One more Lee story. I was going to take a flashlight he gave me to show and tell at school ( this was 1965), and when I told him about it he said "Forget that, just take me." Watching my Dad and Lee, totally inebriated, trying to squeeze into those little desk/chairs was hilarious. And they wouldn't be quiet. "Mr. Marvin....Mr. Neel....please be quiet or I'll send you to the Principal's office." Lee: Does he have any booze?
The weird thing is that your Lee stories all kind of fit his onscreen demeanor and I can hear the lines in his voice...
I haven't seen it in ages, but I used to love him in a little film with John Wayne called "Donovan's Reef". Much of that film seemed like everyone involved was there simply to have fun. Not a bad reason to make a movie.
In many ways...he was the same guy on screen and off. But he had a wonderfully playful sweet side to him too. His favorite thing to do was to walk up and down the beach looking for sea glass tumbled in the sand by the surf. He had barrels of it on his deck.
John Ford. I asked Lee (after seeing that as a kid) is John Wayne was a good fighter. Lee: in the movies he's great. Me: Can you whoop him in real life? Lee: Hell yeah. But he's my friend. I don't whoop my friends. I just arm wrestle with them. Me: Can you beat him arm wrestling? Lee: Of course I can. The only person I've ever lost to is your Dad. F____n' piano players have powerful forearms. Your dad is f____n' Popeye.
He was a great actor and from what I can tell totally unaffected by stardom. You were lucky to know him on such an intimate level. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Small world department: My aunt Cookie and Lee were drinking buddies. She said his role in Cat Ballou wasn't too far off.
