The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 151: He Was Ready For His Close Up

Episode Date: March 3, 2020

It was the gig of a lifetime... it just wasn't Gig's.

This is the way I heard it. The famous television producer thought Gig Young was perfect for the title role in his new series. The famous television producer was right. Gig Young was a serious actor. Unfortunately, Gig Young was also a serious alcoholic. This was hardly a secret in Hollywood. Three years earlier, another famous producer, Mel Brooks, had offered Gig Young the lead role in Blazing Saddles. Alas, when Gig Young showed up with the DTs on the first day of shooting, Mel had no choice

but to find a last-minute replacement. Good news for Gene Wilder, who went on to become the Waco kid, but bad news for Gig Young, a former Oscar winner on his fourth marriage, who had blown what many believed would be his last shot at redemption. But now, three years later, here he was again. The famous television producer was offering Gig Young the title role in a new TV series, a series that was guaranteed to be a hit. All Gig Young had to do was show up on time, hit his mark, and say his lines. Unfortunately, Gig Young was not yet ready for his close-up. He arrived on the set Friday afternoon, three hours late, too drunk to perform. Even after a dozen cups of black coffee. He was still slurring his words and stumbling through his scenes.

Finally, at 11 p.m., the frantic producer, like Mel Brooks, three years before, had no choice but to find a replacement. Easier said than done. This was the title character, after all, in a series that was scheduled to air in just three days. So, as Gig Young was sent home in a cab, the frantic producer made a late-night phone call to a Hollywood legend. A phone call, the frantic producer, remembered word for word. Sorry to call so late, but I want to run something by you. It's 12.30 in the morning. You're going to run something by me at 1230 in the morning? It can't wait, said the producer. I'm in a hell of a jam. Oh, it's a problem. I have a new TV show, and it's going to be a hit. It airs this Monday. Congratulations. Can I go back to sleep now? Well, you don't understand, said the producer.

I'm missing one element. Yeah? What's that? The title character. How can you not have a title character for a show that's about to air in three days? It's a long story, said the producer, but I need your help tonight. Tonight? Yes, as in right now. That was the phone call that persuaded a legendary actor to climb out of his bed at 1230 in the morning and drive to the studio where a very grateful TV producer and a very nervous cast waited for his arrival. According to his castmates, Gig Young's replacement strolled onto the set at 1 a.m., still wearing his slippers and pajamas. Glancing briefly at the script, he poured himself a cup of coffee, introduced himself to the crew, and became the beloved character known today by billions of fans all over the world.

Indeed, Gig Young's replacement was so perfect for the part, he became the highest paid actor on this seminal series, a series that would challenge Hollywood stereotypes like nothing else before or since and make everyone involved a pretty penny. Everyone but Gig Young. Two years after losing the role of a lifetime, Gig Young's career circled the drain faster than ever. He booked a few small parts and a few forgettable films, but by 1978, no one trusted him to remember his lines. Ironic, all things considered, or maybe just tragic.

Either way, by the fall of 78, Gig Young was finally ready for his close-up. To prepare for this role, he drank a bottle of bourbon and picked a fight with his fifth wife. Then he retrieved a revolver from his desk drawer and shot Kim Schmidt in the head. They'd been married for less than three weeks. Then Gig Young blew his own brains all over the walls of his Manhattan apartment in the performance for which he is best remembered today. As for Gig Young's replacement, the man who rolled out of bed and reported to work in his slippers and pajamas, well, he's remembered today, mostly for his voice.

The voice of a legendary actor who answered his telephone at 1230 in the morning when a desperate television producer named Aaron Spelling begged him to accept the title role in his latest project, a role that didn't require him. him to appear on camera at all, or even memorize a single line, a role that was tailor-made for an alcoholic named Gig Young, but was ultimately brought to life instead by a seasoned pro named John Forsyth, who literally phoned it in as a title character named Charlie, who employed three unforgettable women we remember as his angels. Anyway, that's the way I heard it. Please tell me you remember Charlie's Angels.

Please tell me you're old enough to remember Farah and Jacqueline and Kate. Because if you're not, that story would have been most dissatisfying. That's the challenge with the podcast, right? In this format, I have to have a reveal that the vast majority of listeners are already familiar with. Otherwise, it doesn't work. Problem is, the older I get, the less certain I become that my reveals are going to be universally recognized. I'm pretty sure you guys all know about Charlie's Angels, but I went that way because I was also pretty sure most of you didn't know about Gig Young. And Gig Young was the story

I wanted to tell. He just happens to be a lousy reveal. You can see my challenge. This is the way I talked about the way I heard it. The only spontaneous analysis of the only podcast for the curious mind with a short attention span wherein I examine the circumstances that prompted me to write the tale that you were just told. In this case, the story of Gig Young called He Wasn't Ready for His Closeup. Now, the way this one happened,

I'd like to tell you I just sat down because I wanted to write a story about Gig Young, but of course these things never start that cleanly. I'm not even sure where most of them start really, but as best I can figure, this one started earlier that day when I was talking to Stuart Varney on Fox News. Stewart had invited me in to discuss the gig economy because I run a foundation that is focused on jobs. he wanted to know what I thought about gigging.

Now, I'm a big fan of gigging. Just another word for freelancing. I've been freelancing my entire career. The entertainment business is a gig economy. And currently in California, our leaders are trying to get rid of it. They don't want 1099ers. They want W-tours.

Easier to collect the tax, I suppose. Now, they tell us, you know, the gig economy takes advantage of people, but I personally don't believe that. And I weighed in and I shared my thoughts. And at the end of the interview, I realized I had said the word gig economy so many times. It didn't sound like anything anymore. You ever do that? You say the same word over. Gig, gig, gig, gig, it just loses all meaning and relevance. Which was funny because a couple hours later, when I was standing in the Apple store, replacing my laptop, which prematurely crapped the bed, A hipster in a red shirt looked at me and asked me how many gigabytes I desired, which I thought was ironic and kind of funny.

You know, second time in a few hours, I'd heard that basic word used in a different way. Gig economy, gigabyte. Is the universe trying to tell me something? Am I supposed to write a story about the gig economy or gigabytes? I'm not sure. I don't really linger too long on that question. But I've learned with this podcast that sometimes when the same word or the same phrase keeps circling around, it can lead you to a place of passing interest. And that's what happened here.

When later that same evening, I got home and poured myself a sensible glass of Cabernet and sat down to watch an old movie on Turner movie classics. I didn't care which old movie. I just wanted to see an old movie. and up popped a film called They Shoot Horses, Don't They? In 1969, starring a guy named Gig Young. And that's how it happened. Suddenly, in the course of a day, I can't deny Gigabyte and Gig Economy and Gig Young all at the same time. Now, I knew enough about Gig Young to be curious to want to learn more. He's an actor one generation ahead of me, but I do know

that he was associated with the Academy Curse. A lot of actors and actresses who win an Oscar watch their careers go straight over the cliff as a result. Maybe not as a result, but in the wake of an Academy Award, a lot of bad things happen to a lot of talented actors, but nothing as bad as what happened at Gig Young. After he won Best Supporting Actor for his work in They Shoot Horses,

don't they? He really never recovered. Elizabeth Montgomery divorced him over claims of spousal abuse. He married his fourth wife after that. Then his fifth wife along the way Mel Brooks throws him a lifeline. He can't do anything with it. Aaron Spelling offers him a great gig which he blows, all of which I shared in the story. Then of course he murders his wife and kills himself and the whole thing. This is so dark and just so terrible that I had second thoughts about even writing about Gig Young. Never mind the

fact that I couldn't figure out how to land a reveal that would leave most of you, hopefully, somewhat satisfied at the end of the story. But then, looking at the Mel Brooks angle and looking at the Aaron Spelling angle, I wondered, well, who got the gig instead? Is there a way to make this a Blazing Saddles reveal if I somehow bend it back into Gene Wilder, taking Gig Young's role, but I already wrote about Mel Brooks in one of the first episodes, and I didn't want to go there again. And then I thought, well, what about Charlie's Angels? You know, I mean, I already wrote about Farah Fawcett in an earlier episode, so I wasn't sure I wanted to go there. But then I thought about John Forsyth and wondered about the circumstances that led to him actually replacing gig. And that

is when I found the completely delightful and totally true story about the phone call, he answered at 4 at 1230 at night and the fact that he got out of out of his bed john forsyth a respected actor who's working in a gig economy takes the call gets out of bed in his pajamas puts on his bathrobe and slippers goes to the studio books the gig and never goes back again from that day on he did everything over the phone he just literally phoned it in man who is rewarded for his participation in the gig economy, even as another man who wasn't ready for his close-up, named gig is punished in the gig economy. See how it all comes together for me? It couldn't be better. I'm writing about the gig economy after all on a new computer that has more

gigabytes than I need, focusing on a story about a guy named gig who didn't get the gig that turned out to be the best gig another guy got. Plus, it's fun for me because I narrate for a living. And so all of this just made perfect sense. Anyway, that's how this story happened. By the way, MicroWorks, speaking of gigging, I got a million dollars I'm trying to give away through the foundation between now and the end of March.

One million dollars in work ethic scholarships. Want a new gig? Go to Microwworks.org. and apply for a work ethic scholarship. Or, oh my gosh, how about this? Talk about simpatico. ZipRecruiter sponsors the episode. I'm grateful to Zip.

You know what they do? They hook people up in all kinds of jobs. You might call them gigs. You're looking for a new gig. Go over there and find a job. And if you're looking to fill a gig in your company, ZipRecruiter.com slash R-O-W-E. I can't stand it.

The serendipity is killing me. Never have I had anything come together in such a fortuitous fashion. during this fake segment called The Way I Talked About, the Way I Heard it, which may or may not continue next week. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime,