TV Radio Mirror (Jan - Jun 1963)

BRUCE DERN (Continued from page 39) his chosen career. . . . Diane's chosen career, too. How well Bruce remembered the way he'd proposed. The way she'd answered, "Let's get one thing straight, when you put that ring around my finger. I'm going to continue to be an actress! I can't stop now." He remembered how he kissed her and reassured her, "Of course. . . . I'm not one of those guys who insists a wife must stay home in the kitchen. You've got talent. And I want to encourage it! You keep your career going. ... So I'll make my own breakfast! So what?" He had added, "I believe love is a beautiful union of two people, and no one has a right to kill his wife's creative talents, her right to express herself." And he had never gone back on his promise, even after the baby arrived. He was happy for his wife, when she went to Chicago to do the lead in a play while he came to Hollywood to look for TV work. Happier still, when they were together in Hollywood, and he was starting to teach his own drama workshop, which would bring him extra income while he waited for that "break." The big break had come with the role of E. J. Stocker in "Stoney Burke." The role about which they'd been so elated earlier that day — how many eons ago? For now it was night indeed. For now Diane was home. A white and shaken Diane. Their eyes stared blankly, uncomprehendingly at each other. The silence pressed in upon their ears. "Why did it happen now?" For hours, they were too stunned to say anything. And then they asked the eternal questions: "Why did God take her away? . . . Why did it have to be her?" They searched their hearts for answers, and they kept thinking, "Why did it happen now, when everything was working out so well for us? Why?" In time, the blackness of their sorrow turned to gray, and they began to think of tomorrow rather than yesterday. One thing they were sure of: A house without a child was unthinkable, and they knew they wanted to have another baby. "God is humane," Bruce kept reassuring himself. "I believe it. In His own way, He will give us light." Throughout this time, their best friend was Walter Winchell. Bruce had never met him until the tragic night of the drowning, but he immediately accepted Winchell as a great and dear friend. He brushed aside Winchell's lament : "If I hadn't taken Diane to the ball park to meet Mr. LeRoy, her baby wouldn't have been lost!" And Winchell told him, "I lost a daughter, when she was eight — on Christmas Eve. I know how you feel." Then Winchell started calling his Hollywood pals to tell them about Diane. He knew Bruce was all set with "Stoney Burke," but Diane's career needed a boost — especially now. "This kid can act!" he told them. "She reminds you of Tallulah Bankhead. when she was Diane's age." \\ ith Winchell prodding, Tony Curtis ordered his writers to create a role for Diane in "40 Pounds of Trouble." Winchell called Tony to thank him for arranging the bit part for Diane, then added, "Thanks, and all that jazz; but she's no bit player. She's an actress!" Stanley Kramer's office called to ask Winchell to have Diane report to Revue Studios. Broadway producer David Merrick phoned from New York to say he'd try to find a role for her in one of his new shows. The third week after the accident, Hugh Benson of Warner Bros, called Winchell to say, "You've done it again ! Miss Ladd is everything you said she is. She'll be in the next '77 Sunset Strip.' " Diane also appeared in two plays. "The Wall" and "Toys in the Attic," in Hollywood. She had to keep busy every moment. Another heartbreak And then, one weekend. Bruce and Diane decided to have a much-delayed honeymoon. They put aside three days and drove 1,200 miles north into the breathtaking High Sierras. But they were tired, and tense, and got into an argument. They decided to try another setting, so they drove to beautiful Yosemite National Park. But they had more trouble. They had neglected to phone in for a motel reservation, so they had no place to sleep. They drove to Lake Tahoe. finally checked in at a motel. It was a tiring weekend, yet it was a change. They needed the change. There was so much to forget. . . . Now Bruce and Diane are moving into a new house. It has that extra bedroom for a baby, and a guest room. And Bruce can be happy in the knowledge that his relatives, who originally denounced his need to be an actor, are now proud of his career. Yet heartbreak and disaster can't seem to leave Bruce and Diane alone. Pregnant again, Diane was rushed to Hollywood's Presbyterian Hospital for surgery during the summer. She lost the baby. But their old heartbreak has brought them new courage. "When we first lost Diane Jr.," says Bruce, "we were heartsick. But, after a while, you begin to get your emotions under control. "You begin to think clearly, and you realize it's your selfishness at work when you cry over your loss. You are really being selfish about missing what the baby could have given you. "When you understand that . . . then you realize that you are just beginning to understand what happened. . . ." — Paul Denis "Stoney Burke" is seen over ABC-TV, on Mondays, from 9 to 10 p.m. est. •••••••••••••••••••••••*•• BUY U. S. SAVINGS BONDS AND INVEST IN YOUR FUTURE •••••••••••••••*+••*•••*•••* American Institute of Practical Nursing, Room 196 120 S. State Street — Chicago 3, Illinois Please rush your FREE 10-page lesson on Nursing. No cost, no obligation. No calls by salesman. 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