This was another kick in the head, soon as I got up yesterday morning, the news that Robert Redford had died…at age 89.
He was the last MOVIE STAR.
Friends wanted to know how I felt, knowing that Redford was the star of the blockbuster hit, “Indecent Proposal,” a movie based from my novel of the same name.
Did I meet him? Did I know him? Did I like him? Yes, Yes, Yes.
But understand…movie stars, the real ones, like Redford, are not like you and me. They live in another world. They are immortal.
I am aware of the exaggeration. But once you’ve made it on the big screen, you become bigger than life. You become awesome. You become unattainable.
To my Yeshiva friends, yes, the Godly magic is there abundantly when meeting someone like the Rebbe only for a minute…but that is for another column, later.
Now, though, I received an email from a reader who referred me to my collection of columns in the book, “Writings.”
In it, he came across what turned out to be one of his favorite columns, ‘’Me and Esther Williams.” Would I please share it in connection with Redford?
Sure…but only in parts. So away we go. Bill Holland, my editor at the Burlington County Times (NJ-) , scanned the newsroom and found no one else around. I was the new kid.
“You’ll do,” he said even before handing me the assignment. A star had come to our neighborhood to promote her swimming pool business.
“How would you like to interview Esther Williams?” Bill asked.
Could this be a joke?
“There is no such person,” I protested instinctively.
Where I came from movie stars were not people. They were divinities. Divinities cannot be approached.
Esther Williams, goddess of the waters, actually walked among us?
The rest of the story is in my book.
So yes, I did meet Robert Redford at the filming of “Indecent Proposal” in Las Vegas where he was entirely charming to me and my family, and I needed to remember that we were meeting as equals, he, the actor, me, the writer, so that as far respect, it worked both ways. I needed to remember this for myself and my trade.
If he was representing the world of filmmaking, I was representing the world of literature, and perhaps that is why the Director, Adrian Lyne, was so nervous around me, and from this i learned that the Writer on the set can be a distraction, a person to be feared. His job was done. Why was he hanging around?
Lyne seemed terrified over my being critical. I said nothing.
Producer Sherry Lansing had invited me courtesy of my bestseller. The novel was still the buzz on the set and around the studio.
Between takes, Redford came over, handshake, big million--dollar smile, saying, “Great book. I hope we make a great movie.”
Thus spoke the star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid…The Sting…All the President’s Men…The Way We Were…Out of Africa…The Natural…Barefoot in the Park…
‘’I’m sure you will.”
“Writers deserve the best we can give,” Redford said. “You gave it your best. Now it’s our turn.”
I was touched by this remark, and would remember it always.
Then he went out to film what would become the famous scene with Demi Moore at the craps table, which seemed like nothing in person.
But was spectacular on film.
The genius of a movie star.
Then he came in to say, “You guys must think it’s all crazy what we do, but sometimes it works.”.
Yes it does. The movie became a huge hit. So it is when the best people give it “the best we can give.”
Robert Redford was not a divinity. But he was a mensch.
Now available, a collection of Jack Engelhard’s op-eds, “Writings.”
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the anti-BDS thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com
From the esteemed John w. Cassell: “Jack Engelhard is a writer without peer, and the. conscience of us al