Keith's still kickin' it with the rich and famous...

[stuntmovie]

George Cloony is the new Edward Everett Horton, He's just gotta age a bit.

[stuntmovie]

But more in line with the topic at hand .... bodybuilding and physical fitness.  The following gentleman/actor/athlete was always on one or more of the movie sets at Universal back in his day and stayed in top shape throughout his lifetime.

Name him ......

[stuntmovie]

I met the following actor (who appeared in a couple of films with the above pictured actor) at a dinner in LA a year or so before he passed away. He was way too young to do that but is still held in high esteem by the old time Hollywood crowd who he worked with back then .......

Name him and what TV show he starred in at the very beginning.........

[dr.chimps]

But more in line with the topic at hand .... bodybuilding and physical fitness.  The following gentleman/actor/athlete was always on one or more of the movie sets at Universal back in his day and stayed in top shape throughout his lifetime.

Name him ......

Easy. That's Woody Strode. Amazing football player turned actor. In lotsa John Wayne pics and gets gunned down nicely by Bronson at the beginning of Once Upon a Time in the West. Also in Spartacus. 

ADD: Didn't notice the second fellow. Looks a bit like Jeffrey Hunter

[stuntmovie]

Correct on both accounts, Dr.Chimps, but how about Hunter's TV role?

My good friend (Jack) was a very close friend of Woody's and did a lot of western stunt work (actually one of the top stunt guys in the business back then). I was on a few of those western sets and saw Woody on a few occasions but never got the chance to meet him long enough to have a conversation. He would usually shoot his scene and head off to another location/sound stage to shoot another.

Chimps, I can tell you a few "inside stuffs" about the making of How the West Was Won which could be of interest here but I gotta refresh my memory by finding a couple of real old letters stuffed away up in the attic.

And I hated it when they "kilt" Woody off at the start of One Upon a Time ..... Jack told me to watch for WOODY in that movie and I went to see it assuming that he would have a starring role, but right off he gets KILT. DAMN!

Wasn't it Jack Elam with the water dripping on his hat? Or was it Jack with the fly in his pistol? That whole scene was a major part of that whole movie. Everyone on this Board should see that flick.

It's one of my favorite movies of all time and that song still goes through my head frequently.

Did you ever see "Welcome to Hard Times"? Another one of my favorite, bad-assed westerns. And Battlecry made me join the Corps. The author was my paper route manager. Name him, Chimp.

[dr.chimps]

Correct on both accounts, Dr.Chimps, but how about Hunter's TV role?

My good friend (Jack) was a very close friend of Woody's and did a lot of western stunt work (actually one of the top stunt guys in the business back then). I was on a few of those western sets and saw Woody on a few occasions but never got the chance to meet him long enough to have a conversation. He would usually shoot his scene and head off to another location/sound stage to shoot another.

Chimps, I can tell you a few "inside stuffs" about the making of How the West Was Won which could be of interest here but I gotta refresh my memory by finding a couple of real old letters stuffed away up in the attic.

And I hated it when they "kilt" Woody off at the start of One Upon a Time ..... Jack told me to watch for WOODY in that movie and I went to see it assuming that he would have a starring role, but right off he gets KILT. DAMN!

Wasn't it Jack Elam with the water dripping on his hat? Or was it Jack with the fly in his pistol? That whole scene was a major part of that whole movie. Everyone on this Board should see that flick.

It's one of my favorite movies of all time and that song still goes through my head frequently.

Did you ever see "Welcome to Hard Times"? Another one of my favorite, bad-assed westerns. And Battlecry made me join the Corps. The author was my paper route manager. Name him, Chimp.

Holy smokes! You're covering good ground here. Let's see. Jeffrey Hunter had a few tv series', but I guess he is now most remembered for being the first Captain on Star Trek before that other guy took over. He died young, too, I think. Was in The Searchers as well. Damn good movie.

Would love to hear some stuff about How the West was Won. Kind of a long one as I remember with lots of good people in it and making cameos. Didn't see Jimmy Stewart as the trapper-type, tho. Walter Brennan as the killer was creepy. Richard Widmark was good in anything!

The water on the hat was Woody and the fly in the gun was Jack Elam. It's my favourite Leone western. Henry Fonda as the stone killer was amazing casting!!! My favourite favourite western is The Wild Bunch - Old and grizzled guys going out in a hail of bullets. You just can't beat that.

Welcome to Hard Times was one of those psychological westerns. Also has Fonda and Warren Oates, who is/was just amazing and really should have won an Oscar for Two Lane Blacktop. Now there's a little seen gem. I know that was EL Doctorow's first book. I've seen Battlecry, but I did not know the author. Wiki says it's Leon Uris. Wow that guy wrote some big books.   

 

 

[Lord Humungous]

Seriously, you are making a fucking fool of yourself. Keith has finally gone the way of Kegdraining and Squadfather. Onlyme is no more, no matter what gimmick he posts under. He has killed himself and now you should think about doing the same.

Settle down big FNgimmick, your boyfriend is calling..

[stuntmovie]

Yea, Chimps, believe it or not but Leon was the "newspaper route manager" who dropped off the Call Bulletin (an old time San Francisco newspaper) on various corners in the Sunset district of the city and we kids would sit on the curb and fold each newspaper up so that the bigger kids could throw them to the front doors while passing by on their bicycles.

Leon gave my cousin who was a few years older than myself an autographed copy of the first Battle Cry edition off the press. I wonder if he still has it?

I've seen bits and parts of The Searchers on the TV but actually I don't recall ever seeing Jeff Hunter in any movie he's ever made. I was too damn busy climbing trees and playing football to go to any movies back then I guess. When I met him with Phyllis Thaxter in Los Angeles, I could tell he was some kind of movie star but didn't know exactly who until we were introduced.

I didn't appreciate John Wayne back then until he made Sands of Iwo Jima (I was a USMC nut) because John Wayne was always John Wayne in every movie he ever made. When I was stationed at Camp Pendleton some of the guys made a movie on the base and invited Mr Wayne to attending the "premiere" which was going to held in The Sandpiper(an old bar and Marine Corps hangout in Laguna Beach back then because it was the midway point between Pendleton and the El Toro MC Air Base just a few miles further east.

I didn't attend it cause I was doing other things but Mr Wayne did show up for a brief visit and since I missed him I was sent on a "Meet John Wayne and Apologize" mission. So I headed up to one of the bars he frequented in the area of Newport Beach and went in search of one hell of a Marine Corps hero. Arrived at the bar (kind of like a Trader Vic's place) before sunset and took a seat at the bar and asked the bartender if Mr Wayne was expected that evening. ANd he turned and said, "Yea, Marine (aircut gave it away), and you're sitting in his seat so he'll be letting you know!"

I sat that seat for three hours and waited by he never did show up; so I gave up and headed back to the base. Got shit upon my return because my mission was to stay there until he did show up, but ..... I f----ked up I guess. Only one of the very few times I f---ked up though.

Same thing happened at Dino's on Sunset Blvd (or was it Hollyood?). I was supposed to introduce myself to Dean Martin and found myself sitting on his personal barstool and told to wait but I was a Marine and the beer and martinis started coming my way and I had to eventually fall out of that place and never did meet "Dino" either. I never did figure out how I got back that night. Made it though.

I'll go into some of those How the West was Won detail in my next post.

Chimps, can you do some deep research and find out how Pam Austin passed away? The stunt guys who knew her told me that she was decapitated while making an automobile commercial at USC when the camera boom failed to rise swiftly enough when she drove the car under it. Maybe that wasn't Pam who was driving. You ever hear a story similar to this one?

Welcome to Hard Times - Aldo Ray played the tuff guy. 

I think that Elam came up with that 'fly in pistol' idea because he didn't want to just sit there and do nothing while looking down that track for that "gosh darned" train. From what I've heard, it wasn't in the original script.

Two things ya gotta remember for the How the West was Won input ...... a cactus on the side of the railroad track, and ...... the swinging logs on that train.

[GigantorX]

Settle down big FNgimmick, your boyfriend is calling..

Meltingdown over a gimmick that posted something a week or two ago? Not a good sign for your mental health!

[stuntmovie]

Dr., you got five stars, I got four. What does that mean? I never did figure that one out. Does that mean we are real good guys or complete assholes.

Could not find the How The West Was Won drafts but here is what I do recall after long discussion with my friend Jack during the production of that movie. He was in it but he was never impressed with seeing himself on the silver screen (even as a monkey in the original Planet of the Apes) so he told me that his biggest scene was in the darkest part of that river-bank cave where all those bad people were seeking shelter.

But I do know for a fact that he was one of the more important stunt guys during that films's production. Especially during that fight sequence on the moving train. Here is where I may be mistaken, so someone's gotta excuse me if I "kill" the stuntman in the retelling of this story without his actually having been "kilt" during this stuntman sequence.

The train was actually moving along the railroad track and one of the railroad cars was rigged with bunch of logs that could actually roll out of place and some could pivot so that either end or both ends could hang over the edge of the car and the stuntguys could do their thing fighting while all those logs were in motion.

Heading off to an editing class, so this will have to be placed on hold till I get back...

[dr.chimps]

To be continued.....


/great stuff, stunt. you've lived quite the life.

[stuntmovie]

OK, I'll make this short this time .... Thanks, Chimps.

So the logs on the train were rigged to roll and turn from a pivot point so that the stunt guys could fight on and around them.

During that shoot two bad things happened.

One of the logs seriously hurt one of stuntman while it was being turned back into place.

And one of the stuntmen who fell (actually jumped) from the moving train was supposed to hit an artificial cactus which was intended to break his fall but instead he hit the cactus and bounced off of it back onto the moving train and was seriously hurt. Later on someone on the crew told me that he was actually killed but that is not a positive statement because I heard that a few years later.

Hollywood usually dedicates a film to anyone who is killed in the process of making that film, so if you have a copy of How The West Was Won, you might want to check the ending credits. I only saw that movie once in a movie theater and that was years ago.

[dr.chimps]

OK, I'll make this short this time .... Thanks, Chimps.

So the logs on the train were rigged to roll and turn from a pivot point so that the stunt guys could fight on and around them.

During that shoot two bad things happened.

One of the logs seriously hurt one of stuntman while it was being turned back into place.

And one of the stuntmen who fell (actually jumped) from the moving train was supposed to hit an artificial cactus which was intended to break his fall but instead he hit the cactus and bounced off of it back onto the moving train and was seriously hurt. Later on someone on the crew told me that he was actually killed but that is not a positive statement because I heard that a few years later.

Hollywood usually dedicates a film to anyone who is killed in the process of making that film, so if you have a copy of How The West Was Won, you might want to check the ending credits. I only saw that movie once in a movie theater and that was years ago.

A breakaway cactus - that didn't work!? Amazing. I've seen the movie 3-4 times. I usually watch it when I come across it on TCM. It's okay. It's long and the story isn't really coherent, but it has everyone who is anybody in it. Filmed in one of those weird widescreen formats, too. Oh, and Spencer Tracy does the 'voice of God' narration. I will definitely make a better effort to view it next time I come across it, and try to note the points you mentioned. 

[stuntmovie]

Hey Chimps, that "breakaway" cactus not only did NOT break away but it bent back like a spring and threw him back against that train.

Since you and I are the only ones reading this shit any more, I'll tell ya this personal family tale.

Back in the 50's my mom's cousin (Gil Donaldson) met a nice lady movie star by the name of Ruth Roman in the NYC area and got the chance to head out to Hollywood as a result of her introduction and he got the chance to work on down the road to "stardumb".

His first major film was "Dallas" starring Gary Cooper and Ruth Roman and for about 6 months before the release of that film, the Hollywood movie star magazines built him up as the next best thing and future super-star - a title that really felt embarrassing to him.

He did a great job in that film according to the cast and the crew and the major cridicts of that time but he just wasn't comfortable with all the "Yes, Sir - No, Sir shit" that went along with it and settled down to a more comfortable lifestyle out in the San Fernando Valley with his family making an occasional TV appearence - Dragnet, Lone Ranger,Kit Carson, Lassie and a few others never mentioned in IMDB.

"Stardumb" runs in my family, I guess. All the way from Dallas to Cirque du Soleil, to De La Guarda to Herb Ritts to most of the Levi TV and some of the Cavin Klein underware dudes, to uncle Joe's favorite brother and brother fitness cover guys,  and even nephews who work on or off Broadway in NYC one auditioned for the Walt Disney Tarzan role but did not get it and he feels very fortunate now, to another nephew who constantly works in feature Hollywood TV and movie productions - The Tarzan TV series, The Grinch, The Animal, X-Men, Silver Surfer (I helped a bit on that one), another X-Men, PLanet of the Apes - Also features on the Apes DVD, Superman, Incredible Hulk, and others I presently forget. In addition he often helps the principal stars when they have difficulty coming up with new ideas on how to portray a new character.

Whenever we all get together during the Christmas holidays, we all laugh and wonder how all this shit happened: and I simply tell all of them that my grandmother's grandmother used to be one hell of a major opera singer back in the days when Opera was a major attraction. Then I proceed to tell them all the passed down verbal family stories of how our great great grandmother had a Pow-wow with a Cherokee in a TeePee and so we all have some Indian blood, but just not enough get any of that free stuff that the US government is passing around.

SO that is the history of our family tree on the Show Biz side. More to it but I forget it all just now.

[wes]

I`m still reading stunt!! 

Just saw Woody Strode in "The Ten Commandments" today............good flick.

Also,Chuck Connors who was billed as "Touch" Connors had a bit part.

Ever meet John Carradine or Walter Brennan stunt?

[wes]

Fogot to add that I think the waiter guy with the mouth popping thing was a little Italian guy named Vito Scotti. 

[dr.chimps]

I`m still reading stunt!! 

Just saw Woody Strode in "The Ten Commandments" today............good flick.

Also,Chuck Connors who was billed as "Touch" Connors had a bit part.

Ever meet John Carradine or Walter Brennan stunt?

Two great (character) actors. Saw The Shootist last week with Carradine, bad hands and all; and I also just saw Walter in Support Your Local Sheriff. Two good last go-rounds. 

[wes]

Both great actors and two of my all time favorites.

Loved Walter Brennan as Stumpy in Rio Bravo!!  LOL 

Boy Carradines hands got bad as he aged huh...............looked quite painful to say the least.

Hey Chimps,do you remember the series with Brennan as Will Sonnett?

It was called appropriately enough,"The Guns Of Will Sonnet".

[dr.chimps]

Both great actors and two of my all time favorites.

Loved Walter Brennan as Stumpy in Rio Bravo!!  LOL 

Boy Carradines hands got bad as he aged huh...............looked quite painful to say the least.

Hey Chimps,do you remember the series with Brennan as Will Sonnett?

It was called appropriately enough,"The Guns Of Will Sonnet".

Rio Bravo is a classic! Everything you want in a Western. 'Course these days I get it confused with El Dorado. D'oh! I do remember that the Burdette bad guy later played the Stockburn bad guy in Pale Rider tho, so maybe all is not lost. As for Will Sonnett, I have heard of it, but not seen an episode, unlike -say- The Big Valley which I saw in reruns. I'm old, but not that old.  

[wes]

Big Valley??

Never heard of it............I must be too young!! 

Rio Bravos actors are interchangeable with El Dorados...........

Ricky Nelson = James Caan
Dean Martin = Robert Mitchum
Walter Brennan = Arthur Hunnicutt
John Wayne = John Wayne (in every role he ever played actually) 

[hazbin]

Big Valley??

Never heard of it............I must be too young!! 

Rio Bravos actors are interchangeable with El Dorados...........

Ricky Nelson = James Caan
Dean Martin = Robert Mitchum
Walter Brennan = Arthur Hunnicutt
John Wayne = John Wayne (in every role he ever played actually) 

John Travolta says basically the same thing to Gene Hackman in the movie "Get Shorty"

[dr.chimps]

John Travolta says basically the same thing to Gene Hackman in the movie "Get Shorty"

hazbin with the metaphysical film reference FTW! Nicely done. 

[stuntmovie]

Hey, guys, thanks for hang'en in here. Looks like I got a bit of catch'en up to do.

WES, Nope it isn't Vito Scotti. Vito started in the business around 1949 and the guy I'm trying to recall with the mouth popping things was in the movies way before that time. Maybe the late or mid 30's actually.  DO you recall what part Vito Scotti played in The Godfather?

Oppps! I amost forgot! I do have a Godfather story to tell later.

Never did meet Walter Brennan nor John Carradine. Never ever even met his son, but I did meet Buddy Ebsen and the misses once.

If "Big Valley" was the TV show with Barbara Stanwick, I was on that set numerous times and I'm honest when I tell ya that every hired cowboy extra on that set was 6'4" or over (either that or they wore height-builders in their cowboy boots). I'm 6' but I felt like a midget on that set. Even Jack who was 6'2" felt small and that got him  in the mood to double Don Adams in one of the Get Smart TV episodes - he hung from that breakaway bridge at Universal and fell into the water. Jack was much taller than Adams but the camera was set up far enough away to create the "illusion".

I agree with ya, Wes, about John Wayne always being John Wayne. He could have sued himself for copyright infringement. BUT .... he was not John Wayne in that Rooster Cogburn movie. He even gets "kilt" in the end.

Never did meet Ricky Nelson but we actually did use to play vollyball with the Nelson family members on the beach behind their home in Laguna Beach. He might have been in the area but I never did see or meet him.

Here's a trivia question for ya all ..... Name the actor who had a serious ski accident when a ski pole pierced his heart?

Here's my Godfather story .......

Jack, my old Marine Corps bud I mention frequently, had done a major favor for one of the major studio honchos (actually owned it outright) and was always welcome on the lot at any time, work or not. So I was visiting with Jack and his family and he invited me to go and visit a studio and watch some picture make'n. SO he makes the call and we drive down to Santa Monica Blvd and are actually greeted at the studio gate by a guy in a suit who takes us directly to the owner's office who decides to escort us around the lot personally so he can check on the work under progress which was "Doctor's Wives".

So we proceeded into the inter-sanctum of the studio where we were treated like the most recent Academy Award reciprients (because we were with one who also owned the place). And we visited one of the huge sets which was being torn down since the movie was "in the can" and going through the editing process. That was "Marooned" and the set was actually a number of sets but the owner was only interested in commenting about "This damn robot that was supposed to travel down this damn hospital corridor and deliver these damn pills to the damn patients - cost me over $100,000 to make that damn robot work. And you won't even see in the damn picture!"

Then we walked into the studio where Doctor Wives was being filmed and the production (rehersals before the camera rolled) came to strict attention and a complete stop  while "God" appeared within their presence. And we got introduced around a bit and someone comes running up to "God" and says, "Sir, Paramount got The Godfather!"

So I was among the first to know that Paramount got the Godfather but I had no idea what the Godfather even was back then. I actually thought that somebody shot someone in the Mafia back east and it was important for him to know.

ANd he appeared happy to hear about that, so we left the set and had a decent lunch at his private dining table where everybody nods while passing by .... and I'd nod back and tried to figure out how I knew that guy or gal cause they all looked sorta familiar.

This was the same day or the same week we had to drive to the top of Beverly Hills to resolve a family dispute. ANd that was the day I sat in the car while Jack went inside this damn impressive home and came out minutes later with the Oscar for me to hold while he took care of business.

Fifthteen minutes later he came out and took it back and replaced it on the mantel in the living room.

I asked him, "Why did you bring it out to the car in the first place?"

And he answered, "It was the only weapon I was concerned about in the living room. And I didn't want him to use it to hit me over my head"

So I guess I was the only one ever in Hollywood who prevented a murder from happening with an Oscar!

Top that, Keith!

[JohnnyVegas]

If "Big Valley" was the TV show with Barbara Stanwick, I was on that set numerous times and I'm honest when I tell ya that every hired cowboy extra on that set was 6'4" or over (either that or they wore height-builders in their cowboy boots).

The Barkley home on "The Big Valley", in the closing credits, that was just a facade-correct?

[dr.chimps]

Long time, stunt. Barbara Stanwyck: Was there anything she couldn't do? Love the Godfather story. I'll take guess here: Your buddy Jack was 'owed' favours from Robert Evans for getting him out of a drug jam or a sex-with-a-minor shananigan?