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Post by chaney on Jul 10, 2010 16:55:22 GMT -5
Here's a link to a recent interview with Ed Lauter where he speaks extensively about his career and many of the classic actors he worked with. He mentions Charlie a couple of times and it's more interesting insight into Bronson. I like the story about Lauter sticking around during the making of DEATH HUNT to see Charlie and Lee Marvin film their big scene together and Charlie's reaction to that. thescreenlounge.com/blog/80The site has a nice interview with Don Stroud as well, who never worked with Charlie but worked with Eastwood a couple of times and was a really cool character actor.
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Post by chaney on Jul 2, 2010 10:41:03 GMT -5
Bronson had a great physique in the 1950's, especially in some of his Indian roles such as DRUM BEAT and RUN OF THE ARROW. Great arms and muscularity. He'd have been in his 30's then. However, to me his most impressive time was when he was still parading a nearly identical physique in the 1970's when he was in his early 50's. He may not have been at his own physical peak, but he was so close that it was phenomenal. In that era most professional athletes were expected to attain thickening waistlines in their 40's as a matter of course. Charlie and his work ethic were far ahead of their time.
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Post by chaney on Jun 8, 2010 17:56:39 GMT -5
There's the story of director Raoul Walsh telling Marvin and Neville Brand to really go at it with Leo Gordon on "Gun Fury". Gordon responded by knocking those two tough guys around for real. William Smith said that Marvin and Brand were both tough guys but when they were drinking they couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. Smith and stuntman Roy Jenson used to bail Neville and Lee out of a lot of fights in a Pacific Coast Highway bike bar near Malibu. Doubtful Lee and Neville were drunk on set though when Leo Gordon knocked them around. Sober, both were known to be very tough guys.
Remember reading in one of the Marvin bios that he was making a TV show with Sam Peckinpah and got into a fight with Sam. Marvin was slamming Peckinpah against a wall when others pulled him off him. That was Peckinpah though. He used to like to bait people (especially tough guys) to find out who he could manipulate. Word was he later offered the William Holden part in "The Wild Bunch" to Marvin, who turned it down to make "Paint Your Wagon" instead.
Also remember reading somewhere that Marvin got into a fight with Roger Moore, who Marvin thought was a sissy. When Moore landed a solid punch on Marvin, Lee lightened up and the two became good friends. Heard that story attributed to the making of "Shout at the Devil" or as far back as the 1950's when Moore first got to Hollywood.
There's another story of Marvin and John Wayne wrecking a motel room after a night of drink in I believe Bisbee, Arizona. Don't know if the fight got serious or if the two were just partaking in macho horseplay (perhaps rehearsing for "Donovan's Reef"). Anyway, the motel used to advertise that this is the room where Lee Marvin and John Wayne got into a fight and broke the window. Marvin and Wayne were said to be pretty good friends and drinking buddies in real life.
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Post by chaney on Jun 8, 2010 17:42:44 GMT -5
I've seen that story a few places about Burt Lancaster and Jack Palance getting into a real fight during a screen fight but I think it might actually be Robert Mitchum and Jack Palance. I think Palance and Lancaster only worked on "The Professionals" together and didn't really have a fistfight scene (might have been something left on the editing room floor though). From the details of the fight I'm pretty sure it's Mitchum though, a story that used to show up in print quite a bit.
When Mitchum and Palance were making the film "Second Chance" back in the early 50's the stuntmen warned Mitchum that Palance was a Method Actor and liked to get carried away in fight scenes. Sure enough, Palance clocked Mitchum for real and put him on his back. Mitchum wasn't one to take things like that lightly and when they resumed filming he moved in and slugged Palance hard in his gut. Mitchum claimed over the years that Palance lost his lunch on his shoulder and they didn't have any further incidents while making the fight.
There's another story of Mitchum and Palance on location in Mexico getting into a big restaurant brawl after Palance pushed a Mexican General. Guns were drawn and fired as Mitchum got his wife out the door and Palance got out through the kitchen. Pro boxer turned actor Able Fernandez was left to fend off the soldiers and lived to tell about it. The heat was such on Palance at the time that the studio had to get him back to the states for fear he'd be killed. Mitchum liked to tell that story a lot too and it probably got embellished quite a bit along the way. Mitchum was a tough guy who could back up pretty much anything, but he also liked to amuse himself telling stories to reporters.
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Post by chaney on Jun 3, 2010 11:03:31 GMT -5
There's a really good interview with actor David Roya, the main bad guy in the film BILLY JACK. Pretty interesting the struggles he had with that film's star Tom Laughlin and its effect on his career. About three-quarters of the way into the interview he's asked about his small role in THE WHITE BUFFALO and working with Charlie. He goes on a fair amount of time about Bronson. The interview is at: popcultureaddict.com/close/davidroya-htm/The more I think about, Charlie would have been a pretty cool Billy Jack himself rather than Tom Laughlin. Charlie certainly had the half-breed Indian look and could handle the action.
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Post by chaney on May 30, 2010 10:45:51 GMT -5
Yeah, Sonny Landham was a tough guy. He got into trouble while making 48 HRS. as well. The story on PREDATOR was that the insurance company made the producers hire a 24 hr a day bodyguard for Sonny to protect the other actors in the cast. Mind you, the cast included Arnold, Carl Weathers, and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Sonny still gave the bodyguard the slip and raised hell in Mexico. Word was that he got crazy when he drank. Probably a reason he didn't work many studio films after that. Carl Weathers was very suspicious of him, so producer Joel Silver hired Landham for a cameo to work a fight scene with Weathers in ACTION JACKSON. Weathers reportedly didn't care one bit for Silver's practical joke. The two of them do have a nice little fight though, and Landham looks absolutely crazy in the part.
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Post by chaney on May 27, 2010 10:28:41 GMT -5
Remember reading numerous times that Charlie was one of those actors who didn't like to see himself on the big screen and rarely saw any of his own films. This is an interesting trait among a lot of working character actors who view their work as merely a job and don't get caught up in ego. Some are made uncomfortable seeing themselves because they think of other choices they could have made in their acting. I would think Charlie was the type who saw it merely as a job.
At the same time, we know that Charlie worked hard through the early part of his career to become more than a character actor and saw himself as a leading man. Coming from his meager beginnings this may have been Charlie attempting to secure his financial future with bigger paydays rather than the job-to-job nature of a character actor who almost always had to take what work came their way. Quite a contrast to the leading men who attend star-studded premieres and gloat about how great their films are to the press on the talk show circuit.
Anyway, another interesting complexity in the man.
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Post by chaney on May 20, 2010 10:59:45 GMT -5
A Spencer Tracy courtroom drama released in 1951, Charlie has a one scene bit part in one of his first films. He plays the brother of the criminal Tracy has on the stand. Tracy visits the family home and all the brothers are eating soup around a table. Charlie's mostly silent as Tracy talks about his brother, then suddenly stands up and says, "Brother? Jerk! Lunkhead!" in that clipped Charlie speech. He then says something else in slavic and that's it for his part.
It's not much, but in hindsight Charlie still has the most presence of the brothers. Would be interesting to know how these kind of parts were perceived by the industry at the time. Was Charlie being noticed? It's easy for us to see the roles now and focus only on Charlie and his part. Were viewers back then drawn to watching him due to his presence and looks as opposed to the other bit players?
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Post by chaney on May 6, 2010 16:29:39 GMT -5
There's a brief scene at the beginning of Taylor's film THE HIGH COMMISSIONER (aka NOBODY LIVES FOREVER) where he plays an Australian cop who punches out a sheepherder. Might be what you're thinking of, maybe not.
Taylor's best known films are THE TIME MACHINE and THE BIRDS, where Alfred Hitchcock reportedly cast him because he said he needed a leading man with "balls". Taylor made several entertaining action films in the late 60's with DARKER THAN AMBER and DARK OF THE SUN (aka THE MERCENARIES) being the best. The latter is reportedly one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films. He gave Taylor a cameo as Winston Churchill in the recent INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS. Other solid Taylor films were THE HELL WITH HEROES, THE LIQUIDATOR (a somewhat light-hearted spy film), and the western CHUKA, where he has a big classic two-man fight with Ernest Borgnine.
The guy was very versatile. He won critical praise playing two- fisted Irish poet Sean O"Casey in YOUNG CASSIDY, co-starred with John Wayne in THE TRAIN ROBBERS, and even starred opposite Doris Day in a couple of comedies. For whatever reason Taylor's career faltered in the 70's, perhaps due to his penchant for drinking and getting into fistfights.
He had a few entertaining shots at TV series, with BEARCATS, THE OREGON TRAIL, MASQUERADE, and THE OUTLAWS. All of them ran about a half a season but there's no reason they couldn't have caught on and been hits compared to other shows from those eras. BEARCATS is especially worth a look, with Taylor and Dennis Cole playing two Arizona adventurers who speed around in a Stutz Bearcat taking on western outlaws in 1914. It's a pretty cool show.
Taylor liked to do a lot of his own stunts, especially his fight scenes. His long-time stuntman was Louie Elias, a former UCLA football player who looked a lot like Taylor and was built along similar lines. Taylor was a little under 5'11" and went about 190. He kept fit boxing and lifting weights.
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Post by chaney on May 1, 2010 15:18:05 GMT -5
Richard Harrison (not to be confused with Richard Harris) was a former physique model and trainer at a Vic Tanny gym who did some bit parts in the late 50's then went to Europe to star in gladiator, spy films, and spaghetti westerns. He was offered A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS but turned it down because he had just done a western. When the producers gave him a list of American actors he suggested Clint Eastwood.
Harrison had a small role in MASTER OF THE WORLD, playing the often shirtless henchman who steers the ship. In a recent interview he talked about how he was under contract to AIP and was supposed to have a bigger role but Vincent Price wanted a friend cast in that role. When asked about Charlie, Harrison talked about Bronson for a full paragraph. He did note Charlie was a "strange man".
To paraphrase the rest of the discussion on Charlie, Harrison said Charlie really came on tough to people but Harrison wouldn't let him get away with it with him. The more he didn't put up with Charlie's attitude, the more Charlie softened and wanted to be his friend. They eventually became pals on the set with Charlie even playing a practical joke on Harrison by throwing dirt onto the floor of his dressing room. When Harrison let it be known on the set whoever was responsible needed to clean it up, Charlie got down on his hands and knees and cleaned it up. When he was doing that he pointed out a great looking girl on the set to Harrison. Ironically, it was AIP head Jim Nicholson's daughter, and Harrison eventually met her and married her!
Harrison also remembered Charlie talking about his tough childhood and how messed up his life currently was while one of his "pals" Steve McQueen's career was taking off. The timeline might be a little off as MASTER OF THE WORLD was probably made in 1960 and their conversation seems more suited to when Charlie was doing THE GREAT ESCAPE and Harrison was making movies in Europe as Charlie talked about how he was in love with his best friend David McCallum's wife but was married himself.
Another interesting take on Charlie's personality from someone who worked with him and got to know him better behind the scenes.
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Post by chaney on Apr 24, 2010 0:40:24 GMT -5
There's a site on Chuck Connors and the Rifleman that has remembrances from the late producer Arnold Laven, who goes into detail about how Connors was cast in his most famous role. Surprisingly, Bronson plays a role in the casting.
It seems Laven and his producing partner Art Gardner had seen Connors in the film OLD YELLER and thought he would be good as the title character Lucas McCain. Laven had briefly met Connors at a party but was surprised to look out his window at the Hal Roach Studios and see Connors himself engaged in conversation with Charles Bronson. Laven happened to know Bronson and walked out to join the two and become better acquainted with Connors, the man he and his partner wanted to cast. Laven began talking to Bronson and asked him what he was working on, when Charlie asked in turn what Laven was working on he mentioned in passing THE RIFLEMAN pilot. Connors became intrigued as Laven began to drop hints of the premise. Connors asked if there was a script and if he could see it. Laven obliged, his intention all the time. Later in the day Connors' agent contacted Laven and they negotiated to get Connors out of another pilot he was attached to so he could do RIFLEMAN.
So, in an indirect way Charlie Bronson played a part in getting Chuck Connors cast as THE RIFLEMAN. Curious if they ever considered Bronson himself for the Lucas McCain role, though elsewhere in Laven's remembrances he mentions the McCain prototype was John Wayne and James Arness. Surprised Charlie never made a guest shot on the show.
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Post by chaney on Apr 17, 2010 16:28:46 GMT -5
This 1957 episode of the David Janssen TV series RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE guest stars Charlie as Dan Rocco, the brother of a criminal Diamond put away. Charlie's not much better, as he kidnaps Diamond at gunpoint and takes him to his Sweet Shop (!!!) and introduces him to his mother (who just wants everyone to play nice upon Pete's impending release).
The episode takes a slight diversion into some humor at this point as Janssen offers up some hard-boiled patter: "You look hungry, Danny. Can I get you a bowl of nails?" Charlie also gets pithy dialog from his mother:
Mom - You're looking mean again, Danny. Bronson - Ah, Mom.
The episode gets back on track with a killing and a big fistfight between Janssen and Charlie (though much of it is done in long shot by doubles). Still, an interesting 30 minute tongue-in-cheek curio from this part of Bronson's career.
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Post by chaney on Mar 29, 2010 0:17:22 GMT -5
Solid Bronson guest starring role in this 1960 episode of the western series. Charlie is Frank Buckley, recently paroled to Laramie. Everyone dislikes him because he killed Barton MacLane's son in a fistfight, but he did his time and is trying to live honorably. Various factions try to push him into violence, but series stars John Smith and Robert Fuller stick up for him. This one has a little bit of everything for the Bronson fan; fistfights, shirtless scenes, and even a little romance.
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Post by chaney on Mar 26, 2010 11:41:33 GMT -5
The Aussie star of "The Time Machine" and "The Birds" had quite a tough guy rep. He was a former boxer and a stout guy who could really unload punches. He had a legendary fight scene with William Smith in "Darker Than Amber" that was said to have been half-real as they deviated from the choreography. Taylor broke Smith's ribs and Smith broke Taylor's nose. Taylor told them to keep the camera rolling and the two just started wailing on one another. Character actor Charles Napier said on the TV series "The Oregon Trail" that Smith and Taylor got carried away in another fight and he had to break them up. Interestingly, Smith and Taylor worked together quite a bit and always said they were very close friends.
When Taylor was making "Dark of the Sun" he clashed with former pro football star Jim Brown and the two eventually came to real blows. Legend has it Taylor beat up Brown, who was one of the most feared men on the planet at the time (and probably still is).
While making "The Deadly Trackers" in Mexico Taylor and co-star Richard Harris would keep getting into drunken brawls with each other and every time Taylor would beat up Harris, who had a tough guy rep himself. Taylor beat him up so bad on one occasion that they couldn't film Harris for several days. William Smith had a supporting part in the film and after he finished his role the producers kept him on at full pay for several extra weeks just to keep Taylor from beating up Harris.
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Post by chaney on Mar 26, 2010 11:30:46 GMT -5
Believe he was arrested or detained around 1959 for assault in a New York bar. He got into an argument of some sort with another guy who pulled a gun on him. Leo pummelled the guy and nearly choked him to death. The guy pressed charges but I believe they were dropped since he was the one who had pulled a gun. I wrote this down once in a notebook but now can't remember where the source was only the story itself.
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