WEBVTT - Russ Tamblyn, from DeMille to David Lynch 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.800 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:11.360 My guest today is Russ Tamblin. In a long and 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:15.560 varied career, He's been a child actor and acrobat and 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.840 MGM studio star who ditched the whole scene to become 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.319 a painter. After that, he was a successful choreographer and 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.240 then one of the stars of Twin Peaks. But you 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:32.640 probably know him as Riff, hard bitten, vulnerable and leader 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.960 of the Jets. When you're a jet, you're agin all 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.800 the way from your first singer rent to your last 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.720 guy and day West Side Stories. Riff In nineteen sixty 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.559 one was the culmination of a long string of classic 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:52.360 teen roles. He was Elizabeth Taylor's little brother and father 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.360 of the bride, and the younger version of King Saul 0:00:55.840 --> 0:01:00.360 and Cecil b de Mills, Sampson and Delilah. His through 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.920 role for MGM was the youngest of the namesake brothers 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.680 in Seven Bribes for Seven Brothers, directed by the legendary 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:12.679 Stanley Donnin, fresh off Singing in the Rain, and you 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.800 can't we count Russ Tamblin's career without mentioning the long 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:21.360 string of young Tufts before Riff, the young gun Slingers, 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.679 the future Criminals, and the good for nothing Tony Baker, 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.720 who's really an undercover cop in the now classic anti 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:35.400 marijuana be movie High School Confidential. Hey you torching up. Look, 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:37.320 don't be a dry kitten. We don't want to get 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.600 caught with a reefer again. Had enough of the poke 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.039 and all of that jazz. I'll get my kicks out 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.280 of you these days. However, he keeps it classy. You 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.560 got your martini. This is like so old Hollywood said, 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.680 as they come to my podcast and I get here 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.120 and they're like, he's in there. He's having a martini. Yeah, 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.880 well that'll help me to yak a little. Tamblin spent 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.720 his earliest years in the middle class Inglewood neighborhood of 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.040 Los Angeles, son of a chorus girl and what he 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.480 calls a Broadway song and dance man who came West 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:14.280 to seek fame and fortune. The family arrived just in 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:19.440 time for the Depression. Eddie Tamblin made a few movies, though, 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.600 a good thing for his son's future and for American cinema. 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:26.040 That's where I really got turned on. I think when 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.239 I was living in Englewood. One of his old movies 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.360 was playing at a theater there, so I went to 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.359 see him and I saw him up on the screen 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.600 and he was just like you do you know that? 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.600 Oh my god, I want to be there. And my 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:43.119 father said no, no, Um, my father did not want 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.200 me to be in show business. So what did he 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.520 want you to do? Well? He didn't care. He was 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.920 not doing that well at that point, it was in 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.520 the thirties. He did wanted to end up like him. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.320 He had a hot dog stand. He sold hot dog 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.079 We had dinner that we used to go and eat 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.520 hot dogs at his hot dogs stand. And why didn't 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.160 you stay away? Meaning when he said I don't want 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:08.240 you to do this, why did you persist? Um? There 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:11.600 was a theater in Englewood. I was about ten years old, 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.240 and I used to go to the Saturday morning matinees 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:16.519 with all the other little kids, and it was filled 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.800 with kids yelling and screaming because of seeing my father. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:21.680 I would get so excited and run up on the 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.680 stage and I would just like jump around and go 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.320 into a and I wasn't really dancing, but I would 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.359 jump around and make all the kids laugh, and they 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.280 were roaring, and I'd see that the owner of the 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.000 theater come running down the island. I'd leave off the theater, 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.560 and I was very very fast, so I could crawl 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.720 into the seats and disappear, and he couldn't find me. 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.160 And I came again. It was maybe like the second 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.720 or third time. Uh, Saturday morning. He was waiting for 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.680 me backstage, and I got up on the stage and 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:53.360 he came out and he grabbed me by the arm, 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:55.920 took me back in his office and called my mother. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.400 And my mother knew that, uh, my father did not 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.520 want me to be in show business, so she secretly 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:08.080 started me in tap dancing lessons at Hold. I was 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:12.120 about nine. You're a little kid, nine or ten. What 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.680 was it about your mom? Was your mom in the business? Oh? Yeah, 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:16.839 she was a show girl. That's where my mother and 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.360 father on Broadway. That's where they met at the road Show, 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:21.320 one of the shows, and she was in the line 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.760 and she um, she was only like sixteen or seventeen. 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.719 She lied to because she wanted to be in the show. 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.320 I think my mother had my older brother when she 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.600 was seventeen and had me when she was eighteen. How 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.680 many kids in your family? Two brothers, an older brother 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.479 who passed away and a younger brother who has a 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:44.159 group called the stand Els and uh rock and roll group. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:49.400 And he's still around and still doing concerts and uh 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.560 he deaf now, but he goes out, doesn't anything, and 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.080 he yells all over. But when you come and you 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.599 start making films, your first film as the Boy with 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.919 the green bean hair, isn't that Dean Stockwell, yeah, that 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:10.320 was Dean. We became friends and I think that's when 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.039 I was like nine or nine or ten. How do 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.599 they find you then to be in a film? Oh? 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.320 I did a play at the corn at theater. The 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.200 first thing I did was a play directed by Lloyd 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:25.000 Bridges called The Stone Jungle, and I had a great 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.279 part in it, and I end up getting killed in 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.159 it and and it was killed a nine year old 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.880 boy in this play. Oh yeah, it was about kids 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.640 to go to a rock quarry and uh, there were 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.880 good actors in it. A talent scout came and then 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.480 he brought me over to audition for a couple of parts. 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.680 And the Boy with green hair, Joseph Losi, I think, 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:48.000 directed it, and uh introduced me to him, and uh, 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:50.200 I tried out for a couple of parts and didn't 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.640 get anything, and finally they just said, would you like 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:54.960 to be one of the kids in it? So I 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.320 said yeah, and so I became one of the background 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.640 and kids in it, and that was my first movie. 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.320 You know, I always think of young people working in films, 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.440 and we have all kinds of protections now when we 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.559 have all kinds of laws and rules with the Union 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.839 to protect young people and tutors and how many hours 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:13.360 they can work. But when you were a kid, what 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:14.560 was that like? How did they treat you? Were they 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.720 affectionate and well? It was okay except for for Cecil b. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:30.520 De Mill. Working for the Mill was Samson and Delilah. Yeah, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.680 how are you then? About ten? I think I was 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.920 ten years old. I played King Saul as a boy. 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.359 You did four movies and this you do Boy with 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:43.600 the Green Hair, Rain of Terror, Kid from Cleveland. Your 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.240 fourth movie is Samson and Delilah. I mean, I'm a 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.320 sap for those epic movies. And it's Demil obviously, so 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.000 you see the other directors they might have been a 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.279 little more coddling and a little warmer to you. What 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:58.520 was Demill like? The Mill was like like you would expect. 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.719 He wore short pants, I guess, with high socks. He 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.880 had a stick. The voice of God, Samson and Delilah 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:12.360 was the Mill. So that was that was what general. Yeah, 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.360 And when I went in for the audition, I auditioned 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.160 with a paramount actor and it was this room. Um, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:20.480 I remember it was a room and there was like 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.080 a big window, one way mirror. And when I finished 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.480 the scene, the doors came bursting open and out came 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.480 the Mill with his entourage, and he said, you got 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:35.240 the part, my boy, And uh, that was that was 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:36.800 a big one for him. You get to spend any 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:38.800 time with Victor maturege, you get to meet the adult. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.120 What was he like? It was funnier than hell. He 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.880 was wild. People told me some p wouldn't even repeat 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:47.480 the stories I've been told about him. I've heard some 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:49.760 pretty He came in with a black eye one time, 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:51.760 and you know, and they had to put makeup on 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.840 his eye. And I asked him, I said, Jesus Vic, 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:56.520 how the hell did you get that? He says, I 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.160 went home last night and my wife punched me in 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.400 the eye, and I said, what's that for? You said, 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:06.720 that's for what you're gonna do. He was very mischievous. 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.120 He moved signs so that people would drive the wrong way, 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.160 and you know he was crazy. Oh yeah. And then 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.920 one of the things was was Hetty Lamar, and I 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:20.200 thought she was gorgeous in it, claimed Delilah. And I 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.720 remember sitting in a dressing room one time and mature. 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.400 I never forget this. His dog was with him. The 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:28.480 dog came into the dressing room and he went over 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.960 and started to lick Hetty Lamar's legs and he says, 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.120 get away from there. If I can't do that, you 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:41.800 can't do it. Hetty Lamar, Oh my god. She took 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:43.800 me to lunch one time. At on the lunch you 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:45.640 would like to go to lunch? I said, yeah, you know, 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.680 So I went to lunch with Hetty and she said, oh, 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:50.800 let's stop by this stage. I want you to see 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.600 something you'll you'll like. So we go into the stage 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.880 and it was Dan Martin and Jerry Lewis's first movie, 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.319 My friend Irma and everybody. He was just in hysterics. 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.320 Jerry was smoking a cigarette and he got a bunch 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.120 of ashes under the end of the cigarette, and at 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.840 one moment he reached down an unsipped the pants and 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.280 flashes and everybody was just cracking up. He was like 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:16.959 that constantly, I'm gonna steal that. I love. That is 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.160 then a good one. Now, you know, you know these 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.880 movies Boy with the Green Hair, Sampson, and Ala, these 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.000 are straight dramas. But then you get to do Seven 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:29.199 Brides and had you done much you know, your mother 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:30.760 wanted you to learn how to tap dance. Had you 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.720 done much hoofing, and you were much into the musical 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.199 world on stage. Well, let me explain to you how 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.080 I got it. To tell me. Okay, I did a 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:43.400 movie at Warner Brothers called Retreat Hell. Joseph H. Lewis 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.280 directed it, and I played a young marine in it. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.080 And I had worked for him before in uh one 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.240 of his classic film the Wall Movies. Um, it was 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.200 a class crazy crazy. I think we're on a game 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:02.120 show here, and it was. It had one of the 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.280 classic bank robbery scenes in it. I don't know if 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.440 you ever saw it, but it was. It was the best. 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.520 The King Brothers came and said, Hey, I'm sorry, Joe, 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:14.800 you gotta shoot this in like a couple of hours. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.360 We don't have the time, we have the money, broke, 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.880 so he didn't know what to do, so he just 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.720 stuck a camera in the back seat of the car 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.640 and shot over the back of their heads and they 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.080 actually drove to the bank all in one take, and 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.000 he parked the car that kept the camera in there 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.600 and showed him going in and then finally he came 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:35.240 out and there was like a policeman. Then I kept 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.360 jumped in the car and they drove. It was all 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:39.840 one shot, and they said that was one of the 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:45.520 best bankrupt scenes. It was by accident. So he took 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.920 the film that I did, Retreat Hell, which was a 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.320 Korean war film, and he showed it to MGM, and 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:56.280 I guess MGM was looking for actors to sign at 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.000 the time, so they signed me under contract and the 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.120 first movie I did it was to Take the high Ground. 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.679 I played a comedy character in it, and it was 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.760 a basic training movie where Richard Widmark teaches us all 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.560 how to and Karl mull and teach us how to 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:14.959 become good soldiers, which was great, and uh Simn Brides 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:17.880 came up. It was like the next film there and 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.600 Michael Kidd told the studio that he wanted all the 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.400 six brothers to be great dancers. And the studio said, 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.840 wait a minute, we have actors under contract here. So 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:29.640 I'll tell you what. You can have four great dancers 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.720 and two actors that are under contract. And I was 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.640 one of the actors that was under contract. And the 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.160 other actor was Jeff Richards who was a baseball player 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.880 before he became an actor who hated dancers. He is 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.480 one of the brothers. I said, let's go visit our 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.720 brothers without rehearsing. And he says, oh Jesus, do I 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:51.160 have to go over there and talk to all of 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.720 those fags. Oh god, yeah, that's how we felt. Yeah. 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.480 So we go over there and Michael Kidd came up 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.240 to me and he said, somebody told me you're a 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.120 tumbler that or an acrobat. I did a backflip for 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.320 him right on the spot. He says, oh my god, 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:06.520 we'll use it in the number. And I said, no, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.160 wait a minute, I'm not dancing with Jack dem Loss 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.240 from New York City Ballet and Mathematics and Mark Platt 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.199 and I've never had any dance trading except for the 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.000 tap dancing. I said, I can't dance. He said, look, 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:21.160 this is just square dancing. All you gotta do is 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:25.240 lift your legs. So we do this number called Going 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:34.559 Courting Janie Powell trying to make gentleman out of us, 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:42.400 teaching everybody how to dance, and uh to get a 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.560 really professional dancer to look awkward, It's hard to do 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.760 because they automatically stand up in the fifth position. So 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.600 Michael had had the choice of either putting me way 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.360 in back of these great dancers. I ended up in 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.800 front of all the dancers looking awkward, just going crazy, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.560 jumping around and then flipping up and falling down on 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.840 the floor saying keep your dancing. You know. That was 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.520 the end of the number. That number was just made 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.080 for me because I was learning how to do in Courton. 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.200 Going Courton was the number. And then, of course the 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.640 other big number was the Barn Dance number. We were 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.240 dancing on planks and stuff like that. That was up 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:25.880 my alley because I could do flips. I always get 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.040 the impression that those films it was a lot of work. Yes, 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.720 it was all one take. There were no cuts in it. 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.839 How was Donna? I'm a big admirer of his film 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:41.440 you are I thought he was overrated? Yeah, Well, we 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.400 had to shoot a bunch of stuff over again that 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.320 he did in that they put snow on everybody's faces 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.240 and it just looked like they forgot to put makeup 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.520 on in certain places. And I know he's done some 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:55.160 good films, but it was really Michael films. Other people 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.640 you think made him look good. Yeah, other people made 0:13:57.679 --> 0:13:59.920 him again. And gene Kelly, you know, he was a 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.480 friend of gene Kelly's. When we had finished the Barn 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.360 Dance number and it was pretty well choreographed and everything, 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.520 we came back from lunch and Stanley came on the 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.160 stage with gene Kelly and said, I want you all 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.720 the run through the whole number from top to bottom 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.000 for Jeane. So we we did, and he was wonderful. 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.560 He just said, hey, guys, all I can tell you 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:21.920 is there's nothing else for you to do but cut 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:30.600 yourself in bleed. But let me just say this, beyond 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.160 the music, beyond Bernstein, who I worship. When I think 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:35.920 of West Side Story, I think of a young Natalie Wood. 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:38.120 And the other thing I remember is that you're not 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.800 the male lead in the show, and yet and I'm 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:47.800 not asking you pop off that screen man like ten 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:53.720 million dollars end to end. You kind of Sergeant Krupkey. 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.560 You gotta understand it's just all bring an update that 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.320 gets us out of hand. Our models, all junkies, our fathers, 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:09.520 all our drunks. Naturally, Officer, you got old swagger, you 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:13.360 become one of the stars of the film. Was that 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.160 Robert Wise's intention or did that just happen in the 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:22.120 cut of the film? Um, it was weird. I was 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:26.520 in the Army when um uh and on tour for 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:28.480 Tom Thumb. When I went to New York and I 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.520 saw a West Side story and I said, oh my god, 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.080 I want to do this. I bought the album, took 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.400 it back to UH, to Oklahoma where I was at 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.440 Fort So, how long are you in the Army? For 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.440 two years? You didn't have to go overseas on Oklahoma 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.240 and the whole time you were in Oklahoma and I 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:49.600 fucked up? What? Yeah, that's a good question, shooting blanks 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.440 at a sign that said I am the enemy? You know, 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.440 I mean the last thirty days. I took leave and 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:00.320 did a simmer Un in Arizona with Glenn Ford, and 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.240 then I had to go back to the Army, finished 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:06.720 it up, and I drove back and what happened was is. 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.280 I went over to United Artists where they were shooting, 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:14.360 and I auditioned as Tony. And I even auditioned with 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:18.120 with Mickey Callan who played Riff on Broadway. He played 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:22.320 my part on Broadway. I auditioned with several girls Anna 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:26.640 Murial Baghetti, uh was several actresses that were they were 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.720 off for the part of Maria and and I had 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:34.360 the same agent as as Robert Wise, so I had 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.720 a really close connection, you know, and I kept checking, well, 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.120 how's it going. Had they picked Tony? Is not yet, 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.120 Bob isn't sure what he he's not sure yet. But 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.960 finally he called me and he said, well, I'm sorry, 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.040 but they picked Richard Baymer to play the part of Tony. 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.440 But they said Richard. Yeah, I had no idea who 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:58.080 he was. They said, but they've offered you the role. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.960 They've offered you the role of and I said Riff. 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.800 I said no, no, no, no. He said, you don't 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.000 want to do it, and I said, yes, I do 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.800 want to do it. You know, it's like really really quick. 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:10.560 I said, I really want to be in this film. 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:12.440 But I said, I don't think I can handle the 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:17.840 dancing is like incredibly difficult for Riff. But am I 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:19.679 glad I didn't do it. I mean, it's not a 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.000 good part, Tony. But when they offered me the part 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.480 of Riff, they wanted to see me both Bob and 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.639 Jerry Robbins. So I go to the studio and I 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:30.520 go in to see them and they're both sitting there 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.240 and the first thing that Jerry says to me, he says, now, Russ. 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.520 He says, I've seen your musical Seven Brides and the 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.600 Fastest Gonna Live where you dance on shovels. And he says, 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:44.320 on all your films, even comedies, you do tumbling. But 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.320 I kept to tell you right now, there'll be no 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:50.320 tumbling in this movie. There'll be none. And he said, 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.960 you're gonna have to do straight dancing. That's the way 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.119 the part is for Riff. And I said, all right, 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:58.159 I'll do That's what he told me. And I was 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.440 so Jerome. Robbins was because he was taken too long. 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.360 We were doing shots in New York, going like dancing 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:10.200 down two blocks, you know, and then of the West Sideway. 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.280 Then he then he would come back and get this 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.120 and he would say that was fine. And Robert Wise. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.119 He would say that was terrific, that was great, printed 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.120 We're all done, And Jerry said, no, no, no, I'd 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.080 like to do one more, but I would like all 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.879 the dancers to do it on the other foot. So 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.159 Jerry so Robbins was the choreographer, not the director. Robbins 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.360 well the co director, but but they had an agreement 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.040 that Bob Wise would would do the dramatic scenes and 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:40.000 and uh, Robin Robins numbers, so do it on the 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:42.000 other foot. Now you may not know what that means. 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.359 That means instead of stepping on the left and kicking 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:46.320 to the right, you gotta step on the right, kick 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.480 to the left. You gotta do with the other way. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.520 And so every all these dancers are walking around crazy. 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.400 So we were there in New York for Oh my God. 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.879 We are there for a month late, and by the 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:00.760 time he got back to l A, they closed the 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:02.960 production down. They said that's it. He had it in 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:04.840 his option that if it didn't work out for a 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.399 certain amount of time that he could be let go. 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:09.760 He was just gone. By the time we came back 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.120 to work, he was gone. And all the dancers were 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:18.080 like depressed. They've been complaining the whole time complaining about 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.440 how they'd rather have Jerry Robins and complaining, Yeah, it's 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.160 not like calling them names or anything. There was there's 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.960 a book written his biography is Dancing with the Devil, 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:30.359 you know. So, I mean, he just was a prick. 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.960 So it was until after he was fired that one 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:38.479 of his assistants, Tony Mordente, married Rivera, you know Tony, 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.879 and Tony took over. So Tony said, let's put some 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.000 tumbling back in the in the in the film, let's 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.600 put So that's when I in the dance all number. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:49.720 I did the round off back with a full twist, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:55.320 kept dancing and everything. And so later on Jerry Robins 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.880 had a show called Jerome Robbins Broadway and the kid 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:01.800 that was playing riff did a flip on the stage 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.159 and I saw that, and I almost had a heart attack. 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:05.960 I turned to buy, I said, did you see that? 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.159 So I couldn't wait to get back to stage, you 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:09.919 know what. I met him and he was so happy 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.199 to meet me, and I said, now I gotta ask you, 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:14.600 how were you able to do a flip on the stage. 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.840 He says, that was part of the audition. So I 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:20.399 give myself a pat on the back for that. Were 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.040 you ever seriously injured doing the work? You've done only 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.000 once in a Wonderful World of Brothers Grim, which was 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:28.919 in cinerama. So it was hard to do and I 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:30.919 had to roll down a hill and jump over the 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.000 camera and I think I hit the top of the 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:37.400 camera and cut my like Tom Cruise and mission impossible. Yeah, 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:39.639 did you know when you were doing the movie what 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:41.919 the movie was going to be? Did you know? I 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.639 knew I was doing a classic movie, but I didn't 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.320 know that it was gonna end up history as history 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.520 and as big as it was. It's an epic film, 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.600 and there's a lot of big stars, so like Glenn Ford, 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.520 there's like tons of them that are big stars that 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.800 have never really had an epic phil you know that 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.719 they could hang their shirt on a big movie. I mean, 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:07.400 you think Georgia Carriss, you know, think what else has 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:11.600 he done? West Side Story is his premier and because 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.679 of that, we got to go to Grummin's Chinese and 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.760 get our hands and feet as it should cement, you know, 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:22.680 which was pretty pretty much of a trip. Actor dancer 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:27.400 West Side Story star Russ Tamblin another Here's the Thing. 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.760 Guest who came up through the old Hollywood studio system 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:33.600 is Robert Osborne, who, before he was the host of 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.480 Turner Classic Movies, was a member of Lucille Ball's stable 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:41.920 of actors at Desilu Studios in the nineties. It didn't 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.760