Veteran Actor and a Relative Newcomer Join Cast of CDI's 'Silent Night In Algona'

LANSING, Mich. - June 16, 2021 - PRLog -- North Carolina actor, armorer and art designer Robert Bradley has been in the entertainment business for 60 years.

Chicago area actor, director and stunt man Jonathan Wessel has been alive for 31 years, the last 10 of which he's spent pursuing a professional career in the performing arts.

And like so many of the members of the ensemble cast, the generation gap continues to shrink. The actors are the latest on board of Collective Development Incorporated's WWII drama, 'Silent Night In Algona' (Inspired by Actual Events).

Mr. Bradley, who is one-half Cherokee, and was born, raised and still resides in the Waynesville area of N.C's Smoky Mountains, will play 'Art Price,' the local butcher shop owner and daily 'Coffee Klatch' member at 'Sid's Diner' in Algona.

Mr. Wessel, a suburban Chicago resident who is a classically-trained cellist, will play 'Luke Luginsland,' a German of conscription age and whose parents could only afford to get him out of Germany prior to war breaking out in Europe.

As a high school junior in 1962, Mr. Bradley got his start in performance art as a gun fighter at the popular theme park, 'Ghost Town In the Sky,' in Maggie Valley, N.C. It's also where he earned his nickname, 'The Apache Kid.' Not only for his heritage, but for his skill as a stunt man. After being shot in a gun fight, Mr. Bradley's falls from buildings were crowd favorites.

The character actor's career at Ghost Town, and his six-film stint with CDI since 2007, starting with the film of the same name, afforded him the opportunity to work with a 'who's who' of TV and film actors.

From Burt Reynolds, Tony Dow ('Wally' on 'Leave It to Beaver'), Dan Blocker ('Hoss' on 'Bonanza') and Darby Hinton ('Israel' on 'Daniel Boone') to Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward and Bill McKinney (the 'Mountain Men' in 'Deliverance'), Rance Howard (Ron and Clint's father), Don Most ('Happy Days') and Victoria Jackson ('SNL').

Mr. Wessel, who has trained as a classical cellist and actor since a young age, has many credits in short films and series' for the web. But it was on the theatrical stage – from high school and later in community and collegiate theatrical companies (DePaul University, Columbia College), where he earned his chops.

The up-and-coming artist (who also does his own stunts and trained at the famed Acting Studio Chicago), has played lead roles in productions spanning all genres. From Shakespeare and 'A Tale of Two Cities: The Musical') to Peter Van Daan in 'The Diary of Anne Frank' and Borden Eisler in 'Plaza Suite.'

'Silent Night In Algona,' films in the fall in Kossuth County, Iowa.

CDI website www.cdiproductions.com