Hey, Lynn,
Thanks to you I checked it out and found that you were right. From
Bomba the Jungle Boy to
The Apartment to
In the Heat of the Night, Walter Mirisch has done it all. I loved hearing about his friendship with
Joel McCrea, (who sent him a car, because
Mirisch may have been one of the few producers in Hollywood who didn't practice creative accounting), his run-in with the talented if temperamental
Jerome Robbins, to his realization that
Katharine Hepburn really was interested in coming to the Academy Awards once she claimed that "she didn't have a thing to wear."
As a producer, it was particularly striking how much
Walter Mirisch seemed to be interested in telling stories first, and finding profitable movies second during his producing time. Like
Walter Wanger, whom he mentioned having worked with during Wanger's darkest days, I suspect that story was his first love much more than the alleged glam of movies.
I loved his description of his job, when working with surprisingly fragile, talented people like
Marilyn Monroe,
Steve McQueen, and
Peter Sellers, as being a molder, a nurturer, a cushion and an interpreter of their talents enabling him to be a part of the many people who helped to present them at their best to the world. It was noteworthy how often
Mirisch seemed to use the word "we" rather than "I" when describing his long career.
He came across as a heckuva unpretentious guy whose roots at poor, beleagured Monogram studios sound like one of the most interesting periods of his career. I really look forward to reading his autobiography. Wish that TCM would run the Bomba movies sometime. They were dumb but lots of fun.
Funny,
Horst Buchholz didn't quite steal
The Magnificent Seven, did he?
Although this isn't currently scheduled for a replay, I'll look at the Time Warner digital on demand service to add this private screening soon, (I hope).