Home From the Hill (MGM) (1960)

MGM HAS IMPORTANT NEW HOLLYWOOD STAR IN GEORGE PEPPARD George Peppard, a newcomer to Hollywood, is a broad-shouldered young man with a shock of fair hair, a brief but successful Broadway background and a determination to be a fine actor. In his first important film role as a young Texan in Metro-GoldwynMayer’s “Home From the Hill,” in which he has a role of equal importance to those of such established names as Robert Mitchum and Eleanor Parker, he emerges as a strong new acting personality. Two-hundred and twenty-one preview cards rated him “a new star.” Others demanded: “More Peppard.” Peppard became an actor after his graduation from Purdue University, making his stage debut at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. “At that time, acting was only part of my life,” he says. “I had to earn a living at whatever I could, and 1] worked as a block mason, construction laborer, fencing instructor, janitor, bank clerk, building contractor and radio announcer.” Radio led him to New York and to the Actors’ Studio, after which he appeared in summer stock for several seasons. His Broadway debut with Shelley Winters in ‘‘Girls of Summer” won him fine critical notices, and so did his TV performance with Julie Harris in “Little Moon of Alban.” Last season, he clinched his title as an outstanding acting newcomer with his performance as the young romantic of “The Pleasure of His Company.” Before his stage stardom could jell, he left the hit play for his film role as Rafe in “Home From the Hill.” It was a premeditated step. His stage contract stipulated that he be free to leave the play as soon as MGM was ready to put “Home From the Hill” before the cameras. “Sol C. Siegel, head of the studio, had outlined the script to me and I knew that this was an opportunity that I shouldn’t miss. It represented a fine story and a strong role in the company of actors whom I respected and under the direction of Vincente Minnelli. Moreover, MGM Producer Arthur Freed also had a role ready for me opposite Leslie Caron in his film version of Jack Kerouac’s ‘The Subterraneans.’ ” As a result of his work in these two pictures, Peppard now has a term contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in his pocket. George Peppard and Luana Patten co-star with Robert Mitchum and Eleanor Parker , in MGM?’s ‘“‘Home From the Hill,” film version of William Humphrey’s best-selling novel of conflict in a Texan family. The picture was filmed in CinemaScope and color largely on locations in Texas and Mississippi, under the direction of Academy Award-winner Vincente Minnelli. ‘Still 1754-84 Home From the Hill Mat1-D HERO OF EXCITING WILD BOAR HUNT! An exhausted but happy George Hamilton, holding the tail of the ferocious wild boar he has just shot, smiles up at his proud father, Robert Mitchum, as George Peppard looks on. The scene is from “Home From the Hill,’”?> MGM film version, in CinemaScope and color, of the best-selling novel. Also starred are Eleanor Parker, Everett Sloane and Luana Patten, under the direction of Academy Award-winner Vincente Minnelli. The exciting boar hunt was filmed on location in Texas. Still 1754-107 Home From the Hill Mat 2-F “HOME FROM THE HILL” PAVES WAY 10 STARDOM FOR THREE YOUNG PLAYERS “Stars contemporary with the times is the hypo needed by the theatre box office.” Such is the opinion of Edmund Grainger, Hollywood producer who has been in the motion picture industry from his days as an office boy for Goldwyn Pictures, through his years as a salesman for the same company and for Fox Film Corporation, until today, when he is one of MetroGoldwyn-Mayer’s busiest producers. “New talent is like the weather,” he says. “Everyone talks about it, yet few do anything about it. I am happy to say that MGM is one of the movie companies which are giving talented newcomers a break.” In “Home From the Hill,” produced by Grainger, three young players, George Peppard, George Hamilton and Luana Patten, have roles of equal im portance to those of the picture’s stars, Robert Mitchum and Eleanor Parker. “Young talent needs the assurance of security,’ Grainger states. “That is why we put these youngsters in a cast with established stars. It is one way of giving them confidence in themselves as well as indoctrinating the public into accepting unknown personalities. Our responsibility is to get an audience into the theatre, then present potential stars whom they will be eager to see again and again.” The producer admits that grooming takes time. “There are a number of young actors and actresses at MGM who are learning the background of the business and who may well be the stars of tomorrow. There are Denny Miller, the new Tarzan, Joanna Barnes, Carmen “Props” in This Movie Scene Worth $13,000,000 THIRTEEN MILLION DOLLARS worth of “props” decorated the set used for the final day’s filming in Greenwood, Miss., for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Home From the Hill.” The sequences took place in the Greenwood Cotton Compress and Storage Co., with Vincente Minnelli directing Robert Mitchum and George Hamilton in cotton loading scenes. The company has a capacity of 75,000 bales of cotton and estimates that at full capacity the bales are worth close to 17 million dollars. But the capacity quota was not quite filled when the Hollywood company filmed there and the bales of cotton which decorated the scene were worth less — a mere $13,000,000! Phillips, Gustavo Rojo, Cesare Danova, Bill Smith, Ralph Taeger, Maggie Pierce, Alfredo Sadel, Johnny Brennan. It’s up to the producer to place them in roles strong enough to catch the attention of the audience. We must whet the public’s interest.” Others at MGM are equally active in respect to using new talent. Following completion of his role in ‘Home From the Hill,” George Peppard was selected by Producer Arthur Freed for the male lead opposite Leslie Caron in “The Subterraneans.” George Hamilton went from “Home From the Hill” into a cast of young stars in MGM’s “All the Fine Young Cannibals,” produced by Pandro S. Berman. Berman will also introduce fifteen ‘‘fresh faces” in “The Secret Classroom.” “This is as it should be,” Grainger declares. “All will be important MGM productions with seasoned directors. Vincente Minnelli, this year’s Academy Award winner, guided our young people in ‘Home From the Hill,’ an unparalleled break for them. This will be the policy on MGM’s youth campaign. But each production will be topped by stellar names, This is our bait to get audiences into the theatre. “The new stars will, we hope, keep them coming back.” GEORGE HAMILTON, NEW SCREEN FIND, STARTS CAREER WITH A ROLLS-ROYCE! As serious about acting as only a twenty-year-old can be, George Hamilton declares, “Being a movie star is also a way of life and I plan to make it mine.” Playing a role in Metro-GoldwynMayer’s “Home From the Hill” as important as that of stars Robert Mitchum and Eleanor Parker, has brought Hamilton unexpected notice from Hollywood. He has appeared in only one previous picture. This was as the young murderer in “Crime and Punishment, U.S.A.”, a film in which he was before the camera in every scene. Two weeks after signing his MGM contract, young Hamilton bought his first Hollywood car. “A Rolls Royce,” he beams, then hastens to add, “1939 model. It was originally made for the King and Queen of England.” When he arrived in Hollywood a little more than a year ago, he brought with him twenty suits, including four complete sets of formal wear, his tennis racket, polo mallets, books on bullfighting, records and a money order from his mother, former Southern belle Anne Stephens. The money order was for new clothes. “Blue jeans are for the woods,” he contends. “At prep school, we were taught to dress appropriately for every occasion. It was the same at home. I see no reason to discard my good clothes for a sweat shirt and dirty cords.” Hamilton, a handsome, dark-haired youth standing 6’ 1”, has never had a dramatic lesson in his life. He came to Hollywood on the advice of a family friend, Mae Murray. “IT gave myself one year to make good,” he says. “I decided that if I Snipe isn’t Whistle-Bait A comedy scene in MGM’s “Home From the Hill” has young George Hamilton made the innocent victim of a hoax when mischievous members of a Texas hunting community send him out on a “snipe hunt.” They leave him in the woods, where he is instructed to blow a whistle to which the snipe supposedly will be attracted. Naturally, he is made to look a complete fool. “No wonder,” commented Hamilton at the end of the scene in which he had blown his whistle until red in the face, “a snipe is not exactly my idea of whistle-bait !” A desperate Luana Patten tells George Peppard that she has got to get married in this scene from ‘‘Home From the:Hill,’> MGM film version of the best-seller by William Humphrey, dealing with conflict in a Texan family, Robert Mitchum and Eleanor Parker head the cast of the CinemaScope and color production, filmed partly on locations in Texas and Mississippi, and directed by Academy Award-winner Vincente Minnelli. Still 1754-49 E Home From the Hill Mat 2-C MGM’s new ‘‘find,’’ 19-yearold George Hamilton, co-stars with Robert Mitchum and Eleanor Parker as their son in “Home From the Hill,’ film version of William Humphrey’s best-seller, dealing with conflict in a Texan family. Hamilton’s only previous movie role was as the lead in the prizewinning ‘*Crime and Punishment, U.S.A.’ He is hailed as one of the screen’s most exciting newcomers. Still 1754-70 Home From the Hill Mat 1-A failed I would return to Rollins College and complete my education.” Before the year was up, he had won his break in “Crime and Punishment, U.S.A.,” and was vacationing in Venezuela, when his agent cabled him to hurry back to MGM for the role of Robert Mitchum’s son in “Home From the Hill.” He arrived back just four hours before he was due on the set for his first day’s work. Speaking of work, Hamilton says, “I guess you could say I act on instinct. It’s really the director whom I study. Vincente Minnelli directed ‘Home From the Hill,’ so I was very lucky. The role of this boy in the story is a complex one. I have to develop from an indealistic seventeen-year-old mama’s boy into a crack woodsman who is a pride to his father, the BIG man of Texas. Then I emerge as an adult, still a boy in years but one with his illusions shattered.” Following completion of “Home From the Hill,” the young actor was cast as Natalie Wood’s husband in MGM’s “All the Fine Young Cannibals.” He is next slated for the starring role in an outside picture deal, after which he will return to Metro for the new Joe Pasternak production, “Where the Boys Are.” When the work day in front of the camera is over, Hamilton is ready to enjoy the life of a youngster who likes dancing, horses, bullfighting, polo, tennis, swimming, dating — the life of a potential Hollywood movie star. Boar in ‘Home From Hill’ Proves To Be True Ham During filming of Metro-GoldwynMayer’s ‘““Home From the Hill,” a 600pound boar, used in the picture’s exciting boar hunt sequence, went berserk. The animal broke through its cage, ran riot over Lot 3, managed to “tree” Director Vincente Minnelli, actors George Hamilton, George Peppard and the majority of the crew, then landed meekly on a $65,000 cameras, before being captured. Like the true ham he is, “on camera” he felt right at home! Guinn “Big Boy” Williams completed his 40th year in motion pictures and plays his 401st movie role in MGM’s “Home From the Hill.’ The veteran has played with every big-name siar. In the new picture he appears with Robert Mitchum and Eleanor Parker.