Wil Andruschak

How long have you been teaching skiing?

I’ve been at COP for 18 years. I started learning how to ski there when I moved to Calgary in 1980 and worked as a volunteer for a disabled ski group.

It sounds like you’ve taught thousands of people to ski.

Quite a few. I’d have groups of 10 to 12 sometimes. I guess there’s a lot of them.

I’m told you’re turning 80 this month.

Yeah, but I don’t like people to know that. As soon as you tell people your age they immediately put you in an old folk’s home.

How do you stay young?

I guess you try to stay as active as you can and hang around young people. I don’t know any old people.

Do you date young ladies?

I hardly date anybody to tell you the truth. I keep so busy. And young ladies, they all want younger guys, and old ladies want younger guys, so old guys, they really don’t have a chance. That’s today’s environment.

What do you do in your spare time?

I like to be a background actor in movies. I audition for movie and commercial parts. I’ve been on several Heartland series as a background person. I’ve done a commercial for Greyhound.

How did you get into that?

Many years ago my next door neighbour was involved in a Jackie Chan movie. One day she said to me, “You should do this.” And I said, “I don’t know anything about it.” So she had her agent call me and I signed up and started doing a bit of background work in like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and you name it, probably 60 or 70 different movies and TV series.

Were they shot in the Calgary area?

Most of them. There’s a few ranches out here that have a whole setup of an old-fashioned town — CJ Ranch, Tom Scott’s ranch out by Longview, and a number of places, and they’ve got the whole movie set out there.

Is it good pay?

I think so. It depends on the movie what you make. If it’s background and you’re not a member of ACTRA then it’s anywhere from $9 to $10.50 an hour, and if you’re a member of ACTRA, then it’s a flat rate of about $179 for up to eight hours. If it’s just one hour, you still get the $179.

Is it a lot of fun?

I love it. A lot of it is just standing around and meeting new people and learning about them.

Before you retired, what were you doing?

I was in the oil business in an office. I was in purchasing.

Do you ski for a hobby?

I don’t as much as I used to. I find it’s a drag to drive all the way out to the mountains to ski for two or three hours and drive all the way home. I’d rather ski in the city and go for a cold drink afterwards. I should do it more often, then I wouldn’t get so fat.

So what’s your future plan?

Hopefully they’ll keep hiring me. One goal was to teach until I was 80 and the next goal is to teach until I’m 90.