Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

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And after dinner said — “Tell me. are you serious about my playing Macbeth?” He said indeed he was. I asked if he'd mentioned it to anyone else. He said indeed he had. “So,” I said, “and when you mentioned it. have you noticed that their jaws drop like a stone?” He said now that I happened to mention it, he had. But I was going to do it, wasn’t I? “Oh yes!” I said. Hjordis was furious. In the end I had to cable Sam Goldwyn. to whom I was under contract at the time, and get him to send a very abrupt letter to the producer, saying that I couldn't possibly be released to do the film. So I got out of that one . . . very “chicken.” The fantastic Mike Todd The one time I didn't even attempt to say “No” and never regretted it. was on my first encounter with the fantastic Mike Todd. The phone rang one Sunday afternoon and a voice at the other end said. “This is Mike Todd. Come right over. I want to see you.” Normally 1 never go anywhere on Sundays, but as usual I couldn't say “No.” So I got out the car and drove over to his | place, fortunately having the sense to gather up my agent on the way. He came, but protesting about the ruin of his day off. Todd was standing by his swimming pool wearing white bikini pants and a big black cigar. “I’m going to make ‘Around the World in Eighty Days,’ ” he said. “Would you like to play Phineas Fogg?” Without hesitation I said I’d play it for nothing. “Good.” said Todd. “That’s settled then.” And dived into the pool. On second thoughts I realized I didn’t exactly mean nothing, though I discovered afterwards that there were actors, top stars, who offered to do just that after I had signed the contracts. So I dragged in my still-protesting agent, whistled Todd ashore, and got the money part arranged. It took some months before the production got going, and for a while once it did. I began to think that Todd had taken my “do it for nothing” remark seriously. I had no pay for fourteen weeks and we all began to get a little disturbed. We were in Paris at the time, and Todd said not to worry. Everything was under control. He gathered up his secretary, told her to wear a bright red sweater and parade on a certain corner. For a while we all thought the worst, and that things must be really rough. But after she'd been there for a bit. a car drew up and a man climbed out and gave ber a large suitcase. Opened up. it was full of brand-new, crisp banknotes. This performance went on in Spain as well, but none of us ever knew wdiere it all came from. The script called for Phineas Fogg to go up in a balloon, and it just so happens that I'm sick if I look out of a groundfloor window. 1 told Todd that going up in balloons was out! “Sure.” he said soothingly. “We’ll write it into your contract. How high off the ground are you prepared to go?” “Four foot, six inches,” I said firmly, “and if you go half-an-inch higher — I'll sue you.” “Anything you say,” Todd said, and it was all carefully written into the contract. I suppose I should have known better. Came the day of the balloon ascent and I arrived at the location to find the biggest crane in the world. 198 feet high, suspended over a two thousand-foot canyon. “Remember my contract, Mike,” I said firmly, keeping well away from the edge which was making me dizzy. “Everything's fine,” said Mike. “We got doubles.” Well, you could have fooled me. I looked at the doubles for Cantinflas and myself and thought I was seeing orangutans. Cantinflas looked at them doubtfully. “They don’t look much like us, do they?” he said. They certainly didn’t. But I was sticking to my guns. “That’s Todd’s problem.” I said. Cantinflas. who is a very brave man and a Mexican bullfighter as well as an actor, said. “I think we’d better do it ourselves.” “I,” I said, “will personally murder you if you get into that balloon.” The orangutans climbed in. The effect was ridiculous. “Gee. boys,” said Todd, with what looked suspiciously like a smirk on his face. “I don’t think it’s going to work.” Without a word, Cantinflas climbed in. That just left my orangutan. Todd still wasn’t saying anything. Well, what could 1 do? The whole honor of the Anglo-Saxon race was at stake. Todd was standing there grinning, surrounded by two thousand American extras. “All right.” I said. “I’ll do it.” “That’s my boy,” said Todd. “Anything we can do to help?” “Yes,” I said. “Get me a bottle of brandy.” That scene was played, swaying over a 2000-foot drop, on the entire liquid nourishment of a bottle of Hennessey Three Star. It's probably the most drunken scene ever filmed — but it didn’t show. And that will teach me not to believe in odd clauses written into contracts. Another time he landed me into playing a scene with some of Britain’s finest stage id* 1. Rol ■log> Ici OD 1 ten Sot fro mu Ho gel i»f lot an P tin en loi sh th tb * ai k 0 tl 1 b \ PHOTOGRAPHERS' CREDITS Cover: Bert Stern; pgs 36-37: Barbier-Globe; pg 39: Hill-Globe; pg 42: John Haniilton; pgs 44-45: Gilloon; pgs 46-47: Fuchs-Vista; pg 50: Globe Photos; pg 51 : Roddy McDowall; pgs 53-55, 86: Frank Bez; pgs 54-55, 86: sketches by Florence Keveson; pgs 56-57: Fuchs-Vista; pgs 59-63: Bert Stern; pg 66: Fuchs-Vista; pgs 70-71: TrindlTopix; pg 75: Nagy-Galaxy. 84