Silver Screen (Feb-Oct 1935)

Silver Screen for October 1935 51 An Artist In Armor Henry Wilcoxon Is A Painter As Well As An Aetor. By L S; :1s enore oamue THE turnover of headliners in American films is an exciting thing to watch. From all over the civilized world they come with trumpets wildly heralding their entrance into Hollywood's charmed circle. Some of them remain but a little while and go out so quietly we hardly note their absence. A bad break, a poor picture, sometimes a mediocre performance is to blame for this ignominious exit. And others, with just one fine picture to their credit, are definitely there to stay. Henry Wilcoxon is one of these. Cecil DeMille brought him over from England for the role of Marc Antony in "Cleopatra," and so readily did he click that the English film company for which he had done six or seven fair-to-middling pictures immediately started billing him as Henry (Marc Antony) Wilcoxon— or perhaps it was Henry (Cleopatra) Wilcoxon, I forget which. In any event this sturdy English actor had very neatly carved a niche for himself among the annals of the great in Hollywood— and he had done it with just one picture. Wilcoxon, who stands six feet two in his bright plaid socks, and weighs a little more than 190 pounds, combines his rugged individuality with that innate sense of good taste and fine manners for which Britishers are noted the world over. He hails from the British West Indies, having gone to England when he was sixteen, where he indulged in commercial employment of various sorts. Not very romantic years those, but Wilcoxon goodhuinoredly took what came in his stride, and spent his spare time painting pictures which showed up very creditably at an exhibition in London. Then the idea hit him that he would like to become an actor. Just like that! He decided to go on the stage and he went on the stage. He had his tips and downs like everyone else, but when he tells you about it so lightly, glossing over the black spots with such insouciance, you realize happily that here's a man who is rugged inside as well as out. His massive frame, his leonine head, that knowing glint in his keen gray-green eyes are not papier-mache framework, but a very remarkable setting for this man who has the courage to think straight, to live according to his own plan, not someone else's, and to air his theories on every subject that rears its head in a conversation without fear of contradiction. In fact, like the Roman warrior and orator he played so well in As Richard, the Lion Hearted, Wilcoxon is the central figure of DeMille's great picture, "The Crusades." the more complex the "Cleopatra," he welcomes contradiction. For there's nothing he likes so well as an enthusiastic discussion, better! Lunching with him at the Hotel Pierre, where he was putting up for a short visit prior to the opening of "The Crusades" in New York, he launched his enthusiasm in the direction of Cecil DeMille. Wilcoxon, you of course know, plays "Richard, the Lion Hearted" in this tremendous DeMille spectacle. "A hundred years from now, when every one of his contemporaries are completely forgotten, Cecil De Mille will still be talked about. He will go down in history as one of the truly great men of the films. "When he cast me for Richard, the Lion Hearted, we had about three months ahead of us before any 'shooting' would take place. Every day we got together and talked, talked, talked— about the character itself, about Richard's relation to the other members of the story, about his probable or improbable reactions to certain situations and events. I never had a better time in my life. "Most people think that research work is all that is necessary for the production of a spectacle such as "The Crusades." But they're wrong. The research work is just a coat hanger (now I'm talking in similes. DeMille always does and I've caught the habit). But research work takes care of dates on which certain battles and other prominent events took place. It also takes care of such details as costuming, architecture, manners and things like that. "But it does not take care of— how shall I put it? DeMille would have a simile for it, I'm sure. Oh, yes, the coat hanger! It is up to me to get the spirit or soul of Richard, the Lion Hearted to wrap around that coat hanger. Otherwise it would be just a piece of wood after I finished, just as it was before." Wilcoxon laughed. "Am I boring you?" he asked contritely. "You see when I get on to these similes . . ." I assured him between sips of sherry that I was anything but bored and thus fortified he went on, striding about tin room every few minutes or so to give me a visual description of what he was saying. Even if his theories did bore me, which the) emphatically did not, the man's vitality and his refreshing /est for procuring the most amazing similes would have carried me right out of myself. It is impossible to be in the presence of so much spontaneous enthusiasm without being infected more than a little bit oneself! [Continued <>n page 73]