Sam Westwood's Hollywood

[markedward]

The National Enquirer, sometime in Mid-1974:

"Sam Westwood was let go after filming five days on Irwin Allen's all-star disaster epic The Towering Inferno. Sources say the actor, 29, who was also let go (some sources say fired) from Arthur P. Jacob's upcoming production of Dune, had been miscast. Despite the rumors, co-stars Judy Garland, Paul Newman, and Jeffrey Hunter all apparently tried to help him out on set. Sources say Westwood passed out, allegedly from the stress of non-stop TV appearances following the Dune debacle. Westwood was replaced at the very last minute by former Mission: Impossible actor Peter Lupus in a reduced role.

Will Westwood, a recent Golden Globe winner for his role in The Last American Hero, be able to turn his career around, or will he continue to have difficulties on future film sets?"

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood

Sam: The tabloids constantly tried to find ways to make me look bad. When I had that small run of bad luck, they got off on it. I don't want to boast, but when I got nominated a second time, it felt good because in a way it was sort of flipping a middle finger to The National Enquirer.
On the other hand, when I was outed, they once again had a field day with me--

From a 1984 People Magazine profile on actor Scott Newman.

The son of Paul Newman is talking about how adopting a healthier lifestyle and practicing meditation might have saved his life.

"I thought Peter Lupus was kind of pushy about health and fitness at first, but he helped saved my life. Being the son of Paul Newman was really difficult for me. I was coping through drugs and alcohol. I could never give up wine, though--"

From a cassette tape belonging to the archive of Nolan Hendricks. This one is labeled 'Sam Westwood, 1990'.

Sam: Paul and Joanne are still really close friends. Scott--it took a while for Scott to warm up to us.

Harris: I wanted to be friends with Scott once he came back into the picture. We were the same age and we'd both struggled with addiction. But he was a bit aloof around me at first and I mean, yeah, it hurt.

Once we did become friendly, he confided to me that because I was still relapsing when we met, and especially after my incident on Ian Noble's yacht, he was afraid that if we got too close, it might cause him to relapse as well.

I wasn't insulted. I don't know if I would have wanted to be friends with myself in the mid-'70s either. Hell, I'm surprised Sam here stuck around.

Sam: It wasn't easy, I gave him an ultimatum, and he decided he'd rather get the help than lose me. And I did reach out to Scott who extended an olive branch to Harris. But it took a while.

I think it was also the fact that he probably didn't want to hang out with his dad's friend.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

The Towering Inferno (20th Century Fox/ Warner Brothers, December 14th, 1974)

Directed by John Guillermin

Produced by Irwin Allen

Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant (Based on The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson)

Music by John Williams

Cast (Main Cast Only)

Paul Newman as Doug Roberts, the Architect

Natalie Wood as Susan Franklin, Doug Roberts' fiancée

William Holden as James "Jim" Duncan, the Builder

Jeffrey Hunter as Roger Simmons, the Electrical Engineer, and Duncan's son-in-law

Judy Garland as Lisolette Mueller

Fred Astaire as Harlee Claiborne, the Con-Man who flirts with Mrs. Mueller

Peter Lupus as Michael "Mike" O’Halloran, SFFD 5th Battalion Chief

Ken Norton as Harry Jernigan, the Chief Security Officer

Erin Gray as Patty Duncan Simmons, James Duncan's daughter

Robert Vaughn as U.S. Senator Gary Parker

Richard Chamberlain as Dan Bigelow, the Public Relations Officer

Susan Flannery as Lorrie, Dan's secretary

Gregory Sierra as Carlos, The Bartender

Dabney Coleman as SFFD Deputy Chief 1

Mike Lookinland as Phillip Allbright

Scott Newman as Young Fireman

Maureen McGovern as Singer at Party

Trivia from IMDB

Former Mission: Impossible actor Peter Lupus was cast as O'Halloran after first choice Steve McQueen died in a late-1973 car accident and replacement Sam Westwood collapsed of nervous exhaustion on set.

Judy Garland beat out several actresses for Lisolette including Jennifer Jones. Garland would later admit to taking the role because she felt it would be her last chance at fulfilling Fred Astaire's wish of doing another film together.

Peter Lupus introduced Scott Newman, the then troubled son of Paul, to the world of fitness and healthy dieting.

William Holden wanted top billing but was quickly shot down by producers.

Reviews were positive. Ebert especially praising Inferno, calling it the best of the wave of disaster films.

Erin Gray's career hadn't really gone anywhere after a promising debut in the Sam Westwood vehicle The Grifters. Subsequent films had done little, and Gray had been relegated to television and further modeling work before the offer came up to play William Holden's daughter in this film.

 

[markedward]

"Jessica Harper of this year's cult movie curiosity Phantom Of The Paradise will be appearing in another horror-themed musical, a big-screen adaptation of the London stage production The Rocky Horror Show for 20th Century Fox. Appearing alongside Harper in the role of heroine Janet Weiss will be Barry Bostwick (Broadway's Grease), Playgirl centerfold Harris Walker, singer Meat Loaf (formerly of Stoney and Meat Loaf), and Tim Curry who will be reprising his role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter."

-Variety, Fall 1974

************************************************************************

"Writer Max Elrich and Director J. Lee Thompson have announced that they still intend to film The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud without backing from Cinerama and Bing Crosby Productions. Thompson was attached to direct when the production fell through earlier this year. Thompson is in talks with various studios, most notably Universal Pictures--"

-Variety, late-1974

***********************************************************************

"Natalie Wood turned heads by showing up to the star-studded premiere of The Towering Inferno in a Zandra Rhodes gown with co-star Jeffrey Hunter on her arm. The dress, which the British designer has dubbed her Field of Lillies gown, has become sought after by the fashion set--"

-Rona Barrett's ABC News gossip segment

************************************************************************

"Dune release delayed until mid-1975 due to post-production--"

-Variety, Late-1974

***************************************************************************
"Arthur Jacobs wanted the film ready for December 1974 which was impossible. I knew it wouldn't be out until Summer, 1975 at the earliest--"

-Douglas Trumbull Dune DVD commentary, 2005

************************************************************************

 

[markedward]

The 47th Academy Awards: Winners and Nominees (Main Categories Only)​

Best Picture

Harry And Tonto

Chinatown
The Godfather Part II
The Conversation
Lenny

Best Director

Paul Mazurky- Harry And Tonto

Jack Nicholson- Chinatown
Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather Part II
Bob Fosse – Lenny
Shaun K. Davis- Erring On The Side Of Caution

Best Actor

Art Carney – Harry and Tonto

Jack Nicholson – Chinatown
Albert Finney – Murder on the Orient Express
Dustin Hoffman – Lenny
Al Pacino – The Godfather Part II

Best Actress

Carol Lynley- Chinatown

Liza Minnelli- Erring On The Side Of Caution
Diahann Carroll – Claudine
Valerie Perrine – Lenny
Gena Rowlands – A Woman Under the Influence

Best Supporting Actor

Robert De Niro – The Godfather Part II

Fred Astaire – The Towering Inferno
Jeff Bridges – Thunderbolt And Lightfoot
David McCallum- Erring On The Side Of Caution
John Huston- Chinatown

Best Supporting Actress

Ellen Burstyn- Harry And Tonto

Ingrid Bergman – Murder on the Orient Express
Valentina Cortese – Day for Night
Madeline Kahn – Blazing Saddles
Tina Louise- Targeted

Best Original Screenplay

Erring On The Side Of Caution- Shaun K. Davis

Claudine- Lester Pine & Tina Pine
The Conversation – Francis Ford Coppola
Chinatown- Robert Towne
Harry and Tonto – Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Godfather Part II – Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo

Young Frankenstein- Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz– Mordecai Richler and Lionel Chetwynd
Lenny– Julian Barry
Murder on the Orient Express– Paul Dehn

Best Cinematography

Chinatown

The Towering Inferno
Earthquake

​

Best Original Song

"Old Souls"- Phantom Of The Paradise

"The Man With The Golden Gun"- The Man With The Golden Gun
"We May Never Love Like This Again" — The Towering Inferno
"Benji's Theme (I Feel Love)" — Benji
"Blazing Saddles" — Blazing Saddles
"Little Prince" — The Little Prince


Best Original Dramatic Score

The Godfather Part II – Nino Rota, Carmine Coppola

Chinatown – Jerry Goldsmith
Murder on the Orient Express – Richard Rodney Bennett
Shanks – Alex North
The Towering Inferno – John Williams

Best Original Song Score and Adaptation

The Great Gatsby – Adaptation Score by Nelson Riddle

The Little Prince – Song Score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe; Adaptation Score by Angela Morley and Douglas Gamley
Phantom of the Paradise – Song Score by Paul Williams; Adaptation Score by Paul Williams and George Aliceson Tipton

 

[markedward]

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)

The documentary cuts to 8mm film footage accompanied with the disclaimer Sam Westwood's 30th Birthday, 2/8/1975. We then cut back to Sam Westwood and Harris Walker who are watching the footage on a flatscreen TV in their living room.

Harris: The best thing about our parties was if I needed to retreat, I could. Sam had a darkroom built for me.

Sam: It was just a little darkroom about the size of a bathroom.

Harris: It meant a lot to me, though, because there was someone in my life who thought I was really good at something.

The interviewer asks a question in the background

Harris: Yeah, well unit still didn't really rely on color at that point and my color blindness could be hidden by black and white photography. When I did color photography later and music videos, it was more of an obstacle. My main medium is still black and white.

More footage is shown: Sam is blowing out candles, Sharon Tate is smiling and holding a kitten.

Sam (voiceover while more footage plays): That's Mary Rose! She was gifted to me by Sharon Tate. That would be around the time she started rescuing animals. There was this cat that had wandered onto her property before she married James Franciscus. Sharon couldn't track any owner down and tried contacting shelters that told her the cat would likely be euthanized. So, she started rehoming unwanted pets and it turned into her Sharon Tate Animal Rescue Foundation. We've both been proud to have been involved with that. [1]

Harris: We called that cat our "kid". Little did I know I actually had a kid--

Sam: Mary Rose lived to be eighteen. We still had her when we moved here.

I: (offscreen): Was it a surreal experience to see some of these people on film growing up and then hang out with them later on?

We cut back to Sam in the present.

Sam: There became a point where I just thought of them as co-workers who were coming over for a staff party.

Harris: Only instead of say, Mary from accounting, you had Elizabeth Taylor arranging for a cake to be sent over.

More film is shown: Sam with Teresa Graves and an unidentified man. Harris playing guitar by the beach. Sam and Valerie Perrine joking around. Paul Newman pretending to throw his drink at the camera while Joanne Woodward laughs.

Harris (voiceover): It's probably for the best there's no sound (laughs)

Sam (voiceover): Oh, please. Do you remember what song you were playing?

Harris: No, but I'd probably had a few drinks and nobody else seems to be around. We were probably trying to get people to leave. (laughs)

Sam: No. I would have started singing myself if that was the case.

Harris: Who was filming this, by the way?

Sam: I remember passing it off to people during the night, so it could have been anyone--

We cut back to the two men in the present. The interviewer asks a question about a famous director

Sam: No, they weren't a "thing" yet.

Harris: If Steven had been filming I could have lied and said he'd directed me. That my scenes were cut or something--

Sam: There's Jeffrey Hunter with myself and Teresa Graves. A reunion of 'Traffic Jam'.

Jeff and I seemed to wind up working together a lot and he became another mentor. He'd show me his old movies and give me career advice. I was fine being open to friends who could be trusted, but it could be scary telling new friends. You didn't know how people might react. Jeff was a pretty staunch Catholic. I was scared to tell him, but he didn't really seem particularly phased by it.

Harris: We both met Natalie Wood for the first time that night.

Sam: I had actually met her before very briefly doing 'What's My Line'.

Harris: Right.

Sam: Jeff called and asked if he could bring a date and it was fine with me. Turned out to be Natalie Wood.

When my career was at it's worst, I got a bit of a break and did a film with Natalie called 'Grace Under Fire'. We got closer and a few years later, Natalie confided in me that she thought maybe Nate was gay. When Nate did come out, Natalie was really calm about it but Jeff struggled. They both wanted me in his life so that Nate could have a positive role model. It meant a lot to me that I was thought of as a positive role model. When Nate decided he wanted to be an actor, I lent my full support.

30-year-old Sam is shown holding up a red hand-made cable knit sweater.

Sam: My mom made that sweater. They planned to visit and for some reason, they had to cancel.

Harris: This is horrible to say, but I was relieved.

Sam: Well, you and I both had the same concern. My dad figured things out right away. He was upset that I wasn't honest with him until right before I shot 'The Front Runner'.

Harris: Fred knew. There was a point where you didn't need a "roommate" anymore and I was still living there--

[1] Similar to Tony La Russa's efforts IOTL.

 

[markedward]

The Films of Carol Lynley: 1969-1972

Once You Kiss A Stranger (11/1969)
Five Easy Pieces (9/1970)
Norwood (5/1970)
See No Evil (9/1971)
Follow Me (7/1972)

From Forgotten Films, Volume 2: The New Hollywood Era by Nolan Hendricks (2001)

Between Rosemary's Baby and her eventual Best Actress Oscar win for 1974's Chinatown, Carol Lynley made a small string of films that were mostly met with mixed reviews and varying box office returns.

The first of these, 1969's Once You Kiss A Stranger, a loose remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Strangers On A Train was released hot on the heels of Lynley's Oscar-Nominated turn in Rosemary's Baby the year before. The film wasn't particularly successful and viewed at the time as an unnecessary remake.

The next year, Lynley's fortunes improved slightly when she appeared in two films. The first, Norwood, released that May paired her with country star Glen Campbell and football player Joe Namath. Lynley's previous four films following 1965's Bunny Lake Is Missing (1967's Danger Route and The Shuttered Room, and the aforementioned Rosemary's Baby and Once You Kiss A Stranger) had all been either horror films or thrillers. The more comedic Norwood was seen by Lynley as a much-needed change of pace. Lynley's role as Yvonne, a prostitute, was more of a supporting part. The real leads were Campbell, Namath, and Kim Darby. Critical reviews compared the film to Campbell's attempt at an Elvis Presley-type vehicle and were largely mixed. While the film did make money, it didn't do much in the way of advancement for Lynley's career. Lynley's luck would change with her second picture that year, Five Easy Pieces-- [1]

And later in the same book...

"Carol Lynley had followed up Five Easy Pieces with only two more pictures before the offer to appear in Chinatown came about. Both of those were released during 1971/72. The increasingly selective Lynley was seen more in fashion magazines and the talk show circuit.

The first of these films was See No Evil, yet another psychological thriller, this time in the vein of the 1967 Audrey Hepburn film Wait Until Dark. Screenwriter Brian Clemens, best known for his work on The Avengers wrote the script on spec.

"Columbia agreed to buy it if Carol Lynley played the lead. I was happy when she read the script and liked it" Clemens recalls. [2]

The second film, 1972's Follow Me! was in a lighter vein. The comedy/drama concerned a businessman (Michael Jayston) who marries Lynley's character, a free-spirited American. Jayston's Charles becomes suspicious that his wife is cheating and hires a private detective (Topol) to follow his wife around London.

The film did decent box office due to the presence of Lynley and Topol, the latter fresh off the success of Fiddler On The Roof, but became scarce in later years--"


[1] The part Susan Anspach played IOTL.

[2] Mia Farrow IOTL. Actually, both these films were Mia IOTL. I want to stress that I am not turning Carol into Mia, these just looked like good in-between films for her to do until Chinatown.


Side note: I inexplicably got asked about Beware The Blob! numerous times in my first stab at this TL. I didn't like that film then, and I still don't like it now. Since Carol Lynley's fortunes have improved somewhat here, future Knots Landing star Donna Mills lands the Lynley roles in both 1969's The Maltese Bippy and 1972's Beware! The Blob!

 

[markedward]

AIP/ International Classics Filmography, Part One, 1971-1975 (List taken from From Forgotten Films, Volume 2: The New Hollywood Era by Nolan Hendricks)

1971​

Wuthering Heights- Adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel. Notable for featuring future James Bond Ian Ogilvy in the smaller role of Edgar Linton.

King Lear- International Classics distributed this Filmways produced black and white 16mm British adaptation of Shakespeare's play. The Peter Brook helmed film, which featured an impressive cast of British stage performers met with extremely mixed reviews and divided the critics. *

Murders in the Rue Morgue- Adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story starring Jason Robards.

House Of The Seven Gables- Adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel. Starring Harris Walker, Jill Haworth, and Sian Phillips. Phillips was a last-minute addition to the cast, replacing Joan Crawford.

Some of My Best Friends Are... - Early LGBTQ+ themed drama film starring Fannie Flagg, Rue McClanahan, and Candy Darling.

1972​

Boxcar Bertha- Early Martin Scorsese film produced by Roger Corman and starring Barbara Hershey and David Carradine.

The Ballad Of Tam-Lin- International Classics acquired this Roddy McDowell-directed horror film. Instead of editing it and recutting it as a regular AIP release as planned, the film is released unedited. [1]

1973​

Manson- Academy Award-nominated documentary about the Manson Family.

Last Tango In Paris (1973)- Success with previous releases had convinced International Classics they could release films that were not literary adaptations but also releases that were possibly deemed "too artistic" for the regular AIP banner.

United Artists had rejected Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial Last Tango In Paris due to the amount of sexual content. International Classics eagerly snapped the film up where it was equally at home on both art-house screens and grindhouse cinemas. Last Tango is mostly remembered for the amount of controversy it stirred at the time, as well as launching the career of future Emmanuelle star Sylvia Kristel.

Sisters - Cult horror classic from Brian De Palma starring Margot Kidder as a French Canadian model with a dark secret.

A Tale Of Two Cities- Instead of a straightforward approach, the Charles Dickens story is done as a comedy parody of the original novel. Starring Peter Sellers in multiple roles (Dr. Manette, Monsieur Ernst Defarge, Jacques 1,2, and 3, Jarvis Lorry and Miss Pross). Also starring Dudley Moore as Sydney Carton, Peter Cook as Charles Darnay, Madeline Smith as Lucie Manette, and Diana Dors as Madame Therese Defarge. Although the film was a huge UK box office hit, making money for British distributors The Rank Organisation, North American box office was almost non-existent. Later it would become a cult favourite across the pond amongst British comedy fans.

1974​

Undercover's Hero- Another Sellers flop, this one much less regarded than A Tale Of Two Cities. Again featuring Sellers in multiple roles, this film became controversial due to Sellers' comic portrayal of Adolf Hitler.

America's Sweetheart- George Furth scripted film starring Patty Duke-Astin as a rising star who is in a relationship that might threaten her career.

Carry On Dick- Carry On Film briefly released in North America through International Classics.

1975
​

The Wild Party- Merchant-Ivory production starring Raquel Welch, James Coco, and schlock icon Perry King. Hollywood tale set in 1929 at the dawn of talking pictures.

Cooley High- Popular, groundbreaking coming of age comedy/drama anchored by an African American cast. This 1960's period piece starred Glynn Turman and featured a soundtrack comprised of Motown hits.

I See A Star: The Nederpop Invasion- Documentary covering the Dutch chart Invasion of the 1970s. Bands such as Shocking Blue are mentioned, as is the label that started it all, Colossus Records. A good deal of the documentary covers Golden Earring touring North America. The film culminates with pop duo Mouth And MacNeal competing in the 1974 Eurovision song contest where they ultimately lose to Swedish entry (and future hitmakers) ABBA. [2]

[1] IOTL, Tam-Lin wrapped up production 6/25/1969, had a UK release in late-1970, and wasn't released in North America until mid-late 1972. Same thing here, only the film is shown as-is and not butchered.

[2] In case it doesn't come up: Olivia Newton-John still competes in Eurovision ITTL. Scrapped that whole ONJ doing movies prior to Grease nonsense.

*Mergers aren't going to be discussed much in a film context, but this is one exception as it concerns Sam at a later date: Filmways still purchase AIP as IOTL leading to Orion Pictures.

 

[markedward]

Secret Of The Damned (Amicus/Cinerama, April 1975) (Thanks again to @Guajolote)​

Screenplay by Arthur Ericson

Directed by Arthur Ericson

Produced by Milton Subotsky, Rene Dupont, and Claude Heroux

Cast

Ian Hendry as Emmit MacPherson, A British film director with sinister tendencies.

Vincent Price as Henry Smith, the deceased previous owner of the mansion whose spirit is summoned.

Herve Villechaize as Durand, Emmit MacPherson's diminutive French Butler. Villechaize was billed as "Adolphus Spriggs" in this pre-Fantasy Island role.

Margot Kidder as Celeste Logan, a Hollywood film star and MacPherson's girlfriend.

Harris Walker as Charles Grayson, a young American novelist


Stephen McHattie as Skip Billingsley, a famous aviator, and stunt pilot.

Anthony Valentine as Oliver Evans, an ill-fated English stage actor

Gerald Sim as Father Bailey, the local priest who is a close friend of Durand's.

Pamela Franklin and Peter Egan as Nell and George Gregson, A couple who are looking to buy the house years after the events take place.

Joanna Lumley as Victoria Smith- Wife of Henry

Mary Woronov as Francine Williams- Charles girlfriend who dies of mysterious causes.

Geoffrey Whitehead as The Estate Agent

Plot

Spoiler

1975

Spoiler

Londoners George and Nell Gregson (Egan, Franklin) pull up to a well-kept estate in the English countryside that they have decided to look at. Upon arrival, they are met by The Estate Agent (Whitehead), who shows the couple around. He adds that the house has been well cared for, but uninhabited since 1935. The Estate Agent proceeds to explain why.

1927
​

Henry Smith, a wealthy American Ex-Pat (Price), and owner of the estate invites his friend, the British film director Emmit MacPherson (Hendry) to his estate for the weekend. Also present is Victoria (Lumley), Henry's much younger wife, and the butler Durand (Villechaize).

Unknown to Henry, Victoria has been having an affair with Emmit. The pair hatch a plan to murder Henry. Durand realizes what the pair are up to and tries to warn Henry. That night at dinner, Henry is poisoned after taking a sip of his wine. Before dying, Henry swears his revenge.

1975
​

George and Nell don't seem particularly phased by the story. In between their own bickering, the Estate Agent continues to show the pair around, telling them another story. He also shows them pictures of the people allegedly involved.

1932
​

Three years later, Emmit and Victoria are happily married and living on the same estate. Durand is their butler. Durand despises Emmit but believes Henry will come back for revenge as promised. One night, Emmit and an expectant Victoria are returning home from a party. Their driver sees a man on the road who a horrified Emmit and Victoria recognize as Henry. The driver swerves, causing the car to crash. The driver and Victoria are killed, but Emmit manages to survive.

1975
​

George tells the Estate Agent that he doesn't believe in ghosts and that the car likely just crashed. The Estate Agent goes on to tell the couple another story, pulling out a picture of a man he describes as Charles Grayson, a Hollywood screenwriter.

1933
​

A year after Victoria's death, Emmit, now walking with a pronounced limp, is in Hollywood directing a screwball comedy. He becomes friendly with the young, carefree writer of the screenplay, Charles Grayson (Walker). Charles lives with his fiance, aspiring actress Francine Williams (Woronov), who can't get beyond chorus girl in musicals. Francine takes a shine to Emmit and the two start an affair behind Charles' back. A guilty Francine eventually decides to break things off with Emmit, but he gets jealous and strangles her to death. Making it look like a murder, Emmit consoles a grieving, unassuming Charles.

1975
​

George and Nell think the stories are far-fetched and George especially doesn't appreciate The Estate Agent trying to frighten them with nonsense. The Estate Agent tells them he has one more, long story that will shock them.

1935
​

Two years later, Charles travels to England for a weekend visit to Emmit's estate. Upon arrival, he is greeted by Durand. Charles is led into a drawing-room where he meets Hollywood actress Celeste Logan (Kidder), stunt pilot and aviator Skip Billingsley (McHattie), and stage actor Oliver Evans (Valentine). Emmit appears greets his guests for the weekend and Durand shows them to their rooms. Charles starts unpacking and notices several old suits in the closet of the room he is staying in, which Durand tells him was the room of the previous owner.

Emmit stops by Charles' room to discuss a screenplay he wants him to write, another comedy. Charles tells Emmit that he no longer writes comedy and has switched to tragedy, noting that the move hasn't really helped his career much. Emmit says they can discuss the matter after dinner.

The dinner conversation is rather dull. Charles, who has taken to drinking to hide his pain, becomes tipsy. Emmit tells the group that after dinner he has a surprise in his private screening room. He shows them a print of his latest film, a romance which stars Celeste and Oliver as the leads. Emmit asks Charles what he thought of the film. A drunken Charles tells him it was miserable. Emmit doesn't look too pleased with this response.

After the film, the guests minus Emmit all gather in the drawing-room. Oliver has brought a ouija board and is eager to use it. Charles decides to go along with it. Celeste tells them she's disturbed by the idea of communicating with the dead and declines to take part, leaving just Charles, Skip, and Oliver.

Skip gets frightened and decides to leave, venturing outside. Durand spots the two men using the ouija board and warns them they don't know what they are messing with, that the house is haunted. Oliver laughs it off and tells Charles to continue. Halfway through the ritual, the power briefly goes out. Charles tells Oliver he feels dizzy and proceeds to pass out.

Meanwhile, outside, Skip runs into Celeste and the two start talking. Celeste tells Skip she's seeing Emmit but thinking about breaking things off due to his controlling nature.
Meanwhile, Charles comes to with help from Oliver and Durand who has brought smelling salts. Charles says he feels a bit odd. Oliver and Durand help him upstairs.

Sometime during the night, Charles gets up. He looks in the mirror and for a flickering second sees a face that is not his. (Unknown to Charles, he just saw Smith's reflection rather than his own). He blacks out again. Somehow, Charles wakes up in his guest room the next morning with no recollection of how he got back there. Frantic, he goes to look in the mirror seeing his own reflection. Charles goes to get dressed and notices that all of the clothes he brought are mysteriously missing. He has to resort to wearing one of the old suits in the closet. Upon his arrival for breakfast, Emmit looks disturbed to see Charles wearing the suit. Charles explains that he had no choice, the clothes he brought were stolen.

After breakfast, Charles pulls Durand aside and asks him about the previous owner. Durand leads Charles to his quarters where he shows Charles a photograph of Henry Smith. Charles is horrified to realize that Smith is the man he saw in the mirror.

Durand leaves via bicycle to town where he meets up with the local Priest, Father Bailey (Sim). Durand tells Bailey what has happened and the two suspect that Charles might be possessed by the spirit of Henry Smith.

Meanwhile, Charles goes out for a walk with Oliver. Deep in the woods, Oliver sees what appears to be Charles' luggage. The two begin to pick the items up when Charles blacks out. Charles starts talking differently (in Henry's voice) and he becomes violent towards Oliver. Oliver starts running back towards the house, but Charles (as Henry) tackles Oliver and strangles him to death.

Back at the house, Skip asks Celeste if she would like to see the plane he flew himself to the estate in, to which she obliges. As they head outside, a disheveled Charles wanders towards them and passes out.

Charles regains consciousness. His last memory is going for a walk with Oliver, who nobody has seen for hours. Skip offers to go look for Oliver. Father Bailey, who has arrived on the lot stays with Charles, while Celeste sits in the drawing-room with MacPherson and Durand.

Charles blacks out again and awakens, talking in Henry's voice and cursing the Father. Father Bailey notices that Charles' reflection in the nearby mirror is not his, but the man he remembers as Henry Smith. The shock is so great that Father Bailey suffers a heart attack and collapses.

MacPherson and Durand run upstairs to find Bailey collapsed on the floor in Charles' room. Once again, Charles is comatose. Durand pronounces Bailey dead and goes to make a call. The power suddenly goes out. Skip returns, telling the others that Oliver is dead. Durand and MacPherson tell Skip and Celeste Father Bailey is also dead, an apparent heart attack.

Durand confronts MacPherson as an awakened Charles, wearing one of the suits and otherwise looking fine, calmy walks down the staircase. He starts talking in Henry's voice again, which causes MacPherson to snap. Durand forces MacPherson to admit to his crimes. MacPherson admits everything and then in a fit of rage stabs Durand to death. Charles/Henry then turns on MacPherson as a horrified Skip and Celeste look on.

After MacPherson is shot to death, Charles passes out again and awakens as himself, with Henry's spirit presumed to have crossed over. Skip and Celeste, knowing Charles was merely acting as the host, try to console him. However, he heard MacPherson's confession and knows he committed murder, even if he was possessed. A distraught Charles gets up and shoots himself. The others dead, Celeste and Skip escape in Billingsley's plane.

1975​

The film returns to the present. The caretaker explains that the two survivors later married, but both met tragic ends. Celeste's career faded quickly, and after Skip died in an airplane accident, Celeste went completely insane, later dying in a mental hospital. George and Nell tell the Estate Agent that they don't believe most of the stories and that they will still take the house.

Sometime later, George and Nell have moved into the estate. They have a dinner party with friends, and for laughs, George hauls out a ouija board, telling the guests the crazy stories they were fed about the house.

That night, after the guests leave, George is in the bathroom getting ready for bed when he looks into the mirror and is horrified to see his reflection replaced by that of Charles Grayson.

THE END

​

Trivia
​

Secret Of The Damned was initially to be released in North America by Cinerama. The fledgling mini-major had suffered a string of flops, most recently the Twiggy/Sam Westwood thriller W which underperformed at the box office. By the time this film was released, AIP had purchased Cinerama. This was the final film released under the Cinerama banner. [1]

Arthur Ericson was a 27-year-old Canadian filmmaker who started his career with the National Film Board Of Canada. Harris Walker had worked with Ericson on a previous film, 1972's Stay Away Joe. Walker served as a Unit Still Photographer on that production.

Ericson was told by the Canadian producers that if he wrote a horror script, they would finance his next picture, 1977's False Start.

The role of Charles was specifically written with Walker in mind.

Exterior scenes were shot at Oakley Court, the same country house where Rocky Horror Picture Show was shot. Walker appears in both films.
Some of the interior scenes, notably the Hollywood segment, were shot in Canada.

Teresa Graves was sought after for the role of Celeste with the idea of moving the setting to the 1950s and styling Celeste after Dorothy Dandridge. The highly selective Graves found the script mediocre and ultimately Canadian Margot Kidder, fresh off two horror films, DePalma's Sisters and the slasher Black Christmas was chosen.
Ian Hendry and Vincent Price had appeared together in the 1973 classic Theatre Of Blood.

Herve Villechaize had unsuccessfully auditioned to play Christopher Lee's sidekick in The Man With The Golden Gun. The actor snuck into auditions for Secret Of The Damned and was ultimately chosen to play French butler Durand.

Herve Villechaize was billed as Adolphus Spriggs (a reference to The Goon Show) due to concern about audiences not being able to pronounce his name. In all subsequent performances, Villechaize reverted to his given name.

From a cassette tape belonging to the archive of Nolan Hendricks. This one is labeled 'Harris Walker-Sam Westwood, 1991'.

Harris: It's not a cursed film. My almost drowning to death a few months later was my own reckless behaviour.

Sam: Harris was self-destructing which was making me question our relationship.

Harris: I was fine on the set. It was after hours where there were issues. I'd go out and get loaded and pretend to be sober on set the next day. Playing an alcoholic provided a bit of a cover-up.

Sam: Art watched him like a hawk. I knew Art was into Harris but wasn't upset by it because we still had an open arrangement and someone was looking after him on the set. I had some problems of my own--

Nolan: This would be when you were having your own issues with roles, right?

Sam: Yeah. I'd been let go from Dune and Inferno. Devil Child was happening around the time Harris' film came out, I was let go from a film for Roger Corman. At that point, I secretly wanted my film career to end so I could just take off someplace with Harris. And then both of our careers had a second wind.

Nolan: It seems like every time you quit acting something dragged you back in.

Sam: Yeah. I fell in and couldn't get out. (chuckles)

Harris: Ian dragged him back in--

Sam: Yeah. I sporadically worked and thought about quitting again and then The Grifters was restored and I'm getting scripts now. It's not perfect, but people are realizing that they can cast me as the lead in some smaller films. I chose to work with George on The Dark Half because it was about time we did another film together.

Nolan: Harris, what can you tell me about Oakley Court?

Harris: Well, Nolan, it was a s***hole! (laughs)

I mean the place was beautiful but there was no heat or working bathrooms. We only did exterior shots there. I went back to California, did a quickie film for Roger and then returned to film Rocky Horror. As soon as I found out we were going back to Oakley Court, I bought things like hygiene products and toilet paper. Had I known in advance we were filming there, I would have turned the part down.

Nolan: Was it that bad?

Harris: Yeah. Jessica Harper caught pneumonia, so I gave her the hot water bottle I brought. I felt a little run down myself. I had those gold briefs on and the place was freezing. Had to wrap up in a blanket between takes. Barry Bostwick and I were already friendly from my time in New York. I gave him a heads up before filming, so he also made a point to bring enough stuff. Everyone was trying to steal our rations (laughs).

Honestly, I learned that from Sam.

Sam: I discovered early on that if you are doing a location shoot, pack carefully.


[1] IOTL, the final Cinerama release was The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud. ITTL, it's a later Universal release starring none other than Sam Westwood.

 

[markedward]

Blog Post on Sam Westwood's website dated March 9th, 2017

Devil Child (Part One)

I started this blog around the time the documentary on my career, Sam Westwood's Hollywood, came out last Summer. One thing a lot of you have asked me about since is Devil Child, a movie I mentioned filming in 1975 that was left unfinished.

Aside from an early profile for People, Shaun K. Davis is extremely private and declined to be interviewed for Sam Westwood's Hollywood. However, he was kind enough to supply the filmmakers with rare script notes and his personal on-set photos from the Devil Child production. Unfortunately, actual footage has not been released to the general public and Shaun has made it clear that he doesn't want it seen. I will respect his wishes.

I figured it was time for me to tell more about my own on-set experiences regarding the scariest supernatural horror film that never got released. At the time, a few of us were lucky enough to see footage via dailies, and it was rather chilling.

By early 1975, my career was in full swing, but as mentioned numerous times, I had passed out on the set of Towering Inferno and it was the start of a run of films that didn't pan out. My agent at the time, Dick Clayton had arranged for me to star in an Exorcist-style horror movie titled Devil Child alongside two fairly big names. The first was Judy Garland, who after a flickering comeback a couple of years earlier, was now finding herself at the twilight of her career. The second, Patty Duke-Astin, had generated buzz the year before for the film America's Sweetheart and seemed poised to resume her big-screen career.

I had worked personally with Judy and Liza some years earlier on Erring On The Side Of Caution. My part was very small, but I did it just to work with them. Judy had been very disappointed that I was let go from the Towering Inferno production and wanted to work with me again. When Devil Child came up, we both jumped at the chance. I thought the film would be the highlight of my career. And in a way, it has been, but more as a bizarre curio of "What could have been". It has even been brought to my attention that there are online speculative fiction forums that wonder what would have happened if the film had been finished and released.

Primary shooting started in February 1975. Devil Child was the working title. Child of the Blood Moon and By the Grace of Satan were other titles that were being considered by director Robert Wise. Wise told me personally that the latter title was his personal favorite. The producers were also partial to it as well because it seemed reminiscent of The Exorcist.

Devil Child had a script written by Shaun K. Davis, who had also written and directed Erring. I was cast as the hapless Priest who is sacrificed to bring about the possession of a child played by John Gilchrist, aka Mikey from the Life cereal ads. Judy had a rare antagonistic role, playing the grandmother who sets the whole thing in motion. She couldn't wait to play "The Wicked Witch" as she called the role. Patty Duke-Astin was cast as the mother of the child. Working with both of them was an exciting prospect.

I finished my scenes about a month later, in mid-March at which time I flew back home to Tuscon, Arizona to film White Line Fever. Further filming on Devil Child continued until May 25th. To be honest with you, the original shoot was rather unremarkable. It was the latter two shoots in 1976 and 1979 where things truly became bizarre. Four days after I completed my scenes, Judy Garland, who was already not in the best of health by this time, fell down the stairs during a fight sequence before her double was due to step in for her.

On March 30th, Judy's doctor vetoed her return until she had completely recovered. Some shooting went on around Judy Garland. These were mostly scenes featuring Patty's character and the other child actors (Brooke Shields, and Adam Rich). Patty seemed a bit off. Judy first brought it to my attention when Patty had a difficult time with one of her scenes and walked off the set. Unbeknownst to all of us, Patty was suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder at the time. She started asking for help with lines, which I would feed to her on set. Her sons Sean and Mackenzie were on the set often and Judy and I would help her with the kids. We became close friends after this and when my career hit rock bottom, Patty was one of the people who urged me not to quit acting.

Patty became a mental health advocate and television movie queen. I always admired Patty for being able to turn her life around and was devastated to hear about her passing last year. Brooke of course later became a huge star, and Adam worked steadily in TV before sadly dying of a Valium overdose in 1989. John Gilchrist, however, is not dead as urban legends about him often state. There were so many rumors about that poor kid. The most common one is that his stomach exploded from Pop Rocks and soda. Another popular one mentions that he died shortly after the production of Devil Child shut down a second time from some sort of on-set curse. Look, he didn't die and the film was not cursed. It just simply had an extremely troubled production. And when filming did resume a third time, John was simply too old at age 11 to take back his role.

Hollywood is fickle. Trust me, I know.

******************************************************************************
Patty Duke Interview being interviewed by Bruce Vilanch at the Castro Theatre (7/20/2009)

BV: You worked with Judy again--

PD: In 1975, yes. Devil Child.

BV: That movie that was never released.

PD: I was in no shape to be doing that movie in the first place. Well, I didn't think anything was wrong with me. It was going to be a huge movie, it was going to revive my big screen film career and I was going to get to work with Judy again.

BV: And Sam Westwood--

Crowd starts cheering

PD: And Sam Westwood. I wish I'd get THAT kind of a reaction!

Patty and Bruce are laughing

BV: Sam Westwood, of course, has talked frequently about 'Devil Child'. What exactly went wrong?

PD: Everything!

BV: That bad, huh?

PD: Oh, just anything that could go wrong did. The crew was great, there were no issues there. It wasn't a cursed set or anything. You hear all these stories about that set being jinxed, which Sam himself has said was a bunch of crap--

BV: I like Sam because he doesn't mince his words.

PD: Judy and Sam and the director, Shaun K. Davis, had all just done a really big movie, 'Erring On The Side Of Caution'--

BV: Which Sam also had a small part in--

PD: He did. And Shaun got this deal to do a film. The studio was hoping for another social drama I think and he comes up with this absolutely terrifying horror script instead.

BV: How did you end up in this thing?

PD: Several people passed on it including Raquel Welch who thought it was too frightening but made 'Burnt Offerings' and wrote 'Winding Stairs' instead--

(Patty makes a WTF face)

Audience laughs

BV: I was gonna say--

Bruce laughs

BV: 'Burnt Offerings' was a scary, scary movie!

PD: Eventually I got a copy of the 'Devil Child' script and was going to decline until my agent mentioned Sam Westwood and Judy Garland and I was like "I'M IN!"

Everyone laughs

BV: Sam Westwood was a huge deal--

PD: Oh, he was a big star, but he was also going through issues of his own. He living with Harris by then and Harris...was a character in those days.

BV: Harris is a friend, he's told me stories. Sharing them would probably get me arrested on obscenity charges.

PD: I felt bad for Harris. Later on, when he did advocacy work for different charities I was proud of him. But he was such a stark contrast to Sam. Sam was so private. He had to be. If you got to know Sam and he trusted you, then it was different. If Sam likes you, you have a friend for life. And I needed a friend on that shoot.

BV: So, what happened with the second round of 'Devil Child'?

PD: Sam shot all his scenes, and then a few days later, Judy was filming this fight scene with me. They had a double come in for the long shots. The double was just about to step in and Judy fell. It wasn't a huge fall, but she was frail at that point. So we had to film around her. There were already whispers about the shoot being troubled. Sam had been having some bad luck, and I had a reputation, as did Judy, so people were whispering all sorts of garbage. Judy was determined she was going to make this movie even though she...in my opinion, neither of us should have been cast. But we made it through 'Valley Of The Dolls' together so I thought we'd make it through 'Devil Child'.

We picked up the shoot the next year. Sam initially wasn't supposed to be there, but Shaun expanded his role. And there were some reshoots.

BV: How was Judy?

PD: Oh, Judy was fine that time. She seemed to be doing much better. It was me. I was acting out and struggling with lines. And John, my husband at the time, was busy so I brought my boys to the set.

BV: Sean and Mackenzie Astin, if you are wondering--

PD: I had them on the set with me and was in no shape to be taking care of myself let alone my sons. And Sam must have sensed that because he'd bring them snacks and coloring books and talk to them. He'd ask first because I think he was worried I'd get upset for whatever reason. But I was worse without him or Judy around. He would feed me my lines and look after the kids when they visited the set.

I...unfortunately had an episode and was put under a 72-hour psych evaluation. John canceled everything he was doing to go get the kids and Sam and Judy and Shaun and the crew were all there looking after them. Judy had been in that situation herself, she knew what to do. And Shaun was more than understanding given his own personal history with his family. So I was very lucky to have that support because it's rare. I was diagnosed as bipolar. And then, Judy had another commitment which didn't pan out--

BV: Alan Carr, who of course, produced Grease, kept going on about doing a movie with her and Liza which never happened. He wanted input on a script.

PD: That must have been the film. Judy did an interview right before she died clarifying that my diagnosis is not what shut the set down and Sam also went on record about that--

BV: The film went back into production more than once--

PD: A few years later, yeah. They recast my role and Judy's role and brought Sam back, and again, the film wasn't finished--

******************************************************************************

 

[markedward]

​

From the archives of Sam Westwood

Home movie footage of Sam Westwood from late 1991. Sam is sitting at a table with Nolan. The voice behind the camera is distinctly that of Harris Walker. Sam is holding up issue #28 of Empire Magazine in which he is profiled alongside John Savage in a Where Are They Now? feature.

Sam: Ian sent this in the mail. Some British magazine did a Where Are They Now? feature on me.

Sam flips through the pages.

Sam: This is...the most positive mainstream press I've had in ages. They even mention 'The Dark Half'.

Harris: I still think we should have had a small party--

Sam: It's just a magazine story. We'll wait until the movie actually comes out.

Nolan: I borrowed a couple of Bruce Lee movies.

Sam places the magazine down, picks the videotapes up, and reads the boxes to what appear to be Game Of Death (1974) and The Man From Hong Kong (1975). [1]

Sam: 'Game Of Death' and 'The Man From Hong Kong'--

Nolan: The second one has Rod Taylor in it--

Sam: I saw 'Game Of Death' when it came out. I haven't seen 'The Man from Hong Kong'.

Harris: It had that song--

Harris tries humming Sky High by Jigsaw behind the camera

Sam: A lot of movies had songs in them!

Nolan: 'Sky High'--

Sam: Oh. I remember that one. Don't ask me to sing it, though. (laughs)

********************************************************************************

YouTube video from 2015 of Harris Walker and Roger Corman having a one-on-one live conversation/ Q&A at a screening of the 1975 Corman produced film Fisticuffs and Speed.

Roger Corman: I had done 'Death Race 2000' and was following that up with a whole series of car chase pictures and thought Harris would be perfect.

Harris: We shot in, uh, I believe it was three weeks or something. I went to England before and after to shoot a couple of films.

RC: We used repurposed sets for that. It was a quick shoot.

Harris: The 'Death Race' vehicles were used a lot.

RC: It saves money.

Harris: My acting career had been revived but I was doing old-fashioned horror films and occasional TV spots, commercials. So, your offer looked really good.

The script changed, though. You were the only producer who thought I could play a cop! (chuckles)

RC: Well, we decided to do a twist. 'Fisticuffs' would be about two motorcycle cops. It was before 'CHiPs', so we were ahead of the game there.

Harris: The original script I saw was about two stunt drivers on the run.

RC: It was a buddy picture. I wanted Sylvester Stallone to play Fisticuffs. He turned it down, so then I moved onto Martin Kove, who had also been in 'Death Race 2000' with Sylvester.

Harris: Martin Kove was also in 'White Line Fever' with Sam.

RC: That's right.

Harris: It was an easy shoot for the most part. Granted, there was day Paul Bartel and I argued about a car on set being green when it was orange. And I wanted to do my own stunts.

RC: I would not let you do stunts. I lost an actor directing a film a few years earlier. And you didn't seem like the most...steady guy back then.

Harris: You were constantly making sure the set was safe.

RC: Well, that was my job as a producer. You want to have a safe work environment--

********************************************************************************

[1] Bruce Lee's other movies from this period also include The Seven Sons of the Jade Dragon (1975), and Circle Of Iron (1976), Lee's first film that he wrote and directed himself.

 

[markedward]

Dune (Paramount, June, 1975)

Directed by Douglas Trumbull

An Arthur P. Jacobs Production

Screenplay by Rospo Pallenberg (Based on the first Dune novel by Frank Herbert)

Cast

Michael Sarrazin as Paul Atreides, the Duke's son, and our protagonist.
Mike Lookinland as Young Paul Atreides

Rod Taylor as Duke Leto Atreides, head of House Atreides

Jean Simmons as Lady Jessica, Bene Gesserit and concubine of the Duke, mother of Paul and Alia

Omar Sharif as Thufir Hawat, Mentat and Master of Assassins to House Atreides

Anissa Jones as Alia Atreides, Paul's younger sister

Julian Glover as Gurney Halleck, staunchly loyal troubadour warrior of the Atreides

Patrick Wayne as Duncan Idaho, Swordmaster for House Atreides, graduate of the Ginaz School

Dean Stockwell as Wellington Yueh, Suk doctor for the Atreides, who is secretly working for House Harkonnen

Jane Seymour as Chani

And Gloria Swanson as Reverend Mother Mohiam

Trivia via IMDB

Sam Westwood had been cast as Paul but was let go by Jacobs against the wishes of director Douglas Trumbull at the last minute. Michael Sarrazin replaced him. For years, rumours ranged from then-closeted Westwood's sexuality to Jacobs feeling that Westwood had been miscast. Ironically, Sam Westwood would go on to star in The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud (1976), which was originally slated to be filmed for another studio with Sarrazin in the lead. That production falling through led to Sarrazin being available to play Paul.

Jacobs wanted Audrey Hepburn for Lady Jessica but was unable to get the semi reclusive actress interested in the project. He then moved on to Jean Simmons.
Anissa Jones was best known as Buffy on the sitcom A Family Affair (1966-1971). After the show was cancelled, Jones had unsuccessfully tried out to star in The Exorcist. She had also turned down a sitcom offer from actor Brian Keith. Jones was ready to give up on acting when in late 1973 she was encouraged to audition for Dune. Jacobs wanted Jodie Foster who was unavailable. Other actresses considered included an unknown Linda Blair and Paper Moon star Tatum O'Neal.

Keir Dullea turned down the role of Duncan Idaho. Patrick Wayne was ultimately cast.

Plans for a sequel fell through when Arthur P. Jacobs suffered a second heart attack and died several months after Dune was released.

Dune initially opened to mixed reviews but solid box office. However, during the film's second week in theatres, Steven Speilberg's Jaws was released. As a result, Dune's box office took a hit.

From a 2015 documentary on the making of Dune

Rare footage of Sam Westwood's screentest and wardrobe fittings are shown while Douglas Trumbull is talking.*

DT: I knew there were going to be problems when Sam Westwood was mysteriously let go. The work Sam did do was incredible. I couldn't get that out of Michael Sarrazin.
Arthur used various reasons like, he'd been miscast, which was absolutely not the case. I didn't know until years later what happened. Elizabeth Taylor went on Turner Classic Movies and one of her picks was 'Dune'. I had heard from Steven that she liked some of the performances, but uh, I didn't expect her to pick it. Anyway, she starts telling this story about Sam right on air. And I called Sam up, and he confirmed it-- [1]

February 1997 Interview of Elizabeth Taylor by Robert Osborne. Taylor was a guest presenter that night. (Between Giant & Liz’s selection – Dune) [2]

RO: You were up for 'Dune', weren’t you?

ET: There were talks, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do at the time. I hated Art Jacobs. You couldn’t tell him anything.

RO: Was it a personal or professional rift?

ET: (Thinks for a moment)

Both. Personally, I felt sorry for Natalie--

RO: Natalie Trundy, his wife?

ET: Yes, he was always seeing other men going after her and no matter what really happened – you could have video of it – he would still believe what he originally thought. That’s why poor Sam Westwood got fired, you know.

RO: He found out Westwood was gay, that’s the –

ET: BULLSHIT! (sighs and takes a drink of what appears to be tea)

There was a party, it was about the time I met Steven. Marlon Brando was there. It was when he was starting to look bad – and he was putting moves on Natalie and Sam very politely waltzed her off to dance. Art sees them do two or three dances, waiting for Marlon to find fresh prey and immediately thinks Sam is making a move on her. She tells him what happened, but he doesn’t believe it and fires Sam. So, Natalie quits the film in protest – another actress got her part – and we got this film without Sam Westwood.

RO: (Laughing) But you chose this!

ET: Well, It’s got some great acting, and for me, it was an acquired taste. I love Dean Stockwell. I should have married him! (cackles).

* Natalie Trundy later confirmed in an interview with British film magazine Empire that Liz told the truth about the reason her late husband fired Sam, but added that Taylor was never offered a part because Art thought her too demanding. Trundy also added that the party in question was to celebrate the start of filming but that a who's who of stars were also invited. She also specified that while Jacobs normally cast her in his films, she wasn't at any point a cast member on Dune.

From a 1987 People magazine article on Anissa Jones. Jones was promoting Grace Under Fire, a thriller that ironically featured Sam Westwood in a rare studio film during his career downturn.

"I feel like returning to acting saved my life" Jones would tell People Magazine in 1987 "I had tried living like a regular teenager and it was just not working out. Someone suggested I go in and audition for Dune and I strongly believe that if it had not worked out I would not be here talking to you right now".

Jones says that director Douglas Trumbull wanted her to play the role of Alia. Eventually, the film's producer, Arthur P. Jacobs relented after his first choice, Jodie Foster, turned it down.

As Jones would recall "My father passed away during the shooting, and I did not get along with my mother. Gloria Swanson befriended me on the set. She could tell I was upset and that I was also extremely troubled. I learned all sorts of great advice from her. And she knew John Lennon, which kind of made her like the cool grandmother I never had. She gave me advice on managing my finances and emancipating myself and my brother Paul from my mother. Although some of it was weird to me at the time, like how I should cut out sugar and go vegetarian. I did end up trying and liking it though. The Enquirer did bust me with a burger, I'm not perfect.".

*And later via voiceover:

'Dune' might have been thrown to the sharks after a promising first two weeks, but the film still made waves. Other studios showed interest in science fiction productions. 20th Century Fox was showing interest in a concept from George Lucas, and there were rumours circulating about a possible 'Star Trek' reunion. Trumbull's effects also generated some Oscar buzz. The director was also starting work on a few film techniques for future use--"

[1] Trumbull is involved with movies Sam acts in later and they stay friendly.

[2] This showed up in another post, but it's been a while.

 

[markedward]

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (20th Century Fox, November 1975) [1]*

Written by Robert Getchell

'He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right' and 'Without Love' performed by Patti Dahlstrom, courtesy of 20th Century Records

Directed by Ida Lupino

A Catriona & Ian Nobel Production

Cast

Ellen Burstyn as Alice Hyatt

Alfred Lutter as Tommy

Tom Skerritt as David

Billy "Green" Bush as Donald

Diane Ladd as Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry

Shelley Duvall as Vera

Lelia Goldoni as Bea

Lane Bradbury as Rita

Vic Tayback as Mel Sharples

Kristy McNichol as Audrey

Lance Henriksen as Ben

The script for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore had been floating around for some time. At one point, the film was in development at Warner Brothers with Anne Bancroft attached to star. That version would have been directed by Martin Scorsese. Production of Alice at Warner's had fallen through and the original producer, David Susskind had moved the film to 20th Century Fox. Burstyn, who had a one-picture deal agreed to star, thinking she'd get to work with Scorsese. Scorsese bowed out once production shifted due to pre-production on Taxi Driver. At one point, Burstyn wanted to direct herself but was vetoed by the studio.

As Ellen Burstyn would later recall in her autobiography:

"I wanted someone new and exciting to direct the movie. So Martin Scorsese falling through was a letdown. I felt he had been exactly what the film needed. The script was wonderful, but a bit slick. I wanted something more gritty.

I considered directing the film myself but that got shot down fast. Stanley Kramer took over, which was the exact opposite of what the picture needed. Marty (Scorsese) had to leave because of the change in filming schedule and the studio move. Then, the original producer quit and the Nobels came in. I find out they're rich kids - even though they weren't kids - and I thought oh, shit, this movie is doomed. I had signed a contract and couldn't just quit.

There was a fight between Stanley Kramer and Cat about casting. A lot of the cast were New Hollywood types and they didn't mesh with Stanley's style of directing. Stanley finally told the Nobels that if they plan on hovering over him like he's an amateur, they need a different director. The production shut down, and we were called to a round table where we meet Ida Lupino. I didn't know whether to be starstruck or concerned. Frankly, I thought they were crazy.

My initial concerns over Ida Lupino were: 1) that she was going to make the film feel even more outdated, like one of her old pictures, and 2) To my knowledge, Ida hadn't directed a film in years. I decided to talk to Cat, who at this point, still scared me. Cat and Ian sat me down with Ida Lupino in a private screening room, which I discovered later had been arranged in advance. Ian pulled me aside and informed me that Ida Lupino had recently directed a Sam Westwood movie that had some favourable reviews. I was shown 'Iowa 1927', the film she'd made with Westwood and Jessica Walter as well as one of Ida's old film noirs. Ian explicitly told me that he thought Alice ought to be less sunshine and more grit - what I wanted. Ida said the same thing and mentioned that filming 'Iowa' had made her excited to be working with the new crop of actors coming up. That put me at ease. and we clicked instantly.

With Ida coming in, however, it wasn't all smooth sailing, to begin with. Kris Kristofferson, the original male lead, had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Ida suggested Johnny Cash, who she had recently appeared on Columbo with. Cat wasn't convinced and Tom Skerritt was tested and brought in. After that, things went great.

Later on, I was upset to learn that there was interest in making a sitcom out of the movie. Ida called and said 'Cat made sure sequels and tv movies/shows were optioned to her and Ian' and that if I (like her) didn't want a sitcom, to call Cat and tell her that. So I do, and I'm halfway through this speech I'd worked up about how I could live with a drama, but a sitcom would require a complete change of attitude and tone of the movie and she cuts me off with - 'you agree with Ida, then' - I said yes and she tells me Ian agrees. And the sitcom died right then and there."

Notes from IMDB

Ida Lupino had just wrapped up the fall, 1975 filming of The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud when Alice was released. This was Lupino's first directorial effort in several years, and her first big-screen directorial effort since The Trouble With Angels (1966). Lupino had earlier appeared in the critical and commercial failure The Devil's Rain during 1975.

Alice wasn't a 'blockbuster' but built a steady box office and was a shoo-in for the upcoming awards season.


[1] IOTL, Burstyn had a deal with Warner Brothers for a picture after The Exorcist. ITTL, Alice is instead shot and released a year later than IOTL and distributed by a different studio.

*Edited to mention this. My bad.

 

[markedward]

From a cassette tape belonging to the archive of Nolan Hendricks. This one is labeled 'Harris Walker-Sam Westwood, 1991'.

Nolan: I wanted to bring up the comedy you were in earlier that year.

Sam: 'Serpent and Spider?'

Nolan: Yeah.

Sam: That was a comedy heist movie. It's been said that Jaws pummeled it at the box office but I'm going to be completely honest. It wasn't very good.

Nolan: What's the Terence Hill connection with that one?

Sam: Some producer wanted to pair me with Terence Hill. You know, make us a Newman and Redford type pairing. That fell through. Terence did that movie with Valerie instead which of course, was a huge flop. [1]

Anyway, the script was rewritten for Spider to be played by a female. Jacqueline Bisset was the top choice and she turned it down. Britt Ekland turned it down, Catherine Schell. Susan George was finally cast. She turned down, uh...what was that really horrible movie with Perry King?

Nolan: The way Harris talks, all of them. But I feel like you're talking about 'Mandingo'.

Sam: Yeah. I just remember the movie she turned down was an even bigger disaster. Word got out while we were shooting 'Serpent And Spider'. Susan felt like a bullet had been dodged.

I just felt our movie could have been better with goofier leads.

Nolan: But you can do comedy--

Sam: I had done some light-hearted movies at the start of my career. I did SNL later on. 'Sunburn' was a comedy. The issue was the picture just didn't gel.

[1] 1977's Mr Billion. Same director as White Line Fever, interestingly. More here.

Next: Three Men and a Yacht Party.

 

[markedward]

"Some people fall off the wagon. I fell off the yacht--"
-Harris Walker to Nolan Hendricks, 1991

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood:

Sam Westwood and Harris Walker are seated at a table looking at old photo albums and chatting alongside another older gentleman identified as Ian Nobel.

Sam: The Nobels knew Liz--

Harris and Ian (in unison): She hated being called Liz!

Sam: It just slipped out!

Ian and Catriona knew Elizabeth from her marriage to Richard Burton.

Ian: My family took them on a tour of the Mediterranean one summer.

Harris: Elizabeth told me she was seeing a director. Someone very famous and much younger than her. They met when he approached her about some project that fell through.

Turned out to be Steven Spielberg.

Anyway, Ian and Cat threw a party on their yacht for Liz and her new boyfriend. God, that was a huge yacht. They took it marlin fishing in the Gulf, all over the world, I'd have rather we'd been fishing, to tell the truth. I'm still not comfortable with big parties, even though it was just about.....God, not even twenty people along with me and Sam.

Ian Nobel: I've always been out--

Harris: Ian wasn't a nightmare like Alan Carr, he just...You were just Ian.

Ian: Cat says you only go around once. You shouldn't pretend to please people. God, that sounds pompous. What I'm trying to say is I could afford to be out, a lot of people couldn't. Anyway, this was a smaller party where everyone knew each other, so Harris was able to bring Sam as his date.

Sam: I loved that party, despite everything that happened. It was great to be able to take Harris out and not pretend he was just a buddy.

Harris: Elizabeth got us invited to the party. It was our first official, out-in-public DATE! That's why I remember the party. I think everybody else remembers it for something else, but for me, it was my first official date with Sam. And, of course, it meant that Sam got to meet Steven and Ian and Cat. Granted, Cat scared the shit out of me back then. Hell, she still does. (laughs)

Ian: Cat hates parties. She didn't even want to go to her own wedding reception. She usually went up and took over for the captain and let him man the radar or something.

Anyway, Elizabeth has this "Harris" she wants us to meet, "He's so talented and underappreciated" - her usual spiel. I did some digging and found out he'd been in 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' but we hadn't seen it yet.

We were told Sam Westwood was to accompany Harris. Everyone knew who Sam was. We hadn't met him, though. And then Harris wanted so bad not to embarrass Sam. You could tell he loved the guy. But that party wasn't the kind of social scene he usually hit. We saw that right away.

Sam: Harris wasn't typically big on people who had a lot of flashy things like yachts, but since Liz made such a point of wanting him to come, we went. I tried to stay with him, but he found the bar and he and Liz were pretty glued to it. Getting you ready that night was memorable.

Harris: I usually begged the wardrobe department on sets for help, but I was between jobs and the gal who usually helped me had just moved to New York, so I dressed myself. Sam comes in and makes me change--

Sam: Because of Harris' colour blindness, I sometimes have to help him before we go out.

Harris: I had a bunch of clothes from various shoots. Usually, I stole 'em. If you were really famous, like say, Sharon, you were sent things from designers to wear. I wasn't that lucky.

Sam: Sal Mineo was there, too. Alone. We hadn't talked in a long time but he seemed to be more put together. He had just broken up with, uh, I think his name was Courtney--

Ian: Courtney, yeah. He'd complain about how awful we were to anyone who listened.

Sam: And after dinner, half the people go to shore in that mini-yacht they called a dinghy because they had sitters or weren't invited to stay or what. I remember Jeff and Natalie had a sitter. Ellen Burstyn left. Goldie Hawn and her boyfriend Bill were there and she kept on about hating to pay her ex-husband money even though they were separated and was probably going to have to pay him alimony. It stuck with me because in my mind I'm thinking "I can't even marry Harris"

I also remember Kurt Russell being in the room same time as Goldie and Bill, which was ironic. And Kurt telling me about this space epic he had auditioned for. I hadn't seen him since he was a kid on the Disney lot.

Ian: I was giving her a hard time about it. Anyway, we're all talking and Cat, Ida and Steve decide to talk shop. And Kurt was Cat's date but she sort of left him on his own.

Sam: Ian and Liz said 'No business tonight!' and so the other three go into Cat's office. Liz and Harris proceed to go over to the bar and dig in. Ian and his date - I think his name was Dave - end up being our hosts. Sal and I kept watching Liz and Harris drink, but we couldn't say anything without starting a scene - Liz was waiting for someone to say something, I think, she was pissed about Steve going to talk business when she said not to. And I'm thinking "If Sal looks worried, this is bad"

Harris: I should have probably quit when Sal Mineo started to become concerned.

Sam: Sal, at least when I first knew Sal, wasn't good at taking care of himself.

Ian: Sal was a wreck but I wanted to help him because he'd been making a pretty big effort to try and turn things around. Cat was sceptical but went along with it because she thought he had potential.

Ian: First, Elizabeth and Harris are at the bar, the next thing I know, they're AWOL. I look at Sam and he does the finger walk thing and we both shrug.

Harris: Elizabeth and I decided we'd had enough and went outside to walk around and clear our heads a bit. We're about halfway down one side of the boat when I realize I have to pee. I tell her I'm going back in and why and she says, "Hell, piss off the side, we're in the middle of the damn ocean, it's where all the water goes anyway!" I'm half-drunk and I'd snorted some lines before the party, so it makes sense. I step up to the railing and start doing my thing. All of a sudden, bam! I go over the top railing mid-stream and she runs over to grab me, but I'm not a featherweight.

Sam: (interrupts) He was pretty muscular then.

Harris: Yeah. And she's got a grip, but she was in a thin stage and (shows his left arm) left these scars as I slipped away from her. And I'm in the water--

Ian: Elizabeth comes running in while Bill Hudson is playing a new song on the piano. She wasn't making any sense. Her screaming brings Steve and Cat and -

Sam: Ida

Ian: Thanks. And Ida comes out of the office and Elizabeth still isn't making any sense and then Sam and Goldie ask at the same time: "Where's Harris?"

Sam: And she goes "Overboard!"

Ian: Everyone but Cat froze, we couldn't believe what she was saying and while Cat runs out, she was heading up to stop the yacht and call the Coast Guard. We got Elizabeth to tell us what happened.

Sam: The Coast Guard is dealing with a burning boat and doesn't show up for nearly three hours. Lucky for Harris, he can swim. I was terrified, though.

Harris: They found me and had just wrapped me in a million blankets and were trying to pour coffee down me when the Coast Guard showed up. And then Ida says something along the lines of "I bet if we put a line on him and threw him back in we can catch something bigger than we can actually eat."

Sam: And we all start laughing except Harris. You had to be there.

Ian: And the Coast Guard thinks we're crazy until they get the whole story. I'd almost fallen overboard the year before doing the exact same thing, only the seas weren't as choppy.

Harris: I felt like an embarrassment to Sam.

Sam: Months earlier, I'd told Harris to stop doing things like 'Playgirl'. Maybe it was out of line to give unsolicited career advice but you had so much potential and were picking projects that didn't show it.

Harris: Sam said I had a decision to make. Did I want to keep drinking and doing drugs or did I want to be with him? He gave me a month to make up my mind. (Looks over at Sam) I told him I didn't need a month, I wanted him.

Sam: I almost left that night. A drink, yes, some weed, yes, but not getting drunk and high, because that's when the stupid shit happened with him.

Ian: That choice saved your life, you know that?

Harris: Yeah, I know that. But it wasn't easy. It took nearly two years for me to figure out how to live without drinking myself blind or getting so high I couldn't remember anything. I tried AA, but in the end, that was just depressing. But the idea of no more Sam in my life - that was motivation. We still have drinks from time to time, but not the way I was doing it.

Ian: That was what I didn't get about you: you were either on track or off the rails completely. So I did like my sister and just ignored you until you got your act together.

Harris: (puzzled) You had me over all the time.

Sam: (laughing) You only went over there when you were with me.

Harris looks at Ian, who nods.

 

[markedward]

1975: A wrap up* (Or How Unlucky Can You Get)

​

"The biggest mistake of my career was turning down 'Jaws' to do 'Funny Lady'--"

-Richard Dreyfuss, People, 1982, doing promotion for the film Author! Author!

From the Profile Magazine Review of The Happy Hooker:

"Rumor has it Barbra Streisand turned this one down before Lynn Redgrave signed on. God only knows what kind of movie that would have been--"

Variety May 1975:

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail surprise hit at the U.S. box office..."

John Travolta in People, 1978:

"I was almost in that movie 'The Devil's Rain' with William Shatner and Ida Lupino. But it went to some other actor--" [1]

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Some mid-1975 snippets involving Natalie Wood

"Michael Caine is currently filming Fat Chance for 20th Century Fox. The Peter Hyams directed film noir spoof will also feature Natalie Wood and Kitty Wynn. Fat Chance is due out at the beginning of next year".
-Variety

"Actor Jeffrey Hunter has married Natalie Wood in a private ceremony..."
-New York Times

"Wood, 37, reconnected with Hunter on the set of The Towering Inferno last year. Hunter was a friend of Wood's first husband, the late actor Robert Wagner..." [1]
-People
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

[1] IOTL, this is where he was first introduced to Scientology. Travolta doesn't get the role and stays Catholic. Supposedly, his part was to have been bigger IOTL. ITTL, the reason is another actor named Jax Cooke taking over. Cooke never worked again and The Devil's Rain remains his only on-screen credit.

[1] Underrated little gem known as Peeper IOTL. Fat Chance was a working title.

[2] Natasha Gregson Wagner will be known as Natasha Gregson Hunter ITTL.

*A lot of things will be mentioned in a spin-off that don't fit here. So if you don't see *insert whatever movie here* mentioned, please do not panic.

 

[markedward]

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)

The documentary continues where we last left off. Ian and Sam are still chatting while Harris gets up.

Harris: On that note, I'm gonna go open a window. It smells like old men in here (laughs)

Sam: Speak for yourself, old man!

Ian: Who the Hell are you calling old, Harris?

Sam: Both of you can just shut up until you hit 70. I'm sitting here looking through photo albums talking about "the good old days".

Ian: Well, you could be 40 again getting hate mail.

Sam: True.

Ian: We were talking about Sal, right?

Sam: Via Harris almost drowning.

Harris sits back down

Sam: Sal dodged a bullet. He got an extra ten years after that. You know I was actually supposed to meet up with him the night he was stabbed. I went for coffee with a friend who was in town instead of meeting with Sal about 'Trial'.

Harris: I lived better in New York than Sal was living at that time.

Ian: Cat and I begged him to move. You couldn't reason with Sal. Until, uh...well you know...

Sam: I could never figure out how Cat put up with that.

Ian: Because Cat thought Sal had potential. She was starting to think she'd made an error in judgement. Just stuff she'd heard around town.

Sam: Sal had a lot of young people hanging around his house. I quit going over to his old place in the 60s because Dick Clayton didn’t like me going over there. Among other things.

Ian: Dennis Quaid was supposed to be with him that night too, right? I remember something about Sal wanting him for a role.

Sam: I have no idea. I just know Sal was hanging out with Don Johnson again. He would have just married Melanie Griffith-- [1]

Ian: Cat couldn’t stand Don Johnson.

Sam: Until he saved Sal, I guess.

Ian: Cat tolerated him after that.

Sam: What happened, anyway?

Ian: Oh, Don heard a ruckus and ran over and saved him.

Sam: Dick Clayton was still my agent at the time. He called me up and told me Sal got stabbed and that the set was shut down until further notice.

I go to the hospital and Sal looks at me and says "As soon as I'm out we're gonna start filming again". Like it was just some minor setback. But he almost, excuse my language, F***ING DIED!

Ian: Cat and I visited after you did. She literally stormed in there, you know what she's like--

Sam: All too well (chuckles)

Ian: She told Sal she found him a new place, that his things would be moved there or we'd remove ourselves from the picture. Sal was angry with her at first, but he wasn't good at looking after himself and needed that push.

[1] They were friends IOTL. Most sources about the two involve NSFW photos from a play called Fortune And Men's Eyes.

 

[markedward]

Interview with Raquel Welch, Writer's Magazine, 1996

RW: Actually, my first attempt at writing was from a script. Patrick (Curtis) was my husband at the time and he had this script called 'Hannie Caulder'. It seemed cursed. Every time he'd almost get it sold, something would happen. I took the script and adapted it, I think that's the way you say it. Anyway, we published it under my first name, Jo, and reversed his name, so I was first on the book charts in the western category as Jo and Curtis Patrick.

Shannon Gibbs: But where did Winding Stairs come from?

RW: I replaced Karen Black in 'Burnt Offerings'.

SG: Was Working with Ollie (Oliver Reed) and Bette (Davis) that bad?

RW: No, it was that horrible child! (Lee H. Montgomery, who played Welch's son)

No. Actually, it was a fun shoot. Even Lee had fun when he wasn't with his tutor. He and Ollie would have tree-climbing contests and then Bette and I would beat them at it. Until Bette nearly fell and we found out the insurance wouldn't cover such an accident, then no more tree-climbing for any of us. So, of course, Lee and Ollie and the crew still did it. I had a lot of time, I was doing a horror movie and it wasn't so scary - the script, I mean, not to me. I began thinking about what would scare me.

SG: Do you think people were shocked that you came out with a horror novel?

RW: I think people expected a perfume from me or some sort of Jackie Collins-type novel. Not to talk down Jackie. I read her books-

SG: But that wasn't your thing?

RW: Evidently not.

* Writer of the Winding Stairs script and guest Interviewer.

On the other hand...

Footage of Oliver Reed on Dick Cavett's brief 1986-87 ABC talk show. Reed is visibly drunk and oversharing with Cavett and the audience

OR: Raquel Welch and Bette Davis. What a bloody nightmare. Both of them. And that snot-nosed kid--

DC: Lee Montgomery

OR: I don't--I just know he did that movie later on with that actor.

(Cavett and the audience start laughing)

DC: You know, that doesn't really narrow it down--

The audience is laughing. Oliver Reed pauses.

OR: Paul Driftwood!

DC: I think you mean Sam Westwood

OR: I don't bloody know. I just remember he wasn't a good actor.

DC: I interviewed Sam Westwood quite a bit in the 70s and found him to be quite an intelligent, interesting man.

(Oliver Reed looks bored and is grinning at the audience who nervously snicker)

OR: Can we stop talking about Sam bloody Driftwood?

DC: Moving on, Raquel has said nice things about you--

OR: Raquel Welch had her head buried in a notebook writing that God-awful book. When she wasn't doing that she was asking the director a bunch of questions about lighting.

DC: You'd worked with her before.

OR: Yeah and I would have walked off the set but I'd signed a contract and made the best out of the situation. [1]

[1] Allegedly, IOTL the two did not get on well.

 

[markedward]

I sat on this for months, but here goes:

The 48th Academy Awards: A list of winners and nominees

Best Picture

Nashville – Robert Altman

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore- Catriona Nobel, Ian Nobel
Dog Day Afternoon – Martin Bregman, Martin Elfand
Jaws – Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown

Best Director

Robert Altman – Nashville

Miloš Forman – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ida Lupino- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Steven Spielberg- Jaws
Sidney Lumet – Dog Day Afternoon

Best Actor

Jack Nicholson – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as Randle Patrick McMurphy

Walter Matthau – The Sunshine Boys as Willy Clark
Al Pacino – Dog Day Afternoon as Sonny Wortzik
Tom Skerritt- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as David
Bud Cort – Day Of The Locust as Tod Hacket

Best Actress

Ellen Burstyn- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as Alice Hyatt

Louise Fletcher – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as Nurse Mildred Ratched
Isabelle Adjani – The Story of Adele H. as Adèle Hugo / Adèle Lewry
Ann-Margret – Tommy as Nora Walker
Carol Kane – Hester Street as Gitl

Best Supporting Actor

George Burns – The Sunshine Boys as Al Lewis

Brad Dourif – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as Billy Bibbit
Burgess Meredith – The Day of the Locust as Harry Greener
Chris Sarandon – Dog Day Afternoon as Leon
Jack Warden – Shampoo as Lester Karpf

Best Supporting Actress

Lee Grant – Shampoo as Felicia Karpf

Ronee Blakley – Nashville as Barbara Jean
Brenda Vaccaro – Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough as Linda Riggs
Lily Tomlin – Nashville as Linnea Reese
Diane Ladd- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as Florence Jean Castlebury

Best Original Screenplay

Nashville- Joan Tewkesbury

Dog Day Afternoon – Frank Pierson
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore- Robert Getchell
Lies My Father Told Me – Ted Allan
Shampoo – Warren Beatty and Robert Towne

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Sunshine Boys – Neil Simon

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben
Day Of The Locust- Waldo Salt
The Man Who Would Be King – John Huston and Gladys Hill
Profumo di donna – Ruggero Maccari and Dino Risi


Best Costume Design

Funny Lady – Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie

Barry Lyndon – Milena Canonero and Ulla-Britt Söderlund
The Four Musketeers – Yvonne Blake and Ron Talsky
The Magic Flute – Karin Erskine and Henny Noremark
The Man Who Would Be King – Edith Head

Best Original Score

Jaws – John Williams

Birds Do It, Bees Do It – Gerald Fried
Bite the Bullet – Alex North
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – Jack Nitzsche
The Wind and the Lion – Jerry Goldsmith

Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score

Tommy – Pete Townshend

Barry Lyndon – Leonard Rosenman
Funny Lady – Peter Matz

Best Original Song

"I'm Easy" from Nashville – Music and lyrics by Keith Carradine

"How Lucky Can You Get?" from Funny Lady – Music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb
"Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" from Mahogany – Music by Michael Masser; lyrics by Gerry Goffin
"Richard’s Window" from The Other Side of the Mountain – Music by Charles Fox; lyrics by Norman Gimbel
"Now That We’re In Love" from Whiffs – Music by George Barrie; lyrics by Sammy Cahn

Best Sound

Jaws – John Carter, Roger Heman, Robert Hoyt, and Earl Madery

Bite the Bullet – Les Fresholtz, Al Overton, Jr., Arthur Piantadosi, and Richard Tyler
Dune- Charles T. Knight, John H. Newman, and Richard Portman
The Hindenburg – John A. Bolger, Jr., John L. Mack, Leonard Peterson, and Don Sharpless
The Wind and the Lion – Roy Charman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, and Harry W. Tetrick

Best Film Editing

Jaws – Verna Fields

Dog Day Afternoon – Dede Allen
Dune- Aaron Stell
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – Richard Chew, Sheldon Kahn, Lynzee Klingman
Nashville- Dennis Hill & Sidney Levin

 

[markedward]

From a Harris Walker interview with an online film blog circa 2006. Harris is responding via e-mail.

HW: How did I end up in 'Food Of The Gods'? I honestly don't remember.

God, that movie was terrible, but it did really well for AIP. There were all these blown-up shots of the animals. The intent was for it to look terrifying when they were eating people. But it wasn't terrifying in a scary way. It was more like 'Night Of The Lepus'.

To be honest, I hardly remember the shoot. I was just trying to keep it together. Jennifer Jones was nice. She was trying to work again and doing that film was, unfortunately, a low point for her.

There were things I was offered after 'Food Of The Gods'. Roger Corman wanted to make a Cthulhu movie. That fell through, which in hindsight is probably for the best.
I'd already committed to working with Art (Ericson) on 'False Start' in Vancouver in the new year. The producers didn't want me because they'd heard about me falling off a yacht while drunk. They wanted Burton Cummings [1] and Art was against it because he'd never acted before. He fought really hard to get me and I couldn't just leave. So, I went to Vancouver in January for a two-month shoot.

After that, it was another shoot for something else, and another shoot after that. I had to keep working to bring in money. Sam and I had an arrangement early on that we would both make our own money if we were going to live together. Working while you are desperately trying to stay sober is a nightmare. I fell off the wagon a few times during the first two years. But working all the time did help to keep me occupied.

*****************************************************************************
From a 1980 People Magazine Profile on Sharon Tate

(Tate is talking about turning down the lead in the 1976 turkey Gable and Lombard.)

"I wanted to take a break and start a family" Tate recalls.

Tate's first child with her second husband James Franciscus, a daughter, Georgiana, better known as Annie was born on May 18th, 1976--"

*******************************************************************************
From the book Forgotten Films of the '70s by Nolan Hendricks (2003).

An excerpt regarding The Duchess and The Dirtwater Fox (1976) starring Twiggy and George Segal.

"Director Melvin Frank had hoped to use George Segal and Glenda Jackson, who he had worked with on a Touch Of Class, for this picture. After Jackson turned the role down, Twiggy was cast. Twiggy had one comedy under her belt with her film debut, 1971's The Boy Friend. However, her subsequent films: The James Bond adventure Live And Let Die and 1974's W were more serious in nature. The model-turned-singer-actress was eager to do a lighter film. While Twiggy got some praise for her comic turn, it was apparent to both critics and audiences alike that there was little on-screen chemistry with Segal and the film fell flat. Twiggy, for the most part, spent the rest of the decade trying to get a recording career off the ground--

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

"Elizabeth Taylor showed up at the premiere of The Bluebird with her new boyfriend Steven Spielberg in tow..."

-The National Enquirer.

Also via a National Enquirer headline:

"Sinatra knows who did it!"

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

From a Barbara Walters special interview with Elizabeth Taylor (1976)

Barbara Walters: 'The National Enquirer' picked up on you spending lots of time with an actor named Harris Walker before you went public about dating Steven Spielberg. Were you two involved?

Elizabeth Taylor: The Enquirer is full of crap. You should know that, Barbara!

No, I did not date Harris (Walker). I'm not his type. It's possible for me to be friends with an actor without me marrying him, you know. (Elizabeth starts laughing)

Barbara Walters: He is also a very close friend of Sam Westwood, is he not? The two are roommates...

(Elizabeth Taylor stops laughing and looks visibly annoyed by this point)

Elizabeth Taylor: Barbara, I'm not interested in talking about Sam Westwood.
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood

Harris: Elizabeth actually rang me up before that aired to warn me that Barbara Walters was still trying to ask about Sam's personal life. That she hadn't meant her response to Barbara as an insult.

Sam: It got treated like that, though. People actually misread Liz. She was trying to change the subject because quite frankly it was nobody's business. He paid the bills.

Harris: Of course, I paid the bills! Have you seen some of the s**t I was in?! (laughs)

The documentary cuts to an interview with Sam dated 1976. He is much younger than the Sam we have been seeing and is wearing a smart suit. It's obvious that Sam is talking about one Harris Walker.

Sam: He's my roommate. But we are friends and know each well enough to know when to give the other one space if we have, uh...guests over (laughs). Maybe someday he'll find his forever princess or I will, but until then....why fix something that isn't broken?

Interviewer: So, you're sharing a home until the right lady comes along? (laughs)

Sam: I guess you could say that, yes. (Sam laughs but looks very awkward)

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

From Variety

"Universal's The Legend Of King Kong slated for a December release..."

Photoplay:

"After a lengthy battle with producer Dino De Laurentiis and Paramount Pictures, Universal has managed to secure the rights to produce The Legend Of King Kong. The scheduled December release will be directed by Joseph Sargent with a screenplay by Bo Goldman (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest). Word has it Columbo star Peter Falk is up for the role of Carl Denham."

"I think Paramount gave up fighting because they were already spending a lot of money trying to get 'Star Trek Phase II' and their television network going."

-Bo Goldman talking about the King Kong production to Fangoria ten years later.

"There was a fight over casting. Universal wanted Laurette Spang who was under contract. I wanted Teresa Graves, but it was going to be done as a period piece and knew that might not fly--"

- Joseph Sargent (Also to Fangoria) [2]

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

[1] Cummings was a megastar in Canada. Because he actually did attempt a film career with Melanie, it's plausible that someone producing a Canuxploitation/arthouse film might drag his name out earlier.

[2] Carrie, Star Wars, King Kong, etc. are all planned for the spin-off I'm trying to get off the ground.

 

[markedward]

"Paul Newman has confirmed to recently shooting some second unit photography at the 1976 Olympic Games for an anonymous film project"
-Variety

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
From a cassette tape belonging to the archive of Nolan Hendricks. This one is labelled 'Sam Westwood, 1991'

Nolan: Can I bring up Farrah Fawcett again? Because she was such a big deal in the mid to late '70s. I had her poster and remember my dad taking me to see 'Logan's Run'.*

Sam: We all had posters, but nothing compared to that poster. It was huge.

I didn't think 'Logan's Run' was the greatest movie, personally, but she was interesting on screen. My cinema-going tastes at that time were, uh, for lack of a better word...weird. I really liked that Jacques Tati movie 'Confusion'. [1]

Anyway, yeah I did want to work with her when the opportunity presented itself.

Nolan: 'Sunburn' was a fun movie.

Sam: I'm still bitter that it wasn't a bigger hit. Maybe it was too much like 'Foul Play'. I don't know. Once again, Harrison Ford! (laughs) [2]

Nolan: You've mentioned meeting Farrah at the same party where Steve McQueen was behaving erratically--

Sam: That, uh...that was a really weird night. There are a hundred different versions of what happened. I don't remember Lee Majors being there, some people do. I was with Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and Farrah most of that night.

When I worked with her on 'Sunburn' she was still married to Lee Majors but they were separated. It was either before or after Ryan O'Neal. Sharon told her what it was like working with Ryan O'Neal and the next thing I knew she was with Joe Namath instead.

[1] Tati lives long enough ITTL to make Confusion opposite the Mael Brothers aka Sparks.

[2] ITTL, Foul Play is a Sharon Tate/ Harrison Ford vehicle.

*I kept wanting to butterfly Farrah Fawcett being in Charlie's Angels for a more successful 70's film career but decided to leave it as IOTL up to a point. The focus will be on her later career being better.

 

[markedward]

The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud (Universal, October, 1976)

Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Screenplay by Max Ehrlich (Based on his novel of the same name) and Charles and Alexa Foster.

Main Cast

Sam Westwood as Dr. Peter Proud

Ida Lupino as Marcia Curtis

Geraldine Chaplin as Ann Curtis

Brooke Adams as Young Marcia

Kate Jackson as Nora Hayes [1]

René Auberjonois as Dr. Samuel Goodman

Anne Ives as Ellen Curtis

Tony Spinelli as Jeff Curtis (Peter's past self)

Carrie Fisher as Suzy

Notes from IMDB

Sam Westwood and Ida Lupino both agreed to appear in the film if revisions were made to the original script. Husband and wife team Charles and Alexa Foster, who had previously written the 1974 film Targeted starring Westwood were hired for the job.

When the film was originally in production with Cinerama, Michael Sarrazin was cast as the eponymous lead.

Geraldine Chaplin went right into Welcome To L.A. (1976) right after production on this film wrapped up.

From Sam Westwood's Hollywood (2016)

Sam: I wanted to play Peter and Jeff as a double role, but that male model was brought in. He was a GQ model. Not much of an actor, but he was easy on the eyes. I wanted Harris-

Harris: Sam wanted me to audition to play his past self once the idea of a double role was shot down. I thought it was a weird idea.

Sam: I respected why he didn't want to do it.

Interviewer: How did Brooke Adams get cast?

Sam: Brooke Adams was cast because Ida didn't want to play younger in the dream sequences. She didn't like how sexually explicit parts of the film were. A lot of it was toned down from the original script because Ida thought it would look "bloody daft", like Joan Crawford at the beginning of 'Strait-Jacket'--

Harris: But...that was Joan's best movie!

Sam: Joan looked ridiculous and Ida was really smart when it came to knowing what worked and what didn't work. Otherwise, it would have been silly.

Harris (shrugs): I still liked it...

Sam: The cast is what made Peter Proud. Geraldine Chaplin...it was a bit different for her but she did some really underrated movies around that time. 'Remember My Name' was really good. [2]

From Variety in late 1974:

"Writer Max Elrich and Director J. Lee Thompson have announced that they still intend to film The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud without backing from Cinerama and Bing Crosby Productions. Thompson was attached to direct when the production fell through earlier this year. Cinerama and Bing Crosby Productions pulled the plug not long after. Thompson is in talks with various studios, most notably Universal Pictures. If the film is picked up, Thompson will also act as Producer."

"Sam Westwood gives a very compelling performance as the eponymous Peter Proud. This is a film that with a lesser cast could have been a dud. Between directing Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and acting in this film, Ida Lupino is on a roll".
-Vincent Canby

"J. Lee Thompson proved several years ago that he knew what to do with Westwood. After a bit of a dry spell for the talented actor, Thompson has once again shown us that he can get Sam Westwood to evolve as an actor".
-Roger Ebert

"Peter Proud hits at B.O.- Film a candidate for awards season"
-Variety

[1] She still does Charlie's Angels ITTL

[2] Remember My Name inspired me to cast her in this.