Supporting Cast of Norman Saves the World – Ray Donovan

Here are some of the actors who appeared in “Norman Saves the World” (8-7-2016), Episode 7 of Ray Donovan’s Season 4. The episode recap is here.

What is it gonna take to get the Armenians to back off?

Terry Moore, of “Mighty Joe Young” fame and alleged widow of Howard Hughes, played Nazani Minassian, evidently the successor to the deceased matriarch, who got her throat slit by Mickey Donovan.

Ray trains his gun on Mrs. Minassian (S3 E12)

If you noticed, Nazani hired the assassin at the very same place where the shootout took place in Season 3. At least we think so. They showed a “For Sale” sign on it before showing the interior. Above is a scene from the shootout in Exsuscito.

Jo Pho puts in his potato order

Jenson Cheng played Jo Pho, the assassin. He was paid a big stack of cash to get himself arrested so he could kill Mickey in jail. The Donovans were already working on a plan to keep Mickey out of harm’s way until they could get him out. Mickey had to pretend he was gay to get into the protected area of the prison. Then Ray and Ed Cochran were going to give the D.A. such a big case, he would agree to let Mickey go.

What’s in your soup?

Jack Axelrod played Mickey’s cellmate, Leo. Jo Pho poisoned Mickey’s soup and Leo helped himself to it. Too bad Leo didn’t notice the soup a little earlier when Jo Pho was putting the poison in it. That turned out to be his last meal.

Are you stating that Mickey Donovan is a heterosexual?

Thomas Crawford played Burt Mancini, the prison official who determined the veracity of Mickey’s claim. Conor Donovan almost got Mickey’s application tossed in the Denial Bin when he denied that Mickey was gay and called Mancini a “homo.” Mancini decided to take one more look into the matter and he got quite an eyeful when Mickey pretended he was having sex with Leo.

Tommy Wheeler and Nick Lowell greet each other before Nick finds out the bad news:
he’s not really there to sign Tommy.

Eric Balfour played Nick Lowell, a Hollywood agent who helped cover up a murder many years ago for his client, Sherman Radley. He paid Ed Cochran to lose the FBI evidence, and paid Ezra Goldman (Elliot Gould) to have someone dispose of the body. Nick was lured over to Ray’s place on the pretext that Tommy Wheeler wanted to change agents.

Tommy was, as always, played by Austin Nichols. Did you notice how Tommy wanted to hang around and watch while Ray and Ed Cochran forced Nick to tell them where Fiona Miller’s body was? Maybe Tommy wants to get in the fixer business, or maybe he has an upcoming role where he’ll need to employ strong arm tactics.

Sherman Radley found out some bad news, too. He gonna get arrested for murder

Reginald VelJohnson played Sherman Radley. In his successful TV sitcom, Radley plays a man named Norman who lost his mother, so he impersonates her rather than tell his children that their grandmother died. So that’s where the episode title came in.

Is Ray going to end up like the Texan?

As we know, Radley murdered Fiona Miller, then Nick hired Ezra to get rid of the body. Ezra hired the Texan to dispose of the body because (according to Avi) he wanted to protect Ray from some things. Stupidity, maybe? You would think that Radley would have no contact with the actual person that disposed of the body, but we suppose Radley came to know the Texan when they chose a location: Radley’s old restaurant, the Crab Grab. You would also think they would choose a location that had no ties to Radley. Huh! In any event, we’ll probably see the Texan again in the next episode. It’s named after him.

Josh was one of the lucky ones– he got paid.

Phil Abrams played Josh, the guy who rented his studio to Ed Cochran so Ed could make his cover album. In addition to the studio time, Josh charged Ed for all the Thai food even though he ate most of it himself. He probably ate most of the $250 worth of snacks he charged Ed for, too.

More notes:

• Bunchy asked Abby to be the main caretaker for baby Maria for a little while longer. She agreed but she is sick herself from her alternative cancer treatment and clearly had some reservations.
• Damon got drunk the night before he had an amateur match. He still won but he obviously presents a discipline problem. Don’t forget that he joined Conor in running around Calabasas with a gun in the last episode.
• Ed Cochran thoroughly enjoyed working with Ray. There was one very important point he wanted to make to Ray as his excuse for being a scumbag. Cochran said that he got that because he was worn down but Ray was just born that way.
• Hector and Marisol are back. Please Ray, Mr. Fixer-Man, fix this so Hector goes either up or down. Marisol’s gotta go.
• Leo was the only casualty in this episode, a victim of accidental food poisoning. The food was poisoned on purpose but it wasn’t intended for him.

Main Cast:
Liev Schreiber – Ray Donovan
Jon Voight – Mickey Donovan
Eddie Marsan – Terry Donovan
Dash Mihok – Bunchy Donovan
Pooch Hall – Daryll
Paula Malcomson – Abby Donovan
Devon Bagby – Conor Donovan
Steven Bauer – Avi

Also in Norman Saves the World
Hank Azaria – Ed Cochran
Lisa Bonet – Marisol
Ismael Cruz Cordova – Hector Campos
Tom Wright – Punch
Derek Webster – Jackson Holt
Dominique Columbus – Damon
Anthony M. Bertram – Perkins
Nick De Mauro – Ref
Devyn Inez Fusaro – Korea
Stephen Eshenbaugh – Prison Guard
Adwin Brown – P.A.
Brian Silverman – Police Officer
Arsema Ellison – Grandchild