In a brown Trans Am while listening to “Back in the Saddle” by Aerosmith, we appear on a Burbank side street…
I’m off to go see Burt Reynolds. Tim has invited me to visit the set he’s been working on titled Hooper. The old, rustic Columbia Ranch is our destination, a backlot I’ve trespassed several times but have never driven through its main gate, appropriately located off a street called Hollywood Way.
Riding into town by the light of a silvery moon, we pass a water tower with The Burbank Studios proudly displayed in brown paint, as the just rising sun merges with the fading darkness. A new day beckons for the both of us as Tim speeds through a yellow light adjacent to a celebrity carwash in a valiant attempt not to be late for his 7 A.M. “Call time” Ole’ Sukie Jones awaits in a crazy horse saloon… as legend has it.
Normally upon arrival at this backlot, we park at a shopping center back behind the lot, by a forested area to begin our trespassing escapades…but not today. This morning we enter through a security gate with guards wearing badges alongside stitched on emblems that say “The Burbank Studios Security.” Having turned the corner a bit fast, we are sternly reminded of the backlot speed limit…10 M.P.H. Security scolds us pointing to the white and black sign posted amongst many other “Do Nots!”
We enter the backlot after glancing at the long list of rules in Tim’s ’74 Trans-Am. Tim turns down the volume just as Steven Tyler is shining up his saddle and loading up his pistol, to inform me “this film stars a Trans Am driven by a man called…Sonny Hooper.”
I’ve had a lot of good times racing around in Tim’s Trans Am and I’m hoping to get a look inside Hooper’s fine motorized picture car and sometimes flying machine. Thanks to Aerosmith, we arrive like Cowboys should. Tim heads off to wardrobe to exchange his tennis shoes for boots and spurs while laborers and wranglers scoop up “horse shit.” The old west greets us with a host of flies and odors.
Burt Reynolds is the star of this film along with Jan Michael Vincent. Hal Needham is the director. We park close to some empty horse trailers, whose day has already started. Today is all about stunts, stunts, and more stunts. A chariot race is being rehearsed on these famous Western Streets that Gary Cooper helped make legendary in a feature titled…High Noon.
This morning, the backlot is a deluxe Western Movie with all the bells and whistles. Cowboys and Indians, Stagecoaches and even Roman Chariots line every street that has dirt roads. “Every horse and stuntman in town” are working on this one today!
The sunshine highlights the dust storms being kicked up by Horseshoes and Wagonwheels. I have never seen a western movie filmed albeit- this is a modern film harking back in time for western action. Tim is being made up as a background Cowboy. He has the best job any teenager could have. Tim is fairly regular on Happy Days as a teenager in the 1950’s, over at Paramount. Just recently, he landed two “roles” as a German soldier, one living, one dead. He does school when on sets in tiny, air conditioned trailers with other costumed teenagers. An instructor is provided by the studio, because apparently, it’s the law to be tutored when missing your normal school…plus he gets paid!
Tim returns from wardrobe “dancing around in fancy pants and high heeled boots,” even Roy Rogers would be proud.
I find myself walking alone along wooden planks in front of empty storefronts, getting the lay of the land. Like I’ve entered inside an Allman Brothers album cover. I indulge in free food, eating not just one, but two – breakfast burritos, wrapped in foil, expertly prepared by Michelson Food Service. I come face to face with a tied up horse. We share long faces as he sniffs out the ingredients. I scratch the top of his head and wish him a good luck.
“If you’re here later- I’ll slip you an apple,” I promise my new friend with a tail. Cowboys, Indians and Romans filter out of wardrobe, one by one, just like horses getting saddled up in their gear. I reminisce at each turn, this normally deserted town is so busy, it’s like a “Gold Rush” is taking place.
Director Hal Needham wears a cowboy hat and boots as he multi tasks, always smiling like a cowboy kid. He has a limp, like one leg is shorter than the other. Everyone respects him and his easy going nature, the horses even look at him differently with his commanding presence. This guy is the man-“I wanna be like him! “
A pow wow is taking place between Burt Reynolds and Hal, lots of finger pointing reactions as I watch from a chair in video village. An unspoken bond is taking place between the two with mannerisms replacing words… like a silent western movie reel.
Smokey and the Bandit is the best movie besides King Kong currently in theaters and this horse riding, stagecoach jumping, work in progress is better than both those hits from what I already see going on here- at this ranch most famous for westerns. But pro football floats my boat, and The Longest Yard is the definitive football film of the 70’s so far, along with Brian’s Song. “You cry” in that classic with Billy Dee Williams and James Caan. But, “You laugh” along with Burt and his prison team.
Burt was a college a football star himself and football star Terry Bradshaw has a role in this feature.
I watch in amazement at this mega box office legend playing the character ‘Sonny Hooper” with a persona unlike any other movie star. On Monday Night Football, he once opened the ABC Broadcast by moving his lips as Howard Cosell’s voice tells us what to expect in tonight’s game. Funniest thing I ever saw, a Cosell voice over as Burt provides “lip service.” Whether on a gridiron, a press box, a horse, or a centerfold spread, his magnetism takes hold with those darn good looks, confidence, and flat out funny sense of humor. Himself a Hollywood Stuntman, what can’t this guy do? He’s bigger than The Beatles. A true… Snakeskin Cowboy.
I’m in my element, this environment is like a drug. I love Hollywood Stuntman.
Hooper-“He always is the Bad Guy, who gets it in the end-jumping off some horses, holding off a train. Never wins a gunfight, scuffle or a brawl, for being such a loser, Hooper’s really got it all.
You can toss him, blast him, flip him and turn him, shoot him, hang him, bury and burn him, chances are Hooper’s back for more
Running around, across the ground, take a truck, run him down, he ain’t easy, he’s up and gone. You can hit him, kick him, gen’rally abuse him-set him on fire, we’ll amuse him. Heaven knows he won’t hold a grudge. He’ll look you in the eye and tell you with a smile-there ain’t nothing like the life of a Hollywood Stuntman!”
There is so much action and risks taking place, I stay next to director Hal Needham, under a covered porch on an old, wooden stool. It’s like the Indy 500, but with horse and carriages on dirt. Everyone not in the scene needs to be out of the way. Someone left a cowboy hat on the chair next to me, so I put it on over my long blonde hair… I’m a teenage Greg Allman sitting at the Whipping Post.
This is one of the most fun sets I’ve ever been on, and everyone is so nice and polite. Jan Michael Vincent and Sonny Hooper just exchanged pleasantries on horseback before taking off in a race against each other. Wanting to see a replay, I step over to the video replays as Director Hal shares the screen with his adoring fan. It’s my moment to ask Hal “What’s your all time favorite stunt you’ve done sir?”
“He smiles like a happy cowboy and replies” I hold the all-time record for car rolls… twenty-three car rolls off one cannon blast!” he boasts proudly as he amplifies his voice for those all around to hear. As I stand there in my cowboy hat in awe, Burt walks up the stairs in his denim western outfit to see the replay. I’m in between two legends, Burt Reynolds, over hearing Hal’s record breaking claim quickly chimes in, “Tell him what happened next Hal.”
“I was in the hospital for six months with a broken back, pelvis, ribs, I could go on” as he cracks a smile that must hurt just to remember. Burt breaks into his patented laugh and big smile… All present alongside on the porch get a good laugh. “Told you there was more to it” says a satisfied, laughing top box office star.
After a couple stagecoach races down every western corner on an old weathered ranch, things seem to be going as planned. No ones been hurt nor has any livestock been injured and overall everyone is having a rip roaring good time. Hooper’s girlfriend is on set, Sally Field, darn, she’s pretty. I use to watch “The Flying Nun.” I always wished the nuns at my old Catholic School would fly away sometimes. This is one of Hollywood’s most glamorous couples and they work extremely well together, kinda like Maureen and I used to do while romping around these old backlots. Let’s just say we’ve rolled in backlot hay…
12:00 P.M.-Lunch is served!
Over by a fountain used in the TV show The Monkees, tables extend in uniform style in this park setting that unlike the one at MGM, has a perfectly maintained, Crystal Clear Pool. Tim and I sit together with all the other Cowboys and Indians, enjoying a Bar-be-cue of Chicken and Ribs. Food unites these two hostile cultures in an infamous Hollywood Backlot…
Table talk amongst actors always funnels down to who is working on what and where, many at this table will need another call at wrap time. MGM comes up as one extra just came off Logan’s Run, the TV series. Tim, in full Cowboy gear, brags about being on CHiPs. As I chew the meat off a rib bone, I proudly listen knowing I’ve been on both those sets. Heck, I just turned down a part on Paradise Alley myself, I fit this table like a salt shaker.
As egos compare stories, I grab my boysenberry pie and excuse myself, taking a short walk to Dennis Mitchell’s house, where I sit on the front porch. I feel like he’s just the kid down the street from me, I’ve seen every episode as I imagine Jay North will walk out the front door any second. I see another famous house close by…from Bewitched.
Having no need to hide, a very rare occasion indeed, I put myself back in a time when Screen Gems ruled TV screens across the country including my family’s brand new Zenith Color TV. Samantha Stephens was must watch Thursday Night TV.
But Friday Nights were revered for The Partridge Family and they also grew up in this neighborhood as did…The Monkees! I was all things Monkees as I now sit and reflect on Darrin Stephens’ front porch, wiping Berry Pie and Bar-be-cue sauce off different parts of my face. I was all things Davy Jones, I even played a tambourine because of him. No Band had a cooler car, and no band had a cooler bus than The Partridges. This valley backlot gave my old Desilu lot a run for its money for best ever TV series.
As the cast and crew make their way back to all things dirt roads, I take advantage of my celebrity status of having a free pass to explore this backlot.
Welcome to Fantasy Island, a sign greets me back in the jungle area I normally climb in this lot at. I just saw this show film at MGM, now, I’ve found their main set here at- this here backlot! Pretty cool since I already know the cast and crew. I absolutely love this backlot. Its history book my school does not have. Sitting in a wicker chair, I ponder my future, I was just kicked out of school, public school this time… for writing my own excuses!
The attendance office thought this 17 year old was 18. Maybe the long hair and my ability to talk up a good excuse won over these ladies, although, I had become a bit of a regular customer. Heaven forbid, the principle caught me in the act as I skillfully signed and handed in my excuse. As I nonchalantly face the door to quickly get to class, I see Principal Bash in my peripheral view, turning red and frankly, starting to shake. Yelling at me first, then the lady in charge, she nervously comes out with, “Well, he’s been doing it all year!”
Mr. B as we call him, pulled out my file and in a rage marked everything as “truant.” I’m informed you’re only allowed three truants. Now I have a shoebox full, an entire drawer of “sorry I couldn’t be heres” Mr. B is clearly enjoying this a little too much. I know he dislikes me because I am visibly close friends with one very beautiful English teacher who complains to me that she constantly has to fend off Mr. B’s unwanted advances. In a clearly satisfied manner, in bright Red ink, my entire file is now “truant.” I am told I will need to take 11th grade over….”You Failed!” As good intentioned teachers will do, Miss Debby Z. rushed in for my attempted rescue, saying “it’s a misunderstanding, and I do Good Work!” I do! I never let my grades slip, even through the more intense shooting schedules. My report card has all passing grades, I’m a bit frustrated by life away from my studio world.
I sit alone with this dilemma in the back of my mind, on a white chair at a movie set. I consider a future as a Hollywood Stuntman, since I’ve been… chased by police, shot at by security, dodged explosions, nearly wiped out the Walton’s house racing their car through that neighboring backlot, and climbed every rooftop in Hollywood. I love horses and fast cars too, but first, I need to take a G.E.D. test, a proficiency exam, allowing me to join the working world. Then I too can … fight, roll a car, be lit on fire, jump off a horse onto a stagecoach, all with a smile while never holding a grudge.
I see a future right around the corner from where I sit now because…”There’s nothing like the life of a Hollywood Stuntman!”
Ride’em Cowboy
Trespassing The Ranch… 1976.
Every scene…is a stunt!
The best Stuntman on this set loaded with stunt personnel is director…Hal Needham
More often, this street is just a “ghost town” fit for hanging!
A land where Dinosaurs roam freely…Trespassing -Under The Rainbow -sets in my pics. No Camera’s allowed on- Hooper.
An exterior on a set with an interior inside. This was a Grand Hotel, decorated as such inside.
There is a deep admiration between these two…
Tim Gray…today he’s a Cowboy. Yesterday he was in the German Army, my friend from St. Augustine’s, a good Catholic Boy indeed!
Double Trouble…Yours Truly–right after Catholic School
Hooper set- right before they celebrate Robert Klein’s birthday celebration with a stripper jumping out of a large cake.
1976 Trespassing picture day…
Robert Klein- the actor who plays the director of this film.
The World Famous Palomino…another popular film location and hang-out for Cowboy movie stars. My pal Tim worked this fight night, you can’t have a western without a bar room brawl…
Columbia Ranch- Burt and Jan prepare for a chariot race on the same street “High Noon” was filmed with Gary Cooper.
Everybody loves “Stuntmen “
Everybody loves “Stuntmen”….
I was born to be a stuntman too…”I was a little Hooper myself, Sheriff John and his lunch brigade was my inspiration, back in 1963. I would in the not too distant future- climb barb wire fences, catwalks, get shot at, jump trains, get filthy dirty, stopping only for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I fought the law daily and slept in my gear, including my boots- like a Midnight Rider should”
This story can be read in my 3rd book -pictured here, available on Amazon. This read details MGM from 1977 until the final end. Pictures only I have, taken by me on blockbuster movie sets all over Hollywood. Not much different is trespassing movie studios than stuntman face in their occupations. Every adventure begins with climbing barb wire fences then out smarting the security we run across.
There will never be Hollywood Stories like this again!
Written and Lived by…Donnie Norden
