Screenland (Nov 1950-Oct 1951)

By Joan Fontaine RAY MILL AND is the nicest person I ever met. Except for his wife, that is. She's even nicer. I have been crazy about Ray and Mai for years. We've known each other for years. They've been to my house a thousand times, and I've been to theirs. And Ray and I have always wanted to work together. But — well, Hollywood is funny. Sometimes the pixies step in and you never do a picture with the right person. A few months ago, however, Ray and I finally managed to give the back of our hands to the "little people." We learned that we were to co-star in "Mr. And Miss Anonymous" for Paramount. The making of that film has been a complete joy to me. For Ray, I find, is the leading man every actress dreams of. He always knows his job, to begin with. He can glance at seven pages of Kitchen incident in film. Joan tells why she finds him a very unconventional guest. Left: Whiling away spare time on the set. She says, "There is not an ounce of the 'leading man' stuff in Ray. He isn't pompous about being a star; and you don't have to get him in the mood to begin acting." Right: As Alcoholics Anonymous worker he tries to cope with Joan. Ray taught her many of the techniques he used in "Lost Weekend" to portray realistic drunk. But he wasn't at all patronizing about his help. new dialogue for a scene, read it once, keep on playing gin rummy, and go before the cameras letter perfect. He is never late, either to work in the morning (which drives me crazy) or in his timing. Of the latter, Director George Stevens has said of him, by the way, "Ray is without a doubt the greatest master of comedy in the industry. No one has even scratched the surface of his talent. He's so good you don't realize how good he is; his technique doesn't show. That's saying something!" With this sort of compliment from a director, you can see how an actress would feel about the man. For me, as I say, working with him was superb. For he was always in there, always giving, whether the scene to be made was an intimate love passage, a long shot, or my close-up. And that, my friends, is rare! There is not an ounce of the "leading man" stuff in Ray. He isn't pompous about being a star. You don't have to get him in the mood to begin acting, and he doesn't wander around the back of the stage muttering to himself before the cameras turn. He merely gets up from his chair, puts down his gin hand, and goes to work. To appreciate such a guy, you have to have had some lemons in your career. And I've had a few. As a result, Ray stands out like a beacon in contrast. And, incidentally, he is the only costar I've ever had who actually went so far as to compliment the work of his leading lady. Does that sound strange? Unfortunately, it happens to be true. I've learned a great deal from him, of course. For one thing, in "Mr. And Miss Anonymous," Ray is undergoing the biggest switch in his career: he plays a worker for Alcoholics Anonymous, and I play a drunk. After "Lost Weekend," of course, Ray is an authority on inebriated people of all kinds for, in order to play Don Birnam, he did an enormous amount of research. And he has passed along a lot of this material to (Please turn to page 52) Ray is the type of actor who I does not hesitate to compli■ ment work of a leading lady. i . r "He's not satisfied with second best . . . long ago decided Mai was perfect woman for him."