And yet this myth continues to endure.
Yeah, and was recently regurgitated again in J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood’s biopic of Hoover. There is a scene where Hoover, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, puts on his mother’s dress and gazes at himself in the mirror. After Summers’ book was first published, the cross-dressing story was picked up by comedians and they started doing jokes about Hoover dressing in women’s clothes. It became a running gag, an untruth that was being repeated and reasserted until it was accepted as the truth. Even President Clinton made a remark at a correspondence ball, where he mentioned that he still hadn’t managed to find someone “to fill J. Edgar Hoover’s pumps.” I think Clinton soon regretted having made that joke because it wasn’t long afterwards when the whole Monica Lewinsky case was exposed. I’m sure that certain elements in the FBI had a lot to do with breaking that story and sending Paula Tripp out to milk Lewinsky for information about her affair with the President. That intelligence could then be made public to humiliate and possibly destroy Clinton. Personally, I believe the reason it was exposed was because Clinton had made that joke about Hoover.
Other than circling around any affirmative statement that Felt was Deep Throat, did you leave anything else out that you feared would result in litigation?
Well, there were attorneys at American International Pictures who actually reviewed the movie and asked me to be careful. They didn’t want to get into a court action over this picture. But, again, nobody ever made any attempt to divert or thwart my efforts to make a movie about Hoover, not before, during, or after I made it. However, when we first arrived in Washington DC with the actors, every place we went and asked for permission to shoot at we were denied. After a day or two, I was wondering how we were ever going to make this film. Some people would initially give us permission, only to call back half an hour later and say they had suddenly changed their minds. They had obviously found out it was a movie about Hoover and the FBI, and they did not want to get involved. It looked like we were going to be in a tough place for those first few days, but then we shot at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. The Mayflower’s publicity man got a story in the newspapers about Broderick Crawford and Dan Dailey appearing in this movie that was being shot in Washington. The article and accompanying photographs made a pretty big splash in the papers and the very next day we received a call from The White House. It was from President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford inviting Dailey and Crawford to have lunch at The White House with them and Henry Kissinger. I quickly closed down the production, so the actors could go to The White House and have lunch with the President. It turned out that Mrs. Ford used to be a dancer and she really loved Dan Dailey. Dan had appeared in all these great 20th Century Fox musicals — usually opposite Betty Grable — and was this old-fashioned hoofer. Mrs. Ford really wanted to meet him, and so when Crawford and Daily went to The White House, I immediately got on the phone and started calling people up. I would say, “We’d like to shoot at the FBI Training Academy at Quantico, but we can’t shoot tomorrow because the stars are having lunch at The White House with the President of the United States. Would it be possible for us to shoot there sometime later in the week?” Then they would put me on hold and come back five minutes later and say, “What day would you like to come?” [Laughs] Then I would call the next location and say the same thing, and then call the next location, and the next one, and by the end of the week we had permission to shoot at every place we wanted to go. It was all thanks to Betty Ford.
How important to you was that sense of authenticity in terms of the locations?
I would have still made The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover if those locations were not made available to us, but I’m proud of the fact that we filmed at the actual locations, some of which don’t even exist anymore. Seeing places like the Justice Department Building and the Quantico Training Academy gives the film a unique sense of realism, I feel. For example, the empty office that you see at the beginning of the movie was actually Hoover’s real office. That is exactly what it looked like when we got there. They had pulled out all the furniture and everything, and it was actually a strange feeling being in that room. When Clint Eastwood made J. Edgar, he had to fabricate everything — exteriors and interiors — but we worked in the real environments. Also Broderick Crawford looked just like Hoover, whereas Leonardo DiCaprio had to have extensive makeup on him to approximate Hoover’s appearance. As a matter of fact, when we were over at Hoover’s house in Rock Creek Park, we shot a scene with Crawford and Daily as Hoover and Tolson. Both men had to step out of the house and say some dialogue on the lawn before walking up the street. As we were shooting, an elderly neighbour came out of his house from across the way to see what all the commotion was about. Now, what this old man saw from a short distance away was two dead men come strolling out of Hoover’s house! The shock of suddenly seeing them again brought on a heart attack and this poor guy just collapsed. He was taken away by an ambulance but, thankfully, he survived. In a way, that unfortunate event confirmed to me how well we had cast the movie.
Did you obtain permission to shoot at Hoover’s house?
No, we hadn’t cleared it with anybody. We just walked up to the door and rang the bell. I remember that Hoover’s little maid, Annie, [9] answered and I said, “Hello, we’re here to shoot the movie with Broderick Crawford and Dan Dailey playing Mr. Hoover and Mr. Tolson.” Her face immediately brightened and she said, “Oh, they’re both wonderful! They look just like them.” The next thing I knew, we were shooting inside Hoover’s home. It was incredible. We shot everything we needed in one day and just got the hell out of there. I’m certain that if we had asked for permission we would never have obtained it. I actually got to go through Hoover’s house and look around. I went into his bedroom, inspected his possessions, looked through his closets — and there were no dresses! [Chuckles] What I found fascinating was the fact that Hoover was dead, but all of his clothes were still hanging neatly in the closets. At this point, they hadn’t decided what they were going to do with the house. Eventually, half of it was left to The Boys Club of America and the house was sold.
Were you at all tempted to take anything out of the house as a memento?
No, I wouldn’t do something like that. I do remember that the house contained all kinds of stuff that had been sent to Hoover by people from all around the country. For example, women had embroidered the FBI seal on blankets. In fact, everything in there seemed like an object that someone had sent him as a gift. It would be some rinky-dink thing that had the FBI emblem or the American flag on it. Hoover had received all kinds of nonsense items and they were sitting all over the house or were hanging on the walls. There really wasn’t anything of true value in there. I mean, when Hoover died, he left an estate of maybe $500,000 and that included the house in Rock Creek Park, which was possibly worth $300,000. So, he probably left a couple of hundred thousand in securities and stuff. When you consider that this man sat at the very top of the heap for forty-eight years and had only accumulated a minimal amount of money during a period when taxes were very low in the United States, it’s very interesting. All of the authority and fame he had at his disposal; all the books he had written, and everything else he could have acquired in that time, suggests to me that Hoover really was an honest man. To have all of that power for so long and then end up with such a modest estate, it really wasn’t much. If anybody wanted to cast aspersions on him for doing anything improper, it really wouldn’t apply. This guy did not procure a lot of money and material goods. He just lived for the FBI.
Broderick Crawford had previously played an FBI agent in Down Three Dark Streets, [10] but I understand that he had actually met Hoover at one time.
Yes, Crawford did mention to me that he’d once met Hoover, many years before. I have no idea under what circumstances they met. I do know that when Hoover went to New York, he would always frequent places like The Stork Club, and those were venues where actors often congregated. I’m sure that somewhere
along the line, he and Crawford did cross paths. Actually, Lloyd Nolan had also met Hoover because Lloyd had done all of those FBI movies. Lloyd told me that Hoover was very pleasant and he’d enjoyed meeting him. Other than that, there was no special recollection.
Did Crawford research his role?
I don’t think so. Before we started shooting, I showed Crawford all the photographs I had of Hoover and I talked to him extensively about the character. The best piece of direction I gave Crawford was to tell him that Hoover was so all-encompassing and powerful at the FBI he never really had to raise his voice. I knew that Crawford had a very melodious voice, but he very often ruined it by shouting and bellowing. I had seen previous pictures he’d made where he was almost constantly yelling. I thought he’d repeatedly done himself a great disservice by getting too excited, too loud, and too boisterous in his roles. Crawford had this beautiful speaking voice when he didn’t yell and I wanted him to keep that voice calm and soft to illustrate how in control Hoover was. I only had to tell Crawford this once and never had to repeat myself. He immediately got what I was saying. Then, towards the end of the shoot, I said, “Broderick, remember when I told you never to holler? Well, in this next scene, you can let it all out!” That was actually one of the last scenes in the picture where Hoover yells at his staff to see if they can copy the Nixon tapes. It’s the only time that Crawford really lets go and I felt that contained approach worked much better.
What were some of the other difficulties you encountered making the film?
Well, we were about ten days from starting the picture when I received a phone call informing me that Dan Dailey’s medical exam had been a negative. It was apparently discovered that Dan had a bad heart and it would not be possible to insure him. We were applying for cast insurance and I had a lot of older actors in the picture like Dan, Broderick, and Jose Ferrer. So, I had a big decision to make. I should have replaced Dan, but I couldn’t tell him that he’d failed the medical exam. I just didn’t have the heart to say he was not insurable. I was contemplating what I should do, but then I told the insurance company to cancel the application for the insurance. If they would not insure Dan Dailey, I wasn’t going to insure any other member of the cast either. I decided to keep my premium and take my chances. I think it was unheard of to make a picture without cast insurance, particularly with so many elderly actors. But this was my production and I was able to do what I wanted. I never did tell Dan that he had failed the medical exam and, as it turned out, I was very lucky that I decided to keep him. If it wasn’t for Dan, we would never have received an invitation to The White House and, as a direct result of that, would never have secured access to all of those locations we shot at. It turned out that my act of generosity paid off spectacularly and it really became a blessing for us.
Rip Torn plays Agent Dwight Webb, a fictional character you devised to be Hoover’s adversary. How did you find working with Torn?
I’ve always thought that Rip was a terrific actor. I still do, but he did have a reputation at the time for being difficult. I remember he came to the Jefferson Hotel in Washington DC, where we were all staying, and immediately picked a fight with me. I mean, we hadn’t even shot anything at this point and he was already complaining angrily about something. He was behaving in such a volatile manner, I said, “Rip, why don’t you simply go back home? Just vacate your room, go back to New York, and I’ll replace you with somebody else.” He then growled, “Well, maybe you’d like to go outside in the street and settle this?” I said, “Okay, if that’s what you want to do, let’s go outside.” So, we both proceeded to walk through the lobby doors of the hotel and just before we got outside, he stopped and said, “Look, Larry, I just want to be in the movie. I just want to do my part.” I said, “Rip, if that’s what you want to do, you can stay. Let’s just work together on this.” After that incident, he was extremely co-operative. In fact, at the end of the production when we were running out of money, Rip came to me and said, “Larry, you don’t have to pay me. All you have to do is give me my car-fare and I’ll come to work. I’ll finish the picture for free.” That was incredibly nice of him. I won’t forget that.
Was it all smooth sailing after that?
The only problem that occurred with Rip after that concerned his hairpiece. Actually, it was two hairpieces that he would stick to the sides of his forehead. When we would arrive at various locations, Rip would sometimes hide his hairpieces. He refused to let them fall into the hands of the makeup people because he didn’t entrust them to anyone. Rip would wander off and conceal the hairpieces somewhere, but unfortunately, he would then forget exactly where he had hidden them. So, when it came time for us to leave the location, we would have to go out and search for Rip’s hair. This became something of a running joke. On one occasion, Rip left his hair behind at the Pimlico Race Course where we had been shooting. We had to send the limousine driver back to find his hair and bring it to him. Another time, Rip claimed that back in New York somebody had broken into his car and stolen his toupee. I said, “Rip, why would somebody break into your car and steal your hair? It just doesn’t make any sense!” He said, “Well, I guess we can’t shoot today.” I said, “Oh yes, we can. [Loudly] Somebody get me a baseball cap!” We then found one and Rip played the entire scene with a baseball cap on. Actually, that scene didn’t end up in the finished film anyway, but we sure did make him work that day! [Laughs] I don’t know why Rip would tell me a story that his hair had been stolen, but there was no doubt about it, he was obsessed — bordering on psychotic — when it came to his hairpieces. He was always afraid that somebody was going to steal them and, eventually, somebody did break into his car and take his hairpieces, which of course confirmed his worst fears. So, maybe there was some truth to this madness after all.
Despite his obsession, were you happy with Torn’s performance in the film?
Oh, absolutely. He always does good work. You know, you just had to deal with Rip. Every morning I usually had to go to his apartment in New York and pick him up in my limo. I’d bring him to work and then take him back home at night. Rip lived in downtown Manhattan and the doorbell had a sign on it that read ‘Torn Page.’ This was because Rip’s wife was the actress Geraldine Page and that’s actually what it said on the doorbell — ‘Torn Page!’ [Chuckles] But we both got along fine. Years later, I ran into Rip and his son, Tony, at a restaurant when I was shooting Wicked Stepmother outside on the street. Rip told me that Tony wanted to be an actor and he asked if I knew any way of getting his boy into the Screen Actors Guild. So, I sat down and immediately started writing a little scene for Rip’s son to play, then said, “Okay, let’s go outside.” We went out onto the street and quickly shot the scene I’d written, which featured Tony playing the street drifter. Tony also gets to say a little line and that got him his SAG card. I remember Rip said, “Larry, you are the only person in Hollywood who would do something like that.” Frankly, I had to agree to him. A few years after this, I ran into Rip again in the theater district in Manhattan. Now, he’d always been pestering me to obtain his FBI file for him. I would keep saying, “Rip, I have no means of getting you your FBI file.” He said, “C’mon, Larry, I know you are in with the FBI. You would never have been able to make The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover if you weren’t connected with the Bureau. You can get me my FBI file, I know you can.” I said, “Look, I really can’t help you.” I ran into him again a few years later and, by this time, I knew that the Freedom of Information Act had meant a lot of people now had access to their files. So, I asked Rip if he’d succeeded in obtaining his file. He then proceeded to tell me that he had, but he was very disappointed that there was nothing in it. I think Rip really believed that he was a major subversive. Apparently, the FBI didn’t agree.
Another intriguing performer you hired was the criminally underrated Michael Parks, who plays Robert F. Kennedy. I’ve always enjoyed his work.
Yeah, he’s a splendid actor. I really enjoyed working with Michael. I
got him on Rip’s recommendation, actually. At first I was a little reluctant to cast him because I’d heard he was a lot of trouble. Despite that, I eventually hired Michael for the role of Bobby Kennedy and he came down to Washington and was no trouble at all. He was just fine and worked very hard. I’ve always felt that Michael should have been a big star in movies. He certainly had that potential. I know that at one time people thought he was going to be another James Dean. Unfortunately, Michael just didn’t get the right movies at the beginning of his career. He had played Adam in John Huston’s religious epic, The Bible, but it just didn’t quite happen for him. He ended up having a TV series called Then Came Bronson [11] and that was successful for a few years. But then I guess his career just drifted off. Now he works for Quentin Tarantino quite often and has developed into an excellent character actor. Michael is sometimes so good he is unrecognisable in the parts he plays. You don’t even know that it’s him. In fact, I think his Bobby Kennedy is the best that has ever been done in movies. There have been a lot of depictions of RFK, but nobody has ever come close to Michael’s portrayal. It’s very easy to veer into an impersonation when you do that kind of iconic role, but Michael seemed to capture the reality and humanity of Kennedy. The actor who played Bobby in Clint Eastwood’s movie was just completely wrong for the part; he was terrible! That scene with Bobby in J. Edgar was taken almost exactly from my movie — nearly word for word — but it was very badly played. I couldn’t imagine how and why they spent so much money and made such a weak picture.
Larry Cohen Page 24