Redding Resident of the Week: Hugh Karraker

Name: Hugh Karraker

Age: 62

Occupation: Retired, former television and theatre actor. Presently a trail tender for the Redding Conservation Commission trail tenders group. My trail duty is in Saugatuck Falls Preserve. I also build rustic gates, fences, railings and furniture out of cedar and mountain laurel (see pictures).

How long have you lived in Redding?

I grew up on Cross Highway. I’ve lived here my whole life. I went to University of Connecticut and got a BA in Fine Arts in Theatre.

My parents, Céline and Bill Karraker were active in town politics and the League of Women Voters. I have two sisters, Naneen (in Berkeley, Calif.) and Nell (deceased). I went through the Redding school system, but left in 1963 after freshman year to go to Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Afterwards, I attended the University of Connecticut, Storrs where I got a BFA in theatre. I spent two years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. I Started The Magic Circle Theater company in Seattle, which ended up in Chicago. I came to NYC in 1974 to work in TV (soaps, serials and commercials), film and theatre and did some commercial print modeling. Worked same in Los Angeles  in 1985 and '86. Married Sherry Arell in 1978.

What are some of your favorite plays?

Oh, geez… Shakespeare, A Walk in the Woods, Driving Miss Daisy—I just saw that performed.

I played McMurphy in a performance of [Ken Kesey’s] “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

What is your favorite thing to do in Redding?

Love to hike and cross country ski the town's trails. All the trails. I’m also a trails tender; I’m responsible for the Naugatuck falls area.

Tell us about your documentary film about the plastic Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic:

I wanted to celebrate my great-grandfather, Leo Hendrik Baekeland, who invented it. We just made a sample of the film, it’s 14 minutes long, just to show the potential of the documentary. I’ve been at it for a year. [The sample has] been playing at the Connecticut film festivals, such as the one up at Torrington last weekend. I’m looking for co-producers and a network or TV broadcaster [to air it]. I’m still doing research on it. I’ve spent time in the Smithsonian Institute-they have all my great-grandfather’s diaries and all kinds of his stuff.

I’m also doing PowerPoint presentations for schools and universities on plastics and chemical industry. I have [University of Massachusetts at] Lowell coming up at the end of the month, it’s all about Bakelite and Baekland; I’m trying to put him on the map. Nobody knows about him [in America], but his product is still being made today. In 2007, I went over to Belgium—my great-grandfather was Belgian—I went over there to the celebration they were having for him. I’ve been working on this documentary since 2006. The film is being directed by John Maher, who is known for the film A Georgetown Story.