Directing BARBARA LEIGH and H.M.WYNANT
There is a scene in my audio-book "Rock Star Rising" that I had to cast. In a flashback, a lead character, Jimmy goes to Las Vegas to see Elvis on stage. He inadvertently gets on the customized bus for another rock star named Shane. The bus starts up and heads for Las Angeles with a full blown party going on. One of the passengers, Liz a sexy and free woman, talks with Jimmy and then gets her and Jimmy into a bizarre situation.
Okay, now how do I cast this? With the other parts, even though this is an audio-book and you can't see them, I wanted to have the listener still relate to the image of the person. For example, James Darren playing the rock star Shane. George Chakiris, playing a Puerto Rican gangster. Russ Tamblyn, a youthful handsome wise-cracker in West Side Story and The Haunting, playing the same in this story. And so on.
So to play the part of Liz, the sexy rock 'n roll party girl, who comes to Vegas with a one rock star to see another, Elvis, I choose Barbara Leigh. And here's why:
Barbara started off making 50 TV commercials and then became a regular on the "Harry O" series starring David Jansen. Next came the role of Rock Hudson's wife in "Pretty Maids All in a Row".
During the casting for Sam Pechinpah's "Jr. Bonner", Barbara began dating Steve McQueen, while still dating the head of MGM studios, Jim Aubrey. Jacqueline Susanne's novel, "The Love Machine,” and the film adapted from it, were based on Aubrey's life. Aubrey took her to see Elvis in Vegas and shortly after, she started dating Elvis as well. All of this is documented in her book, "The King, McQeen, and the Love Machine."
I had read her book and found it to be in the top four auto-biographys I've ever read. Those being the ones by Kirk Douglas, Sidney Poitier, and Dezi Arnaz. So with a background like that, and still a favorite at celebrity shows because of being the original "Vamperilla" ever cast, (even though the six picture deal folded), who better to play the hip, wild, on the music scene Liz in the "Hard Rock Lovers".
For her party scene on the rock star's bus, I recorded it with all the actors overlapping their voices, giving it a live "just happening" feel to it. It took a couple of takes to get into the flow of it, with Barbara volunteering to pinch the actor who suddenly and surprisingly gets hit with a needle full of heroin. His surprise yells on every take sounded completely realistic and painful. But he didn't look like he minded during the 4 takes. As the saying goes, "A pinch from Barbara Leigh is better than a kiss from Bruce Lee".
Barbara was great and fun to work with. I was lucky to get her in the project, as she leads a busy Hollywood life, working for Playboy magazine, entertaining fans at various movie and comic conventions,and involved in numerous charities such as Animal Rescue, the Star Light Foundation and The Aids Healthcare Foundation.
If you like Hollywood stories, or are a fan of Steve McQueen's or Elvis', Barbara's autobiography should be on your list.
DIRECTING H. M. WYNANT
So there I was in Hollywood with my audio-book almost completed. I had a few more smaller parts to record, but I had finished the major ones with the stars. I planned to attend the Hollywood Collectors show as I usually do, and invited my agent Larry. The show usually has about 70 actors sitting at tables with photos from their movies that they sign for the fans.
My agent went with me, as he had to visit a client of his that had a table. I didn't know his name, so I didn't think too much of it. Walking up to H.M. Wynant's table Larry introduced me. Then I looked down and saw a photo of him holding a gun on Elvis Presley from the movie "It Happened at the Worlds Fair". It's a favorite Presley movie of mine and I had just bought the new dvd, so I knew it well. I pointed to the photo and said to H. M. "Hey, you're Vince Bradley, the gangster." He said, "You know my character's name? That's amazing." I said, "You did a great fight scene with Elvis."
Then I saw a photo from one of my favorite "Twilight Zone" episodes, where the hero is told not to let a man out of a room because he is the devil. It called, "The Howling Man". I hadn't realized it was the same actor with that same great voice.
It turned out that he is now doing a lot of voice narration and performing, including "The Twilight Zone" audio dramas. Later, as I walked around the show room, I thought about how I must have this actor in some part of my audio-book. But where?
Then I remembered that there is a scene in my story where Russ Tamblyn is driving and listening to an audio-book of "Moby Dick", and I needed a voice to read about eight lines from it. Also I needed the final credits read and someone to say "This is the end of this disc. The story continues on the next disc." It wasn't much. But at least I'd have him on the project and his powerful voice would had professionalism to the "Moby Dick" reading.
Larry arranged for him to come to the studio and do the job. Before recording he told me that his best friend had been the actor Richard Basehart, who played the lead in John Huston's "Moby Dick". When Basehart passed away H.M. name a playhouse in his honor. So H.M. was excited to read some of the lines that Basehart had read.
After he had finished, H. M. said, "I felt like Richard was in the recording booth with me."
This was a wonderful ending to the project that had already given me such joy.
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