Here's a little Ray Martin trivia that some may not be aware of. Steve Mizerak shared in May 1981 how he got selected for the Miller Lite beer commercial for which he is fondly remembered:
When I was picked, they said we're all going to go over one morning and read the script at McCann-Erickson and shoot pool. I never got a script until I got there. Everyone else got a script beforehand, but me.
Now I got there, and I was the last. I don't know whether I was last on purpose or what, but the other three guys already had done their takes...one guy had 15, one had 21, and the other had 31...I took over 50 takes...I was in there 3-1/2 hours. Because I had so many takes, I figured I would never make it, but I got it!
The four pool players who read for the parts that Mizerak is referring to were, of course, Mizerak, and Ray Martin, Peter Margo, and Allen Hopkins. Just another interesting little American pool factoid.
Ray Martin and I share the same birthday, along with Ewa Laurance, Jackie Gleason, and Johnny Cash.