Robert Osborne, TCM’s True Essential

He was Lucille Ball’s protégé, Bette Davis’ close friend and Katharine Hepburn’s would-be dinner date – just a few of the stories Robert Osborne related on board the Turner Classic Cruise in December.

While the press had called his three-month hiatus from TCM a medical leave, Osborne clarified that it was simply his first vacation in 17 years and that he had used it for dental work, medical check-ups and other business. Looking fit upon his return, the 79-year-old host was commanding in his onstage interviews and congenial in his offstage moments, shaking hands and chatting with his many fans and fellow movie lovers.

Like all the Turner Classic Cruise stars and staff, Osborne was generous with his insights and memories and tried to ensure each guest got to be part of the conversation. His first interview/Q&A was so jam-packed that he scheduled two others.

Star-struck even in college, the Washington native said he and a fellow student sent flowers and a dinner invitation to Katharine Hepburn while she was appearing at a Seattle theater. When they didn’t get a response, they did the same the next night and finally received a polite but firm no.

Although that audacity served him well over many years of interviewing stars, Osborne admitted to being intimidated by two actresses: Jennifer Jones, star of The Song of Bernadette, and the legendary Lauren Bacall.

Osborne initially tried acting and was hired by Desilu Productions, where Lucille Ball identified him as an up-and-comer and became his mentor. Like any good teacher, she knew the value of the right field trip. Osborne was among several novices she took to Las Vegas to see the Rat Pack, where he learned a valuable lesson about preparation: the clowning and “ad libs” were identical from one show to the next, a result of careful rehearsal that only looked spontaneous.

It was Ball, impressed with his grasp of film lore, who guided the young journalism-school graduate toward his career as a film historian and host. He admired the redheaded comedienne’s ability to “make the most of what she had” but said her gift for making audiences laugh didn’t carry over to her off-screen persona.

“Lucy said Betty Grable was funny, Judy Garland was funny and Carol Burnett was funny, but she herself wasn’t,” Osborne said.

He described Rita Hayworth as “very soft spoken, very quiet and shy” and termed Joan Crawford and James Stewart “very nice to work with” but called Veronica Lake “extraordinarily difficult.”

Despite his respect for Robert Mitchum’s talent, his interview was “gruesome” because the actor “stonewalled” him on each question.

Among his favorite actors are Spencer Tracy, Loretta Young and Claude Rains. Cary Grant “could do it all,” he added. And he has a great fondness for Bette Davis, whom he called a “wonderful lady” and very down to earth despite her reputation for being tough and strong-willed.

“She was only difficult when people weren’t doing what they were supposed to,” he said, because she was very professional and expected the same of colleagues. Yet he acknowledged that as she got older, Davis’ illness and inability to get work affected her disposition.

Davis had wanted roles in Driving Miss Daisy and Steel Magnolias, Osborne said, but by then the industry had a different way of casting her: as an award recipient. People who wouldn’t cast her in their films asked to pay tribute to her at awards dinners — events that can be very profitable if the honoree is a film icon.

But she did continue making movies and the final one was released in 1989, the year she died.

“It was so terrible,” Osborne said of Wicked Stepmother. He noted that either the need for money or the drive to keep working in later life can compel the best actors to make the worst films.

Other longtime stars are fortunate enough to have a great finale, Osborne said, citing Henry Fonda’s Oscar-winning role opposite Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond.

But Hepburn wasn’t immune to choosing badly in later life, according to Osborne. He called 1978’s Olly Olly Oxen Free “a terrible movie.”

As for the films Osborne likes best? His top picks included Hitchcock’s Notorious, Hobson’s Choice and Dodsworth as well as the lesser-known but hilarious The Mating Season and the 1932 William Powell comedy Jewel Robbery.

He urged his guests to see these films–“They’re movies that will become among your favorites.”


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *