Beginnings
Sam Westwood's Hollywood
A Timeline by markedward
(Based on my prior timeline It Girls, Boys Next Door, Scream Queens, and Dorothy)
From the documentary film Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)
From the time he made his screen debut in the mid-1960's until 1983, there was an actor who seemed to be everywhere. After he was outed as gay, his career went down in flames. During the 1990's, his work was re-evaluated and a comeback ensued. His name? Sam Westwood. This is his story.
The screen fades to archival footage of a rather good-looking boy next door type. A dark-haired cross between Tab Hunter and Kent McCord only with more of an edge. There is a chronological montage of clips from several of Sam's movies from his peak: Mary Rose (1967), Eye Of The Cat (1969), Never Give An Inch (1970), The Grifters (1970), The Kill-Off (1971), Traffic Jam (1972), The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud (1976), Interlocked (1978), and The Front Runner (1982).
Cut to the same man. He is in his early 70's now but looks considerably younger. Sam is filmed in his second home, a small beachfront property located on Vancouver Island, Canada.
Sam: My whole career was an accident (laughs)
Interviewer: Can you tell us about your early life?
Sam: Well, I was born in Reno, Nevada on February 8th, 1945. When I was about a year old, my father got a job offer in Tucson, Arizona and we moved there.
My father, Fred, was a World War II Veteran who worked as a file clerk. My mother, Sylvia, stayed at home until I was old enough to attend school. Later on, she went to work part-time at a travel agency.
My parents wanted more kids but were unable to. My mom had several miscarriages and it was, you know, rough on both of them. As a result, they poured a lot of affection onto me, which became...smothering at times.
But you know, they were both very kind, intelligent people and both of them supported my hobbies.
The interviewer is heard talking in the background
Sam: I was seen as the good upstanding boy next door who would take a girl out to the school dance and have her home by curfew. It slowly dawned on me as a teenager that I was more interested in dating the football team.
Sam chuckles before looking serious
In the dark ages...nobody talked about it.
Interviewer: Did you feel a need to get out of Arizona?
Sam: I took journalism for about a semester and then dropped out because I realized writing stories or maybe film scripts interested me more than working at a paper. I saved a little money doing odd jobs and came out to California at the start of 1964 just for the change of scenery.
My parents gave me a year to figure out what I wanted to do. If I didn't have things together by the new year I had to go back to school. My plan was to maybe take English and be a teacher and, you know, write on the side.
As everyone knows-- (laughs)
Interviewer: Things turned out differently
Sam: Yeah. (nods)
After a few months of odd jobs, I found work doing maintenance at Disneyland and relocated to Anaheim. Someone who worked higher up for the studio visited the park one day and spotted me.
A few days later. Someone else was sent to the park to find me and I was asked to report to the studio in Burbank the next morning.
Interviewer: So it wasn't Disney himself?
Sam: No. What happened was the publicity department changed the story to Walt Disney spotting me at the park during a routine meet and greet. It was actually someone who worked for the studio in production.
My first time visiting a studio was intense. I waited. And waited. Finally, a secretary led me into an office. Disney was at a desk. There was this older British fellow with him, who turned out to be Robert Stevenson.
It was incredibly nervewracking. They both introduced themselves. When Robert Stevenson introduced himself as a director, it was one of those "a-ha!" moments. I tried to act like I knew his work (laughs).
Interviewer: You hadn't seen 'Mary Poppins'?
Sam: Hey. I wasn't picky, but their movies weren't really on my radar.
I was asked if I would like to do a screen test for a role in one of two films the studio was about to shoot. It was one of those Lana Turner stories you hear where you go "Yeah right. Sure that happened!" (Sam comically rolls his eyes)
Well, it happened to me.
**********************************************************************************
From Biography: Sam Westwood (2001)
Narrator: Unbeknownst to Sam, one of the Disney's top stars, Tommy Kirk, was losing favor with the studio.
Sam: I was kept in the dark as to why Tommy was on his way out. They weren't sure if Dean Jones was going to continue making films either.
All I knew at the time was that Robert Stevenson was directing two movies. I tested for 'The Monkey's Uncle' with Annette, which I didn't get. Then I tested for 'That Darn Cat!' with Hayley Mills. I was to play a character named Canoe Henderson.
Narrator: Tommy Kirk returned to Disney long enough to shoot The Monkey's Uncle, but it would be his last film for the studio before a sharp career decline.
Cut to footage of HAYLEY MILLS shot for the documentary
Mills: Sam was just a kid. He seemed very private at first, but polite. He asked a lot of questions about acting.
Sam: I asked anyone who happened to be on set for pointers. Haley, Roddy McDowell, Dean Jones...
Narrator: Right away, Sam knew the studio had a screen image set in stone.
Sam: To them, I was the stereotypical polite, upstanding boy next door. It was...stifling.
Mills: Sam was a natural
Cut to Sam
I was nervous! (laughs)
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