Rebel
Page 23
Diary Entry from the 1980s
HE WALKS FOLLOWED BY HIS BIRTHDAY, AND FACING HIS death day.
The dash hints at his end, eagerly awaited by historians who can thus officially close the parentheses.
The essential thing about him, and this is the essence of fame, is that he is between parentheses—he is not free.
This monumentalization of people, this freezing of life, is the terrible curse of the consciousness of fame.
Anybody with instinct destroys conventional fame and misleads his admirers and biographers by being unreliable and therefore unpleasant . . .
This gives him the possibility of looking instead of being looked at.
Acknowledgments
WHILE DRAWING INSIDE AND OUT OF THE LINES, MANY people kept my handwriting steady . . .
First off, I’d like to thank HarperCollins for its patience and vision. It took a lot longer than we thought, but by God, we did it! It also took a stellar staff to bring this to its polished and coherent state. At HarperCollins I thank Liate Stehlik, our publisher; David Palmer, our production editor; Rich Aquan, the cover designer; Katherine Turro, the marketer; Heidi Richter, the publicist; and Victor Hendrickson, assistant general counsel. May Chen, our keen-eyed editor, was supportive every step of the way. Thankfully, she got my weirdo humor from the start. Gabrielle Keck, assistant editor, was a tenacious detail-wrangler.
Paul Mazursky may have initially encouraged me to pen these stories, but his daughter Jill Mazursky followed through and made it seem possible. I have her to thank for connecting me to my literary agent, Ian Kleinert of Objective Entertainment—whose enthusiasm and steadiness saw us all the way to the end.
For the early forging of the book, I thank Guru Das and Mike Downs who listened deeply and gave me a leg up and Russell Martin for putting things in some semblance of order. Projects like this require a supreme amount of tenacity and vision, so thank goodness, Denise Hardy has those in spades, not to mention the strength to take on a difficult subject—me!
I thank my assistant, Briana Sandford, for showing up every day and getting me out of bed. And lastly, I thank my family: Nancy Nolte, Eric Berg, and Rebecca Linger, for being steadfast over the years and Clytie, Brawley, and Sophie, for being my inspiration.
Photos Section
Nicholas King Nolte, 1941. “U.S. enters WWII.”
Photo courtesy of the author
My father, Franklin Arthur “Lank” Nolte.
Photo courtesy of the author
My mother, Helen King Nolte, modeling for Chicago department store. Could have been Capone’s wife.
Photo courtesy of the author
Helen King Nolte and her dog. “Get on with the picture so I can go into the woods and play.”
Photo courtesy of the author
Me on the far left. My imagination full of Davy Crockett and wild adventures.
Private collection of Neal Tarman, courtesy of Ames Historical Society
My sister and me in Ames, Iowa.
Photo courtesy of the author
Kicking for Westside High, Omaha, Nebraska, 1959.
Kathy Carney, my first love.
My first mug shot. Draft card debacle.
Self-timed photo for my theater portfolio, Phoenix.
Photo courtesy of the author
Self-shot for Actors Inner Circle portfolio photo, 1968.
Photo courtesy of the author
Allen Dutton includes me in his landscapes during the LSD year.
Photo by Allen Dutton
Allen Dutton—in front of instead of behind the camera for once—and I play two peasants who screw up everything in a Christmas play for Phoenix Theater.
The cast of a Tennessee Williams’s play. Actors Inner Circle. My first wife, Sheila Page, on the far right.
Photo courtesy of the author
Backstage preparing for Winterset. Little Theatre of the Rockies.
On the set of The Deep with Jackie Bisset.
The Deep: © 1978 Ulvis Alberts/mptvimages.com
Karel Reisz and I discuss Who’ll Stop the Rain, 1977.
© Bruce McBroom/mptvimages.com
Hitting the town with my second wife, Legs.
Ron Galella/WireImage
Gearing up as Phil Elliott in North Dallas Forty.
North Dallas Forty: © 1978 Mel Traxel/mptvimages.com
The legendary Katharine Hepburn and me on Grace Quigley.
Photo by John Seakwood
Eddie Murphy, director Walter Hill, and me on Another 48 Hrs.
Photo by Bruce W. Talamon/Paramount Studios/Hollywood Historic Photos
My wife Rebecca, me, and Barbra Streisand after a private screening of Prince of Tides for Princess Diana.
Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images
Marty Scorsese and I are spellbound by Robert Mitchum’s coolness on set of Cape Fear.
Photo by Phillip Caruso/mptvimages.com
One of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, with director Keith Gordon and me on the set of Mother Night, 1995.
Licensed by: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Vicki Lewis and I attend 1999 Film Critics Awards for Affliction.
Photo by UPI/Newscom
Bryan O’Byrne and I are reunited at the 2000 Sundance Festival.
Photo courtesy of the author
Partner Clytie Lane and I attend “An Evening for Africa” in 2010.
Photo by Florian Seefried/Getty Images
My son Brawley accompanies me to the Academy Awards for the Warrior nomination.
Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage
My daughter Sophie and me on the set of Luck.
Photo courtesy of the author
About the Author
NICK NOLTE is a Golden Globe–winning and Academy Award–nominated actor who has been active in Hollywood for more than forty years. He has starred in such notable films as 48 Hrs. (1982), Cape Fear (1991), Affliction (1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), and Warrior (2011), and currently stars in the title role in the Epix television series Graves. He lives in Malibu, California.
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Credits
Cover design by Richard Aquan
Cover photograph © ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Copyright
This is a work of nonfiction. The events and experiences detailed herein are all true and have been faithfully rendered as remembered by the author, to the best of his abilities. Some names have been changed to protect the privacy and anonymity of the individuals involved.
REBEL. Copyright © 2018 by Kingsgate Films, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Author photo courtesy of United Artists/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Digital Edition January 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-221959-6
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-221957-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-06-284293-0 (BJs Signed Edition hardcover)
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