Lee Server Q & A on Robert Mitchum

Past chats with our guests.
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MissGoddess
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Post by MissGoddess »

Sue Sue Applegate wrote:One of the funniest stories in Baby, I Don't Care was the running gag about the Victor Mature suit. Of all the hysterical lines in the entire book, I keep thinking about that story and reliving the laughs it gave me.
Hee!! When I read the book a couple of years ago I think my neighbors must have thought I'd finally gone round the bend because I kept laughing so much at Mitchum's Victor Mature references. Like you said, Sue-Sue, just remembering them makes me break up.

No questions at the moment, Mr S, just want to say there are three books about actors I've enjoyed the most: Goodnight Sweet Prince (John Barrymore), Wanderer (Sterling Hayden)...and Baby, I Don't Care. Glad to have you in our saloo...er, den.

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Mr. Arkadin
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Post by Mr. Arkadin »

Mr. Server, in The Big Book of Noir, you have an interview with Abraham Polonsky, director (and screenwriter) of my favorite Noir, Force of Evil (1948). Were there any interesting asides of the interview that didn't make the final article that you could share with us? I'd also be interested on your thoughts on Polonsky himself.
lserver
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as I was saying...

Post by lserver »

Namaste amigos….may I be worthy of your continued attention…


Dewey, I am not sure I agree with your assessment of Mitchum getting off ‘lightly’ for the marijuana bust, or Miss Leeds suffering a harsher punishment. Unfortunately I am tucked away in the desert as I write this and don’t have a copy of my Mitchum bio at hand to confirm, so forgive a top of the head recollection. I believe both parties received identical sentences, no? Mitchum might have seen his career ended by his drug conviction and prison term, but he managed to come back bigger than ever, thanks to good luck and Howard Hughes. Mitchum was a movie star, Lila Leeds was a gorgeous starlet with a few small parts on her resume. Mitchum was on parole after he got out of jail and was expressly forbidden to have anything to do with a fellow felon. Lila was a magnet for trouble. She did something wrong again and a judge basically deported her from California. She got into hard drugs and bad men. She had an unhappy life for a long time.

Ava in Band Wagon was just a matter of scheduling. If she had been unavailable the bit would have been adjusted for Lana or Liz.


Mr. Arkadin, thank you (all versions).


Lynn…I’ve had a warm glass of milk at Boardner’s now and then myself. I know the owner used to claim Mitchum called him from jail to bail him out. It might have been that he was calling to find out if the bar was still open.


chaplinfan…As I recall it, Mitchum lived much of the time at a little hotel near Dingle harbor called Milltown House, which had been rented for him in its entirety. He enjoyed the name of the place as it was also the name of a famous pharmaceutical tranquilizer. I believe the hotel is still in business.

Regarding Cape Fear….the film’s director J. Lee Thompson told me Mitchum came to him at the start of filming and said to beware that he, Mitchum, ‘lived’ his characters, which Thompson found troubling as the character of Max Cady was, of course, a terrifying sadistic killer. Thompson described for me in some detail the filming of the scene depicting Polly Bergen’s brutalization by Mitchum, and Mitchum’s brilliant additions and improvisations within the scene, including the stunning—and potently symbolic-use of the eggs broken and wiped across Ms. Bergen’s chest.


Moira asks for a few words on A.I Bezzerides….Buzz was an eccentric character, in the best sense. I would go to talk with him at his favorite diner somewhere near Woodland Hills, but on another occasion he would only meet with me in his parked car, an open vintage sedan he had souped up as I recall, parked at a busy thoroughfare, like he was anxious to make a quick getaway. A lot of screenwriters were essentially craftsmen, and slick, but I got the impression Bezzerides took a more soulful approach to his best screenwriting, concerned with the things that went on below the surface of the action, in the way of a serious novelist.


Marc Lawrence was a friend for ten years or so. He was a remarkable character, a lovable, generous, foul-mouthed grouch with whom I had many adventures. He was a great source of lore and inside info. He worked in movies from 1931 to 2004 or so, and had known everybody from George Raft to George Clooney. Bugsy Siegel, Fellini, John Gilbert, Abbott and Costello, everybody. I saw him last about a year before he died at age 95 (he was just then about to get remarried). He looked like the mummy of Ramses in the Cairo Museum, and he was still kicking ass.

The blacklist—and his much-regretted testimony before the HUAC—affected Marc all the rest of his life. I would say the events of those years must have left scars on all those who were negatively affected by them. I met Ring Lardner Jr. on a couple of occasions, he was a sharp and interesting man. I think he felt vindicated by his later success and the fact he had acted honorably, but I can’t presume to know the toll it may have taken on him personally. I was privileged to have been the moderator at an event in which Ring and Joseph Mankiewicz were two of my guests on a panel, and these two very senior citizens began to re-fight an old battle from 1942, Ring squabbling with Joe about Producer Mankiewicz’s mangling of Screenwriter Lardner’s script of Woman of the Year.


Klondike….Ava and Robert Walker fell into a close friendship during the filming of Venus. Walker was a troubled figure, and seems to have fallen harder for Ava than she for him and it did not end well.

Anne….Amazon.com can have Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don’t Care at your door in 24 hours with a little extra postage. Happily the book continues to be in print in three countries after seven years.

I agree with you that Mitchum was for much of his working life one of the most unappreciated of Hollywood stars. Many times he described his place in the cinematic hierarchy with great humility and humor., a star of ‘gorilla pictures’ and the like. Many of his best performances and films simply flew under the radar of conventional critical attention. The Lusty Men, The Night of the Hunter, Wonderful Country, Home from the Hill, Cape Fear, Farewell, My Lovely. Some of his great performances still remain unheralded., like his extraordinary work in the little-known Going Home.

Favorite Mitchum roles? Jeff in Out of the Past, Dan Milner in His Kind of Woman, Corporal Allison, Martin Brady in The Wonderful Country, Philip Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely.


Arkadin…Abe Polonsky was yet another terrifically interesting character, fascinating to talk with….I remember that he often spoke—conversationally-- in a cadence and a style that very much resembled the unique hardboiled poetry of his dialogue in Force of Evil. Things that didn’t make the printed article were a few of his very strong-minded comments about those who had ‘squealed’ during the witchhunt years, people he refused to forgive or forget. I think Polonsky is likely one of the most interesting potential careers thwarted by the blacklist—a really interesting unique talent, someone I think might have had a real impact, might have made some wonderful movies if he had been allowed the chance.

Miss Goddess…Sue Sue….thank you! And good night….
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mongoII
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Post by mongoII »

Hello, Mr. Server. Thanks for answering my questions about Robert Mitchum.
I have a few regarding the beautiful Ava Gardner:

True or false...

At age 18, her picture in the window of her brother-in- law's New York photo studio brought her to the attention of MGM, leading quickly to Hollywood and a film contract based strictly on her beauty?

After her screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, "She can't talk! She can't act! She's sensational!"?

A statue of her from "The Barefoot Contessa" (1954) was given to Frank Sinatra as a gift. He kept it in his backyard garden well after their divorce. When he married Barbara Marx, she forced him to get rid of it?
Where is the statue today?

Thanks,

Joe
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

Thanks for answering my questions. I found the article in the book regarding Mitchum in Dingle he stayed as you said at Milltown House the lady who owned the house said he cooked all his own meals and was a considerate tenant. Everyday after filming he would visit her and her children and bring them fruit from location. It was during one of these visits that one of the children was discovered to have swallowed a bottle of aspirin and she had to rish the child to hospital. Mitch looked after the other three children. They adored him. He kept a new gleaming Porsche Targa on the drive that he just used to rev the engine on it, the children though it was criminal. There is a whole chapter on Mitchum in this book and the remarkable thing is although he touched many lives and left an indelible impression everyone had different impressions of him. I have to report they are all good.

One thing to note from the book is how very poor this area of Ireland was when Ryan's Daughter was filmed there. The fruit that Mitchum brought back from location for the children would be a real treat.

As for Ava Gardner I have only read the book she authorised herself that came out just after her death. I remember really liking her character and liking the fact that she was forthright. This book I remember made much of her realtionship with Frank Sinatra. in subsequent books I've read about Frank the impression given is that he never really got over her totally. What impression did you get from talking to Ava's friends and family about her relationship and lasting impression of Frank?

As I write this I realise it has been quite a while since I read the book and what a good idea it would be to put your book on Ava on my birthday list :)
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Post by moira finnie »

I'd like to thank Lee Server for sharing his time and insights with us during the last week on a variety of subjects. I hope that he will consider visiting us whenever he'd like to in the future since he clearly has a wealth of knowledge to pass along. I'd also like to thank all those who participated in the discussion. Your contributions made this a far richer experience.
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