WEBVTT - Robert Osborne 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.240 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:06.400 Can you hear me? If I call you Drew by mistake, 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:10.600 you'll cut that out if you call me Drew by mistake. 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.000 Robert Osborne has been hosting Turner Classic Movies for the 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.239 past eighteen years. Drew Barrymore is his co pilot. This year, 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:22.919 I had joined him for three years and I'm still 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.720 waiting to be asked back. At Turner Classic Movies, Bob 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.040 Osborne plays the role of ambassador to a bygone era 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.600 that he's helped make more popular now than ever. The 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:35.640 journey he took to get there could have made a 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.280 classic movie itself. Small town kid falls in love with 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.640 the movies, and with nothing but instincts and charm, finds 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.960 himself thrust into an incredible adventure and osborne story. The 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.479 players are legendary, the backdrop is epic, and the plot 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.120 twists will make you say that could only happen in 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:57.320 the movies and Robert Osborne's odyssey. The detours are numerous, 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.279 but hardly incidental. You'll be glad he leaves nothing on 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.039 the editing room floor. I grew up in a small 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.280 town where I went to the movies a lot and 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.640 fell in love with all these people also fell in 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:10.960 love with the movie business. So all I saw were 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:12.880 actors on the screen. So I thought, well, that's what 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:14.399 I have to be if I want to be a 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.680 part of the movie business. Nobody then was talking about 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.640 film editors. There were no film schools talking about directing, 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.200 you know, any of that kind of stuff. I decidedn't 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:25.080 want to be an actor, and so I was doing 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.360 Did your parents say about that that was fine as 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:31.720 long as I got an education, Yeah, they were. They were. 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:33.960 They were ti people that said, you know, be practical, 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.280 get an education and something you can make a living at. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.240 But do what you want to do, at least try 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:40.399 it and then if it doesn't work out and move 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.839 to something else. So I started doing a little theater 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.119 work in Seattle, and one of the plays I did 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.040 was a play called Knight mus Fall with Jane Darwell. 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.840 Jane Darwell and is the lady you would know this 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:53.960 who played Henry Fond his mother in the Grapes of 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:56.720 and won the Oscar for it. And she's the one 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.040 that said, you know, when you get finished with this, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.200 what are you gonna do when you finish your She 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:04.840 came up to Washington to a regional theater. Yes, and 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.040 so I said, well, I'm going to go to New 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.919 York and she said, no, you have more of a California. Look, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.400 you should come to California. And she said you can 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.880 stay at my house. She had a staff and all 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:17.480 of that kind of stuff. They lived down in the valley, 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.680 and she said, you can at least get your feet 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.040 on the ground there. I'll introduce you to an agent. 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.800 She said, I think you do very well. So I did. 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.160 Dave was Jane Darwell and her family at her house 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:31.960 on Ethel Avenue in the San Fernando Valley. Yes, introduced 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.560 me to an agent with m c A. In those days, 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.560 if you could really walk and talk at the same time, 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.000 you could get a contract of the studio. That first one. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:42.600 He took me to his Fox and they said, we 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:44.600 want you to be under contract. So I was there 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:46.640 for like six months. And during that period of time, 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:51.120 I did a television show which was a western. That 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.959 of all, I was doing a little theater group. This 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.200 is a convoluted story, but I'm going to get to 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.000 where I'm going. And it was a theater group run 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.280 by an actor named Frank this letter. So I was 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.280 doing some impros in the class and one of his 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.040 friends came to it and I was Paul Henrid, you 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.120 know with the two cigarettes with names. So Paul Henriid 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.040 was saying, well, I'm directing a western, got a part 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:15.960 coming up. I think you'd be right for I want 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.120 you to come over and read for it next week. So, 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:20.520 you know, I was kind of new to all of this, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.040 and I thought, you know, I went to California and 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.680 I got a contract right away and got a part 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:27.640 in a TV thing right away. I thought this is 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.760 kind of easy. So anyway, I did the TV show 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.240 and I had the lead in it for this one episode. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:39.800 The stage that we shot an outdoor sequence for this 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.080 western on was where Paul Henry made the Spanish main, 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.160 which meant there was also the sound stage where Fred 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.200 and g injured at all their big dance numbers. So 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:50.840 that was kind of thrilling to me. Didn't mean anything 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:55.440 to anybody else in the day, Fred who So anyway, 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.240 I went back the next day to thank the casting 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.839 man and the people that had put me in this thing. 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.280 For the Californians. There was this wonderful man Milt Lewis, 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.360 who had used to be a talent scout of Paramount Studios. 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:10.080 He was in the office and I thanked him, and 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.600 he said, well, do you have an appointment for the 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.920 Lucy Ball auditions? And I said, no, I don't know 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.760 about any Lucier Ball auditions. And he said, well, yeah, 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.080 she's putting a contract group together and so she's going 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.520 to have these auditions and I think there next week, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:26.479 but I'm not sure. But let me call up to 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.160 her office and find out. Instead of a secretary answering 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:33.320 Lucy answer and he said, I got this guy down here, 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:35.120 and I thought he might be a good bet for 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.000 your contract people. So she obviously said, well I'm not 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.240 doing anything, send him up right now. So I went 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.080 up to this office. There she was. Now I have 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.159 to tell you I was impressed by her, but I 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:48.120 didn't see a lot of I Love Lucy because when 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.880 that was really hitting its peak, I was in college 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.600 and I was studying. I had a study hall, I 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.880 wasn't didn't watch TV, and I loved the movies. If 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:58.599 it had been a Lana Turner had met or somebody, 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.120 I wouldn't have been able to talk. But it was 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.880 Lucia Ball, and she was impressed that I'm into college 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.520 because she hadn't any finished high school. This I got 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.039 to know about her later. But also she was impressed 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.240 by the fact I was living at Jane Darwell's house 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.760 because I had asked her in our conversation who some 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.279 of her favorite leading men were, and she said, leading 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:17.640 me in didn't mean that much to me. I like 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.520 working with talented people, but it was the character actors 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:22.560 I love, she said. I loved like Edward Evert Horton, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.560 and I loved Harpo Marx, and I love Donald meek Well. 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.160 I knew all those people were. And she was impressed 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.800 by that because at that time, nobody knew who those 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.520 people were. There was no nostalgia, nobody cared. So it's 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.520 interesting how at that point in your life, the passion 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.560 you had, curiosity you had that you've turned into a career. 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.080 The roots of it were you were just impressing a 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.600 smaller circle of people with that knowledge. When you're there 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.479 and Lucia Ball is going God, I loved Jane Darnwerd. Yes. 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:53.680 So she had said, is there any film on you? 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:55.560 And I said, well, I just did this thing with 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.880 Paul Henry, and I've also done a test with Diane Baker, 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.239 and so she called over to Fox. Can I see 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.919 the Diane Baker test? Lucille Ball, how soon can you 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.000 send it over? Lucy was somebody that the minute she 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.599 wanted something, she did it. She hung up the phone. 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:13.080 She said, they're going to send it over. It'll be 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:14.960 here in about half an hour. So we kept talking. 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:19.320 The test was made for Diane, not for me, so 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.800 there was a lot of the back of me. So 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.279 when it was over, Lucy didn't really say anything. She's 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.080 just thanked me for coming by, and I thought, well, 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:29.200 she wasn't that impressed, but at least I got to 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.039 spend some time with Lucille Ball. Like a week later, 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:38.200 a message comes on my voice, Uh, you're an absolutely 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:42.080 answering service. Called Lucille Ball's office right away. Here's the number. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:47.000 Hello Ray nine calling answer phone. Yes, I called the 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.280 number and the second he said, well, Lucille Ball wants 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.760 you to come to dinner on Friday night if you're 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.840 available and meet DESI. I thought, well that's interesting. So 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.720 I go to Lucy's house at Friday night. There's no Desi, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:05.720 but there's Lucy there's Janet Gayner, There's Joseph Cotton, there's 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.640 Kay Thompson, Chuck Walters, Charles Walters, the director Roger Eden's, 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.720 and a couple of other people, and her sister Cleo 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.280 who was actually her cousin but raised as her sister, 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.560 and me after the dinner, and they were all chatting 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.640 and laughing, and all of the drinking drinking, not Lucy. 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.920 Lucy wasn't no drinker at that point. She she learned 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.680 how to drink a little bit later on, but not 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.160 at that point. So we went in the living room 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:38.680 and where on Roxbury, right next door to Jack Benny exactly, 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.400 and just down the street from Ira Gershwin and around 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:48.520 the corner front. So anyway, after dinner we went in 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.760 the living room. She pushes the button and the painting 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.800 goes up, puts another button, the screen comes down, and 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.360 I'm thinking, did you ever believe that you would ever 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:58.640 be And then I thought, no, wait a minute, I 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:02.520 always knew I was going to be here. I remember 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.640 that thought. I first started to say automatically, did you 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.640 ever think God and that was the beginning for you? Yeah? 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.160 And I thought, no, I always knew I was going 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.000 to be with people like this, and I relaxed. Then 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.320 I really relaxed as I thought, no, this is where 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.960 you're supposed to be. Yeah, and when you love this 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.400 is where I'm supposed to be. Where. What do you 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:26.880 remember Funny Face, which was which was about three years old? 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:31.280 That what? No, But what was great about it was 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.160 there's a part in Funny Face when Kate Thompson and 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.080 Andrew Hepburn get up and do a number called on 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.480 how to Be Lovely Together. Kay Thompson got up by 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.800 the screen and did the number. So and it was, 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:43.920 you know, fun watch the movie. The movie was over, 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:48.160 everybody starts to go, so I think, well, I'm supposed 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.520 to go to I still don't know quite why I'm here, 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.480 And it certainly wasn't Lucy was saying, you know, stay 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.040 around a little boy or anything like that. Wasn't that. 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.120 So we got to the front door. Thank you Lucy 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:00.640 for the evening. She said, well, have you signed the 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.720 papers yet? And I said what papers? I want you 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:11.319 another contract? And I said, well, nobody, we're doing business, 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.160 you idiot. Nobody's ever mentioned anything about a contract or anything. 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.559 And she said give them an address tomorrow and signed 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:24.240 the papers. Anyone. So I was under contract then to Desilu, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:26.680 and so that was for two years. That The great 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:31.680 thing about it was is that someone television. It didn't 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.520 pay us much money at all, but it was like 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.520 a master class for me because there were about twelve 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:40.360 of us under contract, but there were three of us 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.760 who were really interested in the business, and she kind 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.000 of recognized that right away and took us under her wing. 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.640 That's when I first met Bettie Davis. Bettie Davis came 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:50.719 to l A in a play called The World of 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.440 Carl Sandberg. So she took us to the play and 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.360 then took us backstage afterwards to meet Betty Davis and 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.680 Vivian Lee. Came a duel of Angels, and so she 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.920 went backstage and set a little vivianly. It took us 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.880 with her anytime there was somebody like that, Noel Coward 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.840 or Marlene Dietrich, she would take us there pick up 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:11.600 the tabs because again she knew she wasn't paying enough 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.160 money to keep for us to be able to do that. 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.960 So we got this terrific education. And she also now 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.240 DESI at this point was womanizing. He wasn't around much, 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:26.000 so she would get movies that we wanted to see 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.920 or hadn't seen because they weren't that accessible in those days, 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.960 and run them at her house. Or she would show 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.360 us I Love Lucy's show. She'd done bad ones and 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.000 show us why they didn't work, then show us a 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.800 good one and why it did work. She also the 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:43.840 first day any of us were in a contract there 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.520 and we first met, she arrived. She'd just gone to 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.080 a bank which was right around the corner from Desilu, 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:54.880 and she got twelve savings accounts that she opened, put 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.840 like fifty dollars in, and she gave us in each 0:10:57.880 --> 0:10:59.760 of our names, gave us the books, and she said, 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.160 every week you have to put something away. And we were, 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.920 as I say, making very little money, and say, Lucy, 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:08.840 you know we don't barely enough to to live on. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.079 She said, it can be only five dollars, but every 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.360 week put something away. You won't miss it. It'll add up. 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:19.360 Very maternal, and she said, no matter what the thing 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.360 you must do is have enough money that you don't 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.840 have to make decisions based on money. For a kid 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.959 from Colfax, Washington, this was just invaluable. I've been to college, 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.560 but I never had these kind of life lessons. In 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.640 the course of it, she meant, my folks, and she 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.880 got to know me. She said to me early on, 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.600 you can do this as an actor, but she said, 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:43.400 and I think you could do well, but it's not 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.360 gonna make you happy. This is not the right line 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.840 of work for you. And she said, you love old films, 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.840 you love history, you love everything about the business. And 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.320 you're a journalist and major in college. We have enough actors. 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.920 You should write about movies. And the first thing you 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.120 should do is write a book. Who said this to you, Lucy? 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:03.320 She said, it doesn't even have to be a good book. 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.199 But find a subject about the movies that nobody's done 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.480 and write a book about it. And I said why, 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:11.959 She said, if you write a book, it shows you 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.600 have to discipline to sit down and do that. Yes, 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.600 I did. What book? It was a book about the Oscars? 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:21.040 Is this the book right here? Oh my god? Yeah, academy. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:27.320 I want our listeners to know that stunned expression. I 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:32.440 show a copy of the book that he and yes, 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.080 there he was. No wonder you were getting in an 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.480 animal of these parties back then, that kind of picture 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.199 in this book. Let me just mention to our listeners. 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:40.880 There's a picture in this book. It's on page seven, 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.679 by the way of Academy Awards Illustrated written by Robert Osbourne, 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.880 with the forward by Betty Davis, Hollywood and the Oscars 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.559 thirty seven years of film History and didn't it is 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:56.160 a picture of Robert Osbourne circa six or so. Who 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.720 is it you look like? Here? Well? I always got 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.560 tagged that I looked like Robert Wagner. Yeah, and there's 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.280 somebody else you looked like will come to me. So 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.920 now you're a writer. So now it's an early sixties. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.240 Still you're a writer. And so I would do anything 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:16.000 I could to pay my rent. The Desilue days were over, 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:19.000 Lucy had gone to New York to do Wildcat on stage. 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.720 I was also realizing that I've done all that I 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:25.199 can wanted to do. I did a you know, a 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.080 couple of years of summerstock touring in a play with 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.120 Robert Cummings. Do you think you clearly make a choice 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:32.880 at this point in your life where the choice made 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:34.920 for you? Well, the choice was kind of made for 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.000 me because I was not getting parts like night mus 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.559 Fall that I love doing. I did a soap opera 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.320 for a couple of years called The Young Married's. I 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.480 was always in a suit with the tie and with 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:49.520 a briefcase, helping the plot along. But it wasn't interesting, 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:53.120 and I wasn't interesting. Did a lot of commercials. I thought, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:54.440 you know, if this is the best I can do 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.960 at this point, I gotta get out of this altogether, 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.960 because I would look at a part and at George 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.160 Bopard could do this so much better than I can, 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.199 or Tony Perkins would be great in this, better than 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.559 I would be. Yeah, and it was on stage struck. 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:14.160 So then the next phase came with Olivi to Havelin. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.360 I did an interview with her for an in flight magazine. 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:19.200 They were not paying me anything, but it was a 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.240 way to get free tickets to screening. It seems to 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.000 be the rule in your life. I wasn't getting paid enough, 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.160 so I'm gonna moonlight as go ahead. I got a 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.880 set so I could get free tickets to see movies. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.200 So I wrote reviews for this magazine and they would 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:33.960 ask me occasionally to write a interview or something, so 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.760 LEVI to have one was doing a movie called Airport 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.600 seventy seven. I did an interview with her. We got 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.360 along very well. At the interview. I had a lot 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.880 of champagne courtesy of Universal Pictures. When it was over, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.880 I felt very comfortable with her, and she said we 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.640 must stay in touch. So she sent me a note. 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.720 She said, I'm gonna be coming to Los Angeles in March. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:59.120 At that time, I will take you out for champagne. Okay, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.440 time goes by. Betty Davis was being honored by the 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.040 a f I. I'd only met her briefly when she 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.720 did the forward from my book, so I didn't really 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.640 know her. But I also knew the industry that I 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.720 loved was coming to an end. Jimmy Cagney would be there, 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.640 Fredis Stare would be there, Barish Nakoff. I mean, all 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.080 these different people, the old and the new. So I thought, 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:22.440 I gotta go to that. But I really can't afford 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:26.480 to go to that. So John Springer's pr company was 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.560 handling it. I knew a guy, an actor named Ray 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.920 Strickland who now worked for John Springer. So I called 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.680 him and I said, look, I gotta go to this thing. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.480 Is there any way you could sneak me in? And 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.720 he said, well, I can't get you a place at 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.240 the dinner, but go out and rent a tuxedo and 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.200 I will sneak you in through the kitchen. Great, that's 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.200 all I want. One day I went out and I 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.960 rented a tuxedo, and when I got back there was 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.040 a phone message from Oliver to Havelin. So I thought, ah, 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.600 she's come to go to the Betty Davis thing. She's 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.920 calling to ask when we could add bottle champagne or something. 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:02.280 So I called her back and she's the first thing 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.160 she said was I have a proposition for you, and 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.000 it's not an indecent one. There's an event for Betty 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.400 Davis on Tuesday night. Would you escort me to it? 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.600 So I was so stunned because here I just gone 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:17.800 out to rent a tuxedo to sneak into the kitchen. 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:23.520 She took my non response for hesitation doubts, and so 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.040 she said, well, we'll be sitting with Betty at the 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.320 head table, and I think you'll have a good time. 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.360 So I thought, oh my god. So I called Tom 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.680 Jones quickly and said, look, Olivia has asked me to 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:36.760 this thing. I've got to get a car. I can't 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.400 take her my Volkswagen. Is there any way Disney through Disney, 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.240 you can get me a car, and he said absolutely, 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.120 so I went in style. We went to this event 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.560 they introduced Betty Davis. She walks in there playing the 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.840 theme from Now Voyager and she's waving to everybody. She 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.200 comes up on the stage and write at the first 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.120 people she runs into, there's Paul Henry and his wife. 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.640 So of course she goes over and says alone. The 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.639 next one to her is Joseph Manquitz and his wife. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.600 And I'm thinking, oh my god. Now I'm sitting just 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.840 two steps to her. Left. Next to her is Olivia 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.320 and then me. She knows everybody else on the diet. 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.560 She's not somebody that's gonna kiss this strange person. What 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.280 do I do? So she comes and there's Bob Wagner 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:25.639 and Natalie, so she kisses all of that and she 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.760 and she's about ready to sit, but Olivia, in a 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:34.320 great flurry of theatricality, goes Betty and throws her arms out, 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.560 so it pulls Betty to this side of the table. 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:40.760 So I think, what the hell can I do? All 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:42.119 I can think I have to do is I quickly 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.480 took her hand and kissed her hands when they cut 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:49.160 it and edited it. They show her entering, and they 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.679 show her up on the stage greeted by Olivia and 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.879 then this gallant man kissing her hand. And for years after, 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.439 whenever they would do recaps at the beginning of the 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.159 f I trade, the always showed Betty Davis and this 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:06.159 guy the beer can amongst the cut crystal in his 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:15.879 own mind. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:23.280 here's the thing more in a minute. This is Alec 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.879 Baldwin and I'm talking with Robert Osborne, host of Turner 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:32.040 Classic Movies. We pick up our story after Osborne has 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.600 been discovered if you will at a tribute to Betty Davis, 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.760 Olivia to havelland is still in town and has been 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.080 asked to appear on the Dinah Shore Show to Haviland. 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:45.760 Is excited, yet hesitant. Turns out Osborne had hit it 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.159 off with Dinah Shore's producer Fred Tatters Shore, as he 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.600 always seemed to be back then, Robert Osborne is once 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:56.480 again in the right place at the right time. So 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:00.440 I'm thinking this is where my all about the aspect 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.560 comes in. Is I'm thinking, yes, my invac was coming 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.520 through Fred Tad a short said, you're a really interesting guy. 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.040 I'd love to have you come on the show sometime 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.160 if we get ever find a police to fit you in. 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.879 So I'm thinking Olivia's won an Oscar. I wrote a 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:20.160 book about the Oscars, so I called I didn't see 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.800 anything that. I called Ray Strickland and I said, who 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.080 else do you have in your office has won Oscars? 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.560 And he said, well, we have Shelly Winners, we have 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.879 Shirley Jones, we have a Maori sat And I explained 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.040 this to him. I said, Fred tad as Shore is 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.639 looking for a subject that Olivia could be on, and 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.639 I'm just going to throw out that, you know, maybe 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.600 an Oscar show. And you could also mention me, because 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.440 he did mention if he ever found a place I 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:47.880 could fit in. So it was done and we did 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.240 the show. I'm with some very heavy hitters, all these ladies, 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.520 and they had a lot to talk about, so I 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:57.479 didn't say much, but I had one great moment. Shelly 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.600 Winners was sitting next to me and I said, and Dinah, 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:04.320 being a consummate hostess, start talking about in my book 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:06.040 and I said, you know the reason I wrote that book. 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.280 One reason, It's because of Shelley Winters and Shelly really, 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.280 I said yes, because I've seen you on so many 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.640 talk shows talking about your Oscar nomination for the movie 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.280 A Double Life with Ronald Coleman was her big breakthrough part. 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.520 I said, you always talk about the year nomination and 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.960 I said, it's very easy to find out who won Oscars, 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.800 but there's no list anywhere of people who were nominated. 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.840 And when I started doing the research, I found out 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.120 you weren't nominated for that movie. And she said what well, 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:39.000