When action scenes for "Gypsy Moths" were about to
be shot, mostly at the Benton,Kansas airfield, I was 18 and living in Wichita.
Due to my interest in acting, mainly in High School productions, I, along with
my five brothers and sisters and Mother who was a bit of a ham herself,
answered a "cattle call" for crowd scenes at Benton Airfield.
Because
I was Burt Lancaster's general height and build and was the same size, 42 Long,
I was upgraded to Stand-in for him and ended up standing in for all the principle
male characters except Gene Hackman who used his brother.
There was a scene in
a park in El Dorado, KS where Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster sit on a
merry-go-round and talk. He then stands up and leans in rather closely to Ms.
Kerr. The director wanted to change the lighting on that particular shot to
compensate for Mr. Lancaster's new position.
He called for the
"Seconds" to take the actors' places while they fine tuned the
lighting. At that moment Deborah's stand-in was over by the swings, in the process
of losing the greasy chili which had been catered that night and couldn't
answer the call.
John Frankenheimer was upset by her failure to report and
acted like he was about to fire her, but, always the gracious lady, Ms. Kerr
said she was fine just sitting there and would stand in for herself. The scene
required that Burt Lancaster lean in to the point that their faces are mere
inches apart.
There she was, the consummate professional and I, standing in for
Mr. Lancaster, was face to face with an actress I had loved ever since seeing
her in such films as "From Here to Eternity" and "The King and
I".
It's understating my uneasiness by saying I was sweating bullets and
worrying about my breath. She sensed my discomfort and proceeded to ask me
questions like what I aspired to be (she didn't say 'when I grew up', which
was, to me, just more evidence of her class) to set me at ease.
At the time I
was very interested in an acting career and she said that if I ever got to
Hollywood to look her up and she would get me an appointment with her agent.
What amazed me about the exchange was that I realized she was serious and would
very probably have taken the time out of her busy schedule to do just that. My
esteem for her grew many fold that night.
Although I understand she now lives
in Switzerland, I have often thought that even though I am in my 50's and gave
up the thought of acting professionally years ago, it would be great if she
still lived in Hollywood and I was able contact her. I would remind her of what
she said 36 years ago and ask when she would be able to take me to see her
agent. At 85 years old, I wouldn't be surprised if she said, "Give me a
couple of minutes and we'll go over right now."
Deborah Kerr, I still love
you and I always will.
(James Jones)
*Ms. Kerr passed away in 2007. She was the consummate actress.
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