Lee Marvin: Point Blank

by Dwayne Epstein

“A fun picture, a summer romp”: “Lee Marvin. Sees ‘Great Scout’ As Fun Picture…Nothing More,” Chicago Tribune, Donald Kirk 7/25/76.

  “There’s nothing you can do about it,”: Ibid.

  “Has it ever occurred to you that some of the actors…”:

  “I called from downstairs,” AI Dec. 14, 2012.

  “Over-awed and amused,” AI June 21, 2012.

  “Then you realize he has you hooked,”: “Marvin,” Roy Pickard, Photoplay Monthly, July, 1976.

  “There were script problems as well as production problems,” AI Nov. 7, 1996.

  “I know my career is going badly…”: AI w/Myer Mishkin, July 23, 1994.

  CHAPTER 13: MAY THE BEST SCRIPT WIN

  “The one with the best script”: AI w/David Kagon, July 20, 1994.

  “Because my script is real,”: Ibid.

  “She was having one scene after another,”: AI Feb. 12, 1995.

  “Then he bought the house on La Costa Beach,”: AI Dec. 10 1995.

  “We [he & Betty] separated a year and a half ago,”: “Lee Marvin Talks Marriage,” Sheila Graham, New York World-Telegram, March 15, 1966.

  “They had a good relationship,”: AI Oct. 11, 1995.

  “Lee was generally around people who…”: AI Dec. 10, 1995.

  “I don’t want to be that negative about Michele,”: AI Jan. 16 2012.

  “He had ten thousand dollars sitting right there,” AI Oct. 29, 1994.

  “A couple of girls wanted to be stunt girls,”: Ibid.

  “They ended up calling it in the newspaper, ‘The Robin Hood Party’,”: Ibid.

  “My greater association with him was with Michele,” AI March 13, 1996.

  “He lived in a very ‘alky’ world in those days,”: AI Oct. 29, 1994.

  “I didn’t think it was going to be that long-term a relationship,”: AI Jan. 16 2012.

  “He had rented a house and we had two or three days off,”: AI Oct. 29, 1994.

  “You know when Lee made Paint Your Wagon…”: AI Jan. 16 2012.

  “He tried to leave several times,”: AI Oct. 29, 1994.

  “I remember this one time he was passed out,”: AI Aug. 14, 1995.

  “It must have been early 1970,”: AI Dec. 10 1995.

  “My wife, who is an artist and professionally trained…”: AI July 20, 1994.

  “Why would I want to break back into prison?”: AI Feb. 12, 1995.

  “Lee had said at a press conference…”: “A Surprise Wedding,” Modern Screen, Nov. 1970

  “Lee and I live at Malibu just four doors down…”: “Marvin, Girl Friend Still Friends,” Dorothy Manners, LA Herald Examiner, Aug. 12, 1970.

  “I had six years on my own and I find it very lacking,”: “Lee Marvin Philosophical” Joyce Haber, LA Times, March 25, 1972.

  “At a time when a thousand bucks a month was significant,”: AI July 20, 1994.

  “Of course I knew Pam,”: “My Six Lost Years with Lee Marvin,” Bernard Barry, Coronet, June, 1972.

  “There were many hard time during those early years,”: Ibid.

  “It was with Lee’s approval’”: “The Girl Lee Marvin Never Married Sues Him for Divorce,” Movie Star Life, Brenda Shaw, Feb. 1972.

  “Palimony, alimony for a pal,”: AI w/David Kagon, July 20, 1994.

  “This move is one we did not expect,”: “Lee Marvin’s $1-M Battle of The Sexes” Leon Freilich, Midnight/Globe, Nov. 1977.

  “That the mere fact that a couple have not participated…”: “Lee Marvin’s Other ‘Wife’” Newsweek, Jan. 10, 1977.

  “This is going to open the floodgates to the courts,”: Ibid.

  “It could be several more years before we have a judgment…”: “Lee Marvin’s $1-M Battle of The Sexes” Leon Freilich, Midnight/Globe, Nov. 1977.

  “It doesn’t disturb me,”: “It’s Round Two of the Marvin Affair,” Victor Junger, People Jan 22, 1979. 1/22/79

  “This was a man who probably did not own…”: AI July 20, 1994.

  “What a can of worms you’ve opened,”: “Lee Marvin May Have to Cough Up Big Bucks,” People, Jan. 17, 1077.

  “We were not going to try the case in the press,”: AI July 20, 1994.

  “I gave her the best years of her life,”: Ibid.

  “There was an effort to show…”: Ibid.

  “He was a great showman,”: Ibid.

  “When I mentioned it to Lee, he said two words,”: Ibid.

  “Not one feminist organization came out for Michele,”: “The Penthouse Interview: Lee Marvin,” Fred Robbins, Penthouse, Feb. 1980.

  “I never considered settling,”: “Marvin Plays His Father,” Jerry Parker, Newsday, Aug. 3, 1980.

  “We didn’t collect,” AI July 20, 1994.

  CHAPTER 14: THE LAST OF THE WINTRY HEROES

  “John Wayne wanted to do The Big Red One in the 50s,”: AI June 1, 1995.

  “I ran into Lee at the cigar store on Fairfax,”: Ibid.

  “There was a lot that went unsaid…”: AI April 30, 1996.

  “For me, I was inspired by for the Sergeant by AI June 1, 1995.

  “He was a fifty-year-old first sergeant in an antiaircraft battalion,”: “Marvin Plays His Father,” Jerry Parker, NEWSDAY, Aug. 3, 1980.

  “We were all shooting M-1’s,”: AI April 30, 1996.

  “To see those guys wearing those German coal-scuttle helmets…”: “Sam Fuller Lands with The Big Red One,” Bruce Cook, American Film, June, 1979.

  “He could say Colleville-sur-mer,”: AI April 30, 1996.

  “The kid was not supposed to drop the apple,”: Ibid.

  “My chance to make my own personal statement,”: “Marvin Plays His Father,” Jerry Parker, Newsday, Aug. 3, 1980.

  “Well besides complete idiocy, they want lack of respect,”: “The Penthouse Interview: Lee Marvin,” Fred Robbins, Penthouse, Feb. 1980.

  “He said, ‘Avoid any script that says…’ ”: AI Dec. 10, 1995.

  “Sounds like a bunch of gays in Eskimo outfits,”: “Marvin Plays His Father,” Jerry Parker, Newsday, Aug. 3, 1980.

  “He was quite bitter,”: AI Aug. 2, 2001.

  “It was a tough sequence because it was written a certain,”: Ibid.

  “…With this kind of picture, if you just tell then the title,”: “Marvin is still at it and holding up well,” Chris Chase, LA Herald-Examiner, May 23, 1981.

  “He picks through the midden of scripts,”: “Lee Marvin: A Dying Breed, John Boorman, Close-Ups, NY: Workman Publishing, p. 407.

  “Those films absolutely kill me…”: “The Ultimate Drinking Buddy,” Lewis Grossberger, New York Magazine, Aug. 25, 1980.

  “What I remember most vividly was that we rehearsed in hospital,”: AI Mar. 9, 2012.

  “Into the alcove stepped a man,”: Martin Cruz, Smith, Gorky Park, London: William Collins & Sons, 1981, p.89.

  “I remember him laying his towel on the bed…”: AI Mar. 9, 2012.

  “Marvin was incredibly supportive of him,”: Ibid.

  “His reputation preceded him, being quite a heavy drinker,”: Ibid.

  “I don’t think Western audiences became interested in Russia until…”: Ibid.

  “Great, she could be the son I always wanted,”: AI Feb. 12, 1995.

  “Well, I think that’s your privilege, dear,”: Ibid.

  Page 301) “I’d always wanted to work in France…”: “A Mellower Lee Marvin: To Helsinki and Back,” Roderick Mann, LA Times, Dec. 25, 1983.

  “I enjoyed that,”: Ibid.

  “Lucille Ball was on the show,”: AI Oct. 9, 1999.

  “He was my friend always, and then my agent,”: “Unsung Agents Get Their Rewards,” Sondra Lowell, LA Times, Feb. 21, 1981.

  “I went to visit him and we’re sitting in his kitchen,”: AI Mar. 5, 1995.

  “I got a call from the producers”: “Remembering Lee Marvin” Michael Burkett, Orange County Register, Sept., 1, 1987 [reprint].

  “Lee looked so bad,”: AI Oct. 9, 1999.

 
“He was very pleasant but he was fragile,”: AI Jan. 18, 1998.

  “I just thought he was a classic case of movie star appeal,”: Ibid.

  “Go see Delta Force,”: “Maverick Marvin,” Kirk Honeycutt, NY Daily News, Feb. 11, 1986.

  “I would often go down there and watch old movies,”: AI Jan. 14, 2012.

  “No, we never did,”: Ibid.

  “I have fought the good fight,”: “My Style,” Richard Stayton, LA Herald-Examiner, Feb. 4, 1985.

  “Lee went in there by himself for a while,” AI Oct. 11, 1995.

  “Christopher used to drive out there to see him…”: AI Feb. 12, 1995.

  “He got hepatitis from the blood,”: AI Dec. 10, 1995.

  “I could tell he was losing it because he was bedridden,”: Ibid.

  “When I first went in and saw him,”: AI Mar. 5, 1995.

  “He was very uncomfortable,” AI Jan. 14, 2012.

  “I wasn’t there at the time he had his breathing attack,”: Ibid.

  “Look who just got uncivilized,”: “Death Hunt,” Anchor Bay DVD, 2005.

  EPILOGUE: THE INGLORIOUS BASTARD SONS OF LEE

  “You could be a meat eater, kid,”: “Emperor of The North,” 20th Century Fox DVD, 2006.

  “One actor I’m a big fan of is Lee Marvin”: “Jim Jarmusch’s Guilty Pleasures,” Film Comment, May, 1992.

  “Six months ago, Tom Waits was in a bar somewhere in Northern California,”: Ibid.

  “Lee Marvin. Now there’s a real bad guy,”: “Who’s That Knocking At My Door,” Warner Brothers DVD, 2004.

  “I bet you’re a big Lee Marvin fan, aren’t you?”: “Reservoir Dogs,” Lion’s Gate DVD, 2003.

  “Lee’s sort of the wild man,”: “Keepers of The Flame” Jim Washburn, LA Times, Feb. 29. 1995.

  “I hadn’t seen Tom in a few years,” AI Mar. 5, 1005.

  “They were using us for name value,”: AI April 6, 1999.

  “Trini Lopez was there,”: Ibid.

  “With precious few exceptions, all I see is a lot of boys…”: “Where is Lee Marvin When We Really Need Him?” John Farr, Huffington Post, Feb. 20, 2010.

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