Tony Curtis Interview 18 February 1998 Part 1

[@SRSM198]

I can listen to Tony Curtis all day, he pulls no punches, speaks his mind, a great story teller

[@johnflynn9619]

An Incredible Actor. He should have won an Oscar. Hollywood was jealous of his looks. RIP

[@westy40]

Love Tony Curtis! He always come across as so affable and accommodating, He's so funny too. Miss him!

[@soapbxprod]

Thanks so much for tuning in, and for your kind words- this is one of our best interviews, since we knew Tony personally. He felt very comfortable, so he really opened up and spoke his mind, huh? And he was extremely pleased with how we set up his paintings behind him. Best Wishes, Luke Sacher Praeses & Soapbox Productions Inc.

[@MiiZzJ0kEr]

@@soapbxprodanywhere I can buy a painting of his ?

[@kennethbrady]

This guy is one of the coolest, most honest and erudite fellows out of H'wood. Always thought he was a talent, but seeing his inner life here...is a real treat. Thnx so much for posting.

[@gracieg7601]

Oh I loved this. I had no idea they didn’t like being called the RAT PACk! But I never thought of them as rats. I always thought of them as besutiful fun loyal to each other men!

[@benjaminglover1570]

Sharp dude. You know he`s not lying about anything. Thanks for the post.

[@maxfrudd7666]

Tony, always was a class act,a one of Legend...

[@narellecox2028]

Great interview, Tony said it like it was, fabulous.

[@johnparadise3134]

8:16 "Dean was never found anything that important enough to be involved in, ok. That included friendship, included profession, included anything. He just liked going along. He was a very insular man, very quiet, very sensitive, very complicated and only gave you just a little part of his veneer. The rest of it nobody could go near, and that was dean."

[@soapbxprod]

You'll love our interview with Jerry Lewis on our channel...

[@gracieg7601]

I enjoyed Deans Tv show ! You never knew what would happen. No rehearsals on deans show.

[@gracieg7601]

Dean was very loyal to Frank and the Rat pack!

[@jpspin2122]

Tremendous stuff! Really interesting and informative. I would've loved to have had a drink with Tony C.

[@soapbxprod]

Thanks so much for tuning in, and for your kind words! It was a great shoot. My granddad, Abner Biberman, was his first drama coach... he HATED him! But he really liked ME! :)

[@jpspin2122]

Really love all of your stuff. Always have a softspot for Tony C. He revealed some good stuff in this conversation. I'm a film maker and writer in NYC and have an encyclopedic mind and love for classic films. Also I'm good friends with Nick Tosches who wrote the great biography of Dean Martin, Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams. Keep up the good work.

[@soapbxprod]

jpspin2122 Hey hi! Nick Tosches is GOD- DINO was the best book ever written about M&L and Dean's life with Frank and Sammy and the clan... we produced the A&E Bios of Jerry (1996) and Sinatra and the Rat Pack (1999), as well as the Lifetime Intimate Portrait of Janet Leigh (1996) and the TCM bio of Lana Turner (2001). Please look me up on the iMDB and LinkedIn: www.imdb.com/name/nm0755103/ www.linkedin.com/pub/luke-sacher/10/212/878 PS- I grew up in NYC... Ethical Culture Fieldston Class of 1978... lived in the city until 2004, then left for NH once and for all.

[@davdgomez2232]

l love he so straightforward and honest iallways want to talked about him ,him and BURT LANCASTER probablie the best actor ever live and admired

[@SRSM198]

thanks a lot for the upload Luke enjoyed a lot xxx

[@soapbxprod]

Sylvia- you are just the BEST. Love to you and yours from Snow Central- see you on Facebook! Sylvie and I have found a treasure trove of Nouvelle Vague and Film Noir French classics... lots and lots of Jean Gabin and Anna Karina! promise that I will post links in our "I LOVE PARIS!" group as soon as possible...

[@tallpaul521]

Luke, WOW...such priceless footage of Mr. Curtis. This is about a year before I met him at the Brown Derby bar at the MGM in Vegas..dressed the same as here. I'm an even bigger fan after hearing about his Pontiac Trans Am..I still have my TA, 1978..my very first car.

[@soapbxprod]

Thank you, Paul! It's because he knew us both, I think. He felt very comfortable, especially when I helped him setting up his paintings and making sure that they were properly lit... :)

[@Bubbalovecats]

This is probably one of his best interviews. Wow . Precious … such an insight hero of his time in terms of his acting ability. No doubt the machine was jealous of his unorthodox good looks and smarts ! Thank you for this … priceless

[@50hellkat2]

This is really good.

[@soapbxprod]

Thanks a lot for your kind words, and for tuning in! Many more interviews with other screen legends on our channel page- Hope you enjoy them. Best Wishes, Luke Sacher Praeses & Soapbox Productions Inc.

[@gracieg7601]

This is very good. I always liked him! You didn’t hear unpleasant things about Tony and /or Janet. Their family wAsnt scandal family!

[@myahollandia3552]

This man is so real and honest!!! Not like the most in Hollywood so called stars "

[@SAGHAJAR]

His charm never ends,

[@andrewattenboroughtwothumb4697]

interesting interview with a legend of the golden age of cinema and classic movies

[@pauldriscoll5356]

Luke, thanks for this. This was about a year before I met him at the bar at The Brown Derby at the MGM Grand in Vegas. Don't know if any of your interviews with Mr. Curtis that he may have talked about Cary Grant. Sure you know that Grant was his idol. After seeing Grant in "Destination Tokyo" in 1943, where Grant was a submarine Captain, Curtis enlisted in the Navy and requested submarine service, only to end up on a Sub Tender. But, Curtis was witness to the signing of the Japanese surrender by MacArthur, on a ship next to the battleship where the signing ceremony took place. Fast forward in Curtis' career where he impersonated Grant in "Some Like It Hot", and later finally "served" on a submarine with Grant in "Operation Petticoat". Only in Hollywood pallie. Tony mentions Sinatra living on Beaumont St.----it became known as "BLOWmont" Street...due to the nocturnal activities of Judy Garland...I'm sure you know what I mean. Tony and his Trans Am. I have my 1978 Trans Am (my first Car) up for sale -- if you hear of anyone interested in a classic muscle car.

[@soapbxprod]

Hi Paul! My adoptive grandfather, Harry Sacher, was John Garfield's attorney. and of course my biological granddad Abner Biberman worked with Cary Grant in His Girl Friday and Gunga Din- he was also Tony's first drama coach, and tried to rid him of his Bronx accent... "Yonda lies da castle of my faddah."

[@pauldriscoll5356]

Luke pallie! I ran His Girl Friday a couple of nights ago..your granddad was so great as Diamond Louie..."Evangeline ain't no albino, she was born right in this country". I recently watched "The Front Page" which of course His Girl Friday was based on...HGF is sooooo much better. Sinatra loved to, on stage, do the "yonda lies da castle of my faddah" bit.

[@miltsar]

I have always read that the Humphry Bogart group, which included Sinatra and others, was called The Rat Pack and that they inherited the title after he died.

[@pauldriscoll5356]

Luke, Pallie, I posted at your FB page about seeing part of this interview here at YT, not under the flag of SoapBox.

[@michaeljayklein500]

Davis's mother, Gracie, ran a bar in Atlantic City for many years on Kentucky Avenue, "Gracie's Little Belmont"--drank there myself in my misspent youth and met her a couple of times; a very sweet lady.

[@soapbxprod]

You mean Baby Sanchez? She was a good friend... do you also know the Fedelis and the D'Amatos? My grandfather Abner Biberman was Tony's first drama coach... and Janet Leigh was like an aunt to me... we produced the A&E Bios of Jerry (1996) and Sinatra and the Rat Pack (1999), as well as the Lifetime Intimate Portrait of Janet Leigh (1996) and the TCM bio of Lana Turner (2001). Please look me up on the iMDB and LinkedIn: www.imdb.com/name/nm0755103/ www.linkedin.com/pub/luke-sacher/10/212/878 PS- I grew up in NYC... Ethical Culture Fieldston Class of 1978... lived in the city until 2004, then left for NH once and for all.

[@michaeljayklein500]

Paul D'Amato used to stop by my dad's restaurant on Atlantic Avenue a few days a week--he knew my dad very well. Some years later when I was a bit older, I was in talent contest sponsored by the AC Knights of Pythias. My dad introduced me to "Skinny"--he was one of the judges that night! My recollections of him (I was about 14 at the time) were that he reminded me of the painter Norman Rockwell and he had on a gorgeous white sweater (not sure what the material was but even then I could tell it was not a cheap sweater). I won the contest that evening--not sure if Mr. D'Amato had hand in that or not! Oh yes, Abner Biberman--being a movie buff I know that name! He was married to Gale Sondergaard I believe? I'm not overly familiar with him, but did see a picture he made called "Salt of the Earth" some years ago and I know both he and his wife had some rough times with the blacklist. Growing up in Atlantic City around the time I did and my dad having so many connections--let's just say I met or remember quite a few memorable people. It was a weird place to grow up around that time, believe me!

[@michaeljayklein500]

***** I have to correct myself--I had to double check on Abner Biberman and found I was thinking of Herbert Biberman--but I certainly knew who your grandfather was--one of the great movie "tough guys", but I'm sure he had much more versatility. Also about Gracie's Little Belmont--at the time I remember it, it was a place all the local musicians gathered at late to jam. I remember being offered a joint one night--and I thought, "oh good heavens, you can smoke this stuff in here and the owner doesn't care?" I thought I had reached new spheres of "hip" society when that occurred! Baby Sanchez was there one week--we saw her twice and I shook her hands and said a few words; she was quite a performer, even then! I didn't know she was Sammy's mother until the second time around! This would be in the late 1970s.

[@soapbxprod]

Michael Klein Dear Michael, Please send a friend request to me on Facebook! I've got literally hundreds of photos and hours of home movies and interviews- with Grace D'Amato, Baby Sanchez, Danny and Jeannie Fedeli... Here are some home movies that I've already uploaded, featuring Skinny: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3WmhqVse56Ejqs And the premiere of Living It Up, 1954... kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnyphoaKaLmWa7s kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5TZeqWNidZlgKc Luke Sacher

[@michaeljayklein500]

***** Thanks Luke--I most certainly will!

[@MrImiller07]

To Curtis' credit, his three greatest films: Sweet Smell Of Success with Lancaster; Kramer's The Defiant Ones with Poitier and Wilder's Some Like It Hot with Lemmon and Monroe will be shown on TCM and MGM cable channels throughout eternity. Regrettably, as a result of his self-destructive tendencies and changing public tastes, Curtis was never able to recapture the quality of those films or directors during the 60s, 70s or 80s. He remained a very entertaining storyteller and interview for the remainder of his life.

[@soapbxprod]

Thanks again for your informative and incisive comments!

[@mannymasterdaddy3918]

No only that you can add a few more to that list,Spartacus, Boston strangler, wich i considered his best work' , Taras Bulba etc. And the best science fiction of all time: Loster Man from Mart!!! Hahaha

[@50hellkat2]

How does this woman know so much?

[@soapbxprod]

Thanks! This is one of Carole's best interviews, IMHO- because she knew both Tony and Janet personally... he was very comfortable, so he really told great stories...

[@50hellkat2]

soapbxprod carol who? What is her last name if you would not mind sharing.

[@karenbegovich1641]

Wow...he went downhill fast after this.

[@birdlover6842]

I found that to be true, sadly.

[@marclaw4511]

This is a question and answers but not an interview.

[@mirjanapucarevic2105]

I like it.

[@TheRavenal]

Such an annoying interviewer, constantly interrupting. Love Tony.

[@joblo3940]

18 February

[@markjamesmeli2520]

His hair looked so "stitched" on.

[@ianbentley7276]

WELL IT WAS YOU MUPPET

[@Missditabomb]

@Mark James Meli: Who gives a fuck? The guy told wonderful stories and was himself a legend, along with being a gifted artist. Focus on something meaningful, FGS.

[@sandisteinberg1579]

If you haven't read his autobiography, American Prince, it's well worth reading.