Read the Dec. 7, 2007 interview in The Desert Sun.
Extended version:
With films ranging from cross-dressing shenanigans to Hitchcock thrillers to medieval musicals, the Starfair Palm Springs Classic Film Festival which begins today and runs through Monday, does not lack in variety.
Susan Stafford, Ambassador of Entertainment for the event and 2005 recipient of a spot on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, applauded organizer Bob Alexander for his work in gathering so many stars.
"Bob Alexander has outdone himself," Stafford said. "These are great folks who have made history."
Stafford made history as the first woman to receive a microphone on a game show when she hosted "Wheel of Fortune," resulting in the first Emmy nomination for a hostess. "I'm proud of that as woman, but I knew could do more than turn letters."
She has since earned degrees in Nutrition and Clinical Psychology, worked with C. Everett Koop, and acted as a crisis counselor for the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings.
Stafford will help present 26 classic films followed by Q&A sessions with the stars. A few of the actors recently discussed their legendary roles with The Desert Sun.
Dude looks like a lady
When director Billy Wilder suggested that Tony Curtis act in a comedy about two cross-dressing jazz musicians escaping the mob, Curtis was elated.
"I had played every kind of a part in the movies," said Curtis. "But playing a woman was a part I never thought I'd get."
And playing with the woman of every man's desire, screen siren Marilyn Monroe, made for a hard day at work on the set of 1959's Some Like It Hot. In the yacht seduction scene, she would lay on top of him, lift her arms and ask if he was alright, to which he replied, "Don't ask me stupid questions."
"It was the first time I was grounded, and I loved it," joked Curtis.
As friends who had once dated ("It didn't go very far, but it went far enough," he recalled), their mutual admiration made for an easy working environment.
In the yacht scene, Curtis does a mean impression of Cary Grant. Correction: he was Grant. "Nobody did Cary Grant better than me," he stated.
Curtis felt Grant's affectation fit the faux-billionaire role, and Wilder approved the gag. All in good jest, Grant's friendship meant a lot to the actor. "I was enamored of him, we became friends and then we made a movie together (Operation Petticoat)," said Curtis. "Not bad for a New York delinquent."
Co-starlet Jack Lemmon assisted Curtis in causing scandal in high heels, wasting no time between takes to perfect their mischievous characters. "We permeated whatever we were in the costumes to project it on screen," Curtis said.
"Jack was the best," said Curtis. "He was so ditsy, just like the girl he played."
Wilder, on the other hand, was a consummate master. "He personified for me what directing and making a movie was all about," Curtis said.
"(Wilder) understood what an actor could bring to (the film) and never asked more than the actor could do," said Curtis. He recalls preparing to enter each scene with Wilder at his side, who would then tap his shoulder and say, "Do it." When a scene was finished, Wilder would say, "That's a print" -- making Curtis feel involved in the final decision.
"It is a quality movie -- what we all strive for," Curtis said. "It has given me a wonderful experience and a unique happiness."
When animals attack
To think it all began with a diet drink. On Friday the 13th in October of 1961, fashion model Tippi Hedren received a call from Universal Studios saying an executive was intrigued by her Sego drink commercial. Only they would not tell her who the interested party was.
"I spent the whole weekend wondering, Who is this person?" said Hedren. "It was my own little suspense thriller."
After reviewing her photo book, MCA agent Herman Citron asked her to sign a contract with Alfred Hitchcock, and Hedren jumped at the opportunity with out even meeting the director.
Hedren assumed the lead role in The Birds would go to a certain princess of Monaco and frequent Hitchcock Blonde. But after an involved screen test that included scenes from Hitchcock's Rebecca, Notorious and To Catch a Thief, Hedren won her first major film role in the 1963 film.
"If Hitch hadn't been very much behind me and very supportive I never could've done all that," Hedren said. "It was overwhelming."
Commercials had prepared her for technical aspects, but Hitchcock helped her to develop a character. Rehearsals for each scene were so detailed that he gave very little direction on set. "He spoiled me for other films because he knew so clearly what he wanted," said Hedren.
She said that Hitchcock often claimed that his films were finished before he began shooting, and rarely did he film more than three takes on The Birds -- with one exception.
When Hedren read about the bird attack scene, she asked him about the effects. "We'll use mechanical birds like we do in the scenes with the children," Hitchcock said.
On the morning of the shoot, the First AD entered her dressing room and looked everywhere but directly into her eyes.
"What's the matter with you, Jim?" she asked. To which James H. Brown quickly replied before darting out the door, "The mechanical birds don't work; we have to use real ones."
The obvious preparation made her certain this was no last minute change, and for the next five days prop men hurtled live birds at her in an attempt to mimic Psycho's shower scene.
"It was actually a kind thing (Hitchcock) did," said Hedren. "Had I known they were real birds, I would've been horribly nervous."
With good reason. The last day found Hedren lying on the floor when one of the birds jumped from her shoulder and jabbed at her eye. She sat in the middle of the stage and sobbed from sheer exhaustion, and production was shut down for a week to allow her to rest.
In Daphne Du Maurier's original story the birds take over the world, but Hitchcock discussed alternate endings with the cast. Hedren's favorite proposal faded to birds entirely covering the Golden Gate Bridge, Eiffel Tower and Coliseum. Hitchcock, however, provided no easy answers.
"Hitch loved to do that," Hedren said. "He'd leave everybody hanging, left to their own imaginations."
During the production, Hedren was awarded the starring role in his next film, Marnie. She then bought out the rest of her seven-year contract with the director as she found his control overbearing. Hitchcock declared that he would ruin her career, and, unknowingly to her at the time, turned down many offers including a role with François Truffaut.
"An independent woman can put up with that for just so long," she declared.
"There will not be another Hitchcock," said Hedren. "But when you have a genius, you have all the other personality traits that go with that."
Back to the Future
Rhonda Fleming had a similar victual discovery that brought her to Hitchcock.
After David O. Selznick's talent scout, Henry Wilson, propositioned her ("Young lady, have you ever thought of being in motion pictures?"), Fleming was having lunch in the studio commissary. After watching her eat, studio men whispered in Wilson's ear, "Never mind the screen test, just sign her." A week later, she was offered her first major film role in Hitchcock's Spellbound.
"It's a Cinderella story because I didn't ask for it," said Fleming. "I didn't pound the pavement."
In fact, she had never considered acting. She wanted to sing like her idol, Deanna Durbin. She was given voice lessons but never made musicals -- until the day that Durbin went to France and never came back. Fleming auditioned for the role intended for Durbin, with the one man her singing coach had told her not to imitate -- Bing Crosby.
"My coach wanted me to sing on note as the composer intended," said Fleming. "Not bu-bu- bu-buh like Bing Crosby."
Fleming won the role opposite the crooner for the 1949 musical, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. He praised her singing voice but suggested she take it down an octave, which she discovered to be good advice. He never crowded the camera but would back away from close-ups to allow her ample screen time.
Crosby shared opening titles with her though she had previously only been a character actress. Recalling his generosity, Fleming said, "He was one of my favorite guys in the world."
However, as soon as director Tay Garnett would call "Action," Crosby would tell a joke and then immediately say his next line, throwing Fleming off guard. "I learned not to listen to his jokes," she said. "That was just how he loosened up."
Crosby brought other jokers on the set, including frequent costar Bob Hope. Hope saw Fleming and said, "Well, Bing, if you can use her, I can too," and cast her in his next film, The Great Lover.
"Even now I'm awestruck for the fact that God blessed me so much with these breaks," Fleming said. And she is working to return the favor.
Inspired by her sister Beverly's experience with cancer, she helped found Stop Cancer with Dr. Armand Hammer and established UCLA's Rhonda Fleming Clinic for Women's Comprehensive Care and the Rhonda Fleming Resource Center for Women with Cancer. Presently, she supports P.A.T.H. (People Assisting the Homeless) and will be donating her memorabilia sales at Starfair to the organization.
"I'm so grateful that I can use what name value I have," said Fleming. "My heart was always in helping other people."