Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1954)

• It happened during the filming of “The Iron Man.” The next scene to be shot was a climactic fight scene between Jeff Chandler, who had the starring role of Coke Mason, and Rock Hudson, for whom this was the first picture in which he had a chance to show what he could really do. Before this, practically all Rock’s parts had been what are sometimes called “Popcorn roles,” because if you looked away from the screen for a moment to see how much popcorn you had left, you missed him completely. So Rock was eager to make good — and understandably nervous. He wasn’t sure of himself as an actor, and particularly he wasn’t at all sure of himself as a man who could fake a fight convincingly. As a matter of fact, he was petrified by the thought that he might make a mistake and really hit Jeff, instead of just making it look as though he had. Jeff realized this and was perfectly willing to stage a demonstration with director Joe Pevney to give Rock an idea of the technique of contrived movie mayhem. Pevney and Jeff went through the scene without a scratch, and then the director asked Jeff to run through a rehearsal with Rock to ( Continued on page 103) Janet Leigh has been saying a special prayer for Jeff since day he shared dressing room with Tony! Thanks to Jeff, France’s Christiane Martel got a friendly, heartwarming introduction to Hollywood But for Jeff, that knockout blow on the set .of “ Iron Man” might have ended Rock Hudson s career He would never tell this story on himself. But somebody else did. It reveals a lot about the real Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler la in "The Sign of the Pagan" BY BEVERLY LINET 63