When Charlie Sheen wanted his then-13-year-old daughter taken to a hair appointment as a result of he was too drunk to drive, he turned to his sober buddy, Tony Todd.
When Sheen wished to fulfill Carlos Estévez as a result of the foremost league pitcher shared Sheen’s given identify, he turned to his related buddy, Tony Todd.
When Sheen was within the throes of a crack dependancy, fired from his starring function on “Two and a Half Males” and in want of an unwavering voice of encouragement, he turned to his non-judgmental buddy Tony Todd.
“There are such a lot of pretend associates in Charlie’s life,” Todd stated. “I’ve been there for him since we had been little children. The cool factor is, we’ve by no means had an argument.”
Due to the current Netflix documentary “aka Charlie Sheen” and publication of “The Ebook of Sheen” memoir, Todd’s 50-year friendship with the mercurial actor has been revealed to the world. Todd’s social media accounts have since been flooded with reward from viewers far and extensive.
“I needed to attain out instantly to say you had been and stay an angel from heaven.”
“You’re the buddy we’d all prefer to have man, greetings from Spain!”
“Pricey Tony, When you ever go to Istanbul, it will be our honor to host you in our resort…. You aren’t solely an incredible actor but in addition a real buddy.”
“You … are a stellar human being [heart emoji].”
Todd and Sheen have been friends since they bonded by way of baseball, first on Little League fields in Malibu, then on the Santa Monica Excessive Faculty staff, then whereas taking batting apply in Sheen’s posh indoor batting cage, then whereas placing on power-hitting shows at native highschool fields and even Dodger Stadium.
And their friendship unfold into their personal lives, with Todd serving as greatest man on the first two of Sheen’s three marriages and serving as a drug-free wingman even when Sheen descended right into a chaotic, self-destructive morass of cocaine, alcohol and reckless intercourse.
“There’s by no means been a name he hasn’t answered, there’s by no means been a disaster he didn’t assist resolve,” Sheen stated in a cellphone interview. “Tony Todd has at all times been a buddy, and a real one.”
The documentary “aka Charlie Sheen” is a first-person tell-all, with the narrative helped alongside by Sheen’s oldest brother, Ramon, childhood neighbor Sean Penn, “Two and a Half Males” co-star Jon Cryer and govt producer Chuck Lorre, drug seller Marco Abeyta and ex-wives Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller.
And, after all, Todd. He laughs. He cries. He exudes honesty and empathy.
“He’s simply one in every of my favourite folks to have round in any scenario,” Sheen stated.
All of it definitely has made Todd — to not be confused with the actor of the identical identify who starred in “Candyman” and died a 12 months in the past — fame-adjacent.
Though he has loved a profession that features appearing/stuntman roles in each “Black Panther” motion pictures and appearing roles within the film “Little Massive League,” the TV present “Anger Administration” and greater than two dozen nationwide commercials, Todd is greatest recognized in Santa Monica because the dude who can’t say no to volunteer fundraisers and sports activities a conceit license plate that reads “NVR KWT.”
Simply this summer time he helped increase $10,000 for Santa Monica Little League by internet hosting an out of doors screening of “Little Massive League” and tapping into his huge contact listing of professional athletes and A-list entertainers to draw silent-auction objects.
And Todd was hailed as a “actual hero” by authorities after he gave $700 to a household of 5 who had been robbed of their hire cash in Lancaster in 2018. He was “so moved by the household’s story” that he jumped in his automobile and drove from Santa Monica to the excessive desert to hand-deliver the cash.
His friendship with Sheen resonates with many, partly as a result of Todd professes by no means to have taken a drug or a drink. Sheen, after all, was the poster man-child of substance abuse till turning into sober in December 2017, the day he relinquished his automobile keys to Todd to drive his daughter Sami to a hair salon appointment in Moorpark.
When Sheen was hooked on crack, Todd moved into his buddy’s Mulholland Estates home in Beverly Hills. Even then, Sheen wouldn’t smoke the drug in Todd’s presence, they usually typically would finish evenings watching MLB Community or ESPN’s “Sports activities Middle.”
“I didn’t do laborious stuff in entrance of him, simply out of respect,” Sheen stated.
Todd wept in “aka Charlie Sheen” when he defined why he continued to reside together with his buddy figuring out the actor was typically smoking crack within the subsequent room.
“I simply can’t depart him to die,” he stated.
Happier occasions occurred once they would head to a ball subject to hit. Years earlier, after struggling a shoulder harm, Sheen had discovered to bat left-handed, taking 100 or so swings a day without work an Iron Mike pitching machine in his indoor batting cage.
Whereas filming a DirecTV business at Dodger Stadium in 2007, Sheen stepped into the batter’s field throughout a lunch break and crushed a pitch over the right-field wall. Todd whooped and hollered, in no small half as a result of he had wager a Dodgers worker that his buddy would go deep.
“I knew it was going to occur due to all of the [batting practice] we’d been taking,” Todd stated.
Sheen additionally elevated his power by taking large doses of testosterone, which he mentions within the documentary and alluded to in a 2015 interview when he stated his HIV-positive analysis wasn’t the rationale for his epic meltdown in 2011 after he was fired from “Two and a Half Males.”
“I want I may blame it on that, however that was extra of a ’roid rage,” stated Sheen, who earlier had admitted he took steroids forward of filming the 1989 hit film “Main League,” by which he performed pitcher Ricky (Wild Factor) Vaughn.
Todd had a video shot of batting classes at Oak Park and Santa Clarita Hart excessive colleges round 2008. Sheen hit a house run Todd estimated traveled 445 ft at Oak Park and hit a barrage of homers at Hart within the presence of Corridor of Fame slugger Eddie Murray and the Hart Excessive staff.
Todd adopted Sheen’s energy show at Hart with a house run of his personal. Todd was a talented-enough baseball and soccer participant to earn a double scholarship to USC, though a critical harm his senior 12 months in highschool price him the free trip.
His baseball means landed him the function of Mickey Scales in “Little Massive League” and his astonishing velocity delighted Sheen even into their 40s. Throughout one in every of their batting classes at Oak Park Excessive, Todd was challenged to a race across the bases by an onlooker.
Sheen advised the person to start out the race at second base whereas Todd began at residence plate.
“By the point they rounded third, Tony had handed him, and after touching the plate he grabbed a glove and pretended to tag the man when he reached the plate,” Sheen stated, laughing.
Todd served as a baseball coach at Santa Monica Excessive for a number of years, and in 2013 he lobbied for the varsity to award Sheen his diploma — the actor had been 1½ credit brief 30 years earlier and hadn’t graduated.
Todd reached out to his buddy Ross Mark, who dealt with bookings for “The Tonight Present With Jay Leno,” they usually concocted a plan to have Sheen on as a visitor and for Leno to shock him with the diploma.
Todd walked on stage with the diploma and Sheen — who had rapidly donned a cap and robe — gave him a hug, his lifelong buddy having successfully smoothed over yet another tough patch in his life.
