Sam Westwood's Hollywood

[markedward]

From a cassette tape of Sam talking to Nolan Hendricks circa 1989/90. Later included as a special feature on DVD copies of Sam Westwood's Hollywood.

​

Nolan: The film you did make instead of 'Model Shop'--

Sam: 'Changes' with Jack Albertson.

Nolan: Yeah. I caught a print of it recently--

Sam: Wow. That's not an easy film to find, Nolan.

Nolan: I...have my ways

Both men chuckle

Nolan: Stylistically it was similar to 'Model Shop'

Sam: You know, it's funny because it might have actually been a better fit for me. It perfectly captured California in the late 1960s and was about a young man trying to find himself.

Nolan: What really caught my attention was the way it was filmed and the soundtrack--

Sam: Yeah, it was really a visually appealing film. There's a Harris connection too, you know.

Nolan: I know he mentioned to me once that the actress who was in that with you--

Sam: Michele Carey

Nolan: Harris mentioned that Michele Carey almost co-starred in 'Kiss My Firm But Pliant Lips' with him but was passed over for Heather North.

Sam: Yes. Heather North was in 'Subway' with me as well. She's probably best known for voicing Daphne on 'Scooby Doo' now.

Nolan: That's what I know her from.

Sam: 'Changes' got really great reviews but it wasn't a huge movie.

My next film 'Eye Of The Cat', was sort of a step back because all I had to look sexy and go into hysterics.

Nolan: You were good, though.

Sam: 'Eye Of The Cat' was something I was contractually obligated to do for Universal. I did a bunch of television appearances, primarily Universal productions, in between 'Journey To Shiloh' and 'Changes'. Dick suggested some live acting, so I did a little bit of live theatre to get over my fear of being on stage.

Nolan: Did you prefer being managed by someone who had been an actor?

Sam: Oh yeah. I was lucky to have had that kind of situation. Dick Clayton is very much someone who cared about his clients. I mean, he hadn't managed Tab Hunter for years and they were still friends. I would have stayed with Dick had he not taken to exclusively managing Burt Reynolds later on.

 

[markedward]

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.

Nolan: So you made two movies. One was a failure but the other one got some attention--

Harris: It only really played in art house theatres. I mean Elizabeth Taylor was in it, but her film career had sort of been waning, stuff like 'Boom'. And it was before Altman became really big. I was just too early for the party.

Nolan: I've heard that John Waters admired 'Boom' and your first two movies.

Harris: John--umm--he's a fan of my work and we do know each other through Divine. I'm not sure if I should take the fact that he loves my work as a good thing or a bad thing. But he went on Letterman and said he is dying to cast me in one of his films. (laughs)

Nolan: It's a good thing. I don't feel like he exploits actors. If he wants to cast somebody, it's because he likes them.

Harris: Yeah I don't get Andy A**hole vibes from John. Anyway, enough of that--

Nolan: I can stop the tape again--

Harris: No, it's good.

Nolan: You've told me you get sick of people asking this so--

Harris: I'll just jump right to it. I didn't make another film for a while after 'That Cold Day In The Park' because my porno loop resurfaced. My management tried to cover it up, the keyword being tried. That failed and they lost interest in me and eventually dropped me by summer. Then the nude shots I did were published. So, you know, I wasn't sought after for reputable film work for a little while. Plus, they wanted actors who looked like Dustin Hoffman or later, Al Pacino and as you can see, I don't look like those guys.

I lost my place because at the time I was terrible with money and there wasn't much coming in. I could get commercials or catalogue modelling jobs but it wasn't a huge payday. That's when the drinking started. Just in small doses.

I am glad the people who raised you taught you how to be smart with your money, Nolan because when I was your age I was terrible with it. Sam and I kept in touch after the party. Sometimes he let down on their luck performers crash on his couch if he could trust them. I think that's one reason he could kibosh gay rumours as long as he did. People would remember that some actress had lived there and while it was platonic--

Nolan: The public would believe anything?

Harris: Yeah. Anyway, I crashed on his couch for a few weeks while he was shooting a movie and tried to find someone else to rep me which is how Helen Benson came along--

 

[markedward]

​

From Forgotten Films: 1966-1971 by Nolan Hendricks, 1998

"By 1969, the spy film craze was still in full swing. The search was on for a new actor to play James Bond following Sean Connery's departure from the series. To fill the void, Columbia had not one but two films ready for release. The first was Dean Martin’s latest Matt Helm adventure The Wrecking Crew released two weeks into the New Year. The Wrecking Crew paired Martin with Elke Sommer, Nancy Kwan, Tina Louise, and the increasingly elusive Mia Farrow as Freya Carlson. The other---" [1]
"Meanwhile, the search for an actor to play the newest James Bond was going on over at Eon productions for You Only Live Twice--"

Producer Albert Broccoli and Director Peter Hunt initially had five front-runners: John Richardson, Hans De Vries, Robert Campbell, Anthony Rogers, and George Lazenby, a 29-year-old Australian male model. Eventually, a dark horse who hadn't been among the five front-runners was cast--"

"Broccoli instead set his eye on Julian Glover, who had recently appeared in The Magus opposite Michael Caine and Candice Bergen, as well as the 1967 Hammer production Quatermass And The Pit, part of a successful series of movies based on Nigel Kneale's Dr. Quatermass character--"

More excerpts

"Mid-1969 saw the release of two successful films of different genres. Winning and Midnight Cowboy. While the latter would go on to be a classic, the former, a vehicle for Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward is now known today as the final film of Robert Wagner--"

"The former, a racing car drama from Universal also featured a young Richard Thomas of The Waltons fame--"

"Midnight Cowboy, on the other hand, represented the dawn of what many refer to as "The New Hollywood", a period also defined by films such as Easy Rider--"

"Midnight Cowboy starred Harrison Ford, previously a bit player, in his first leading role. The actor played Joe Buck, a young Texan who heads to New York City to become a male prostitute. Dustin Hoffman, fresh off The Graduate played Ratso Rizzo, a NYC con artist Buck eventually befriends--"

"Midnight Cowboy initially received a "Restricted" ("R") rating. However, after consulting with a psychologist, executives at United Artists were told to accept an "X" rating, due to "homosexual references" and their "possible influence upon youngsters". The MPAA later broadened the requirements for the "R" rating to allow more content and raised the age restriction from sixteen to seventeen. Midnight Cowboy was later rated "R" for a reissue in 1971 with no edits made--"

[1] To be continued...

 

[markedward]

From Forgotten Films: 1966-1971 by Nolan Hendricks, 1998

​

From a Chapter about musicals released during the mid-1960s-early 1970s. Nolan writes about MGM's two musical flops from 1969, How Now Dow Jones, with a largely unknown cast, and Goodbye Mr Chips, which starred Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark.

"Goodbye Mr Chips, nearly killed off Clark's film career which hadn't quite recovered from Finian's Rainbow the previous year--"

"How Now Dow Jones, a film adaptation of the Broadway production, was such a failure that MGM shelved plans to adapt The Song Of Norway. The project was to be helmed by How Now Dow Jones director Andrew L. Stone with future Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson attached to play the lead. Stone soon rebounded with a pair of successful neo-noir films starring Sam Westwood--" [1]

More excerpts regarding musical flops

"There has been much speculation that Paint Your Wagon killed Jane Fonda's Hollywood career. Others say it was her behaviour on set. Much was made of Fonda regularly engaging in political sparring matches with co-stars Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin as well as Fonda's public displeasure at her vocals for the film being dubbed by singer Anita Gordon. Later it came out that the FBI, led by J. Edgar Hoover, had been keeping a file on Fonda. The final nail was a series of not-so-obvious blind items planted by gossip columnist Joyce Haber about Fonda's alleged Communist ties and donations to the Black Panther Party--"

"Paint Your Wagon was originally meant to feature Jean Seberg. Seberg, fearing another flop along the lines of Valley Of The Dolls, pulled out, accepting the role of Gloria Beatty in They Shoot Horses Don't They? alongside actor Michael Sarrazin--"

"They Shoot Horses Don't They? proved to be the critical and box office hit Seberg needed when she nabbed an Academy Award for Best Actress. Years later, Seberg learned that there had also been an FBI file on her. Perhaps because of Fonda's increasingly erratic behaviour, Seberg somehow managed to escape unscathed--"

From Forgotten Films, Volume 2: The New Hollywood Era by Nolan Hendricks (2001)

​

"Jane Fonda retreated to Europe, where she starred in French director Jean-Luc Goddard's Tout va bein (1972). The political drama would be Fonda's first film in three years. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Fonda had been passed over for Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In star Teresa Graves for the lead role in 1971's Klute. Casting Graves opposite Donald Sutherland was viewed as a risky choice in Hollywood. The gamble paid off when Klute became an unexpected box office hit and Graves nabbed an Academy Award nomination." [1]

"Despite losing out on Klute, Fonda would go on to appear in one Hollywood film; Steelyard Blues. Steelyard Blues, shot in 1971 but not released by Warner Brothers until 1973, did very little to restore Fonda's career in North America. It did, however, result in a brief romance between Fonda and her co-star Donald Sutherland. The pair had been involved with "The FTA Show", a satirical event protesting the Vietnam war--"

"Meanwhile, Tout va Bein didn't receive American distribution until early 1973. In North America, Fonda had been off-screen nearly four years, killing off any momentum her career had gained during the mid-late 1960s. The final nail in the coffin for Fonda's film career was likely Haskell Wexler's 1974 documentary Introduction to the Enemy--"

[1] Graves doesn't become a Jehovah's Witness ITTL and continues on with her acting career.

 

[markedward]

​

From the Podcast Talking Pictures with Nolan Hendricks and Harris Walker (Part One first episode, 7/16/2016)

Nolan: This is Nolan Hendricks

Harris: And I'm Harris Walker

Nolan: Welcome to 'Talking Pictures'

Nolan: In Part One of this episode, we're going to discuss the 1969 British horror film 'The Dark' [1]

Audio of the original 1969 trailer for The Dark is played.

Nolan: It's very much a proto-slasher movie.

Harris: Yeah.

I'll admit that 'The Dark' didn't reach my radar when it came out and I never watched it until you sent me the KL Studio Classics DVD of the film and told me we were gonna talk about it because I'd worked with Michael Armstrong, the director. Sam Westwood, my long-suffering second half--

Both men laugh before Harris continues talking

Harris: Sam remembers Jill Haworth telling him back in the day that she was going back to England to make a film. It's too bad she's gone now, it would have been nice to have had her here with us.

Nolan: Jill Haworth is definitely one of the best things about 'The Dark' and when I did my books on forgotten films, she was really nice to me. We had a chat about 'The Dark' because I'd wanted to cover it.

Harris: I never understood why Jill didn't have a better career. She had some big breaks. Huge. This is someone who played Sally Bowles in the original Broadway production of 'Cabaret'.

Nolan: She was very underrated. While this is a good movie, I feel like she should have been doing 'A' films after 'Cabaret'. Jill couldn't really pinpoint what went wrong.

Harris: When Sal Mineo started directing in the late '70s, he would put her in his films. She had a supporting role in 'Trial' which you know, Sam and Carol Lynley starred in--

Nolan: That was such a frightening side to Sam. In real life, he is nothing like that character.

Harris: No. He's one of the kindest people you'll ever meet. I...uhh...I can't watch that movie.

By the time we started dating, Sal and Sam had developed more of a professional relationship as opposed to friendship. Again, Sam went into further detail in the documentary. I wasn't around when whatever happened happened. Sal was...Sal.

Nolan: 'Trial' got held up--

Harris: When Sal got stabbed, yeah. It was released about a year later than it should have been.

Nolan: Going back to 'The Dark', the other two names were pretty impressive; Ian Ogilvy, who later played James Bond after Roger Moore left the series is second billed, And of course--

Harris: David Bowie!

Nolan: 'The Dark' is also notable for being David Bowie's film debut.

Harris: I apparently met Bowie in the early '70s at Max's Kansas City.

Nolan: Apparently?

Harris: I only know we met because there was a photo taken (laughs)

Nolan: You did meet Bowie again later though. I remember you being really excited.

Harris: Oh yeah! Later on in the '80s. I was in talks to direct a music video for him but it fell through. I was rather choked when he passed away recently.

Nolan: I remember when you came into my life, one of the things we bonded over was our love for David Bowie.

Harris: Yes we did!

And I'm gonna be honest, the best thing about this movie was Bowie.

Nolan: I feel like his presence did help beef the film up. As did Jill Haworth and Ian Ogilvy.

Harris: I liked that they threw some cabaret scenes in for Bowie.

Nolan: What intrigues me about the film is it was released right before the end of the 1960s when things turned sour. The Polanski murders, Altamont. Because it is so dark, it was like a harbinger of things to come.

Harris: And Bowie playing a musician who--

Nolan: Don't give away the spoilers, Harris! (laughs)

Nolan continues

I'll just say that Bowie's character fits in with the general mood of the last half of 1969. I think the film could have had a better run had it not been released a month before the Polanski murders. From what I gather, Columbia pulled it after the murders took place. They'd had a hit with 'Night Of The Living Dead' and it made sense that they would release something like 'The Dark'. While 'Night' was more gritty and a 'message movie'. 'The Dark' does remind me of the climate of the time. You could transplant it to Los Angeles and it would have been a lot like what was happening.

Harris: Oh yeah. I was there. Everyone was scared shitless. Some of that was discussed in Sam's documentary. He was filming 'The Grifters' and I was staying at his place on the couch at the time of the Polanski murders. I think he thought I'd be built-in security. But, I was scared to death, we both were. I was walking around with a baseball bat. Sam's dad bought him a gun but I wasn't gonna use it.

Nolan: It wasn't the simpler time people say it is. You know, when there is nostalgia for the '60s--

Harris: I'm not sure if there was ever such a thing as a simpler time. Things are just less scary sometimes.

Nolan: There is some interesting stuff about the production on 'The Dark'. AIP and Columbia were both interested. But AIP wanted Michael Armstrong to use Frankie Avalon or Fabian to play Chris, the Ian Ogilvy role.

Harris: Good old AIP!

Nolan: Columbia weren't going to interfere with the casting so Armstrong was able to cast Ian Ogilvy. He wanted an actress named Jane Merrow to play the role that went to Jill Haworth.

Harris: As someone who made films for AIP, I feel like it would have been a complete disaster in their hands. It would have been like Carnaby Street Beach Party Massacre! Hell-- (Harris laughs)

Nolan: Americanizing Ogilvy's role would have resulted in serious miscasting. Frankie Avalon wasn't the worst actor, though--

Harris: I have no ill will towards Frankie Avalon or Fabian. They just both had an image that I can't picture working in a horror film that takes place in swinging London. Maybe if they had done something like 'Food Of The Gods' or if the setting had been switched to California--

Nolan: 'Food Of The Gods' was your own AIP horror film.

Harris: Yes. For Burt I. Gordon. It got me on 'Mystery Science Theatre' (laughs)

Harris continues

AIP was bad for butchering films. It was a schlock factory. I don't remember making 'Food Of The Gods' because I was loaded the whole time. I just remember Ralph Meeker was in even worse shape. Wish I had more anecdotes about working with Ralph Meeker because 'Kiss Me Deadly' is a classic. He was good in that movie--

Nolan: Jennifer Jones said years later that she liked working with you.

Harris: Which is generous because I don't remember working with her.

Nolan: Going back to 'The Dark', Michael Armstrong has gone on record saying that AIP wanted several scenes rewritten. They wanted a part for Boris Karloff who would have been dead before the film was finally released, they also wanted a red herring written in, which Armstong says would have been an older ex-lover of the character played by Gina Warwick. They also wanted a drunken musical number set in a pub--

Harris: All of that sounds dreadful. I worked with Michael later on, ironically for AIP, and he was very protective of his material. I would suspect that is why. I mean if someone tried to screw up this vision you had it would make one become protective of future projects. Michael dodged a bullet there.

[1] Tried to keep this in line with details about Armstrong's original vision for this film before AIP meddled with it. A lot of info about this film is available here.

The Dark (TRIGON/COLUMBIA, JULY, 1969)

DIRECTED BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG

SCRIPT BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG

MUSIC BY REG TILSLEY (With additional songs by David Bowie)

PRODUCED BY TONY TENSER

Cast

JILL HAWORTH as SHEILA

IAN OGILVY as CHRIS

DAVID BOWIE as RICHARD

MARK WYNTER as NIGEL

CAROL DILWORTH as DOROTHY

GINA WARWICK as SYLVIA

VERONICA DORAN as MADGE

RICHARD O'SULLIVAN as PETER

JULIAN BARNES as HENRY

CLIFFORD EARL as POLICE SERGEANT

Plot (No Spoilers)

In swinging London, a group of twenty-something friends are attending a dull party thrown by their friend Chris (Ogilvy) following a performance in a nightclub by cabaret singer Richard (Bowie, who performs "Silly Boy Blue" and "Love You Til Tuesday"). Richard suggests the group gather for kicks at a supposedly haunted mansion where he used to play as a child.

They have fun exploring the mansion, even holding a seance before separating one by one by candlelight. While all the partiers are alone, one of them, Nigel (Wynter), is brutally stabbed to death. His body is discovered by the panic-stricken Dorothy, his date, and the others. Since some of them have criminal records, the group ringleader, Chris convinces them to leave the body far from the home and to pretend that Nigel left and no one knows where he went. They are all shaken by Chris' assertion that one of them must be the murderer.

During the next few weeks, the survivors are possessed by tension and guilt, and after Nigel is reported missing, they are further shaken by questioning from the police.

Dorothy calls the survivors together to ask to confess. However, Chris convinces them to return to the house to discover who among them is the killer before they all succumb to a gruesome death. At the mansion, Dorothy becomes hysterical, prompting several of the group to depart, leaving just Chris, Sheila, and Richard. One of the three is the murderer, but who--and why?

*Thank You to @Guajolote for the poster!

 

[markedward]

August 9th, 1969

Via New York Times front page

“HOLLYWOOD STARS, DIRECTOR AMONG FOUR FOUND BRUTALLY MURDERED IN POLANSKI HOUSE” [1]

Timeline of events

Evening of August 8th, 1969

Jill St. John, husband Roman Polanski, aspiring screenwriter (and friend of Polanski) Wojciech Frykowksi, actor Robert Wagner, and Wagner’s wife, actress Marion Marshall, as well as actress Raquel Welch, Wagner’s co-star a year earlier in The Biggest Bundle Of Them All, are spotted out for dinner at Mexican restaurant El Coyote. Frykowski is photographed with Welch, his date for the evening, after his split from coffee heiress Abigail Folger some months prior.

Following dinner, Marion Marshall left to check in on her daughter with Wagner, Katie. Wagner wishes to discuss a film project with Polanski that would have been the director's follow-up film to Rosemary's Baby.

Welch, who is not feeling well after dinner, declines an offer to join the others at the house for a late-night party.

10:30 PM: Polanski, St. John, Wagner, and Frykowski head back to the Polanski residence at 10050 Cielo Drive. Marshall calls about 10:50 PM to tell Wagner that their daughter Katie is feverish and that she won’t be coming by, but not to worry. It’s the last Marshall will talk to her husband.

After Midnight

Following orders from failed musician turned cult leader Charles Manson, Manson Family follower Tex Watson takes Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to "that house where Terry Melcher used to live with Candice Bergen" and told them to "totally destroy everyone in [it], as gruesome as you can."

Cut to August 10th, 1969

Following the murders of Roman Polanski, Jill St. John, Robert Wagner, and Wojciech Frykowksi, The Manson Family kills Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, a wealthy Los Angeles business couple.

April 9, 1970

Charles Manson is sentenced to death. In 1972, California bylaws are changed to life imprisonment. Foul play was suspected but never confirmed. The three followers would spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

September 25, 1984

While imprisoned at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, Charles Manson dies after being severely burned by a fellow inmate who poured paint thinner on him and set him alight. The prisoner, Jan Holmstrom, explained that Manson had objected to his Hare Krishna chants and had verbally threatened him.

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)

Sam: That, uh, freaked me out. I kind of wondered, you know, if all this was worth it.

I was shooting 'The Grifters' when the murders happened. Used to not lock my doors unless I was gone. After that, everyone was getting security put in. I usually took people in that seemed trustworthy. An actress that was staying at the beach house moved out and Harris---things were not going well with his career, so I let him stay there for a while.

The interviewer asks about rumors that Sam was on the Manson hit list

Sam: No. there is no basis for that. It doesn't even make sense. I met Robert Wagner once at a party but never knew anyone else in that circle. Same with rumours I knew some of the Manson family members from the beach or was invited to Polanski's house that night. Any of the hippies I did know were really harmless people who weren't part of the Manson crowd.

[1] Steven Parent doesn't show up at the guesthouse that night to talk to caretaker William Garretson about a clock radio.

 

[markedward]

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)

I: You've gone on record saying you didn't know--

Harris: I didn't know Sam was gay. He was just really nice to me and didn't expect anything back.

(Harris shrugs)

It wouldn't have made any difference to me if he hadn't been.

Sam: There was talk about Harris maybe swinging both ways but I had no motives. Maybe a crush (laughs).

Harris just intrigued me. He was very creative and funny and just really genuine.

Harris: There wasn't talk about Sam until he got really big because there wasn't any sort of visible female companion.

Sam: My publicists arranged "dates"

Interviewer asks a question in the background

Sam: Well, let me get into the backstory first.

Harris and I socialized a lot at parties but we usually had dates and weren't left alone for long. And it wasn't something that came up much. This was before and during the period of the Stonewall riots. Nobody talked about it.

Harris: Things got better if you weren't in the acting profession. I realized early on that while I liked working, I kinda hated the big parties and ceremonies. And the pressure to stay in the closet.

Harris continues

To cut a long story short, I had lost my apartment and was scraping by.

Sam: Harris stayed for a while before he signed with Helen Benson. I thought he'd be extra security.

Harris: Sam and I were both jumpy. Nobody anticipated that some big stars were going to be murdered. It could have happened again and it could have been anyone.

In the meantime, I brought someone over there thinking Sam was going to be out that night.

Sam: I had a break in filming and couldn't reach him. Accidentally left the front door unlocked. He brings this guy in and I didn't know who it was. I came out holding a gun in the dark. The guy just jumps!

The two laugh awkwardly

Harris: I decided to just take the guy home. I thought Sam might be mad because I brought a date over, which in hindsight wasn't responsible.

Sam: I wasn't mad. It was a misunderstanding. I never said you couldn't have visitors. Everyone was scared after what happened. I had to reassure Harris that it didn't bother me and came out to him.

Harris: Sam could trust me. I wasn't going to blow his cover to someone like...who was that bitch that printed blind items about Jane Fonda?

Sam: Joyce Haber. I had a couple close calls with Joyce Haber in the mid-'70s when she tried to out me. They fired her around the same time for unreliable sources.

Harris: It was a rough time. I was already not doing well emotionally and started to drink a little.

Sam: I did notice it then but didn't say anything. There weren't any pills or coke at that point--

Harris: I'd just have like a couple drinks in a row. And smoke some pot which--

Sam: Everyone smoked pot. It wasn't the pot that bothered me.

Harris: It got worse living in New York--

 

[markedward]

Raindrops are falling on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothing seems to fit
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling...

​

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (20th Century Fox, October 24th, 1969)

Music by Burt Bacharach

Written by William Goldman

Produced by John Foreman

Directed by William Goldman

Cast

Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy

Robert Redford as The Sundance Kid

Sharon Tate as Etta Place

"It wasn't 'Mary Rose' that made Sharon Tate a star, it was riding on a bike with Paul Newman to 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head' that made her a star"- Roger Ebert talking about Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1989)

Outtake From Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)

Sam: Sharon hadn't really had a big hit since 'Mary Rose'. She was constantly in the press, but she'd done two other films for Universal and whereas things picked up for me, they didn't for her.

'Butch Cassidy'. That's what really made her a star.

So I just did me some talking to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleeping on the job
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep fallin'--

​

Snippets From Variety

Spring, 1968

"Elizabeth Taylor quits George Stevens Film in production at 20th Century Fox"

"Taylor requested that the film shoot in France despite the script taking place in Las Vegas so as to be closer to husband Richard Burton who is filming Staircase for director Stanley Donen--"

"Frank Sinatra quits The Only Game In Town"

"Warren Beatty drops out of Butch Cassidy"

"Sharon Tate has been cast as the love interest, Etta Pace in the 20th Century Fox picture Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid opposite Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Also considered for the role were Joanna Pettet and Graduate star Katharine Ross. [2]

June 1968

"George Stevens picture back on at 20th Century Fox"

"The production, which was set to star Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra briefly shut down after both stars quit the picture. Taylor wanted to film in France with sets built to resemble Las Vegas in order to be close to her husband Richard Burton. After becoming ill, the actress quit the film and then signed on to shoot That Cold Day In The Park in Vancouver for director Robert Altman instead. Production on The Only Game In Town shut down briefly while replacements could be found to film in Las Vegas on a lower budget. Warren Beatty has signed on, and a female lead has yet to be cast. Tammy Grimes, who originated the part of Fran on Broadway is in talks to reprise her role--"

August 1968

"Warren Beatty and Lee Grant set to start filming The Only Game In Town for 20th Century Fox"*

*The film is eventually released in October 1969.

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89.

Harris: Yeah---uhh--Elizabeth. Don't ever call her Liz, by the way. She hates it. Elizabeth was made fun of for requesting that film be shot in France. Cuz she had been one of the biggest stars on the planet, they might have done it for her at one time but by 1968, 1969--

Nolan: Is it ok if I ask what happened that made her fine to make a film in Vancouver but not Las Vegas?

Harris: Of course, yeah. Vancouver is nicer? (laughs)

No. What happened was, she got in a fight with Burton and her exact words to me were that she wanted to be as "Far away from him as damn possible"

Nolan: Wow.

Harris: Yeah. Anyway, Sam screen-tested for 'The Only Game In Town' before Warren Beatty signed on cuz he wanted to work with Tammy Grimes. Then Sam passed on it and went and did a film in England. This was shortly after we first met, but right before he came back to shoot 'The Grifters'.

Nolan: It ended up being Warren Beatty and Lee Grant and because it was a lower-budget film with Warren Beatty headlining it made money.

Harris: I love Elizabeth. She's like a mom to me, more than my own damn mother ever was. That said, she's mentioned it herself and I'll repeat it. If she had appeared in that film, it would have bombed, She needed a hit. Plus, Elizabeth isn't really a dancer and the role was a chorus girl. Lee Grant could dance and she did dance in the picture. And Lee Grant had chemistry with Warren Beatty. 'Shampoo' was really good. Much better movie than that one, honestly. [1]

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me
Won't defeat me, it won't be long
'Till happiness steps up to greet me--​

Cassette recording of Harris Walker talking to Nolan Hendricks circa 1988/89

Harris: Helen Benson's dad Herb was an agent and she joined the family business, Benson and Associates. Herb had a tendency to sign the...wrong people. Like, they'd rep Tina Sinatra instead of Nancy Sinatra. But they were really good people and they cared about their clients. Helen and Herb didn't care about the photos or the dirty movie. At first. Then my real age came out and they stood by me but got protective. I honestly wouldn't have put it past Herb to have bought the film and have it destroyed because it never popped up again. Thank God. He always said, "That kid is a real wreck, Helen, but he has talent!"

(laughs)

Damn. I miss that guy. He passed away maybe ten years ago.

Anyway, Helen had a long list of people she wanted to sign. I happened to be on it near the bottom because of 'That Cold Day In The Park'. I wasn't getting any calls outside of modelling work. Different people repped me for that. When she approached me, it surprised me. I figured movie roles might not happen again and that had made me really upset, so she put some hope inside me--

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining
Because I'm free
Nothing's worrying me
It won't be long 'till happiness steps up to greet me--​

[1] IOTL, the only clue that Elizabeth Taylor's character is a chorus girl is when there is a giant close-up of her in a chorus line moving up and down (see trailer). It would have been a stronger scene with someone who was a more capable dancer. Grant had been a ballerina when she was younger. ITTL, Grant appears in this film instead of the flop Marooned.

 

[markedward]

Danish folk-pop singer Nina on the 1969 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show promoting one of the three songs featured in the next film about to be covered...​

Nothing Lasts Forever (20th Century Fox, 12/1969)

Written and Directed by Edward O'Malley

Roger Moore as Nigel Turner- A Private Detective

Telly Savalas as Art Anagnos- Manager to singer Ruby Sorensen

Diana Rigg as Penelope Turner- Simon's wife, a model. The two have a rocky marriage.

Nina as Ruby Sorensen- A singer who turns to Nigel for help after her boyfriend is murdered.

Edward Woodward as Timmy and Tommy Crane- Twin brothers who have underworld connections. Johnny owed them money. Loosely based on the infamous Kray Twins.

Sam Westwood as Johnny- Ruby's younger American boyfriend who is murdered backstage in her dressing room while she is performing live on stage.

Music by John Barry, Lyrics by Hal David

'We Have All The Time In The World", 'Nothing Lasts Forever' and 'Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown' performed by Nina Van Pallandt

A brief synopsis

Pop singer Ruby Sorensen (Nina) performs as part of a live television variety special at Christmas time. Accompanying Ruby is her manager Art Anagnos (Savalas) and her younger American boyfriend Johnny (Westwood). Art and Ruby notice Johnny is acting strangely. Ruby goes back out in front of the camera to sing her biggest hit 'We Have All The Time In The World', leaving Johnny in her dressing room while Art hangs out backstage. After her performance, Ruby opens her dressing room to find Johnny stabbed to death. Art turns to Nigel Turner (Moore) a private detective with a crumbling marriage to model Penelope (Rigg).

Nigel's search for Johnny's killer takes him into London's underworld where he has to find the culprits, notorious twin gangsters Timmy And Tommy Crane (Woodward).

Up against TWO murderers, Nigel realizes he has bitten off more than he can chew. Ruby is becoming increasingly erratic, sobbing during a recording session. Nigel helps her through the grieving process which makes Penelope jealous initially. Realizing that nothing is going on between her husband and Ruby, Penelope is able to patch things up with Nigel. Turner finally brings the Cranes to justice and parts ways with a grateful Ruby and Art.

Vincent Canby's review for The New York Times:

"Moore, best known for the TV series “The Saint” turns in a very charming performance as our dashing hero Turner. An excellent cast and musical score helps round things out--"

From IMDB:

Sam Westwood's role as the murder victim essentially boils down to an extended cameo. Westwood was filming an adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse at the time production of this film was also taking place at Pinewood Studios and agreed to a couple days work.

The role of Ruby Sorensen was originally written as "Ruby Simmons" with Dusty Springfield in mind. However, Springfield turned the film down. After Petula Clark also turned the script down, Nancy Sinatra was then approached and also declined. Danish folk-pop singer Nina ultimately took over the lead role. Under her full name, Nina Van Pallandt, she would go on to appear in several films for director Robert Altman during the 1970s. [1]

'We Have All The Time In The World' is perhaps best known best via a cover version recorded by Louis Armstrong around the time the film was released to theatres.

[1] Nina also had a really colourful personal life. Check out this Rotten Tomatoes writeup for more info. This article also has a lot of info on her.

 

[markedward]

​

You Only Live Twice (United Artists, December 18, 1969)​

Cast

Julian Glover as James Bond, 007

Donald Pleasance as Blofeld

Peter Finch as Dikko Henderson

Joanna Lumley as Patricia

Mie Hama as Kissy Suzuki

Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt

Tetsuro Tamba as Tiger Tanaka

Bernard Lee as M

Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny

Desmond Llewelyn as Q

Music by John Williams ('You Only Live Twice' performed by Lorraine Chandler, written by Jack Ashford, Mike Terry & Randy Scott)

Screenplay by Richard Maibaum (Based on You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming)

Produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli

Directed by Peter R. Hunt

Opening Sequence
​

An American spacecraft is hijacked from orbit by another, unidentified spacecraft. The U.S. suspects it to be the Soviets, but the British suspect Japanese involvement since the spacecraft landed in the Sea of Japan.

Cut to the theme song: “You Only Live Twice” by Lorraine Chandler

The film opens on a longshot of “Patricia” (Joanna Lumley), sitting in a rented flat on a sofa reading a magazine.​

Joanna Lumley as Patricia​

A man enters the flat, back turned to the camera. It's clear he is armed. After some buildup, we realize, it’s none other than...James Bond! (Julian Glover).​

Julian Glover as 007​

He realizes the "intruder" in his flat is Patricia, his current flame. She is quite irritated with Bond as this appears to have happened more than once. Bond, as usual, is dapper but looks weary after the events of the previous film On Her Majesty's Secret Service*. After some banter between Lumley and Glover, the usual Bond hanky panky ensues. The phone rings, but Bond refuses to answer it.

Bond and Patricia later head out to a fancy nightclub, where he gets inebriated and loses his money on a bad bet at the card tables. It is revealed that Bond has resorted to alcohol to ease his pain over losing Tracy. Back at the flat, Patricia has enough of Bond’s drunken antics and calls him out on it, finally leaving him. As the door slams shut, the phone rings yet again. A very drunk, very irritated 007 picks it up. It's M (Bernard Lee). He grills Bond over his recent behaviour: drinking, gambling heavily, botching up missions and showing up late for work. He has a mission for Bond and expects him to show up ASAP.

The usual banter with Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) is shown. Bond then meets with M who has a mission for him. Bond is to investigate the events shown prior to the opening sequence. After some banter with Q, (Desmond Llewlyn), Bond is sent to Tokyo after faking his own death in Hong Kong and being buried at sea from HMS Tenby (F65).

Bond is introduced to Tiger Tanaka (Tetsurō Tamba)—and to the Japanese lifestyle—by an Australian intelligence officer, Dikko Henderson (Peter Finch). When Bond raises the purpose of his mission with Tanaka, it transpires that the Japanese have already penetrated the British information source and Bond has nothing left to bargain with. Instead, Tanaka asks Bond to kill Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, who operates a politically embarrassing "Garden of Death" in an ancient castle; people flock there to commit suicide. After examining photos of Shatterhand and his wife, Bond discovers that "Shatterhand" and his wife are Tracy's murderers, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasance), and Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat), both returning from the previous movie. Bond gladly takes the mission, keeping his knowledge of Blofeld's identity a secret so that he can exact revenge for his wife's death. Trained by Tanaka and Henderson and aided by former Japanese film star Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama), Bond plans to infiltrate Shatterhand's castle. Tanaka renames Bond "Taro Todoroki" for the mission. The next scene shows Henderson being called away, where he is ultimately murdered by Blofeld’s henchmen.

After infiltrating the Garden of Death and the castle where Blofeld spends his time dressed in the costume of a Samurai warrior, Bond is captured, and Bunt identifies Bond as a British secret agent and not a Japanese coal miner. Bunt's henchmen tie Bond up and lower him under a pool of piranhas. Bond escapes, killing the henchmen and pushes Bunt into the pool. Bond exacts revenge on Blofeld. Blofeld however, has escaped the castle, placing a bomb inside it. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas escape the castle before it explodes, and are rescued.

From Forgotten Films, 1966-1971 by Nolan Hendricks

"While the film is fondly remembered today, audiences at the time were turned off at the sight of a grieving, alcoholic James Bond who seemed human--"

"Eon became concerned when You Only Live Twice underperformed at the box office. While no blame was placed on Julian Glover, the actor was not offered any further Bond films. However, Glover would get the last laugh with a string of highly acclaimed character parts--"

"To make matters worse, usual Bond composer John Barry had worked on another project instead--Columbia's Nothing Lasts Forever. While Lorraine Chandler's theme song became a huge smash on the British Northern Soul circuit, it wasn't exactly remembered as a classic. Neither was John Wiliams jazzy score--"

"For the next projected James Bond vehicle, Diamonds Are Forever, Broccoli was determined to hire back Sean Connery. When that failed, the producer went after Roger Moore. Broccoli also decided to go for a more star-studded cast to back Moore up--"

*If you missed the OHMSS post, go check out the threadmarks. It's there.

 

[markedward]

Who is Nolan Hendricks?
Why does Harris have so many skeletons in his closet?
Find out today in another exciting instalment of Sam Westwood's Hollywood!

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89.

The tape starts back up. It is obvious from Nolan's tone that he trying to figure something out.

Harris: I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later. You're a smart kid, Nolan.

Nolan: Do you want me to shut the tape off? I can shut it off--

Harris: It's fine. Really.

Nolan: So, you were talking previously about how Herb Benson might have had your film loop destroyed?

Harris: There was no might have about it. As I mentioned, they found out my real age. I've always been upfront with you about that.

Nolan: When I was trying to find you back home, you weren't in the yearbook after your sophomore year. So I knew something was off. I just never asked why.

Harris: I dropped out. And I know you're going to say it, but I realize I contradict a lot of details about my early life.

Nolan: You did say you graduated, though.

Harris: I did graduate later on, but not in 1966.

Herb and Helen signed me and didn't realize I was born in 1950, not 1948. I ran away from home in 1966. So...I was sixteen in the photos and stuff and the Bensons were absolutely horrified.

They weren't rich, so it set them back to pay people off. I paid them back later on. The fact that they didn't fire me as their client was pretty remarkable.

Nolan: So you were 17 when you did commercials?

Harris: Yeah. And 18 in my first movie. But 17 when it was shot. My birthday is June 25th.

Nolan: June 25th, 1950? I just want to clarify because I still see 1948 tossed around.

Harris: Yeah. You think I'd lie to you?

Nolan: No. Of course not.

Harris: I ran away from home because it was unbearable. You know that.

Nolan: I do. You were treated like garbage. But you were also just a kid. And people took advantage of you--

Harris: Yeah. I wasn't proud of the things I did. That's why I reached out to Traci Lords.

Nolan: I just can't believe nobody tried to find you. You were on TV!

Harris: Well, that's the Walker clan for you.

When I got to New York at the end of 1969, Helen and Herb made me take night classes to get my GED. So to answer your question, yes I did graduate. Eventually.

Nolan: Sam had to have known--

Harris: I was 18 when I met Sam. Sam thought I was twenty. I stayed at his place for a while and he still had no clue. But I think he suspected something was off when I told him I refused to speak to my family. I mean he was close to his mom and his dad. That was foreign to me.

Nolan: Sylvia died before I found you but Fred seemed to be a lot like Sam.

Harris: Very loyal. Stuck up for Sam when Sam was being publicly stoned. Sam was worried Fred would disown him. Fred just pulled me aside and said: "You better take care of my son!".

Nolan: So how did Sam find out?

Harris: So, in 1972, Sam was in New York filming a movie with Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland. I was hired on as the still photographer but also took a bit role--

Nolan: 'Erring On The Side Of Caution'

Harris: Yeah. I'd been offered a couple of big movies, which we can talk about later. Those fell through and I became involved with a film that happened to have Sam in it. We reconnected and after the filming, I accidentally overdosed and had to get my stomach pumped.

Nolan: Which lead to you going back to California.

Harris: Yeah. Sam got me to the hospital and had to go through my wallet. My license had a 1948 birthdate on it. I was able to swing that somehow. But he also found a draft card and some other old items I still had with my real birth date on them and another piece of paper which I always kept that was a notice from the draft board telling me I was 4-F. Because I am colour blind I didn't have to go over there. And as you know with Sam, his was deferred at Disney's request.

Anyway, of course, Sam grilled me. We were still platonic friends but it was about to get serious and I knew he needed to know things, so I told him.

Next: Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse (1969) starring Sam Westwood.

 

[markedward]

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.

The tape picks up where it left off, but Sam Westwood is now joining them.

Nolan: Sam, thank you for agreeing to this.

Sam: It was no problem. I wanted to sit down with you but felt that given the circumstances, you should sit with your--

Harris: He's comfortable just calling me Harris.

Sam: Right. With Harris first.

Harris: Nolan wanted to ask you about 'The Pale Horse'.

Sam: That movie was something Universal developed for me. It was a quick shoot, but nice because it was a location shoot.

Nolan: Was it your first time out of the country?

Sam: Yeah. I was really excited. I finally got to travel for work!

Nolan: It was not a modernized period piece, right? The plot seemed more contemporary.

Sam: It was a later Agatha Christie novel from, uh, 1961. So it wasn't a period piece which meant it was cheaper for Universal to shoot. I think after 'Mary Rose', it seemed like a logical step.

Nolan: Which would explain the casting of Fay Compton--

Sam: Fay Compton was just the best choice for the role. I had a diction coach, but Fay helped me out a little with my accent.

Harris: He was pulling a Meryl Streep before Meryl Streep!

The three chuckle

Sam: Fay and I were attached to the project when it was in development, but I found out later they had a really hard time casting the role of Ginger. Universal wanted either Charlotte Rampling or Jackie Bisset. Charlotte Rampling had another project--

Nolan: Was that 'Three'?

Sam: Yeah, it must have been. I don't know.

Nolan: With Sam Waterston--

Sam: I remember someone at Disney wanting to change my name to 'Dak Armstrong' which is completely Godawful

Sam is heard laughing

Harris: There was Dack Rambo.

Sam: I just wanted to use my name, even if a bunch of other people already had it.

Nolan: Was that common? Being mistaken for say, Sam Elliott?

Sam: Oh Yeah. Or they'd see me and think I was a similar looking actor. Harris used to get Harrison Ford a lot because they would just hear 'Harris'

Harris: And not 'Harri-son'

Or people would call me 'Harris Yulin'. I wasn't insulted by that because Harris Yulin can act.

Harris chuckles

Sam: So can you.

Harris: Act?

Sam: Yeah.

Nolan: Harris, you don't give yourself enough credit.

Nolan: Is it true they wanted Twiggy before Helen Mirren was cast?

Sam: Twiggy almost got cast. Jill Haworth read for it at some point. Helen Mirren is fantastic, though. We were the same age, but when I was doing 'Fireball 500', she was with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

She treated me like an equal, though and I enjoyed that shoot. It could have been scary but I had to learn to not let other people's credentials intimidate me--

 

[markedward]

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.

The tape picks up where it left off, but Sam Westwood is now joining them.

Nolan: What really fascinates me about 'The Pale Horse' is Christopher Lee as Mr Venables.

Sam: Harris and I can both attest that Christopher Lee is a great guy. And he was brilliant in that role. He took that because he wanted to do something other than a Hammer movie for a change. And--I don't want to give away the plot but he still got to play a pretty shady character.

Harris: That's my favourite of Sam's 60s films.

Sam: It had a really amazing cast. Sort of a mish-mash of stage actors and horror icons.

Nolan: Adrienne Corri, who played Thyrza Grey--

Sam: She did both live theatre and horror films. Eleanor Bron, who played Poppy Stirling had also been in 'Help!' with The Beatles and 'Bedazzled' with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook--

Harris: When I worked with Vincent Price he had just done 'Madhouse' with Adrienne Corri. That was a really--It was a disgusting movie but you couldn't look away from it. And I liked the whole plot concept.

I'd say she was up there with Vincent Price and Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Or at least she should have been equal to them.

Nolan: I remember her best from 'A Clockwork Orange'

Harris: I never liked that movie. Visually it was stunning, though.

Sam: I found it really dark.

Nolan: Sam, during the 'Pale Horse' shoot, you did a session with David Bailey who was a very popular fashion photographer--

Sam: Yes. Twiggy dropped by and appeared in a few shots. I just wore what suited me and wasn't particularly comfortable when people paraded me around as a style icon or a sex symbol. It was weird. That said, the shoot with Bailey was fun. But I was also on set a lot and I did a favour for Edward O'Malley and did two days on 'Nothing Lasts Forever'. I almost burned myself out. That would worry Dick Clayton so he'd try and talk me out of taking on too much at once.

Anyway, I didn't really relate to the fashion crowd but Twiggy is an incredibly nice person who I worked with again years later.

Harris: I liked Twiggy. She was different. She is very bright but did you ever see that interview footage where Woody Allen tried to make her look thick?

Nolan: No, but I have heard about it.

Harris: He asked her about philosophers, you know to try and set her up. It was her first trip over here. As someone who got treated like a dunce, I felt really bad for her.

Nolan: You had a walk-on role in 'Annie Hall'--

Harris: Yeah but that doesn't mean I like his humour.

Sam: Harris and I both know what it's like when people try to make you look like an a**.

Harris: We both went through that. I was perceived as being a good-looking guy with no brains who was a complete weirdo. Possibly unstable and a drunkard. Parties were brutal. That was like the two years of high school I missed right there.

Sam: If I was with him, Elizabeth did this too, if one of us were with him and we felt he was being dismissed, we would make sure he was part of the conversation. Eventually, he learned to do it on his own without us.

With me, I think people just wanted to tear me down because they felt like I was living a lie.

Harris: Because Sam had a reputation for being really, really nice, it was impossible to find any unflattering stories about him.

Sam: My ego doesn't need to be inflated, Harris--

 

[markedward]

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood

Sam is seen flipping through a photo album.

Sam: These were taken while I was filming 'Pale Horse'. There was one day I wasn't working and my publicist at the time whisked me off to do a photo shoot for David Bailey.

Some very mod photos of Sam taken by David Bailey in 1969 are shown directly on-screen.

Sam: Universal wanted me to play Mark Easterbrook and had Fay Compton in mind to play Ariadne Oliver when the picture was being put into production but they had a Hell of a time casting Ginger. They wanted either Charlotte Rampling or Jackie Bisset and neither was available. Then from what I have been told, they went down the list, Jill Haworth, Twiggy, and then Helen Mirren--

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.

The tape picks up where it left off, but Sam Westwood is now joining them.

Nolan: I hear you had a reputation for being a great host at parties back in the day.

Sam: I think I know who told you that

The three chuckle

Harris: Guilty.

Sam: That was just learned behaviour.

My parents would have these really simple Sunday dinner parties with friends. But, they taught me how to host and be polite to the guests and I was expected to help them out in the kitchen and mix drinks--

Harris: Sam also makes a mean Shirley Temple--

Sam: If my mom was working, my father would fix dinner and make sure I was helping out. And they both introduced me to a lot of literature and music so as to be part of the conversation. It was just something I picked up and didn't seem like a big deal--

Harris: I asked to learn to cook as a kid and got smacked about and called a pansy.

Nolan: Nobody should be treated like that. I mean, I am younger than you guys, but part of my chores growing up was to help cook for the other kids. Granted, there were a lot of us.

Harris: When I moved to California, I was a teenager and had run away from home but nobody bothered to look for me either. I was lucky if I had money for food.

Sam: I still have a hard time letting anybody else in the kitchen.

Nolan: Did you ever have live-in cooks or housekeepers?

Sam: No. Only a housekeeper. It had to be someone we knew wouldn't spill the beans, so in the early days, it was infrequent. Once I got to know Ian and Cat, they set us up with one who was great. I didn't want to be one of those people. Handlers and throwing tantrums. That isn't me.

The tape stops and resumes with Harris and Sam talking about art and fashion circles in New York in the 70s.

Harris: I did hang around that circle in the early 70s. But I felt like an outcast there even. Later on, I went to Studio 54 and remember it. That used to be a joke. If you went there and remembered it, you didn't have a good time.

Sam: You remember it because you were with me and getting clean by then.

Harris: We still had "dates" back then. I hated it because I just wanted to be alone with Sam. I was with Grace Jones who is still a dear friend to both of us and he was with Jessica Lange--

Nolan: Jessica Lange. Wasn't she on 'Take One' for a while? I used to watch that show as a sort of guilty pleasure.

Harris: Yeah. Jessica Lange had been a model before that and was roommates with Grace and Jerry Hall in France. She wanted to be a movie star and it never really took off.

Doing a soap opera gets frowned on, but it's really a great gig. You have a job every day. And because we shot on the West Coast I could be near Sam when things went rotten and I was under a contract they couldn't break that also allowed me to do films.

Sam: Harris had to become the breadwinner when I wasn't able to find work. It's still rough. I did have a movie out last year called 'Grace Under Fire' opposite Natalie Wood and Anissa Jones, so things are starting to pick up a little. But now I'm...you know...tenth choice for things. Which is better than being blackballed--

Harris: I might go back to that, you know, the soap opera.

Nolan: Really?! I wasn't ever big on soaps but that one had some cool twists and turns and it drew me in.

Harris: Well, they never killed me off. Sometimes my character, Robert Patrick, gets mentioned on screen. If there's ever a plot where they can fit me in it could happen. Can't guarantee anything because I also got a film offer that seems promising-- *

*Don't ask, I'm not giving away possible spoilers.

 

[markedward]

​

42nd Academy Awards: A Partial List of Winners and Nominees​

Best Picture

Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

Midnight Cowboy
Anne Of The Thousand Days
Hello, Dolly!
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Best Actor

Paul Newman- Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

Dustin Hoffman- Midnight Cowboy
Harrison Ford- Midnight Cowboy
Warren Beatty- The Only Game In Town
Michael Sarrazin- They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Best Actress

Jean Seberg- They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Jean Simmons- The Happy Ending
Carol Channing- Hello, Dolly!
Maggie Smith- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Lee Grant- The Only Game In Town


Best Supporting Actor

Robert Redford- Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

Jack Nicholson- Easy Rider
Elliott Gould- Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Gig Young- They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Anthony Quayle- Anne Of The Thousand Days

Best Supporting Actress

Tuesday Weld- Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Catherine Burns- Last Summer
Goldie Hawn- Cactus Flower
Kim Darby- True Grit
Sharon Tate- Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

Best Director

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- George Roy Hill

Midnight Cowboy- John Schlesinger
Alice's Restaurant- Arthur Penn
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?- Sydney Pollack
Z- Costa-Gavras

Best Screenplay--based on material from another medium

Midnight Cowboy- Waldo Salt

Anne of the Thousand Days- Screenplay by John Hale, Bridget Boland; Adaptation by Richard Sokolove
Goodbye, Columbus- Arnold Schulman
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?- James Poe, Robert E. Thompson
Z - Jorge Semprun, Costa-Gavras


Best Original Musical Score--for a motion picture (not a musical)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- Burt Bacharach

Anne of the Thousand Days- Georges Delerue
The Reivers- John Williams
The Secret of Santa Vittoria- Ernest Gold
The Wild Bunch- Jerry Fielding

Music (Score of a Musical Picture--original or adaptation)

Hello, Dolly!- Adaptation score by Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman

Goodbye, Mr Chips- Music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse; adaptation score by John Williams
Paint Your Wagon- Adaptation score by Nelson Riddle
Sweet Charity- Adaptation score by Cy Coleman
How Now, Dow Jones- Elmer Bernstein*

*Because even flops get nominated sometimes.

Music (Song--Original for the Picture)

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Music by Burt Bacharach; Lyrics by Hal David

Come Saturday Morning in The Sterile Cuckoo Music by Fred Karlin; Lyrics by Dory Previn
Jean in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Music and Lyrics by Rod McKuen
True Grit in True Grit Music by Elmer Bernstein; Lyrics by Don Black
What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? in The Happy Ending Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman

Writing (Story and Screenplay--based on material not previously published or produced

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- William Goldman

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice- Paul Mazursky, Larry Tucker
The Damned- Story by Nicola Badalucco; Screenplay by Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti
Easy Rider- Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
The Wild Bunch- Story by Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner; Screenplay by Walon Green, Sam Peckinpah

 

[markedward]

Outtake from Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)

Sam: Yeah, I got asked to do disaster films a few times. I uh, I did test for a role in 'The Poseidon Adventure'.

The interviewer is heard in the background asking about The Towering Inferno

Sam: I passed out on the set from exhaustion and was replaced. Really, it was for the best. We can discuss that later.

I didn't really like disaster films. The scripts were usually absolute garbage. I mean 'Airport' was alright but it had four really solid stars fronting it. Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg and Katharine Ross.

The interviewer is heard mentioning Helen Hayes

Sam: Alright, five really solid stars (laughs)

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.

The tape picks up where it left off, but Sam Westwood is now joining them.

Harris: I did consider changing my name briefly.

Sam: We were in contact and I told Harris that it was his decision to make. To me, it came off as hiding. I mean, he was still going to look the same. Nobody looks like Harris.

Harris: I...don't know how to take that (laughs)

Sam: You've known me for twenty years. Of course, I mean it as a compliment!

It was those eyes. It set him apart from other actors.

Harris: Nolan inherited the eyes.

Nolan: I did. As a kid people used to point it out to me. Just never...thought about it. I mean, Paul Newman had similar eyes.

Sam: True. His aren't quite as piercing though.

Harris: I am darker, so they probably stood out more.

Anyway, Herb thought that hiding under an alias was stupid and I should just prove myself as an actor. And not do crazy shit. His exact words. Which, well, I never always listened to Herb--

They got me some decent work, though. Stuff I should have been doing in the first place instead of being thrown into movies right off the bat--

 

[markedward]

Come Hell, Come Sundown (National General Pictures, March 1970)

A Charles Marquis Warren Film with Music by Hugo Montenegro

Cast

Jeffrey Hunter as Jess Wade

Raquel Welch as Tracey Winters

Rory Calhoun as Vince Hackett

Susan Oliver as Sara Ramsey

Solomon Sturges as Billy Roy Hackett

Lynn Kellogg as Marcie

Roberts Blossom as Opie Keetch

Harry Landers as Heff

Tony Young as Lt. Rivera

James Almanzar as Sheriff Ramsey

From IMDB

Raquel Welch had been attached to star in an adaptation of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge for 20th Century Fox. Production on Myra Breckinridge fell through and Welch instead appeared in this film.

Clint Eastwood and later Elvis Presley turned down the role of Jess Wade. Jeffrey Hunter was eventually cast in the role.

Come Hell, Come Sundown had been in development for some time. Originally Victor French was attached to play antagonist Vince Hackett. Rory Calhoun, a one time star who was in the middle of a sharp career decline eventually landed the part.

Come Hell, Come Sundown cemented Jeffrey Hunter's career comeback and landed some interest in character parts for Calhoun.

 

[markedward]

From an April 1970 issue of Variety

"Academy Award Nominee Sharon Tate has married actor Christopher Jones in a private ceremony in Los Angeles attended by friends and family--"

Jones will appear in the MGM production Ryan's Daughter set for release later this year--"

From Forgotten Films, 1966-1971 By Nolan Hendricks

"When Ryan's Daughter was released in November 1970, the film received harsh reviews from critics but did strong box office. The David Lean directed follow up to Doctor Zhivago, which also featured Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles disappointed both critics and moviegoers alike. Jones' alleged on-set clashes with Lean, Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles allegedly did not help--"

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.

The tape picks up where it left off, but Sam Westwood is now joining them.

Harris: Everyone was talking about her after 'Butch Cassidy'--

Sam: I attended Sharon's first wedding to Christopher Jones. Sharon...wanted a family. Christopher Jones was getting sick of the photographers and people asking about Sharon.

Nolan: You've had your own issues with paparazzi--

Sam: It depends. When I was outed, Harris and I both did. That's why we got the place in Canada. And why I did some work in Japan for about a year.

Harris: I'm only really in the tabloids if it has to do with Sam.

Sam: Sure. Blame me! (laughs)

Harris: We oddly never had any sort of rift over Sam being a film star. There were rifts over me acting out.

Sam: Harris and I don't mind being apart for obvious reasons. You know, work or whatever. That said, there are times we both hate it.

Harris: We did try having an open relationship at first.

Sam: I wasn't crazy about it but Harris wasn't--

Harris: I wasn't the most mature guy.

Sam: I thought maybe we should be open at that point in our relationship even though in the past I didn't like to share.

Harris: We tried bringing a third person in and the guy got ignored. Nolan...probably doesn't want to hear this stuff (laughs)

Sam: It works for some couples, it just didn't work for us.

 

[markedward]

Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.

Harris: I did a little bit of stage work off-Broadway. And I did television. I did one episode of 'Brackens World', which was sort of like that soap I was on later, 'Take One'.

Nolan: You did work with Altman before that--

Harris: Which was the one thing that kept me from being seen as a total joke. And even then, I was mostly half dressed. But yeah, having an Altman film on my resume gave me some credibility and it made it easier for Helen to get people interested.

Sam: You talk down your credits, Harris. Appearing in an Altman movie was a huge deal in those days, and you did two of them.

Nolan: Harris, as you know you are seen as a gay icon of sorts--

Harris: Yeah for some of my horror films, and probably posing for photos. And uhh--'Rocky Horror'. Which, if I ever have to do that much waxing for a part again, I'm out (laughs)

Nolan: My adoptive sister is a big fan of yours, as we've discussed--

Harris: It made me happy to hear she dragged you to some of my films because in a way you were able to see me while you were growing up.

Nolan: She told me you were appreciated because you played people who were struggling and trying to overcome obstacles.

Harris: I'm not sure many of the characters I played were positive role models for anybody. I mean, yeah, most of them were struggling. (laughs)

Nolan: In 'False Start', you played a strong character. And in 'Dreamer'--

Harris: Dreamer lived on his girlfriend's couch and wanted to be a bowling champion. But, yeah, I get what you are saying. People who were clued in knew that the heterosexual interracial relationship in 'False Start' was a substitute for a gay one. Art couldn't get funding if it was about two men.

'False Start' was the one movie I was proud of and it had great reviews, but it got buried. 'Dreamer' was corny but it was a nice change of pace. It sort of just played at multiplexes and dollar theatres. Alan Ladd Jr. liked Helen which is why I was in a few films over at 20th. When he left that stopped.

Nolan: I want to talk about 'Timothy', the TV movie you did for NBC in 1970--

Harris is heard laughing

Harris: Sorry. I know a lot of people who grew up in that era loved it.

Nolan: I vaguely remember seeing it on TV as a little kid. It was re-broadcast a few times. I've heard talk about a VHS release.

Harris: If they give anything a release, it should be some of Sam's movies.

Sam is heard in the background mumbling something about an already inflated ego

Harris: The thing with 'Timothy' is at the time it aired, I didn't appreciate it. Thought it was corny as Hell. But I did enjoy filming it and was sober the entire time. Susan Oliver was really, really good to me and I loved working with Ed Asner and a really young Farrah Fawcett.

Sam: Both of us got to play opposite Farrah in the '70s--

Harris: This was before she was Farrah though. Again, I was too far ahead of the curb. I just knew her as someone who like myself did commericals and some television.

Anyway, I'd followed Susan's air trip a couple of years earlier which shocked her.

That was a big deal in those days, a female pilot. Not to mention someone who was in the acting field becoming a pilot. I admired her because she was kind of like-- Susan wasn't going to let anyone tell her what she could or couldn't do either as a woman or a person in show business and she wasn't--I feel like she wasn't appreciated, you know? She was a strong person and a really underrated performer.

Nolan: I didn't know until recently that Susan Oliver had done some directing maybe ten years ago. I was really curious and wondered if either of you knew about this?

Sam: Susan Oliver tried to direct TV later on and for whatever reason, she was screwed over which I felt was unfair--

 

[markedward]

From Celluloid Magazine August 2010

Article The Grifters (1970) by Will Spaulding

After the massive failure of 1969's How Now Dow Jones, it seemed like director Andrew L. Stone's career in Hollywood was finished. The musical adaptation of a lesser Broadway show was a massive failure for MGM, one of several the studio would suffer over the next few years.

While some sources say the film was still playing to empty cinemas at the time Universal came calling, others say the film had just been pulled. One thing is certain: Universal Pictures approached Stone with an offer.

Universal was interested in a one film contract with a script and star in mind. The project would be an adaptation of Jim Thompson's 1963 novel The Grifters with a screenplay penned by the author himself. The star Universal had picked out was Sam Westwood who had a non-exclusive contract with the studio. The then 24-year old's star had been rising and this was to be the film that would cement his status as a box office draw.

As Westwood recalls:

"Andrew L. Stone had this big flop before 'The Grifters'. It was sort of his last chance. The studio gave him the script and told him not to go over budget"

While Universal initially wanted Lauren Bacall to star opposite Westwood as Lily Dillon, the mother of Westwood's Roy, the Hollywood legend turned the part down. After Gena Rowlands also turned Universal producers and Stone down, other names such as Doris Day, who had previously worked with Stone in the 1956 proto air disaster film Julie were tossed around.

According to Westwood:

"I know Doris Day turned him down because of the content and it would have contrasted with her on-screen image"

Eventually, the casting was narrowed down to two choices: Julie London and Lois Nettleton. After a successful screen test opposite Westwood, Nettleton would nab the role.

Lois Nettleton was mostly known for her stage and television credits. She also had some sporadic film credits, among them 1969's The Good Guys And The Bad Guys opposite Robert Mitchum and Tina Louise.

Next came what would prove the most difficult part of the production, the casting of Moira, Roy's love interest--