Van Helfin with Julie Adams
Julie Adams
From Henry's Western Round-Up
MONDAY,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2013
INTERVIEW
WITH JULIE ADAMS, UNIVERSAL’S QUEEN OF THE WEST, AT 3-D EXPO!
Conducted
September 7th, 2013
For
Hollywood, the 1950s and 60s were the era of the blonde bombshell. But it
was also a time of some striking brunettes, and few made a more lasting
impression than the lady whose long black tresses and white one-piece swimsuit
made her Fay Wray to THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, Julie Adams.
But
Julie Adams was much more than catnip to a 3D lizard; a stunning beauty with a
sultry voice that could portray sincerity or scheming, she always portrayed
intelligence. She was the thinking man’s western beauty, and her
characters were rarely the type who just reloaded while her man fired out of
the cabin window. In at least fifteen Western features and dozens of
Western TV episodes, she played the sort of strong three-dimensional women that
previously only Barbara Stanwyck got to play – and sometimes she played them with
Barbara Stanwyck!
And
speaking of three-dimensional characters, she starred in two 3D movies, both of
which are being featured in the WORLD 3D FILM EXPO III, which opened on Friday
night at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, and will run for ten days.
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON played on Saturday night, and on this Friday
afternoon at 3:30 pm, WINGS OF THE HAWK will be shown. This Budd
Beotticher-directed classic is rarely seen in any version, and it’s been years
since it played in 3D. Miss Adams, who stars with Van Heflin in the
film, will attend, and take part in a Q&A. She will also be signing
her autobiography, THE LUCKY SOUTHERN STAR – REFLECTIONS FROM THE BLACK LAGOON,
which I will be reviewing here shortly. In it she discusses, along with
CREATURE, and her other films, all of her Western movies, and many of her TV
appearances.
After
some parts in early live TV, and before she became a contract star at Universal,
she cut her celluloid teeth working in Westerns for the small independent, Lippert
Pictures. She graciously spent an hour talking to me until she had to
rush off for her BLACK LAGOON screening.
HENRY
PARKE: Miss Adams, it’s great to talk to you. I’ve been a fan of
yours for a long time, and oddly enough, I like your westerns even more than I
like THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.
JULIE
ADAMS: Well that’s great, because I love doing westerns. I loved seeing
western movies when I was a kid, so my dream came true, and I actually got to
act in westerns, and ride those beautiful horses.
HENRY:
Before you started acting in them, what westerns did you like in particular?
JULIE:
I loved them all. I went to Saturday westerns mostly, with different
stars, but I was more in love with the horses than the actors. I loved
the stories, I loved the outdoors. I just loved it all.
HENRY:
As far as I know, the first western you did was with Don ‘Red’ Barry, THE
DALTON GANG, in 1949.
JULIE:
You’re absolutely right.
HENRY:
Don Barry’s always been a personal favorite of mine. What was he like to
work with?
JULIE:
I loved to work with him; he was wonderful. A very nice fellow, extremely
polished in the western genre.
HENRY:
You did a half dozen Westerns for an independent company, Lippert Pictures,
in 1950. I understand that they were shot simultaneously, with the same
casts. They’d do the saloon scenes for all six films, then the ranch
house scenes for all six, and so forth. That must have been a crash course in
acting.
JULIE:
Well, it was exciting. Because we did six or seven westerns in just five
weeks. So it was exciting, and it was extremely concentrated. It
was great training for me, because you didn’t have time to think about things
too much; just went and did it! (laughs) I went out and took some riding
lessons before I started. Within the western genre, the horses that are
trained for westerns are so easy to ride; you can guide them, and they respond
to anything you do, whichever way you want to go. Horses can really make
you look good.
HENRY:
In 1952 you were under contract to Universal Pictures, and you starred
with Jimmy Stewart in one of the legendary Stewart and director Anthony Mann
collaborations, BEND OF THE RIVER. Which was quite a substantial step up
from Lippert. What was Anthony Mann like to work with?
JULIE:
Anthony Mann was really a wonderful director. He knew what he was doing,
and he knew what he wanted, and he made you feel very secure. You had a
good man at the head of the chain. Everything he directed you to do made
sense. He really knew the western genre so well. I was very happy
working with him; I loved doing BEND OF THE RIVER, and of course to work with
James Stewart was great.
MUCH MORE TO COME:
http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2013/09/interview-with-julie-adams-universals.html
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