Bryan Cranston Recalls Almost Being 'Wanted for Murder' After Joking About Killing Mean Chef

Bryan Cranston told the wild story of nearly being wanted for murder during a recent installment of Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson's "Dinner's On Me" podcast.

The Malcolm in the Middle actor explained he was traveling the U.S. on motorcycles with his brother in the 1970's when they arrived in Florida and realized they'd run out of funds. The pair decided to temporarily put down roots and and take a job as waiters at a restaurant in Daytona.

"At the Hawaiian Inn there was this cantankerous, uh, chef named Peter Wong, who just hated everyone," he explained. "There was just no way on earth you were ever going to get on his good side ... he'd scream at you and I mean ... he was awful."

"We'd all discuss how rotten and mean Peter Wong is, and, and we'd all discuss, if one were to do away with Peter Wong, how would you, how would one do it," he continued. "And some say, well, I'd, I think I would use his own wok on him, you know, I'd put him in the meat grinder, right?"

"You're in a kitchen. There's a million ways to kill someone in a kitchen," he joked. "And so my brother and I finished the winter season as it is in Florida and it's time for us to take off again and we wanted to go up north all the way to Maine and on our motorcycles. And so we say goodbye to everybody and we head out."

Cranston noted they had no idea that at about the same time that they left, Wong went missing and wasn't found until a week or two after his death. The Breaking Bad star shared that Wong was an "insecure guy" who carried a "wad of cash" around for when he went to the dog track to place bets.

"A young lady in a honey trap, you know just said, you're cute, and she said, come on with me," he continued. "And he said, okay, and went to a house or something, and kaboom! Someone knocked him over the head, took his money. Put his body in the trunk of a car."

Homicide investigators later showed up at the Hawaiian Inn to question the restaurant staff.

"They said, 'Is there anyone ever that you can remember talk about hurting or maiming or doing any harm to Peter Wong?' And everyone's like, 'Um, yes.' The hands go up timidly," he said. "We were joking."

The investigators then asked if there was anyone who had been joking with them that was no longer there and the staffers admitted the Cranston brothers had left town two weeks ago.

"So they're taking out all this information. Yes. Little did we know they put out an APB on us and to find us, we were somewhere in the Carolinas, I think at that point," Cranston recalled. "And we didn't know any of this. So we're just tooling along. I can just imagine if someone really pulled us over."

The actor revealed the cops eventually got information from witnesses at the dog track and checked the cameras and were able to make an arrest, but they were very close to being wanted for Wong's murder.

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Ferguson chimed in, "I mean, thank god that, you know, the security cameras and, alibis were as strong back then. I feel like now you really can't get away with anything because every corner has seven cameras on it."

"Isn't that a shame?" Cranston quipped. "You can't get away with anything anymore."