回复：【长篇阅读】公子的传记

And good old Gary Cooper—“Coop” to just about everyone, whether they knew him or not. In my way of thinking, Coop was the handsomest man—certainly one of the two or three best actors—ever to honor the ranks of the motion picture business. And one of the most beautiful and talented ladies ever to grace a motion picture screen—Vivien Leigh.
The closeness and the pace never did create the terrible dose of imitation current today. Perhaps television is at fault—perhaps not, I honestly don’t know. But at least I in that long ago decade we had both poles.
I recall making Magnificent Obsession with Irene Dunne. John Stahl was directing. He approached the responsibility of a director in very much the same manner as I assume an atomic physicist approaches the handling of a bomb—with infinite care and painstaking slowness. It was not uncommon for us to do 30, 40, 50 takes on a relatively simple scene. At the time I was doing retakes on one of the Broadway Melodies and Woody Van Dyke was directing. Woody cut as he shot. He used his camera as though it were a six-shooter and he was the fastest gun in Hollywood. Actors rarely got more than one take on any scene, then the camera was moved rapidly to another set-up. It was, of course, going from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it seemed normal. It was the age.

It ended in the late 1940’s with the unexplained but seemingly premeditated murder of glamour. Television, taxes, actors pricing themselves to the skies—are all part-causes, but not the definite ones. I don’t know really.
I can’t explain the demise. Perhaps if someone could correctly explain the phenomenon of rock ’n’ roll, Beatle haircuts and the beatnik wardrobe, we will start to understand. In any case, it was 200 years ago. (Robert Taylor, “The Golden Age,” Vriety.)

When he got up to leave he paused a few minutes to talk to the doctor, and when he had closed the door behind him, Ruth turned to the nurse and said, “Wasn’t he a nice man?”
Driving home, Taylor remembered a conversation he had had with some old friends in Beatrice when he and his mother attended a funeral there. Ruth spoke about her weak heart and said she never did feel well and knew she would die soon. Taylor laughed; “Mother, you’ll probably outlive us all!”
She did . . .

Savage Pampas, a Western set in Argentina and filmed in Spain, was rather like Westward the Women, but hardly comparable in the quality of the script or the acting. Again, the tough and unshaven Taylor led a group of women across the dangerous pampas. He was killed at the end and the only impressive part of the movie was his horse “riding off into the sunset.”
While he was in Spain he wrote to his tailor, Nudie, about some new clothes:

Dear Nudie et al—
Urgent Smoke Signal from Gen. Franco’s little hunting preserve! It looks likely that I’ll be making a “pilot” film in Argentina for the Winchester-Western folks. We hope to shoot boar, puma, stag and maybe do some fishing. It ain’t all wrapped up real neat yet so this info is on the confidential side until I get home, OK?
Need two pair of frontier pants made out of cotton twill with rivets but don’t finish off the bottoms until I have a fitting. Also two shirts of the same material, but cut them a shade fuller, short sleeved and with the “action back.”
And since these suits would be used pretty much on safari, I would also suggest that you send the material out to be washed and pre-shrunk before they are made. Where I might be goin’ it is inevitable that they will be washed rather than dry cleaned.
This whole caper started out as a real SNAFU but it’s slowly beginning to take shape. At least I’m reasonably sure of getting all my money this time!

It appeared for awhile Ursula would not be able to find a “reliable” to leave at home with the children, so she cancelled her reservations, but I talked to her this morning and she has found someone (A German lady who’s old enough to know better!) so I’m expecting her late this week. I ain’t no Casanova any more—and ain’t seen anything in Spain which would raise my temperature too much, but fun’s fun and somebody to come home to at nite is mighty important in these twilight years.
As soon as I get home I’ll be out for a fitting and since under normal circumstances I can’t hit my ass with both hands with a gun, shooting without a Nudie suit would be sheer disaster. I might ruin my whole film career and never get another job in my life!
As ever,
Bob
P.S. If you were paid on the last statement and if the check bounced, it’s only because the bank couldn’t read Ursula’s handwriting. The money’s there for sure so don’t fret yourself.

Taylor liked Nudie, who is the best Western tailor in the business. He liked to kid Nudie about the fact he was “goin’ to a tailor who started out making G-strings for Gypsy Rose Lee.” However, this statement was a factual one.
Nudie signs his checks “Nudie,” and his wife, Bobbie, signs them “Mrs. Nudie.” He owns twin Pontiac Bonne-villes that are decorated with silver pistols, stirrups, spurs, rifles and steer horns. Each car cost him ＄21,000.
Nudie’s custom-made outfits cost anywhere from ＄300 and up. He made a ＄10,000 outfit for Elvis Presley, which was a 24-carat gold lame tuxedo with matching gold shoes and tie.
Not only did Taylor like Nudie personally, but he thought his workmanship the best. He wrote to Nudie from wherever he was just to say “Hello.” “Besides,” Taylor said, “he’s got two million bucks in the bank and has the best coffee in town. Maybe I should have gotten interested in G-strings instead of script!”
Taylor’s relationship with Nudie was typical of his “personal touch” and down-to-earth manner he had with people he liked.

In January, 1966, Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for Governor of California. He had been host of the television series Death Valley Days, and his contract ran through September, 1966. The opposing political party said his being exposed on television was unfair and they wanted equal time in California.To avoid conflict, several popular stars—John Wayne, Leon Ames, Walter Brennan, Clint Walker, Rory Calhoun and Robert Taylor—volunteered to fill in for Reagan until the end of his contract.
Reagan and Taylor had been good friends for a long time and after he became Governor of California Reagan’s first stop whenever he was in Los Angeles was the Ursulor Rancho. He put on sneakers and a pair of old pants, sat on the floor with Bob talking about anything but politics, and he enjoyed Bob’s steaks grilled on the outdoor barbeque.
Taylor greeted his friends with warmth, but there were no phony kisses or embraces. He was approached only if he approached. Though many actors who worked with him said Taylor was not a personality one would tap on the shoulder, the few who knew him well all agreed that he was not really an untouchable. He gave this appearance only because he was reaching out to be loved and admired for himself, not for his fame. There was undoubtedly an air of “don’t come near” about Taylor, but only because he was afraid he wouldn’t know how to handle it. The majority of people stayed away and everyone misunderstood.

On the other hand, Ursula reached him deeply as did Tom Purvis and Ronnie Reagan, whom Bob made executor of his estate should anything happen to him.
In September, 1966, Robert Taylor signed as host, narrator and occasional star of Death Valley Days. Working on television this time give him more satisfaction than it did when he starred in The Detectives. For one thing, he loved the atmosphere of the West and preferred Westerns in general. He said he liked doing television this time around. “One goes in and gets the job done with no time wasted as in the movie business.”
It also kept him close to home because the films were shot on location in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Northern California. One day, as host, he filmed introductions and closings for thirteen shows, and left for home.
He wrote to Tom Purvis that things were looking up. Death Valley Days was a successful show and did not take up much of his time. He hoped to make movies—good or bad—but at least he had a steady income now and could be near Ursula and the kids.

He told the producer of the show, Bob Stapler, “When you come across a script that looks good for me, let me know.”The first one picked for his approval called for a thirty-two-year-old man, but the story was perfect for Taylor.Bob took one look at the first page, saw the age, and immediately turned it down.

“In fact,” Stapler, said, “Bob kept refusing scripts but not telling me why. He was an easy guy to work for and I knew he was anxious to star in several episodes—it was written in his contract—but he was sending the best ones back to me without comment. One day I approached him about it. Taylor said he was not going to play the part of a young man and that was that.”
“I gout the message but outsmarted him. I told my secretary when I found a good story for Taylor to simply change the age of the leading man to forty-five and from that time on he accepted every one!”

Taylor wore no make-up, loved the lines in his face and did his best to look unattractive at age fifty-four. However, he didn’t like the squint lines around his eyes that he had gotten from working outdoors in the sun or indoors with hot brilliant lights shining directly in his eyes. He consulted a doctor and was told he didn’t need an operation to remove these for another ten years, but Taylor said, “Let’s do it now. I’m not too concerned about sagging or wrinkles, but these damn squint lines could keep me out of work.”
He had then removed and didn’t joke about it to the two or three people who were aware of the operation. Tom wrote, “You think you’ve got problems! I swore I’d never get bald or have a gut and now I’ve got both!” Taylor answered, “Balding and a pot belly isn’t so bad. That’s from lack of sex, start massaging somethin’, old Bud, and I don’t mean your head!”

Purvis has a picture of the back of Taylor’s head with a lump behind his ear. “After Bob was divorced sometimes he’d go away on location and probably wouldn’t see a decent-looking girl for weeks. I told him if he didn’t get himself a little he might develop a lump on the back of his head. Few weeks later I received the photo and knew just what he meant!”
Appearing on weekly television brought Taylor’s face before the younger generation who categorized him as a well-built, rather handsome middle-aged actor “who must have been something once.” Their mothers and grandmothers said they only wished he would appear in something other than Westerns. “Why, in our day there was no one else!” The teen-agers liked him just as he was and couldn’t picture him making love to Joan Crawford or LanaTurner. “He’s just not the type, Mom!”
Letters poured in to the Death Valley Days officers, and Taylor said it was like being welcomed back again. If he had said a million times he was a lucky guy, he surely thought he was one now.

In 1966 he did Return of the Gunfighter, a TV movie with his friend Chad Everett. He used his own saddle and guns, as was his common practice. If possible, he had his own horse transported to location also. He did most of his own stunts and asked for a stand-in for the sole purpose of providing a job for some struggling actor or stunt man.
During the filming of Return of the Gunfighter he retired to his bungalow every night and was not seen after dark.The temperature in Tucson was over 110 degreesand he hated it, despite the fact that most of his work had taken him to hot climates in San Fernando Valley, Spain, Africa, Arizona and Egypt. However, it was beginning to affect him now and although the whole cast in Return of the Gunfighter thought he had a woman stashed away, he was actually exhausted.
He usually brought his own lunch to work or stood in line with the other working men. He especially liked Chad Everett and said he hoped the kid would get the right breaks. The two became unusually close friends and Chad was one person Taylor welcomed to his home.

When Everett became an established actor on Medical Center, he said he did not deny the fact that he was trying to emulate Robert Taylor. “I’ve never seen such a professional!”
Taylor, however, did not look well. He was overweight and puffy. The publicity director for the film thought it best that Bob did not meet the press face-to-face in Tucson, knowing that any untouched photos would show Tayloras as he was—too heavy and bloated. But when he approached Taylor about canceling the press conference, Bob knew why instinctively.
“Why flaunt yourself, Bob? We’ll postpone it until you’ve had a chance to take off a few pounds . . .”
“Hell, no!” Taylor insisted. “I don’t care—couldn’t care less!”