1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,640 Speaker 1: Before we start the episode. One production note. In this episode, 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: we have a lot of quotes from Roald Dahl from 3 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:08,479 Speaker 1: his interviews with Barry Ferrell. Rather than just have me 4 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: read them in my terrible British accent, we decided to 5 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: bring them to life, so we use an actor's performance 6 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: and some custom software to create a doll like voice. Okay, 7 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: now onto the episode. We've heard a lot about Roll 8 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: Dall so far. His days is a fighter pilot, his 9 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: work as a spy with The Irregulars, his screenwriting in Hollywood. 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: What if I told you that on his way to 11 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: becoming the most successful children's author ever, Dahl took a 12 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: quick little detour to become a world class neuroscientist. At 13 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: this point in the season, I feel like you might 14 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: actually believe me as you should. Here's Tom Solomon, a 15 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: doctor who knew Dall, speaking on Liverpool TV. 16 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 2: In his life he did some amazing medical things. He 17 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 2: actually invented a neurosurgical device to treat watch on the 18 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 2: brain to treat hydroch for us, and the treatments leant 19 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 2: very good, so he invented a new one and it 20 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 2: was used around the world. 21 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 3: Thousands of children benefited. 22 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: Okay, then roll Doll the neuroscience engineer. I promise it's 23 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: an even crazier story than that doctor just alluded to. 24 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: But in order to really understand why it was necessary 25 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: for him to become an expert in the brain, I 26 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: got to tell you about Doll's kids. Of all the 27 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 1: masks that Doll tries on, this is going to be 28 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: his most challenging doting father. For my hard podcast Imagine 29 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: Entertainment and Parallax, I'm Marrion Tracy and this is the 30 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: Secret world of Role Dall Episode five. I didn't become 31 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: a father until after my career had sort of found 32 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: its footing, until I had some stability, which took a while, 33 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,639 Speaker 1: because you know, I'm a writer. But when Dahl becomes 34 00:01:57,640 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: a dad, he's still trying to figure out his career, 35 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: to figure out what kind of writer he is. He 36 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: hasn't found his voice yet. He's still attempting adult fiction 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: in the vein of his heroes like Hemingway, Graham Green, 38 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: and C. S. Forrester. In other words, he's writing this muscular, 39 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,679 Speaker 1: macho prose focused on action. His stories at this time 40 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: are also filled with the pretty explicit sexual adventures of 41 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: his heroes. If you've never read these stories and only 42 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: no Doll from his kids books, you will be shocked. 43 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: Start with my Uncle Oswald. It is raunchy, but here's 44 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: what I'm getting at. It takes Doll going on the 45 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: insane journey with his family that you're about to hear 46 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 1: for him to figure out who his natural audience is 47 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: and what kind of writer he is. In nineteen sixty, 48 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,399 Speaker 1: Doll and Neil welcome their third child, Theo, their only son. 49 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: With two daughters already at home, Olivia and Tessa, Doll 50 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: is thrilled to finally have a boy. According to writer 51 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: Nadia Cohen, Doll writes pretty graphically about his excitement over 52 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: the babies boy parts that I'm not going to subject 53 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: you to here. I'll just say he compares it to 54 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: an exotic flower glowing with promise and leave it at that. 55 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: Dall immediately feels a special kinship with Theo, the only 56 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: boy in a family of sisters, just like Dahl had been. 57 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: Six weeks after Theo's birth, the family moves to New 58 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: York for the winter. Dahl explains what happens next to 59 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: Barry Ferrell, a journalist, to welcome back to a bunch 60 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: because he practically moves in with the family. During this period, 61 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: Farrell writes an entire book about what he witnesses. I 62 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: think Farrell was originally just hoping to write a cozy 63 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: Sunday profile, but ended up becoming embedded with the dolls, 64 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: like a war correspondent in a combat zone. So the 65 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: family is living in New York. Dall is struggling to 66 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: write his short stories while his wife pat Neil, is 67 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: on a break from shooting breakfast to Tiffany's. Dall tells 68 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: Ferrell what happens next. 69 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 4: It was December fifth, nineteen sixty. We had a nurse 70 00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 4: then Susan and Susan had THEO in his pram on 71 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 4: their way to pick up Olivia from her nursery school 72 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 4: two blocks from home, and a cab shot passed and 73 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 4: took the pram right out of Susan's hands. Susan dashed 74 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 4: across after it. The plan had flown forty feet through 75 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 4: the air and into the side of a boss. 76 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,359 Speaker 5: THEO was just four months old. 77 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: Tessa, three years old, is left standing alone on the 78 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: sidewalk as Susan rushes into the street. The police are 79 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: there within minutes and they rush them all to the hospital. 80 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: Neil is only a few blocks away when the accident happens. 81 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: She hears the sirens pass, but she has no idea 82 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: they're for her infant son. When she walks into their apartment, 83 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 1: the telephone is already ringing. As soon as she receives 84 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: the news, she hangs up and calls Doll at his office. 85 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 1: She doesn't have the full story, yet doesn't sound overly alarmed. 86 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: THEO has been hurt, she tells him. They say, not 87 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: too seriously, we have to go to the hospital. Dohl 88 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: throws on a coat and gets ready to leave, but 89 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: before he can get out the door, Susan calls from 90 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: the hospital, hysterical, saying, hurry, hurry, So then I knew 91 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: it was bad, Doll says, THEO is an emergency. When 92 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,159 Speaker 1: we get there, Doll continues, they x ray him and 93 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: find lots of fractures, very critical shape, they say. In 94 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: her memoir, Neil goes even further, writing that the doctor 95 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: pulled them aside after examining THEO. He told them we 96 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:32,919 Speaker 1: are doing everything we can, but he is going to die. 97 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: From that moment on, Neil essentially moves into the hospital, 98 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: living off stale coffee, sleeping in a chair beside her 99 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: son's bed, obsessed with the rhythms of his labored breathing 100 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: when he sleeps, which is a lot of the time. 101 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: Neil climbs two flights of stairs on unsteady legs to 102 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 1: another kind of visial. In an upstairs room at this 103 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: very same hospital is her old friend, the playwright Lillian Hellman, 104 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 1: who's keeping watch over Dashiell Hammett, the famous detective novelist 105 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 1: and her longtime romantic partner. He's dying lung cancer. It's 106 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: a really cruel symmetry. You might remember Hellman played matchmaker 107 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: for Doll o' neil by throwing that dinner party years ago. 108 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: That was the bright beginning of something in a beautiful 109 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: setting filled with brilliant writers and celebrities. Now the two 110 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 1: women are together again in the opposite of that glamorous setting, 111 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 1: no more fancy dresses, no makeup, just trapped in a 112 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: sterile Manhattan tower, terrified and grieving. But back to Dol. 113 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: He tells Ferrell about the dreadful special nurses that kept 114 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,800 Speaker 1: getting called in to theo's room. One of these nurses 115 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: walks right in and before even attending to THEO. She 116 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: shows dollan Neil in newspaper clipping about the accident and says, 117 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: how thrilled she is to be assigned this case. This 118 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: is something Doll and Neil are going to have to 119 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: get used to. Unfortunately, Neil is a world famous movie star. 120 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: Her son being in an accident like this is huge 121 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: international news, and some of the nurses seem much more 122 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: interested in getting Neil's autograph than in paying attention to 123 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: her son. They seem downright distracted. One afternoon, Doll observes 124 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: a nurse giving THEO a dose of an anti convulsant, 125 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: and she's giving him a ton of it. Doll says, 126 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: isn't that rather a lot? Yeah, sir, no half an 127 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: ounce like it's supposed to be. She replies, calmly, well, 128 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: it was supposed to be a tenth of a gram. 129 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: Doll later explains, a hell of a lot less. Doctors 130 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: rush in and start to pump the stomach of this 131 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: poor four month old baby after the nurse's mistake. Despite 132 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: the comfort of having helmet and ham it right upstairs, 133 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: the Dolls decide to get the hell out of this hospital, 134 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: so they wrap THEO and blankets, pick him up in 135 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: their arms and just carry him out. All the doctors 136 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: are standing around, looking very worried and protesting, Doll says, 137 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: but their minds are made up to make matters worse. 138 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: It's a crazy snow day in New York. But then 139 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: Niel's longtime agent, Harvey Orkin, suddenly materializes with a car. 140 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 4: Doll continues, It was snowing like hell, and we were desperate. 141 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 4: But then Harvey suddenly materialized with a car, and he 142 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 4: drove very fast and very skillfully through the blizzard, with 143 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 4: cars skidding at odd angles all around us. I'd not 144 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 4: forgotten my ride, because here was Harvey, an unhappyish chap, 145 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 4: a wise, cracky fellow, a person I wasn't so keen on, 146 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 4: and who doubtlessly wasn't so fond of me. Yet there 147 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 4: was Harvey, still the sort of friend who would drive 148 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 4: through the snow for you in an emergency. 149 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: I love this, Dezel. Loyalty is such an important theme 150 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: in Doll's work. Think of Matilda and Miss Honey, Sophie 151 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 1: and the BFG Charlie and Grandpa Joe. You can just 152 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: feel how much it means to Doll that this guy, 153 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,319 Speaker 1: this agent, who's not even a close friend, has nevertheless 154 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: shown up in a snowstorm to save them. Harvey drives 155 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: them to Presbyterian Hospital. I know it well, It's where 156 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: I had both of my kids. Here. The doctors evaluate 157 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: THEO and operate on him for a subdermal hematoma, which 158 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: is a kind of swelling cause by bleeding into the brain. 159 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: And they put it right, Dahl says, a huge, huge relief. Still, 160 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: THEO will stay in the hospital inside an oxygen tent 161 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: for the next two weeks. It's a terrible period. THEO 162 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: goes temporarily blind from cerebro spinal fluid accumulating around his brain, 163 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: which requires another operation. Remember he's only four months old. 164 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: Each operation is incredibly dangerous. Neil somehow stays relatively calm 165 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: through it all. She has a kind of strength you 166 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: could only step back from and admire. Doll later gushes 167 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: about his wife. THEO finally gets released from the hospital 168 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: right before Christmas. He goes home, but he's a bunch 169 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: of terrifying stepbacks, according to Dennison, including a build up 170 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: of cerebro spinal fluid pressing on the brain that renders 171 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: him silent, unseen, unmoving. Every time there's this build up 172 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 1: of food, they have to hurry him back to the 173 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: hospital for the fluid to be drained, and of course 174 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: this puts THEO at risk of blindness, brain damage, and death. 175 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:10,319 Speaker 1: Doctors try to prevent further fluid build up with a 176 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 1: drainage tube, but the tube keeps getting blocked, making another 177 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: operation necessary, and with every operation the stakes are raised 178 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: and the chances lesson of restoring theo's sight and brain function. 179 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,840 Speaker 1: Neil says, whenever they take THEO back in for surgery, 180 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 1: he looks up at us with those huge, desolate, bewildered 181 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: eyes that ask, why are you doing this to me again? 182 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: THEO has eight operations in thirty months, all before he's 183 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: three years old, and it's almost all due to the 184 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: inability of this tube to work. I think in a 185 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: lot of partnerships, when one person becomes pessimistic or feels 186 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: defeated about something, the other person just naturally becomes more 187 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: optimistic and upbeat. I've definitely experienced this over the years 188 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: in writing partnerships. While Neil may be showing a ton 189 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: of strength, THEO, she's genuinely not sure if he's going 190 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: to make it through all this so Dall takes the 191 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:09,319 Speaker 1: opposite outlook. According to Dennison, Again, Dall sets aside any 192 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: assumption that THEO will die. He just puts it out 193 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: of his mind and sets out to find a way 194 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: to save him. Doll's sole focus becomes this tube that 195 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: keeps failing. He writes, I couldn't believe that with everything 196 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: science had come up with, they couldn't produce one little 197 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: clogproof tube. That little clogproof tube becomes his life's mission. 198 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: But what the hell does a writer know about medical tubes? 199 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: Without any medical expertise, a drawn Dall relies on his 200 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: creativity instead. But where to begin. His first call is 201 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,599 Speaker 1: to doctor Kenneth Till, a pediatric neurosurgeon who's been in 202 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: charge of THEO at the hospital. Till can help with 203 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: the science, but they need someone else, to someone who 204 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: can help with the design. In a very inspired, very creative, 205 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: very dolly in move, Doll decides to call a toy maker. 206 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: He knows Stanley Wade. Doll had once bought model airplanes 207 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: from Wade for his nephew, and he remembers how ingenious 208 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: Wade was with tiny instruments. Together the three of them, 209 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: Doll Till and Wade spend hours in Doll's living room 210 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,199 Speaker 1: brainstorming ideas. It's not that different from the writer's room 211 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:21,640 Speaker 1: in la where Walt Disney first taught Doll how to 212 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: collaborate years ago. They throw ideas on the board, rejecting 213 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 1: ones that don't work and building on those that do. 214 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: They take breaks to play pool, They snack, they laugh, 215 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: They pour coffee down their throats by the gallon. In hindsight, 216 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:36,680 Speaker 1: what they come up with seem so obvious, but no 217 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: one had done it before. For instance, until that moment, 218 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,200 Speaker 1: all of these tubes were made of plastic, which was 219 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 1: expensive and hard to sterilize. Doll and his two partners 220 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: swapped out the plastic for stainless steel, which made the 221 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 1: device more durable and also way easier to disinfect and 222 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: prevent infections. They also changed the designs slightly to give 223 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: the tube a bigger surface area, which prevented fluid from 224 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: flowing back into the brain and eating blackage. Again, sounds obvious, 225 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 1: but no one had ever come up with a design 226 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,599 Speaker 1: that reduced the risk of blockage before. I don't know 227 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,080 Speaker 1: if it's the special alchemy of these three specific men 228 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: with their very different skill sets or the urgency. Doll 229 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: feels to get this done quickly to save his son. 230 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: But together, Doll, Till and Wade come up with a 231 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: better tube than has ever existed. Can I just stop 232 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: for a second here to say, Oh my God? With 233 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: absolutely no training, Doll wills himself to come up with 234 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: this breakthrough device in order to save theo his only son. 235 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: Is that not the greatest thing you've ever heard? His 236 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 1: poor infant son is dying. Nothing is working, and instead 237 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:42,360 Speaker 1: of just throwing his hands up, he literally invents the solution. 238 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: It takes two years for them to build it, which 239 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:47,320 Speaker 1: is roughly forty thousand years fewer than it would have 240 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: taken me. The Wade Doll Till valve name for its 241 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: three innovators, is so successful that it soon gets manufactured globally. 242 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,040 Speaker 1: Dall insists they not make a profit on it in 243 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: order to be able to distribute it cheaply. According to 244 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: the National Library of Medicine at NIH, the device is 245 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: estimated to have been used in two to three thousand 246 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: children worldwide in the two years after they came up 247 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 1: with it. It's especially useful in developing nations, where medical 248 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 1: devices like this mean the difference between life and death. 249 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: Not to take us off topic, but a quick aside 250 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: just to say that I did a bunch of research 251 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: around this, and the only similar example I've found of 252 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: anything like this ever happening a breakthrough medical device getting 253 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: created by someone without medical training is exactly one year later, 254 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: a guy named Paul Winchell, a TV actor who appeared 255 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: in lots of sitcoms like The Brady Bunch and The 256 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: Beverly Hillbillies and was the original voice of Tigger and 257 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: Winnie the Pooh. He co creates the first artificial heart. 258 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: I have nothing more to say about that except what 259 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: the hell was happening in the sixties for Dahl. Creating 260 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: the tube is another incredible feat in a life full 261 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 1: of them. I think each of these accomplishments was only 262 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: possible because of the one that came before. They all 263 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: built on each other. When Doll was recruited into the 264 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: Irregulars in his twenties without any espionage training, he didn't 265 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: know what he was doing, but in a matter of 266 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: months he was hanging out with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. 267 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: When he decided to write movies, he was completely clueless, 268 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: but soon he was on top of Hollywood, working with 269 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock. When you go through life 270 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: like that with no apparent ceiling to what's possible, with 271 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: life constantly reinforcing your crazy ambitions, you must start to 272 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: feel like nothing is out of reach. So when no 273 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: device exists to help cure your infant son, you don't 274 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: go to church and pray. You call a doctor and 275 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 1: a toymaker you know, and say let's get to work. Doll, 276 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: of course, later puts all of this into his writing. 277 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: The lead character in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is partly 278 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: based on the toymaker Wade, and Willy Wonka has parts 279 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: of all three men, an innovating scientist, a creative genius, 280 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: a toy making savant. But instead of torturing children like 281 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: Wonka does, Doll and his buddies build a device to 282 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: save them. 283 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 4: Invention, my dear friends, is ninety three percent per aspiration, 284 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 4: six percent electricity, four percent evaporation, and two percent. 285 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: But a Scotch ripple that's one hundred and five percent. That's, 286 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: of course, the line from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 287 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 1: But Doll isn't yet ready to write that he's still 288 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 1: a few years away from dreaming wanka up. He's still 289 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: writing for the wrong audience, namely adults, and it's not 290 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: going well. Doll's creative frustration start bleeding into his home life, 291 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 1: adding strain to a family already fractured by theo's accident. 292 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:39,440 Speaker 1: But if he thinks the pressures are intense right now, 293 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: they're nothing compared to what's lying right around the corner. 294 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: Doll o'niel's second oldest daughter, Tessa, sums up what's about 295 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: to happen well when she says, theirs was a family 296 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: that quote toppled unwittingly over the edge of a jagged 297 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 1: cliff face into a canyon of darkness, which was filled 298 00:16:56,160 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: with such sadness, such total devastation, that we would never recover. Yeah, 299 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: get ready. Olivia is Dall o'nil's first born. It's now 300 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 1: November nineteen sixty two, a little less than two years 301 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: after Theo's accident. The family has left New York and 302 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: is living in England. Now, Olivia comes home with a 303 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: note from the headmistress of her elementary school warning of 304 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 1: a measles outbreak. She's seven years old. Doll Emil's first thought, 305 00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: of course, is about THEO. After what he's been through, 306 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,040 Speaker 1: they can't risk him getting the virus under any circumstances. 307 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 1: Vaccines against the disease are still pretty uncommon in this era, 308 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,920 Speaker 1: and doses are unlimited supply. But pulling some strings, Meal 309 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: is able to obtain the vaccine for THEO, which means Olivia, 310 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 1: who's perfectly healthy, doesn't get any protection. And of course 311 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: Olivia contracts measles. It does seem like a terrible case 312 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: at first, but here's doll on what happens next. 313 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 4: One morning, when Olivia was well on the road to recovery, 314 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,159 Speaker 4: I was sitting on her bed showing her how to 315 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 4: fashion little animals out of colored pipe cleaners, And when 316 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,399 Speaker 4: it came to her turn to make one herself, I 317 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,880 Speaker 4: noticed that her fingers in her mind were not working together, 318 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:26,640 Speaker 4: and she couldn't do anything. 319 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,919 Speaker 5: How are you feeling all right, I asked her. I 320 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 5: feel all sleepy, she said. In an hour she was unconscious, 321 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,399 Speaker 5: and in twelve hours she was dead. 322 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: In such a cruel mirror to his own childhood, Olivia 323 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 1: is seven when she dies, the same age Doll's older sister, 324 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: Astri was when she died. The defining moment of Doll's childhood, 325 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: repeated again in his adulthood. In Doll's memoir Boy, he 326 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: writes about Astri she was far and away my father's favorite. 327 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: He says he adored her beyond measure, and her sudden 328 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: death left him literally speechless for days afterwards. Dall's father 329 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: was so overwhelmed with grief that when he himself went 330 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: down in pneumonia a few weeks after Astrey died, he 331 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: didn't care whether or not he survived. Doll writes, a 332 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,920 Speaker 1: patient had to fight to survive. My father refused to fight. 333 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,399 Speaker 1: He was thinking, I am quite sure of his beloved daughter, 334 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: and he was wanting to join her in heaven. So 335 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: he died too. He was fifty seven years old. My 336 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: mother had now lost a daughter and a husband, all 337 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: in the space of a few weeks. Heaven knows what 338 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: it must have felt like to be hit with a 339 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,159 Speaker 1: double catastrophe like this, Doll finishes, which is such a 340 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: strange turn of phrase, because, of course Dall was hit 341 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: with it too. He was three years old. So the 342 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: big question right now for Doll can he be stronger 343 00:19:57,359 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 1: than his father? Was? He genuine he doesn't know the answer. 344 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,160 Speaker 1: He becomes lost. He begins drinking more and taking more 345 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: painkillers for his old back injury from the plane crash. 346 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: It happened so swiftly that one didn't have time to 347 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,719 Speaker 1: prepare for it. Doll writes, I was in a kind 348 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 1: of daze, I suppose, and morbid thoughts kept after me. 349 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: That kind of thought can run you down, you know, 350 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: worrying about fate and the meaning of things. I couldn't 351 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: do any writing, and that went on for about a 352 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:30,360 Speaker 1: year and a half. According to Dennison, Doll's only recourse 353 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,880 Speaker 1: is to try to figure out exactly what happened to Olivia. 354 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: Maybe he can invent something that will help others in 355 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: the same situation, like the medical tube he made for THEO. 356 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 1: He remembers that Olivia strangely hadn't had a reaction to 357 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:46,160 Speaker 1: her smallpox vaccinations years before, meaning she seemed naturally immune 358 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: to that disease. Huh, maybe there was a connection between 359 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,840 Speaker 1: that and her measle's reaction. He begins writing letters to 360 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:57,640 Speaker 1: specialists around the globe. He is desperate for answers. Dall 361 00:20:57,720 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: tells Barry Ferrell. 362 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 4: I got the idea that the must be some way 363 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:03,919 Speaker 4: of finding out in advance if a child is susceptible 364 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,880 Speaker 4: to this. I wanted to set up a careful investigation, 365 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 4: and I was prepared to get in touch with every 366 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 4: parent of every child in this country who had had 367 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 4: severe complications from measles. I thought of drawing up a 368 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 4: questionnaire and correlating the answers. But by then the inoculation 369 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 4: against measles had become more common in England, so the 370 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 4: problem had been very largely erased. 371 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: Still, Dahl seems hell banned on blaming himself for Olivia's death. 372 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:32,359 Speaker 1: After Theo's accident on the Upper East Side, Dal O'Neil 373 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:34,399 Speaker 1: had decided to get the hell out of Manhattan. 374 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 4: Normally we would have been in New York in November, 375 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,399 Speaker 4: but after the accident we said, let's get out of 376 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 4: this place where children are hit by taxi cabs, and 377 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 4: we moved our permanent household to England. Of course, Olivia 378 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 4: wouldn't have died if we had stayed in New York. 379 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 4: They had the inoculations there, but here in England they 380 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,760 Speaker 4: weren't available them. 381 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,400 Speaker 1: Meal's strategy to deal with all this grief is through religion, 382 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: finding solace in her Southern Protestant upbringing. But Doll is 383 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: dismissive of nearly all religious beliefs, comparing them to superstition. 384 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,360 Speaker 1: I don't have those feelings at all, he writes, though 385 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: he does confess to having moments of wondering how so 386 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: much misfortune could befall one family. But Doll doesn't see 387 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,399 Speaker 1: it as a curse or, as he puts it, a 388 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: doom coming down on us. He just thought, how odd. 389 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,119 Speaker 1: I don't think I'm capable of taking it beyond that, 390 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 1: Superstition is something one grows out of. You try avoiding 391 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: all the cracks in the pavement, or you touch all 392 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: the posts in the fence, but then you find out 393 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 1: later that it doesn't help. You find out that it's 394 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:36,439 Speaker 1: not going to make a bit of difference if you 395 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: step on the cracks or not. I think I just 396 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: realized subconsciously that if you start thinking about bad luck, 397 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: you're starting to weaken. The great thing is to keep going. 398 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: Whatever happens, Doll finishes, so unlike his father, Doll decides 399 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: to live. He becomes the embodiment of that famous Samuel 400 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: Beckett phrase, you must go on. I can't go on. 401 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:04,639 Speaker 1: I'll go on. Tessa meanwhile, needs her parents help to 402 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: this poor girl. She watched her brother's accident from the sidewalk, 403 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 1: and now her older sister is dead. She's understandably struggling. 404 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: The Dolls take her to see Anna Freud, a pioneering 405 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 1: psychoanalyst and the youngest daughter of Sigmund. Anna suggests family 406 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:24,200 Speaker 1: therapy for the Dolls, but Roled refuses. His writing still 407 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 1: isn't going well and he doesn't want to take any 408 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,679 Speaker 1: chances of losing his edge. He says he seemed too 409 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: many writers who could never create anymore after they had 410 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: all their nooks and crannies flattened like pancakes. No therapy 411 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:39,639 Speaker 1: for him, but Doll does need to find something, something 412 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: that will give his life meaning again. He tells Barry 413 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: Ferrell that there was something that had a huge influence 414 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: on him during the war. It was called Mcrobert's Reply. 415 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 4: Lady McRobert was a fine Scottish woman with a manor house, 416 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 4: and she had three sons, all an the raf all pilots, 417 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 4: and all of them killed one after the other in 418 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 4: nineteen forty one. Lady McRobert, upon hearing this news, gave 419 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 4: a tremendous sum of money to pay for the cost 420 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 4: of a sterling bomber, and when that plane was built, 421 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 4: she had painted on it. Lady Mcrobert's reply, I can 422 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 4: remember being moved by that. It was something really dauntless. 423 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 4: You simply cannot defeat such people. 424 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,840 Speaker 1: Doc comes up with his own version of this. He 425 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,399 Speaker 1: dedicates his masterpiece, The BFG, to Olivia. The book was 426 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,720 Speaker 1: inspired by a story he would tell Olivia at night 427 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: while she fell asleep. Now millions of other children benefit 428 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: from it. It's not exactly a sterling bomber to avenge 429 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,119 Speaker 1: his child's death, but it is his own defiant reply 430 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:49,239 Speaker 1: to loss, transforming grief into wonder, ensuring that while one 431 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: little girl's laughter was silenced, countless others will echo thanks 432 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 1: to the pages he writes in her memory. Okay, it's 433 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five. Now Dahl has lost a daughter. He 434 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 1: has a son who's in and out of the hospital. 435 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: His writing is not going well. He still hasn't found 436 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,360 Speaker 1: his voice or his audience. But at least he's got 437 00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: his wife right again. Hold on tight. Just a few 438 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: years after Olivia's death, Neil lands a huge acting job. 439 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,199 Speaker 1: It's the lead in a studio film being directed by 440 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: one of Hollywood's All Time Legends four time Best Director 441 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 1: winner John Ford. 442 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,440 Speaker 6: Back in the sixties, Orson Welles was interviewed and one 443 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 6: of the questions he was asked was who his favorite 444 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,680 Speaker 6: American directors were. He said, well, I prefer the old masters, 445 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 6: by which I mean john Ford, john Ford and John Ford. 446 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,920 Speaker 1: That was director of Peter Bugdanovich from a documentary called 447 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: Directed by John Ford. The movie Ford wants Patrician Neil 448 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,119 Speaker 1: to star in will be his final film. He's retiring, 449 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: even though he's less than a decade removed from some 450 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: of his best work, like The Searchers and The Man 451 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:57,440 Speaker 1: Who Shot Liberty Violence. Neil is ecstatic to work with Ford, 452 00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:59,400 Speaker 1: and it's maybe the only gig she would have said 453 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: yes to right now, because, in addition to everything else 454 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,640 Speaker 1: going on with her family, she's just discovered she's three 455 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:08,440 Speaker 1: months pregnant. Neil brings Doll and the kids out to 456 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 1: LA for the shoot. She's hoping, praying it'll be a 457 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: comforting change of scenery for the grieving family. Neil arranges 458 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: for all of them to stay in director Martin Ritt's house. 459 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,160 Speaker 1: Years earlier, Ritt directed Neil to an Oscar in hud 460 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:24,680 Speaker 1: By this point, his career has been derailed by the 461 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 1: Hollywood Blacklist for being a suspected communist. One look at 462 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: his crazy mansion of the Palisades, though, and you know 463 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,879 Speaker 1: this guy isn't totally opposed to capitalism, writ and his 464 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: family are abroad, so Neil, Doll and the kids have 465 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: it all to themselves. When they arrive in La It's February. 466 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: Neil begins filming. Four days into the shoot, she has 467 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: the afternoon off. She comes home to give Tessa a bath. Suddenly, 468 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: out of nowhere, Neil feels a searing headache. Come on, 469 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: headache isn't even the right word. It's like a knife 470 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:03,879 Speaker 1: in her skull. Later writes, she collapses to the floor 471 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: next to the bathtub. Dol happens to be in the bedroom, 472 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,560 Speaker 1: so he hears the thud and comes rushing in. He 473 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,119 Speaker 1: finds Neil unconscious. He quickly pulls poor Tessa out of 474 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:17,239 Speaker 1: the tub. She's crying her eyes out looking at her 475 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 1: mom unconscious on the floor. Doll's panic only lasts a moment. 476 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 1: He's been here before. Almost an autopilot, Doll flies into action. 477 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: He's ready for this. THEO and Olivia have prepared him first, 478 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,040 Speaker 1: he calls an ambulance, then quickly calls doctor Charles Carton, 479 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,879 Speaker 1: a neurosurgeon who consulted on THEO. It's kind of an 480 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: amazing twist of fate. Only because of Theo's accident does 481 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:44,720 Speaker 1: Doll have the home phone number of one of the 482 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: best neurosurgeons in the world. Thanks to Doll's quick thinking, 483 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: they're a UCLA medical center within twenty minutes of Neil 484 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: falling in the bathroom. Doctor Carton arrives at the same 485 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: time they do. He instantly takes charge, ordering tests and 486 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: X rays. Lead aprons are placed over Neil's belly to 487 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: protect the unborn child. Later, a TV movie will be 488 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,119 Speaker 1: made about all this. I'm afraid it's what I suspected. 489 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: Here's the moment from the film. It's an enterrannial hemorrhage, 490 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:13,680 Speaker 1: a stroke. If we had another. 491 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 7: Hemorrhage just now research sad happened while we were X 492 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:18,879 Speaker 7: raying in the same place. 493 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I know. 494 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 3: Unfortunately, you're familiar with the brain because of Theo's accident 495 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:25,560 Speaker 3: in New York. 496 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: Another emergency involving the brain. It's almost too hard to believe. First, 497 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: in his twenties, Doll had brain damage from his plane 498 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: crash in the war. Later, his mentor, Charles Marsh died 499 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: from brain inflammation from a mosquito bite. Then theo got 500 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: a brain injury from being hit by a taxi. Olivia 501 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: died from brain inflammation from the measles, and now Neil 502 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:58,959 Speaker 1: has had a brain aneurysm. What on Earth? Doctor Carton 503 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 1: bluntly tells dol not to be optimistic. Without surgery, Neil 504 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: will definitely die, but she's unlikely to survive the surgery, 505 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: and if she does survive, she'll have severe complications for 506 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: the rest of her life. Dahl has to decide what 507 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,440 Speaker 1: to do. He tells the doctor to do the surgery. 508 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,840 Speaker 1: So Carton and six other doctors operate on Neil for 509 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: the next seven hours. They cut a four x six 510 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: trap door in her head to remove the blood clots 511 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: in her brain. After the seven hours, the surgery is successful, 512 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: which is sort of shocking even to the doctors. Neil 513 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: will live, but they're sure she'll never be herself again. 514 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: Here's Dahl recounting it all to BBC. One legend, Michael Parkinson. 515 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 3: I said to Charlie Carton, the surgeon, I said, well, 516 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,160 Speaker 3: She's going to live now, isn't she? He said, yes, 517 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 3: she is. With that, I'm not sure how Tianya will 518 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 3: favor you see, which is the right thing to say? 519 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: Isn't heal? Because they odds are it's a vegetable? 520 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 3: Well they oh, yes, with that kind of brand, Abby. 521 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,760 Speaker 1: It really shakes me up when Dahl says it's a vegetable, 522 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: as if he has to emotionally distance himself from her 523 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: by making her an object. The family does its best 524 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: to keep a low profile during this impossible time, but 525 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: Neil is only two years removed from winning Best Actress. 526 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: She's one of the most famous movie stars in the 527 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,160 Speaker 1: world at the height of her powers. And then on 528 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: February twenty second, Variety runs a story with the banner 529 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: headline film actress Patricia Neil dies at thirty nine. Only 530 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: problem is she's not dead. Reporters, fans, and photographers swarm 531 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: the hospital for the ten days after the surgery. Neil 532 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: remains at a coma doll has to just sit and 533 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: wait to find out what his wife will be like 534 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: when she wakes up. But over that week and a 535 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 1: half he makes a decision. He decides it doesn't matter 536 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: what her abilities are. When she wakes up, He's gonna 537 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: will her back to her old self no matter what. 538 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: For all of Dall's character faults, he's an amazing caretaker 539 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: in times of crisis. During her coma, Doll remains at 540 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: his wife's bedside all day, every day, leaving only to eat, 541 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: see the kids, or catch a few hours of sleep. 542 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: And when she wakes up, his work begins. He's determined 543 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: to get his children their mother back. It's hard not 544 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: to imagine that this is what Doll wishes his mother 545 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: had done for his father when he was three years old. 546 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,760 Speaker 1: If his mother had had Doll's forceful nature, his stubbornness, 547 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 1: his arrogance, might she have forced his dad to beat 548 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: his pneumonia and depression and live so the Doll could 549 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: have grown up with the father. Neil remains in the 550 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: hospital for over a month, a few days longer than 551 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: Theo's day. In the beginning, she can barely speak, and 552 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: she doesn't seem to remember words or names or events. 553 00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 1: But Dol won't permit that to last. It's his new 554 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 1: version of creating Theo's tube. He's going to fix Neil himself. 555 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: As Dennison writes that Pat should recover and recover fully. 556 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 1: Became Rold's obsessive concern. More than any doctor, nurse, or therapist, 557 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: rolled dominated the steps of Pat's recovery. When Dahl finally 558 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: takes his wife home, her right leg is in a 559 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: brace and she has a patch over one eye. He 560 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:25,280 Speaker 1: quickly hires a nurse, a physiotherapist, and a speech therapist. 561 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:28,320 Speaker 1: Doctors warn him that more than an hour per day 562 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 1: of therapy is too much for Neil. But with no 563 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: formal medical or therapeutic training himself, just an unshakable belief 564 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: that he knows what's right, Dahal rejects their advice and 565 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:41,560 Speaker 1: creates a rigorous schedule for his wife all day, every day. 566 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 1: Their friends who visit are shocked at Doll's militaristic attitude. 567 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,000 Speaker 1: He seems to be torturing Neil. He becomes unrelenting, forcing 568 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: her to do speech therapy five hours a day. The 569 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: only thing that keeps Neil going is looking at theo 570 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 1: seeing how well he's doing, which convinces her of the 571 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:03,720 Speaker 1: brains of to heal itself. But of course it's still 572 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: an impossible struggle for Neil. She can barely speak or move. 573 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:10,960 Speaker 1: She has no agency. She cries all the time as 574 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: her speech comes back and fits and starts. She blows 575 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 1: up at Doll constantly, and she asks Barry Ferrell, the 576 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 1: journalist who's covering all this and who's become one of 577 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 1: her best friends, how to commit suicide. Farrell, who's just thirty, 578 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 1: is totally freaked out by this world famous actress asking 579 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: him these questions. He doesn't know whether he should tell 580 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 1: Doll or not. It turned out not to matter, because 581 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: one night at dinner, Ferrell explains pat mentioned suicide in 582 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: front of Rold and some guests, making her usual joke 583 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: about not knowing how she had drunk a bit too 584 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: much wine, and the laughter that spilled out of her 585 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: as she spoke sounded wild and demented. Well, if that's 586 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: all that's sopping you, your problems are solved, Doll tells 587 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: her in front of everyone. We've got knives in the 588 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: kitchen that will do you up fine, and there are 589 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,480 Speaker 1: my razor blades upstairs or else. You can lock yourself 590 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 1: in the car and turn on the engine, and before 591 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 1: you know it, Bob's your uncle. Nothing to it. Making 592 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 1: a joke of it is, of course, Doll's way to cope, 593 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: and then he finds another way, turning it into his fiction. 594 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:12,239 Speaker 1: Here's Doll explaining to Michael Parkinson. 595 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 3: Again when she started to pick up words, she made 596 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 3: them up, and I made her list them once. I 597 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 3: don't know where they asked. You'd just once say you'll 598 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 3: drive me crazy. She used to say, you'll jake my 599 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:27,239 Speaker 3: de Arbels. It is a spindle phrase. She used to 600 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,839 Speaker 3: call it a dry martini, a red screwdriver. 601 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 1: Dolls taking notes on all of his wife's funny, strange 602 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: turns of phrase, and it's going to put them into 603 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: the mouth of the BFG. If you haven't read that 604 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 1: book in a while. Here's a typical speech by the 605 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 1: giant from Steven Spielberg's adaptation. 606 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 8: And then there would be a great rumple dumpish, wouldn't they, 607 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 8: And all the human beans would be rummaging and whiffling 608 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 8: from the jarant what you saw and getting wildly excited. 609 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 8: And then they'd be locking me up in a cage 610 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,319 Speaker 8: and to be looked at with all the squiggling, you know, 611 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 8: hippo dumplings and crocodilen dilly's and jiggy rabs, and then 612 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,360 Speaker 8: there would be a joy gantious looksy joint hunt for 613 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 8: all of the boys. 614 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:14,279 Speaker 1: I liked how that very unique speech pattern is part 615 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 1: of what makes the BFG one of the most indelible 616 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: characters ever put to print, And it comes right out 617 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,960 Speaker 1: of his wife's stroke. On the one hand, it's not 618 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,239 Speaker 1: Doll's most attractive trait to poke fun at his ill 619 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:28,600 Speaker 1: wife's limitations. On the other, turning what must have been 620 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: intense private pain into his art is what all great 621 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,200 Speaker 1: artists have always done. It just comes off a little 622 00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:36,759 Speaker 1: more comical in Doll's case, but he does make the 623 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 1: bfg's wordplay sympathetic, at least, like when he has him say, 624 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,440 Speaker 1: please understand that I cannot be helping it if I 625 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: sometimes is saying things a little squiggly words, is oh, 626 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: such a twitch tickling problem to me. For Neil, of course, 627 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: it was much more terrifying than funny. Here she is 628 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 1: years later on Fresh Air speaking to Terry Gross. 629 00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:00,480 Speaker 7: I didn't even know one word from the other when 630 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 7: I first became conscious. My son he used to give 631 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:09,760 Speaker 7: me reading lessons. You know. He would say cat and dog. 632 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 7: I mean they'd be written because he had had to 633 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 7: have those cards when he was young. I didn't even 634 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 7: know what that meant. I knew what nothing meant. You 635 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,400 Speaker 7: have no idea when your brain is operating on me, 636 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,279 Speaker 7: you have no brain. It's sad. 637 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:26,799 Speaker 1: As you can hear from that clip, Neil did make 638 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: the amazing recovery that her husband insisted on. What maybe 639 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:33,319 Speaker 1: most miraculous about the entire ordeal is that despite the 640 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: intense trauma Neil goes through, she somehow doesn't lose the pregnancy. 641 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: She was three months long when the stroke happened. In 642 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 1: the first week of August, Neil gives birth to their 643 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:47,400 Speaker 1: fifth and final child, a happy, perfectly healthy baby girl, Lucy, 644 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:54,440 Speaker 1: and life continues. Neil's good buddy, the actress Anne Bancroft, 645 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: steps into her role on the John Ford film and 646 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 1: comes by the house all the time, often with her 647 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,480 Speaker 1: husband mel Brooks. Not for nothing, but knowing what we 648 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: do now about dolls feelings about Jews, there is no 649 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,560 Speaker 1: amount of money I wouldn't pay to just watch him 650 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: interact with mel Brooks. Lots of Neil's friends come by 651 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,560 Speaker 1: to see her during this period. Frank Sinatra shows up 652 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,680 Speaker 1: with a stack of records, Judy Garland brings flowers, Carrie 653 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:20,600 Speaker 1: Grant and john Ford come for coffee, Robert Altman drops 654 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: by to cook dinner for the family. Dahl's nutty rehab 655 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: program for his wife has worked. It's an incredible comeback story, 656 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:31,800 Speaker 1: and Neil has offered tons of jobs. According to Cohen, 657 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,479 Speaker 1: Mike Nichols offers her one of the most iconic roles 658 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,960 Speaker 1: in cinema history, the part of Missus Robinson, opposite Dustin 659 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,800 Speaker 1: Hoffman and the Graduate. But Neil doesn't think she's ready 660 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,360 Speaker 1: for such a heavy lift, and the role goes again 661 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:47,279 Speaker 1: to her pal An Bancroft. Instead, Neil takes on some 662 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:51,240 Speaker 1: commercials for pain relievers, easy gigs, which speak to her recovery. 663 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,120 Speaker 9: You can't let a simple headache interfere with the joy 664 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 9: of life get in the way of your day. The 665 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,799 Speaker 9: joys of this world belong to the bjas. Let ann 666 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 9: to help you bite headache pain and win well. 667 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:05,960 Speaker 1: The commercials pay well. The bills for Neil's medical care 668 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: are astronomical. Her insurance with the screen actor's Guil covers some, 669 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: but with Doll's insistance on round the clock rehab expenses 670 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,720 Speaker 1: are adding up, and without Neil fully back at work, 671 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:22,879 Speaker 1: Doll has to become the breadwinner. Doll tries to figure 672 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: out how he can start making some real money. He 673 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:27,760 Speaker 1: shifts gears. Doll has always gotten a lot of pleasure 674 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,799 Speaker 1: out of making up stories for his kids, and with 675 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,480 Speaker 1: Olivia and Theo's accidents, his kids have been on his 676 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:35,640 Speaker 1: mind non stop for several years now. He decides to 677 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,640 Speaker 1: try an experiment. He takes one of his old stories 678 00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,600 Speaker 1: for adults, William and Mary, about a troubled marriage, and 679 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:44,480 Speaker 1: more or less rewrites it for kids. It's a strange 680 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:46,760 Speaker 1: idea for a children's story, but it's about to become 681 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,560 Speaker 1: about a million times more successful in that forum than 682 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,480 Speaker 1: it ever was for adults. He does the same thing 683 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: with another one of his adult stories, fifty Thousand frog Skins, 684 00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:01,239 Speaker 1: and again it becomes a classic. It took Dahl going 685 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:04,200 Speaker 1: through everything you just heard with his wife and especially 686 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:09,400 Speaker 1: with his children for him to finally find his voice. 687 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,320 Speaker 1: Doll is about to get everything he's ever wanted become 688 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 1: one of the richest, most famous, most successful men in 689 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,880 Speaker 1: the world. We'll hear all of that in our next episode, 690 00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:21,080 Speaker 1: and we'll also hear how he basically does everything he 691 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:31,280 Speaker 1: possibly can to screw it all up. The secret world 692 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,719 Speaker 1: of Role Dall is produced by Imagine Audio and Parallax 693 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 1: Studios for iHeart Podcasts. Created and written by me Aaron Tracy, 694 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:44,440 Speaker 1: produced by Matt Schrader. Post production by wind Hill Studios, 695 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:48,320 Speaker 1: with editing, scoring, and sound design by Mark Henry Phillips. 696 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:54,239 Speaker 1: Editing by Ryan Seton, Music by a PM. Executive producers 697 00:39:54,520 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 1: Nathan Cloke, Karl Welker, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Aaron Treece. 698 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:04,600 Speaker 1: Additional voice performances and recreation by Mark Henry Phillips and 699 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:07,880 Speaker 1: eleven Laps. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to 700 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:10,880 Speaker 1: rate and review The Secret World of Role Dall on 701 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:15,120 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Copyright twenty 702 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:19,279 Speaker 1: twenty six Imagine Entertainment, iHeartMedia and Parallax