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Wise: The Dignified Director
From: American Film Institute
| By:
Peter Fonda |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
 Although director Robert Wise rejected the young actor Peter Fonda (right) at his first audition, the two eventually worked together in the 1973 drama Two People. When Wise was honored with the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award, in 1998, Fonda delivered this tribute to his mentor, remembering the dignity of the distinguished director and providing a glimpse into the Hollywood of the 1960s and '70s. |
 t was the early sixties. I put on a blue chambray shirt, my beige poplin suit, decided on no socks with my best loafers and drove to Fox. It was still the Fox of my dad's time and I had yet to work there. I was directed to a set of bungalows that were familiar to me from my earliest years. The motion picture being cast was The Sand Pebbles. Ushered into a comfortably cool and large office, I met the man. The man who had edited Citizen Kane; the man who had made one of the scariest horror films without the use of blood or beheading or ever revealing the "monster" or evil thing in The Haunting. The man who brought West Side Story and its plight of urban-youth immigrants from the west side of New York City into the movie houses of middle America. The man, after all, who had made one of the most intelligent science fiction films ever, The Day the Earth Stood Still. |
When asked by the man if I had any photographs of myself, I stupidly spouted off about "here I am in the flesh. So much nicer than an 8x10 glossy. A much better take on my whole being." I didn't get the role. |
My next meeting with Robert Wise was quite different. It was the early '70s. We met at Heathrow Airport in London. I had long hair, a full beard, blue jeans, and a sheepskin coat. Mr. Wise looked at my countenance, a bit uneasily, finally searching my blue eyes and asking me if I would be willing to cut my beard for his next movie. "Hell! I'll shave my whole head for the film, if that's what you want, Bob!" |
"No, no, no, no, I mean ... just, you know, lose the beard and a little trim." And he said it so politely. Almost sweetly. I got the role, and I would soon learn that he was one of the most polite and sweet men to ever don a director's mantle. |
Bob Wise walked through a maze of water-balloon fights and firecracker madness with an air of dignity that made all of us shooting his film Two People suddenly stop acting like children running amok. Estelle Parsons suggested we find some tequila, a great discotheque and get our "youthfulness" out of our systems on our own time. She, of course, was the wildest of us all on that dance floor. |
Robert Wise showed me that there were people in Hollywood who had manners; there were directors who did their business without screaming invectives; one could trust someone over 40. I am well past 40 now and have had the humbling experience of trusting myself. But there will always be the little boy and a water-balloon fight in my heart. And there will be few directors with the ability and range of material, with the persona and full meaning of the word "gentleman" to grace our incredible business. Robert Wise has given me good counsel in the 25 years I have known him, but he has also given me good humor and wonderful tales of the days gone by. I am honored to be his friend and grateful to have worked for him in this magical world of motion pictures. Let's do it again, Bob, before we all are gathered. |
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