BING CROSBY - THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS: PART 6

RIP: GENE HACKMAN

Gene Hackman could trace back his entire acting career to one moment when he was 13 years old: His father left the family and, as he left, he walked right past his son and said nothing — just gave a slight wave.

Decades later, Hackman said he still thought about that little wave, and how much an actor could show, or hide, with just one understated gesture.

Hackman channeled that experience into a long career in acting, appearing in more than 100 movies and TV shows. The two-time Oscar winner and his wife were found dead in their New Mexico home, a Santa Fe County Sheriff's spokesperson said Thursday. Hackman was 95 years old.

Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Denise Avila confirmed the deaths in a statement.

In a released statement, the sheriff's spokesperson did not provide a cause of death for Hackman or his 64-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa. The pair and a dog were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their home. Foul play was not suspected, authorities said.

Hackman played complicated men — many of them not very nice. He won his first Oscar for his performance in the 1972 film The French Connection, in which he played a hard-nosed New York cop who roughs up a drug dealer — while dressed in a Santa suit. He won his second Academy Award playing a sadistic sheriff in the 1992 Western Unforgiven.

Hackman was tough in real life, too. He went to jail at 16 for stealing, and right after that talked his way into the Marines. Hackman bumped around for a decade, then signed up for acting lessons at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse. He hated everyone there — except for a short kid with a big nose named Dustin Hoffman. Hackman and Hoffman were both kicked out of the program for lack of acting talent, so they moved to New York and slowly broke into the movies.

"It's always more fun to play heavy than it is to play a good guy," Hackman told Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 1999.

He did play some good guys — the inspirational coach in the movie Hoosiers, a preacher in the Poseidon Adventure — but Hackman was a coiled snake of an actor, always with a hint of menace. Hackman said he dug for intense emotions in his roles and kept them under wraps.

"I find in me a sadistic streak," he said. "I find something in me that maybe might not be very attractive, but I feel might be valuable in this context — under certain circumstances we're all capable of murder, I suppose."

Hackman epitomized a 1970s, edgy, tightly wound masculinity. He intimidated the cast of The Royal Tennenbaums, from 2001, including Luke Wilson, who played his adopted son. In a Fresh Air interview a few years later, Wilson remembered doing a scene with Hackman — his idol. Wilson kept fumbling his lines.

"He just looked back at me with this glance that shivered me to the bone," Wilson recalled with a laugh. "And needless to say, I nailed it on the next take."

The part was written with Hackman in mind, but director Wes Anderson told Fresh Air it took him months to convince Hackman to do it.

"He was happiest when he was doing a hard shot," Anderson said. "He's such a good actor he can do anything and he sort of likes a chance to stretch his legs."

Hackman tried stretching his legs in other directions — he painted and wrote novels. He retired from acting multiple times during his career, but multiple times, he returned.

"If you've done it as long as I have, it's very hard to drop it." he explained. "You know, there's something very seductive about acting. You come to work and there's 90 people waiting for you to do something. There's something both very heady, and seductive and unattractive about that."

Some critics thought he made too many small, weird movies in the 1960s and too much commercial dreck in the 1980s and after. But unflinching, funny, surly, and a study in self-possession — Hackman became one of the most sought-after actors of his generation...

HOLLYWOOD URBAN LEGEND: ROBIN WILLIAMS

URBAN LEGEND: Did Robin Williams hire homeless people to work on his movies?

ANSWER: YES!

It is amazing that Robin Williams for every movie he was shooting, asked the production company to hire at least 10 homeless people to get them jobs, throughout his career he helped about 1520 homeless people ! A great man, a great heart...

BEHIND THE LAUGHTER: THE BLUES BROTHERS

When John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd first took the stage as Jake and Elwood Blues in "The Blues Brothers" (1980), they brought to life an unforgettable duo. Aykroyd and Belushi, already celebrated for their chemistry on "Saturday Night Live," were known for creating comedy gold together. Yet, the story behind the making of "The Blues Brothers" went beyond just laughter it was a project fueled by Aykroyd’s passion for rhythm and blues, Belushi's magnetic presence, and a wild, unpredictable journey that nearly derailed the entire film.

Belushi was the undeniable star on set, famously dubbed "America’s Guest" because of his knack for getting free meals, drinks, and favors wherever he went. Even during filming, his energy was boundless. One night, he vanished from set while shooting in a Chicago suburb. After hours of searching, Aykroyd found him asleep on a couch inside a stranger's house. The owner didn’t even mind, having been won over by Belushi’s charm earlier that night.

Dan Aykroyd, who wrote the original script, presented a 300-page draft to director John Landis. This document wasn’t a typical screenplay but a deep dive into the Blues Brothers' world, outlining their backgrounds, the origins of their love for the blues, and even a guide to Chicago's music scene. Landis had to trim it down, focusing the story on the brothers' mission to save their beloved orphanage by reuniting their old band. The movie became a celebration of blues music, featuring legends like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown, who each had their moments to shine alongside the chaotic antics of Belushi and Aykroyd.

The movie’s car chases became legendary. It held the record for the most cars destroyed in a single film for years, with a staggering 103 vehicles meeting their end. Aykroyd and Belushi weren’t content with faking the high-speed chaos many scenes were filmed at real speeds, and Belushi insisted on performing most of the stunts himself. His commitment to authenticity even led to injuries, but he shrugged them off, determined to make each scene perfect.

Off-camera, Belushi’s wild lifestyle mirrored his on-screen persona. Aykroyd once recalled how Belushi’s drug use started to spiral out of control during production. They were shooting at night, and Belushi often partied until dawn, only to stumble onto set with a second wind of energy. His charisma never waned, but the toll it took was visible to those closest to him. Aykroyd later mentioned in interviews that he felt a deep sense of responsibility to keep the film on track while protecting his friend, even as the pressures of the shoot mounted.

Ray Charles, a key figure in the film, remembered Belushi's eagerness to learn from the legends. He respected Belushi’s dedication to the blues. "He had a way of making people laugh and feel good, but when it came to music, he was dead serious," Charles noted in an interview. This dedication showed during the filming of musical numbers. Belushi's vocals on "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" captured his raw energy, pushing the song to a new height, while Aykroyd's harmonica skills added authenticity to every scene they played.

The production wasn’t without its hurdles. Universal Pictures executives worried about the film’s soaring budget and Aykroyd’s unorthodox approach to storytelling. Delays, nighttime shoots, and frequent rewrites made them nervous, but the cast’s undeniable talent reassured the producers. During a pivotal scene at Ray’s Music Exchange, Belushi’s impromptu dance moves left the crew in awe. His comedic timing and Aykroyd’s steady rhythm became the backbone of the film, cementing their on-screen partnership as iconic.

On-set pranks became the norm. Belushi was notorious for his antics, like filling Aykroyd’s trailer with live chickens or switching props at the last minute. Landis was often exasperated but appreciated the duo’s chemistry, noting that their antics were "part of the package." Even the cast and crew couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that the energy Belushi and Aykroyd brought to each take would translate into pure magic on screen.

When it came time to film the finale, featuring a massive car pile-up in downtown Chicago, the city had granted special permission for the chaos to unfold. Local residents lined the streets, witnessing Belushi and Aykroyd sprinting through crowds as the police cars stacked up behind them. Aykroyd called that moment a "love letter to Chicago," paying tribute to the city’s vibrant energy and history...

MUSIC AND THE PRESIDENCY

Elise K. Kirk, author of Music at the White House: A History of the American Spirit and Musical Highlights from the White House, says that the executive mansion is “the oldest performing arts venue in America.” Presidents throughout history have been deeply moved by classical music. Some were musicians themselves — John Adams played the flute, Woodrow Wilson sang and played the violin, Richard Nixon played the piano and Bill Clinton even had an entire music room in the White House for playing his saxophone. Others were devoted fans who couldn’t play a note or hum a tune.

On this first installment of the WQXR five-part series Music in the White House, Kirk identifies the most musically talented presidents of the 19th and 20th centuries: Thomas Jefferson and Harry Truman.

When Jefferson took office in 1801, he brought with him a deep love of classical music. In addition to playing the violin, he’d recently lived in Paris, a city brimming with glorious music that Washington simply wasn’t ready for. The city “was just cow paths,” and the White House was still unfinished. But Jefferson did what he could to fill his terms with music. He had a deep admiration for the United States Marine Band, an organization that he felt was important to the ceremonial history of the White House. He hired musicians from Italy to enhance and enlarge the band and he invited them to play at his inauguration, starting a tradition that continues today.

When Truman took office in 1945, Washington, D.C. had grown up considerably. Some of the great classical music had travelled across the Atlantic and this was reflected in the Truman’s music tastes. Truman studied the piano as a young boy, growing up on Mozart, Haydn, Liszt and Chopin. As president, he always had a piano by his desk and a radio by his bed, and he never passed a piano without playing a tune. He particularly loved Mozart’s A Major Sonata, which he played for an audience of 30 million Americans during the first televised tour of the White House in 1952, as well as during a conference in Potsdam with Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and pianist Eugene List in attendance.

Despite his love of music, Truman’s White House was not as full of musicales and performances as he would have liked. When the leg of his daughter Margaret’s piano fell through the floor due to the wood having decayed over the years, it was clear that the White House required serious renovation. This sent the First Family to live off-site in a guest house for the majority of Truman’s presidency. Fortunately, the piano incident did not deter Margaret from her music studies. She went on to become a professional singer (and indeed the only opera singer that Truman could bear to listen to).

So it was that two of the most musically talented presidents had two of the least musical tenures in the White House. And by a funny twist of fate, two of the least musical presidents — Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy — presided over a White House absolutely full of classical music....

SOURCE

A VALENTINE TRIBUTE TO MY WIFE

I don't post a lot of personal things here, but today marks the 22nd Valentine I have spent with my beautiful wife. Our wedding song "At Last" highlights some of the pictures of us through the years. I sure am lucky on this Valentine's Day and always...

JACKIE GLEASON'S SECRETS TO THE PERFECT MARRIAGE

 JACKIE GLEASON SECRET TO THE PERFECT MARRIAGE

1. Two times a week we go to a nice restaurant, have a little beverage, good food and companionship. She goes on Tuesdays, I go on Fridays.

2. We also sleep in separate beds. Hers is in California and mine is in Texas.

3. I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.

4. I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our anniversary. "Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!" she said. So I suggested the kitchen.

5. We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.

6. She has an electric blender, electric toaster and electric bread maker. She said "There are too many gadgets, and no place to sit down!" So I bought her an electric chair.

7. My wife told me the car wasn't running well because there was water in the carburetor. I asked where the car was. She told me, "In the lake."

8. She got a mud pack and looked great for two days. Then the mud fell off.

9. She ran after the garbage truck, yelling, "Am I too late for the garbage?" The driver said, "No, jump in!".

10. Remember: Marriage is the number one cause of divorce.

11. I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was 'Always'.

12. I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her.

13. The last fight was my fault though. My wife asked, "What's on the TV?" I said, "Dust!".

Can't you just hear him say all of these?