Post by neferetus on Jun 8, 2006 8:43:53 GMT -5
BBC radio aired an interview with Richard Widmark on its March 7, 1997 edition of the program, CLOSEUP. In the course of the interview, done at Widmark's Santa Barbara home, interviewer Nigel Andrews brought up the subject of THE ALAMO.
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CLOSEUP: There was a recent biography of John Wayne that suggested that there were some pretty huge---at least at the beginning of the movie---pretty huge personality conflicts between you and Wayne. Did that happen?
WIDMARK: Well, we never got along personally. I respected him for what he did, his work, and to this day, I love to see him in a Western, he's terrific. But as people, we didn't get along. We didn't like each other. The first time I ever met Wayne, I'd just come out here and we went to a friend's house, Ollie Carey, the widow of Harry Carey, the Western actor and mother of a good friend of mine, Dobie Carey, Harry Carey Jr.. I went to her house and Wayne was there one night. I'd just moved out there and I'd just made this picture, THE KISS OF DEATH and I walk in the door and Wayne looked at me, he was half-smashed, and he says, "Wal, here comes that laughing son-of-a-bitch!" Well, from that point on, (Widmark chuckles) we weren't exactly friendly. We tolerated each other and when we worked, we were very professional, got along fine, never any trouble. But we didn't like each other, politically, or personally,
CLOSEUP: Did you like the vision he was presenting of America in THE ALAMO?
WIDMARK: I thought it was ridiculous, you know, grade-school hogwash---and all wrong!
CLOSEUP: Did this make you hesitate to take the part?
WIDMARK: Well, I didn't want to do it, particulary, but I needed the job at the time. I really didn't want to work with Duke, because we didn't like each other. But I went over one day to see him before when they were talking about casting me. He was very nice. And he wanted me to play Travis, the part that Larry Harvey played. And I said, 'no, I don't want to play that, I want to play Bowie.' 'You're not BIG enough for Bowie'--he liked big guys. (Widmark chuckles) Big to him was great. And I said, 'I'll be big enough.'
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.CLOSEUP: There was a recent biography of John Wayne that suggested that there were some pretty huge---at least at the beginning of the movie---pretty huge personality conflicts between you and Wayne. Did that happen?
WIDMARK: Well, we never got along personally. I respected him for what he did, his work, and to this day, I love to see him in a Western, he's terrific. But as people, we didn't get along. We didn't like each other. The first time I ever met Wayne, I'd just come out here and we went to a friend's house, Ollie Carey, the widow of Harry Carey, the Western actor and mother of a good friend of mine, Dobie Carey, Harry Carey Jr.. I went to her house and Wayne was there one night. I'd just moved out there and I'd just made this picture, THE KISS OF DEATH and I walk in the door and Wayne looked at me, he was half-smashed, and he says, "Wal, here comes that laughing son-of-a-bitch!" Well, from that point on, (Widmark chuckles) we weren't exactly friendly. We tolerated each other and when we worked, we were very professional, got along fine, never any trouble. But we didn't like each other, politically, or personally,
CLOSEUP: Did you like the vision he was presenting of America in THE ALAMO?
WIDMARK: I thought it was ridiculous, you know, grade-school hogwash---and all wrong!
CLOSEUP: Did this make you hesitate to take the part?
WIDMARK: Well, I didn't want to do it, particulary, but I needed the job at the time. I really didn't want to work with Duke, because we didn't like each other. But I went over one day to see him before when they were talking about casting me. He was very nice. And he wanted me to play Travis, the part that Larry Harvey played. And I said, 'no, I don't want to play that, I want to play Bowie.' 'You're not BIG enough for Bowie'--he liked big guys. (Widmark chuckles) Big to him was great. And I said, 'I'll be big enough.'
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