Bronson vs. Eastwood

[maphillips3]

I just found out that William Smith, in a interview,was the one that told the story of that fight, on the GUN FURY set, so thats probably why he says that, Leo was the hardest man in Hollywood.

[chaney]

I've read a few Leo Gordon interviews but don't recall him ever being asked about Charlie. I believe they only worked together on the one film. From accounts by others regarding Gordon they said he was always busy working on scripts between scenes. He'd be off somewhere banging away on his typewriter. Charlie, as we all know, barely spoke a word to anyone on most sets and usually spent his spare time exercising or sunning. Would like to think they at least got together for a beer but who knows. Certainly no stories of fireworks between the two, and Gordon acquitted himself as a professional and had a long career in TV and film.

As for John Wayne, I believe he was humbled by Gordon showing him his bullet scar on HONDO. Wayne was smart enough not to do anything to embarrass himself. He was a big, tough guy, but he certainly wasn't the baddest in Hollywood and he knew it. I recall reading that he backed down from a fight with Robert Ryan, who had been a boxer and knew how to fight. So, Wayne definitely knew when not to push it. In the case of Gordon and his reputation, Wayne played it smart. Gordon worked again with Wayne on THE CONQUEROR and McLINTOCK (he's the man Wayne calls "Pilgrim" and knocks into the mud pit), so there couldn't have been much tension between them.

[maphillips3]

These are some great stories Chaney. That was a very interesting time in movie making history, because when you see a movie, and someone is playing the hero, you always kind of wondered if they were as bad ass off screen, as on, so these stories are very enlightening. I wish there was more stories, like these, behind the scenes, to figure out who was bad ass, and who was just posing.

[chaney]

William Smith was a major bad ass as well. 6'2" and about 210 pounds of muscle and ripped like Charlie only on a bigger frame. He trained at Vince Gironda's Gym with Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia. Smith didn't take steroids and was surprised when Scott began taking them.

Smith was an undefeated Air Force boxing champ, arm-wrestling champion at Petaluma, and dropped 6'5" Chuck Connors with one punch in a real fight. He studied San Soo Kung Fu with Jimmy Woo and kenpo with Ed Parker back in the 60's and put a half dozen real bikers into the hospital in a fight. Had a run-in with Mickey Rourke on the set of RUMBLE FISH as well in which he jacked Mick against a wall. Smith was good friends with actors Bob Tessier (HARD TIMES) and 6'2" Don Stroud, former bouncer at the Whisky-A-Go-Go and a kajukenbo black belt. They were probably three of the toughest actors in Hollywood during that era along with Leo Gordon, Roy Jenson, and Rod Taylor.

Smith was a popular guest at Western shows from his time on the series LAREDO and told of a run-in with Charlie on the set(probably when Charlie was guesting on THE VIRGINIAN, which also filmed at Universal). Smith was amazed at how short Charlie was and noted he was wearing lifts. Charlie caught Smith staring at him and got in Smith's face and said, "What do you think you're looking at?" Smith looked down at him and said, "I'm looking at NOTHING!" Charlie didn't like that much and stalked off. As much as I like Charlie and as tough as he was, that's one fight I'm glad he didn't get into.

[crego]

In fact Smith and Bronson appeared in a film together, but didn't share screen time. It was "NEVER SO FEW", Smith had a bit as a MP, and Bronson had a more substantial small part as a sergeant.

[inca]

Willy Smith also was a gifted polyglot. I don't know how many languages he spoke and if my memory doesn't betray me, he helped FBI once.

Charles Bronson (who spoke Russian and other languages) in Clint Eastwood's tv show Rawhide:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSx5r3CGh84

....but Clint ain't there....

[maphillips3]

I wonder how Robert Tesseir, and Charlie got along on the hard times set?

[chaney]

There's a great long interview with Bob Tessier in "EasyRiders" biker mag from the mid 1980's. Here's him talking about Charlie and their fight scene:

ER: Tell us something about those knock-down, drag-out fights. In a fight scene like the one you did with Bronson in "Hard Times," how many of those "pulled" punches accidentally connected?

BT: About seven or eight, plus he broke my nose when he kicked me ... heh, heh.

ER: How about him? Did he get hit at all?

BT: No.

ER: You managed to pull yours okay, but he didn't?

BT: He was getting in too close. Actors have a tendency to get in close, even though it's a make-believe thing and you don't need to be close because it's the camera angles that make it look real. In fact, the stunt coordinator had to tell him to pull his punches back because they were coming in between frames {punching beyond the camera's range}. Bronson looked at him like, "oh-oh, there's something I don't know about here" (big laugh). Actually, he's a very good professional. I'd like to work for him when he directs. I think he'd make a great director.

ER: How pissed were you when he broke your nose?

BT: I didn't get pissed at all. It was whoops, there's a mistake. He was supposed to kick me in the stomach with his right foot, then I bend over and he kicks me in the face with his left foot. What he did was kick me in the stomach with his right foot, then kicked with his right foot again. If he'd kicked with his left, he would've missed me. I was down holding my stomach when I saw the wrong foot come up and it was just too late. He's not stupid and he's kind of well-coordinated - it was just something that happened. In "The Deep", when I did a fight, Earl Maynard broke my nose too.


Incidentally, in regard to William Smith, he spoke Russian, Serbo-Croatian, French, German, and as he liked to say, "a little a bit of English". This was courtesy of the Air Force language program where he had NSA and CIA clearance as a spy during the Korean War. He would interrogate the downed Russian MIG pilots even though there weren't supposed to be Russian MIG pilots engaging our pilots. He was also involved in the Reconnaisance flights as an interpreter for several U2/Blackbird missions over Russia for which he was given cyanide capsules before each mission. He was going into the CIA but married a French woman and lost his clearance.

He was a long-time pal of stuntman Nick Dimitri, who also fought Charlie in "Hard Times". Smith and Dimitri used to work out together at the gym and Dimitri did Smith's more daring stunts over the years. I wonder if Smith was ever in consideration for the part of Street?

Despite his run-in with Charlie, Smith had complimentary things to say about him as an actor, particulary his screen presence. He also was impressed by what great shape Charlie kept himself in. He just couldn't get over how short Charlie appeared in real life.

[inca]

Have you checked this?

charlesbronsoncom.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dw&action=display&thread=164&page=1

[maphillips3]

Those are some nice, interesting pictures. Thanks Inca!

[maphillips3]

Its amazing how many times Charlie got into arguments, but no fights. I guess that old saying by "Charles Atlas", that know body messes with a strong man, know matter how much you hate that person.

[chaney]

Can't remember if we've discussed it elsewhere, but Charlie and James Garner were said to nearly have come to blows during a card game on the set of "The Great Escape". Ah, to have been a fly on the wall back during that time with Garner, McQueen, Coburn, and Charlie interacting on the same set.

[maphillips3]

Ah Chaney, I would love to here more about that story. Nothing like, good old male bonding!

[seagal]

On youtube you can see the All Star party for Eastwood from 1986.

On Minute 1:26 Clint Eastwood shook hands with Bronson.

Eastwood said: Hey Charles: How you´re doing?

Charlie replied: Congratulations.

Charlie liked Clint, otherwise he wouldn´t be there on Eastwoods special.
You can see the video on youtube

[maphillips3]

Thanks seagal! I have never seen tv special.