Robert Taylor Incessant Smoker Death Valley Days Set Old Tucson Arizona 1968 #4
by David Lee Guss
Title
Robert Taylor Incessant Smoker Death Valley Days Set Old Tucson Arizona 1968 #4
Artist
David Lee Guss
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Robert Taylor (!911-1969) was the first major Hollywood movie star I ever photographed. I was working at KVOA TV in Tucson, Arizona in January 1968 when the news room got a call that "Death Valley Days" was shooting at the newly built sound stage at Old Tucson. The host of the show,Taylor, would also be acting in the episode.
It wasn't until a few months later that we began shooting the 16mm news film in color. Since I covered the movie beat I raced out of the dirt parking lot with the station's Bolex and my 35mm Mamiya-Sekor still cameras. The still pictures would be for me.
The Bolex made a subtle, whirring sound when running. So I shot a 100 feet roll, or around 2 minutes 40 seconds, several yards from the lit set. Shooting while a scene is filming is prohibited as the sensitive mikes could pick up the sound of your camera.
Moving closer I spied the still handsome, but faded Taylor. A chain smoker he was puffing away on a cigarette, which he did constantly when taking breaks.
Most celebrities, especially the men, tend to tune out people in their immediate presence especially when they are filming. Signing autographs or just talking breaks their concentration.
I knew I just had to take a photo. He heard the camera click and noticeably flinched. Two years later I bought Leica Rangefinder cameras that were virtually silent when shot.
I was the only TV cameraman on the set. As Taylor was getting increasingly annoyed, I sensed I was about to be asked to leave. I snapped a few more stills then left. Taylor was dead, at only 57, in 18 months from lung cancer.
The pedestrian movie film I shot ran in a one minute blurb on the 6 and 10PM news. The footage is currently sitting in my movie archive, never again seen; while the stills taken nearly 50 years ago are viewed worldwide on the internet.
Uploaded
April 24th, 2014
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