From the Stars and Stripes archives
Variety's the spice of Candy's life
Stars and Stripes
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Published: February 6, 1966
A CAREER AS AN ACTRESS would seem to be a natural profession for the daughter of comedian Edgar Bergen. Especially for one as young, talented and beautiful as Candice Bergen.
But on a set of "The Sand Pebbles," which she is making in Taiwan with Steve McQueen, Miss Bergen disclosed that she has two additional professional goals. Neither has anything to do with stage or screen.
One is photography. The other is writing.
Nor is either goal an idle dream for the talented young actress who achieved star status even before release of her first movie, "The Group."
An article she wrote about her experiences making "The Group" appeared in the December issue of Esquire magazine. Entitled "What I Did Last Summer," it presents candid portraits of seven actresses in the film. Illustrated with Bergen photographs, the account bears evidence that each of the actresses is fully as individualistic as the screen character she portrays.
"I am afraid it is pretty candid," said Miss Bergen.
A play she wrote, subject undisclosed, is being considered for production on Broadway, Additionally, Miss Bergen has co-authored a photographic essay on the South and is now turning her pen and camera to new subjects in Taiwan.
During her interview with Pacific Stars and Stripes it was evident that Miss Bergen also yearns for a chance to work as a war correspondent in Vietnam. Screen commitments, however, are likely to keep her from tackling this job. She is signed to do approximately nine films for Hollywood studios after finishing "The Sand Pebbles," which is based on the best seller by Richard McKenna.
But, she noted, at least one member of the Bergen family — her father — went to Vietnam in January to entertain the troops.
As to assisting the war effort in Vietnam, Miss Bergen said; "I'd be a good public relations man for the troops and I wouldn't want the VIP treatment, either. I have a great sense of pride in our military. I feel the troops in Vietnam are doing more than fighting to win the war; they are fighting to win the people and the peace. They are like a military peace corps."
MISS BERGEN speaks with sincerity and her remarks fly out with electrical emphasis. But she was in a relaxed mood as she talked. She laughed when Steve McQueen opened the door of the conference room — it was lunch time — to tell her where the peanut butter they had been hoarding could be found.
Miss Bergen describes McQueen as "a very nice" person, encouraging to and considerate of his fellow actors, especially someone new to the business. She had compliments, also, for British actor and producer Richard Attenborough, TV star Richard Crenna, other members of "The Sand Pebbles" cast and for Robert Wise, who is directing the $8.5 million production.
Miss Bergen's role in "The Sand Pebbles" is in direct contrast to her role in "The Group," the film version of Mary McCarthy's controversial novel. In "The Group" Miss Bergen is the sophisticated Lakey Eastlake, leader and nucleus of her 1930 social set. In "The Sand Pebbles" she is a missionary schoolteacher who finds love and adventure on the Yangtze River in China during the gunboat era of the 1920s.
The diverse roles show her versatility as an. actress and indicate why she is likely to continue being busy with studio work for a long time.
Shooting on "The Sand Pebbles," an Argyle-Solar production for release by 20th Century Fox, started on Taiwan in November and continued through January. Additional scenes are to be made in Hong Hong, Hollywood and Texas.
THE LONG stay on the island is providing Miss Bergen with many opportunities for sightseeing when she is not studying her lines or before the cameras. She was looking forward to finding camera subjects in mountainous Taroko Gorge on the east coast; to trips to Quemoy, the Pescadores and, if possible, to remote Orchid Island.
She likes visiting out-of-the-way places that tourists seldom see. One day, for example, she observed operations at a Taipei soup kitchen run by Father Walter P. Morse, an Episcopalian missionary and Old China Hand — the "Happy, Happy Beggar" of John Hersey's classic story which appeared in "The New Yorker Magazines" in 1940 when Hersey visited China.
"One of the nicest days I have ever had," Miss Bergen summed up her visit with Father Morse.
She has no present thought, she said, of returning to the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a sophomore art and history major during the 1964.65 school year.
While still going to school she made trips to New York where she modeled clothes at $300 a day — tops in the profession.
She admitted to nostalgia for New York, where her success began and where she has an apartment decorated with an antique carousel horse and a ragged lion skin rug which she imaginatively describes as a "sausage with feet."
By Lee Pfeiffer
It was a very special opening night of The Film Society of Lincoln Center's week-long tribute to the films and career of Steve McQueen. Fox provided a stunning, newly restored 35mm print of director Robert Wise's 1966 epic The Sand Pebbles, which garnered McQueen his only Oscar nomination. Experiencing the film on the big screen with a superb sound system proved to be a wonderful experience - because if you haven't seen The Sand Pebbles in a theater, you haven't seen it at all. The evening kicked off with an introduction by Candice Bergen, who related that she was a rather nervous 19 year-old in the largely all-male company of heavyweights. She recalled how filming on Taiwan for many months was an arduous - and simultaneously boring - experience. In 1965, the island was largely devoid of any modern conveniences and newspapers and telephones were almost impossible to find. While the men had each other to pal around with, Bergen was largely left on her own - except for times when McQueen would take her on impromptu, wild motorcycle rides. She said the iconic star would often zip off on his cycle, causing director Wise to worry whether he would ever see him again. She said that it was more pleasurable filming back at the Fox Ranch in California, where the massive set for the China Light mission was constructed for the climactic sequence. She said she still remains impressed by the work of the production design team. Ms. Bergen also said that director Wise was very politically-oriented and that the film was an intentional metaphor for the on-going Vietnam conflict.
Ms. Bergen laced her comments with humor, recalling how the men in the cast and crew would pass the time going to a strip club where they would watch in amazement as someone called The Banana Woman would perform. She stopped short of going into graphic detail, but said the woman did sexual acts with a banana that would have seemed to be impossible. She laughingly said that she still regrets not catching her show. Ms. Bergen, who is as stunning in person as she is on-screen, was joined for the event by members of the McQueen family including his former wife Neile, his son Chad and a number of grandchildren. There were other prominent colleagues and friends of McQueen in the audience including David Foster, producer of The Getaway and Norman Jewison, who directed McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair. (Both men are hosting screenings of the respective films as part of the festival.) As Ms. Bergen sat in front of me, it was rather interesting to see her facial expressions as she watched her first scenes on screen with Steve McQueen. You could tell there was genuine sentiment in re-living the moments.
As for the merits of the film itself, it is curiously rarely mentioned by prominent critics in any dissertation of the great films of the 1960s. What is clear, however, is that the movie-going public has far more regard for the film's legacy. It is brilliant on every level, with even the most minor role superbly and convincingly played. This time around I was more aware of just how impressive Richard Crenna is as the stern Capt. Collins. Prior to this film, Crenna was primarily known for being second banana to Walter Brennan in the TV sitcom The Real McCoys. Thus, his superb performance in this film helped launch him on a successful career on the big screen. I remain entranced by Jerry Goldsmith's score, certainly one of the greatest in the annals of movie history. As for McQueen, the film affords him one of the few multi-dimensional characters he ever played. His performance represents the finest work of his distinguished career. In all, The Sand Pebbles remains a true masterpiece of filmmaking - and one of Robert Wise's crowning career achievements. If you don't have the opportunity to see the film on the big screen, the next best thing is Fox's deluxe DVD of the restored print- plus deleted scenes. (Read our review of ithere)
(The McQueen festival continues with screenings hosted by Norman Jewison, David Foster, Robert Vaughn and Peter Yates. For details, click here) Visit the film's tribute web site atwww.thesandpebbles.com
This Week in Steve McQueen: The Sand Pebbles (1966)
This film, the latest installment in the Steve McQueen festival I’ve been attending, is about a rebellious Navy Machinist Mate, Jake Holman (McQueen), who loves engines a whole heck of a lot and authority a whole heck of a. . . yeeeeah, not so much.
Bounced from job to job, mostly on flagships, he finally gets his dream gig when he’s assigned at last to a gunboat, the San Pablo (nicknamed the “Sand Pebble”), where he’s to be the main guy in charge of the engine. At first excited, his optimism takes a decided dip downward when it quickly becomes clear that life on gunboats is pretty different from life on flagships. For one thing, the Sand Pebble has a strange labor system in place, apparently initiated in an attempt to appease the locals but taken to the extreme by a bunch of lazy ship officers. The officers mostly just hang out looking spiffy, leaving the sailors with way too much free time — free time they mostly use for fighting and hanging out in bars. Meanwhile, all the actual work on the ship gets done by the “coolies,” local untrained Chinese laborers.
Horrified by the state of the ship’s engine, Holman gets in trouble right away when he starts complaining about this system, which puts unskilled Chinese coolies in charge of things both important and dangerous. When the head coolie is then killed in an engine accident, instead of taking it as a sign he was onto something, Holman is blamed and reprimanded by the captain (Richard Crenna), who orders him to train another coolie to take his place. While Holman first resists this idea (note: that’s putting it nicely), he soon becomes pretty fond of his trainee, Po-Han, who proves himself to be a quick, sharp study.
Meanwhile, Holman and another sailor, Frenchie (played by an extremely NOT French Richard Attenborough — don’t ask me) become close friends. While the San Pablo is stuck in port for the winter, the two men become embroiled in a drama on shore involving a young Chinese woman, Maily, sold into prostitution when she couldn’t pay her debts. It’s not long before the incredibly sweet Frenchie, along with the adorable brown pet caterpillar he carries around on his upper lip (dang, that was some bad mustache, Mr. A.), falls madly in love with her. Despite the obvious dangers in doing so, Frenchie and Maily end up getting married and pregnant, two things that could get either one of them killed by Chinese soldiers.
One night, Frenchie decides he can’t spend another night without his love so he sneaks off the San Pablo to swim to shore. When he doesn’t return, Holman goes after him, walking straight into a nightmare. After all is said and done, Holman finds himself accused of the murder of a local as an increasingly propagandist and hostile crowd forms a blockade around the ship, calling for his head. Fearing for their own safety, the rest of the Sand Pebbles angrily try to convince Holman to give himself up and, when he refuses, they attempt a mutiny. Though the captain is quickly able to quash it, both his pride and his already-kinda-wonky psychology are damaged in the process, and when the ship is finally able to break through the blockade into open water, he begins making a series of cuckoo mistakes, eventually going so far as to defy official orders. Instead of returning to the coast as directed, he becomes fixated on going up the river to rescue a group of Americans (missionaries and teachers) he is convinced are stranded and in mortal danger.
One of these Americans is a young woman named Shirley Eckert, played by a stunningly gorgeous Candice Bergen (I’d never seen her so young before, by the way — hot damn, good lookin!’). Shirley and Holman had had a little romantic tension thing going since they first met, and their relationship had taken a few steps forward during part of the San Pablo’s stint in port. So, though he clearly recognizes the folly of the captain’s plan, Holman nevertheless agrees to be part of the “away team” (or whatever it’s called when you’re not on Star Trek) and heads to shore to attempt the rescue. We get one more spectacular shoot ‘em up scene, this one no kidding edge-of-your-seat, and then finally, three hours of plots, subplots, and sub-subplots later, the film ends with just about everybody dead.
Oh wait, spoiler alert, I guess! OOPS. (Oh, like you read down this far, please. This is the longest damn movie review of all time.)
I’d seen this film only once before, and it was way back (way, WAY back) when I was a kid – I’d guess I was about twelve years old or so. At the time, I remember being fairly amazed by it, I think in part because it tells so many different stories and in part because so many of those stories are about doomed love, a subject that tends to resonate well with 12 year-old girls (plus, that one scene with Po-Han gave me nightmares – if you’ve seen the film, you know the one I mean).
As an adult, though, I felt like this movie was kind of disjointed. It was easily forty-five minutes too long, and was spread out all over the place, trying to cover too many stories and not doing a good enough job of making those stories feel smoothly interwoven.
My major issue with the movie, though, was McQueen. Dammit, McQueen! Once again, Steve does what I am starting to gather is his trademark move, a facial expression coupled with a tone of voice that I’m now going to officially dub “The Doofus.” As I’ve said with the last several of his films I’ve written about here, I just don’t get this combo. It worked in The Great Escape – with that character – but it has not worked a single time since. And still he continues to do it! Serious McQueen Fans: was The Doofus really his trademark? If so, can you explain the appeal? It’s not adorable. It’s not sexy. It’s for sure not at all cool. And it doesn’t work with most of his characters. Jake Holman was no doofus; he was a macho ass-kicker. So, what’s going on with this? Bullitt is coming up next in the series, another one of McQueen’s films that gave me nightmares as a kid (I don’t remember anything at all about the story, but I still vividly remember the opening shoot-out scene). Please tell me he’s not going to pull The Doofus in Bullitt? That he finally figured out after this one that The Doofus was a dud?
Of course, clearly that won’t have been the case, because, surprise surprise, McQueen was nominated for Best Actor after The Sand Pebbles, confirming officially that he was onto something and I don’t know what I’m talking about (as if that needed confirmation. . .). My only hope is that the sheer physical demands and emotional/personal problems he encountered during the making of this film killed off every last remnant of Doofus left in him. Maybe this film toughened him up – he did say once that he considered the excruciating agony of bringing The Sand Pebbles to the screen to be his penance for everything he’d ever done wrong in his life (you can read about the problems encountered on the film’s Wikipedia page).
One can only hope.
In the meantime, this is definitely an entertaining film, grand in scale and ambition, and it’s well worth a rental. Fans of Richard Attenborough, in particular, are going to want to pick this one up — I’ve never seen that man so thoroughly kissable. Frenchie, oh, you sweet, sweet, good man. I love you.
Recommended!
http://www.iann.net/movies/towering_inferno/gallery/wrap_party/wrap_party_011.htm
Steve McQueen opens up the doors of his California home for an intimate photo shoot
In the spring of 1963, Steve McQueen opened up the doors of his Palm Springs home to Life magazine photographer John Dominis.
Three weeks and more than 40 rolls of film later, Dominis had an unrivalled insight into the award-winning actor’s life, having spent time with his family, camped with his friends, and raced his cars around Hollywood.
He captured some intimate and now-iconic images – only a handful of which were ever published – and here is a selection that was not featured in the magazine at the time.
Intimate: Steve McQueen and his first wife, Neile Adams, dancing to jazz in their living room. 'They were always necking,' says Dominis
In love: McQueen and Neile Adams, who had been married for seven years at the time, cuddling by the pool at their Palm Springs home
Shooting: McQueen and his wife, Neile Adams, firing pistols in the Palm Springs desert
Hand-in-hand: Steve McQueen and his wife, Neile Adams, walking through the desert. The spark between them was still alive, according to Dominis
From early morning until late at night, the photographer, now 90, trailed McQueen, who was already popular having recently starred in the Magnificent Seven.
But Dominis said he had to make sure he was not too intrusive. 'Movie stars, they weren't used to giving up a lot of time,' he told Time magazine. 'But I sort of relaxed in the beginning and didn't bother them every time they turned around, and they began to get used to me being there. If they were doing something, they would definitely just not notice me anymore.'
Dominis did not see McQueen, who was aged 33 at the time, after the shoot but continued to follow his movies and cherished the three weeks he had spent with him. 'We weren't real friends, but we were friendly. They liked me, and they had a silver mug made: "To John Dominis, for work beyond the call of duty." And I've still got it.'
Snapshot: McQueen and Adams hugging in their kitchen, left, and McQueen smoking, right. The actor did not give up smoking until he became sick in the 1970s
Comfortable: McQueen working out in between filming, left, and stripping off, right. 'We're sitting around the swimming pool up on the deck and Steve goes away and he comes back without any clothes on,' recalls Dominis
Joys: McQueen, who was a jazz lover, listening to records, left, and enjoying a drink after a two-day dirt bike race across the Mojave Desert, right
'He was very open and playful,' he added. 'He liked camping, he liked rugged things, he liked firing a gun.'
Dominis recalled that McQueen and his first wife, Neile Adams, who had been married for seven years, were very tactile and playful with each other. 'They were always necking,' he said. 'They chase each other around,' he wrote in notes he filed for his editors in 1963, 'as though it were going out of style.'
McQueen told Life at the time: 'With strangers, I can't breathe... But I dig my old lady.'
Dominis said he was 'surprised' that McQueen and Adams got divorced because the spark between them was very much alive. McQueen, who died of a heart attack aged 50, went on to marry his The Getaway co-star Ali McGraw in 1973 and model Barbara Minty in 1980.
At ease: Steve McQueen talking on the phone in his living room
Focused: McQueen aims a pistol in his living room, practising his aim before heading out for a shooting session in the desert
Fit: Steve McQueen working out in the Paramount Studio gym and taking a break from shooting the movie Love With the Proper Stranger opposite Natalie Wood
Out in the open: Steve McQueen and his dog named 'Mike' on a camping trip in the Sierra Madre mountains
Natural: McQueen wearing a cowboy hat while on a camping trip in the Sierra Madre Mountains. 'I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth,' he told Life
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109709/Steve-McQueen-opens-doors-California-home-intimate-photo-shoot.html#ixzz2T0MJocL3
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