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Remembering "Odds Against Tomorrow"
From: American Film Institute
| By:
Shelley Winters |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
 Shelley Winters (below), the distinguished actress and winner of two Academy Awards, played Lorry in Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), a film produced by and starring Harry Belafonte, which tackled the controversial topic of racism in America. In this tribute to Wise--AFI's 1998 Life Achievement Award recipient--Winters remembers her experiences with the versatile and acclaimed director. |
 have been very lucky in my career to have worked with fine directors. Robert Wise holds a special place in my heart and memory. His calmness and intuition about the acting process made him a joy to work with. I often did not realize the extent of the performance he had gotten from me until I saw the rushes the next night. |
The first movie that Robert and I did together was Executive Suite in 1954. It was an original and sensitive film about the chicanery of the business world. I remember Fredric March being quite the kidder on that set. The movie later launched a TV series. |
I first heard about 1959's
Odds Against Tomorrow
at a New Year's Eve party at the Actor's Studio. Sometime in the midst of all the New Year's revelry, Harry Belafonte told me about a movie he was making from a book, Odds Against Tomorrow. It was about three would-be bank robbers--but it was really about white and black hatred, and its theme was, if American minorities didn't hang together, they'd all hang separately. One of the most important things about Odds Against Tomorrow was that theme. It labels the destructiveness of hatred, the fact that prejudice destroys the prejudiced. |
"Harry," I said, "what a wonderful idea." He told me, "Shel, there's a very good part in it, although it's not very big, and it's Robert Ryan's mistress. It's sad and funny, and I would love you to do it." When he told me that Robert Wise would direct it, and that it was going to shoot in New York, where I was trying to live, I quickly said, "I'll do it." |
We rehearsed Odds Against Tomorrow in a studio upstairs from Ratner's Deli on New York's Lower East Side. Ratner's is a dangerous place for me. The experience of rehearsing a movie in a studio was one I'd never had before and I'm not sure I've ever had it since. I really appreciated that Robert Wise let us do it that way. It was like rehearsing a play. Rehearsals are the greatest gift a director can give an actor. I believe that Robert Wise, Stanley Kubrick, George Stevens, George Cukor, and Roman Polanski are the directors I've worked with who best understand the actor's psyche. They never rush the actor, and it ends up that it's really quicker that way than just telling the actor where to stand or sit. |
Robert Wise shot the movie whenever possible in sequence, which was another gift. He prefers it that way; he thinks the picture comes out better. It does. He keeps the set very calm, and you feel creative and you know the director is supporting you. I have done two films with Robert Wise. I'm proud of both, but I keep hoping for a third. |
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