Waiting For Chaplin

Last week, I got to visit the Motion Picture and Television Fund Retirement Home in Woodland Hills to profile five retirees about their life in the movies. The profiles will appear in the Nov. 26 "Oscar Preview" issue of Variety. Since the profiles are so short, there were lots of great anecdotes that didn't make the cut. Some of my favorites:

Director Charles Jarrott (Anne of the Thousand Days; Mary, Queen of Scots) wanted to make a film about Nicholas and Alexandra. Since it was the '70s, his choice for leading man was none other than Robert Redford, but Redford wanted to play the villain of the piece, Rasputin! Can you imagine? Needless to say, they couldn't come to an agreement and the picture didn't get made, at least not by Jarrott. The director also recalled with understandable disappointment that Chaplin came to the set of Anne but was too shy to actually come in and stood outside in the hallway the entire time, so Jarrott hadn't even known he was there!

Betty Freeman, the widow of Oscar-winning sound effects man Charles Freeman (Portrait of Jennie), told of how her husband worked with Charles Chaplin on his last film. They would typically wait in the evenings at Chaplin's studio (I'm guessing it was the one at Sunset and La Brea) for him to show up and review the dailies. One night they waited and waited and finally someone thought to look out the window: Chaplin couldn't get in the gate and no one heard him calling, so he'd started to climb the fence! Fortunately, they were able to get him down and inside the studio.

Perhaps most delightful of all was 97-year-old animator Ruthie Thompson, who talked about knowing Walt Disney as a child and how he remembered her years later and offered her a job. The way she talked about the studio in the '30s and '40s, where you could make a suggestion in person to Walt and it would be done, is astounding.

The interviews were great fun to conduct, memory lapses and hearing aid issues aside, it was a real delight and the home itself was lovely and completely modern, at least the part I saw. Not a bad place to end up, I think.

No, I don't know Clint Eastwood, but thanks for asking!

I'm an entertainment journalist. Once, a long time ago, I profiled Clint Eastwood's Malpaso Productions for Variety. I think the article here, at my portfolio site, must pop up first in a list of Google searches because to this day, I get emails from people wanting me to introduce them to Clint because they have a great movie to pitch him.

So I added a disclaimer, advising people to get in touch with Warner Bros. And note: I never spoke to Clint himself for the article. No, I don't know the man and at any rate, it was four and a half years ago now! But still, I get emails, like this one:

Hi I was wondering how to ask malpaso production or Clint Eastwood if they would be interested in a redo of the GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY,I have some experience in acting never in any major production but I feel I could play the part of the good,I am 54 years old 6ft 4 in 235lbs good looking and personable,I also did some of my own scripts,if you can pass along any information or send the email or address of the studio where to send a letter or whatever,I did read your disclaimer thanks.

Right... Good luck with that! And so glad you read the disclaimer.

You know, the one and only time I spoke with Clint was this past spring, at a pre-Oscar Giorgio Armani fashion show. Since it was for US Weekly, the only quote they used was that he planned to sneak a flask into the ceremony. I can only imagine how many pitches he receives on a daily basis, if I'm getting this many! No wonder he needs that flask.