutes

Any others?

[Damn, Dirty Ape]

Oh yeah, I forgot Mobsters!

By the way, Animaniacs rules.

[Guerilla poster]

- Writers for obvious reasons

[Anonymous]

Fashion designers

Teachers

Architects

[thing]

actors

models

wonder why they find themselves so fascinating.... :smile:

[Patience]

waitresses

[Actuary321]

I read an article recently about a movie that is coming out. I think they said that Jack Nickleson plays an actuary. The article talked about the filming actually taking place in the offices of an insurance company.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

http://www.yourorg.org/pages/home.asp?clubID=1

Nebraska Actuarial Club/Society has a blurb about it here.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

And here:

http://www.woodmen.com/woodmag/ja01/movie.cfm

[Actuary321]

Based on a book where the character was a lawyer, and the reviews say he is an insurance agent.:sad:

[Crystal Dragon.]

My wife just read a book about an actuary that I think she said was a serial killer.

Poor Snap, Crackle, and Pop... I hope that silly rooster and Count Chocula are still all right.

[Anonymous]

Another common movie/TV job: Bartender

[Anonymous]

I am trying to come up with a list of movies that reference actuaries or the actuarial profession. I'll supply the first one:
1. Fletch

That was easy, any others?


Arise Mitch Comesteen! Or was Mitch Cumsteen the troll? Who Cares! ARISE!

[Mel-o-rama]

I remember something about an actuarial program in "Tron."


I may be completely wrong, but wasn't that the program that TRON beat in that circle&ball game? We was also the actor who plays Londo on Babylon 5 (which is funny since the TRON character plays Captain Sheridan on Babylon 5)?

[jets fan]

While I don't remember the word "actuarial" being spoken, "The Firm" makes mention of mortality tables when Ed Harris talks about the 2 dead lawyers. Also, in the movie "Network", Ned Betty makes a reference to some old SOA 130 Operations Research material - Linear programming and Minimax criteria

[Me]

Peter Jurasik was the actarial program?!?! That's too funny. 15+ years later, he and Bruce Boxleitner act together again.

That's sort of like Shatner and Nimoy. They were in the same episode of Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 1964 before they got cast in Star Trek. (Best episode of U.N.C.L.E. ever, BTW)

[Hobbes]

In the FX series The Sheild (a cop show), they arrest this total sicko who has been storing his own 'special sauce' in the fridge and raped a prostitute. They ask him what he did before, and he says "I used to be an actuary." :shake:

[Ray Finkle]

Needlenose Ned makes reference to actuarial tables in Groundhog's Day.

Night Court had a funny episode with an actuary in it. He was portrayed quite nerdy (surprise, surprise) but he was Christine's boyfriend, so he wasn't doing too bad!

[mccoy]

I just watched Tron again. The actuarial program is Dan Shor (Ram in the movie). This was one of my favourite movies as a kid, and I didn't realise that there's this actuarial reference until I saw it again today! Hmm...maybe that's why I ended up in this profession. I was subconciously prodded into it by a favourite childhood movie...

[Pseudolus]

http://www.brunching.com/images/title-ratingmonths.jpg (http://www.brunching.com/ratingmonths.html)

[Mel-o-rama]

I just watched Tron again. The actuarial program is Dan Shor (Ram in the movie). This was one of my favourite movies as a kid, and I didn't realise that there's this actuarial reference until I saw it again today! Hmm...maybe that's why I ended up in this profession. I was subconciously prodded into it by a favourite childhood movie...I knew I got something wrong. Peter Jurasik was the program that got wasted in the bouncing-balls/disappearing circles game. He was the one with the attitude. Did he happen to say what kind of program he was?

And I think I do remember that it was Broxeinlieter (sp) who played TRON, and it was TRON who beat Jurasik's character. So, in effect, it was a showdown between the future Sheridan and Londo.

[mccoy]

The guy who got wasted in the ball game was an accounting program. Easy mix up... :wink:

[Prawnz Perdinand]

Arise Mitch Comesteen! Or was Mitch Cumsteen the troll? Who Cares! ARISE!
Bump in memoriam of GoOT's face.

[Lee Mellon]

A studious or bored watcher will find an actuary in "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Gort, Klaatu barada nicto.

[ahow]

I don't believe they actually say the word, but Edward Norton plays an actuary in "Fight Club" according to his description of his job...

[The Waiting Hurts]

I don't believe they actually say the word, but Edward Norton plays an actuary in "Fight Club" according to his description of his job...I thought his title in the movie was risk manager.

[Relativity]

Lewis, not the other actuary, was key to the scam. He's the one who kept having new ideas (like selling the phony policies to reinsurance companies) to hide the massive bubble he, Fred Levin (Equity Funding Life president), and Goldblum (chairman, Equity Funding Corp) created. The other actuary was Al Green, played in the movie by Christopher Guest. Al worked for Art in the actuarial department, not in the computer department as in the movie. After being brought into the scam by Art, Al designed the complex system of programs and procedures, not only to create as many phony policies as needed, but to seamlessly integrate them with the real ones throughout the company's various systems and departments.

The movie was incorrect (thanks to Art Lewis) that Al Green's errors led to the uncovering of the scam. Al had left the company months earlier, and had left behind a perfectly-running system, albeit totally illegal. The scam was revealed when another insider, Ron Secrist, told his stock broker. From there, it made it to the Calif. insurance dept, the FBI, etc. That part of the story is well-documented. What Al Green did after the company had been taken over by the authorities was to cooperate with them. Lewis, Goldblum, et al wanted everyone to agree not to cooperate, and force the FBI to unravel the scam enough to convince a jury of what happened and who did what. That would have been very difficult, because the computer expertise at Equity Funding far surpassed that at the FBI. The silence strategy was blown completely apart by Al's cooperation. Al was even hired by the Calif. Insurance Dept. to go back in and separate the real policies from the phony ones. To get back at Al, Lewis fabricated the story that Al's use of drugs led to a mounting series of errors, that eventually uncovered the scam and brought down the company.

Yes, Al Green used drugs. But everybody did. We're talking about the late 1960s into 1973. Everyone at Equity Funding did drugs, including Art Lewis. The scene in the movie where Art recruited Al for the scam, where Al was smoking pot and Art was drinking something, was not quite correct. First, it occurred at Art's home, not in the computer room; and secondly, they were both taking cocaine, compliments of Art Lewis. Fred Levin smoked pot, the best, of course. The whole actuarial department did also, including on lunch breaks.

Finally, Al and Art did not have any of the arguments portrayed in the movie. Art was pleased with Al's performance right up until Al quit the company early in 1973 to travel and do other things. Before leaving, Al trained another employee to take his place, and everything was in order for 1973 to flawlessly copy 1972 in creating ever more phony insurance policies. At the time the director of the movie was interviewing the former conspirators (including Art Lewis), around early 1976, it seems that Lewis still had not come to grips with the reality that he had created a bubble impossible to maintain, and that it had to end eventually. So instead of taking any of the blame, he put it all on the shoulders of Al Green who, in the end, was only a bit player, but actually a pretty good one.



[QUOTE=RTackle;4916]Actually, James Woods was in a movie called "The Billion Dollar Bubble". He played an actuary who got caught up in a scandal involving reinsurance on life policies. It was part of the FAC (maybe still is). Two other interesting points:

1) While Woods played the role of Art Lewis, supposedly another actuary was really the key player in this scam. I think he was kicked out of the SOA and is now a recruiter.

2) You can tell the movie was made in the late 60's or early 70's - when Woods and a computer guy are hatching this scheme, they're sitting in the office, smoking some doobage!

[MightySchoop]

Actually, James Woods was in a movie called "The Billion Dollar Bubble". He played an actuary who got caught up in a scandal involving reinsurance on life policies. It was part of the FAC (maybe still is).

It was part of the CAS course on professionalism as late as 2008.

[Egghead]

Lewis, not the other actuary, was key to the scam. He's the one who kept having new ideas (like selling the phony policies to reinsurance companies) to hide the massive bubble he, Fred Levin (Equity Funding Life president), and Goldblum (chairman, Equity Funding Corp) created. The other actuary was Al Green, played in the movie by Christopher Guest. Al worked for Art in the actuarial department, not in the computer department as in the movie. After being brought into the scam by Art, Al designed the complex system of programs and procedures, not only to create as many phony policies as needed, but to seamlessly integrate them with the real ones throughout the company's various systems and departments.

The movie was incorrect (thanks to Art Lewis) that Al Green's errors led to the uncovering of the scam. Al had left the company months earlier, and had left behind a perfectly-running system, albeit totally illegal. The scam was revealed when another insider, Ron Secrist, told his stock broker. From there, it made it to the Calif. insurance dept, the FBI, etc. That part of the story is well-documented. What Al Green did after the company had been taken over by the authorities was to cooperate with them. Lewis, Goldblum, et al wanted everyone to agree not to cooperate, and force the FBI to unravel the scam enough to convince a jury of what happened and who did what. That would have been very difficult, because the computer expertise at Equity Funding far surpassed that at the FBI. The silence strategy was blown completely apart by Al's cooperation. Al was even hired by the Calif. Insurance Dept. to go back in and separate the real policies from the phony ones. To get back at Al, Lewis fabricated the story that Al's use of drugs led to a mounting series of errors, that eventually uncovered the scam and brought down the company.

Yes, Al Green used drugs. But everybody did. We're talking about the late 1960s into 1973. Everyone at Equity Funding did drugs, including Art Lewis. The scene in the movie where Art recruited Al for the scam, where Al was smoking pot and Art was drinking something, was not quite correct. First, it occurred at Art's home, not in the computer room; and secondly, they were both taking cocaine, compliments of Art Lewis. Fred Levin smoked pot, the best, of course. The whole actuarial department did also, including on lunch breaks.

Finally, Al and Art did not have any of the arguments portrayed in the movie. Art was pleased with Al's performance right up until Al quit the company early in 1973 to travel and do other things. Before leaving, Al trained another employee to take his place, and everything was in order for 1973 to flawlessly copy 1972 in creating ever more phony insurance policies. At the time the director of the movie was interviewing the former conspirators (including Art Lewis), around early 1976, it seems that Lewis still had not come to grips with the reality that he had created a bubble impossible to maintain, and that it had to end eventually. So instead of taking any of the blame, he put it all on the shoulders of Al Green who, in the end, was only a bit player, but actually a pretty good one.





You created an alt and bumped a thread that had been inactive for 5 and a half years to tell us this? I'm not criticizing, mind you. But it is interesting.

[Agadefe]

Was Kim Possible mentioned?

[Heat Wave of 1980]

You created an alt and bumped a thread that had been inactive for 5 and a half years to tell us this? I'm not criticizing, mind you. But it is interesting.
Are suggesting that Relativity = Al Green? :hfbb:

[spencerhs5]

"The presidents daughter" Ah, katie holms- her "secret service agent/boyfriend" was an actuarial science major.