I can honestly say that I have been an avid movie buff before the term was ever coined. As a child I collected 8×10 B&W lobby cards and kept a scrap book of Hollywood stars that I could never dream of meeting as I was raised on the other side of the world in Cape Town. But I was wrong. I attended two Academy Award events and met, or rubbed shoulders, with some of Hollywood’s greats.
At the 75th Academy Award event at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion my 6’4” husband Richard accidentally bumped into John Wayne, also 6’4”, as he turned around at the foyer bar Wayne commented “excuse me big guy” and sauntered up to the bar.
Trying to be blasé we mingled in the foyer where people smiled at one another thinking everyone present “had to be somebody”!
Wayne, having won Best Actor Award for “True Grit” in 1970, was presenting an honorary award to Howard Hawks.
So how did we have the good fortune to get such coveted tickets? It just so happened that Haskell Wexler, who was initially cinematographer for Coppola’s “The Conversation”, got fired and did not want to attend the awards. A Hollywood friend asked him for the tickets and in turn gifted them to us. It was a dream come true. Wexler won Best Cinematographer in 1977 for “Bound for Glory”.
That Oscar year in 1975 featured the creme de la creme of Hollywood greats; Best Picture and Best Director went to Francis Ford Coppola for Godfather II, Best Original Music Score to his father Carmine Coppola. Best Actress Oscar went to Ellen Burstyn and Best Actor Art Carney who beat out Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino.
The dynamic MC lineup was Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis and Frank Sinatra. To focus on the spectacular “The Great Gatsby” that won Best Costume Design Oscar, a vanilla-toned vintage car drove slowly to centerstage as backdrop for a Roaring Twenties dance routine.
During intermission several bars became magnets for thirsty attendees and I went out an autograph hunt scoring the first one from OJ himself who starred in “Towering Inferno” that won Best Theme Song “We May Never Love Like This Again”. We met up with friends Lloyd and Dottie Bridges, our Bear Valley neighbors, who attended as their son Jeff was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”.
On that April night there was a very heavy rainfall and everyone clustered outside waiting for valets to deliver their cars. Glenda Jackson, who had an umbrella, invited Goldie Hawn and me to share her shelter. Most were making a dash to the Beverly Hills Hilton for a post Oscar dinner party.
John Wayne, nicknamed Duke, was born Marion Morrison in Iowa in 1907 and the Hollywood studio gave him the iconic new name. He made 140 films from 1930 to 1976, most being Westerns and war films. In 1970 Wayne won the Oscar for Best Actor for “True Grit” beating out Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole.
John Wayne, a conservative Republican was encouraged to run for office but preferred acting and producing. He was married three times, had seven children and loved boating. Wayne was larger than life, not only in stature but also in character and ideals. The Duke did everything to extreme; he lived hard, loved hard, drank hard, smoked four packs of cigarettes a day, and epitomized the Golden Age of Hollywood for four decades.
In 1977 we attended the 49th Academy Awards when “Rocky” won Best Picture and Peter Finch won Best Actor posthumously who beat out Giancarlo Giannini nominated for “Seven Beauties”. The highlight of the evening was when Muhammad Ali surprised Sly Stallone by sparring with him onstage.
Yes those were glory days when Hollywood had elegance and glamour, the masters of ceremonies were truly witty, and Oscar winners thanked the Academy for the honor and recognition.
Leave a Reply