Two Careers Are Better Than One

But first there were commercials. "At the time [c. 1976], I looked fairly extraordinary," Sting reminisced to Playboy. "I had this shock of blond hair that stuck up and had green bits on the side of it. The agent sent me for an ad and I got the job. And I did about seven of these things—doughnut ads, loads of ads—and they paid quite well, couple of hundred quid for a day's work." With Sting's striking good looks, though, it seems almost inevitable that the silver screen would beckon. "My agent phoned me one day," recalled Sting to The Aquarian in 1979, "and asked if I wanted to go out for Quadrophenia. I said, 'Nah, I'm too old, and besides, I can't be bothered and I don't feel well." Finally, though, Sting was persuaded—mostly by his wife—to meet with the film's casting director, and Sting's acting career was begun in earnest. In the film, Sting played a local mod who was considered the definition of cool by his fellow mods, but who in reality supports himself by working as a bellboy in a local hotel. Although it was a small role, it played an important part in the plot of the film: the film's protagonist, a disaffected young mod himself, is completely disillusioned when he learns that his hero is just another working stiff. For his part, Sting's striking screen presence was enough to get his image used in the film's ad campaign—which nicely coincided with The Police's coming into prominence. "The role was a walk-on, and I was happy to get it," Sting reflected in 1984. "But I never felt it made me an actor. You learn the craft for years and years, and then you wind up an actor."

Now with the aid of his band's success, Sting became a truly hot property—although many scripts he received ("about one a week") were not of the highest caliber ("Most of them could have been written by this table, they're as stupid and incoherent as that."); and almost all had him either portraying a rock star or were musicals, two things he'd decided early on to steer clear of. He was offered the role of the villain in the James Bond flick For Your Eyes Only, but reluctantly had to turn it down when the filming schedule conflicted with The Police's tour plans. Instead, Sting did not act again until a small break

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