To Kill the Duke (61 page)

Mickey Cohen:
In the late 1950’s, Mickey was convicted of income tax evasion and did four years. After his release, Mickey capitalized on his infamous fame and became a celebrity (even though he’d thought of himself as a celebrity before he went to prison, because he had gained an audience with Reverend Billy Graham!). In 1961, despite already having been convicted of income tax evasion, he did it again. That’s right; he made money and didn’t pay his income taxes. The Feds one-upped him and sent him to Alcatraz. In 1972 he was released from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary because he was suffering from stomach cancer. Still being famous for being infamous, he toured the country capitalizing on his gangster past and his activist present — he became an advocate for prisoners’ rights. In 1976 he died of something all gangsters of his stature wish they could die from — natural causes. Howard Hughes was a big fan of Mickey’s only because all of Mickey’s girlfriends had incredibly large breasts. One of Mickey’s former girlfriends actually had her breasts insured by Lloyd’s of London. Her name was Tempest Storm.

Miss Burchett:
Became one of those types of secretaries who know more about the business she works for than the boss who owns it. Efficient, bright and competent, Miss Burchett followed Dick Powell when Powell formed his own production company. Never marrying but always playing around with younger men, she was an original cougar, long before that term ever became part of popular culture.

Randy Komara:
With a very successful internship under his belt, Randy returned to Wittenberg University for his senior year. There, with the help of his fraternity brothers from Beta Theta Pi, Randy introduced the art of ‘traying’ in the world-famous Hollow on Wittenberg’s campus. Randy got the idea of ‘traying’ after Dick Powell explained how sand skiing had become so popular while they filmed
The Conqueror
in Southern Utah. Randy and his fraternity brothers conjured up their version by waiting for the snow to fall and then using trays pilfered from the school’s cafeteria to sit on and slide down the vast Hollow’s banks. It was a huge success. After graduating from Wittenberg, Randy returned to Hollywood where he excelled in all aspects of movie making. He married five times and produced eleven children from the marriages. Randy was rumored to have been the inspiration for the main character in Blake Edward’s satire on Hollywood titled
S.O.B.

Oscar Millard:
Despite the seduction by Hughes and the smooth talk from Dick Powell, Oscar remained bitter about Wayne being cast as Genghis Khan. He had a very successful career writing in the fledging TV business. Wrote many a script for
4 Star Playhouse, 20th Century Fox Hour, Studio 57, Markham, Kraft Mystery Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
and many others. In one of his non-movie or TV writings, he penned an essay on Hollywood in 1985. Many a screenwriter loved this tid-bit that Oscar wrote. “The equating of swimming pools and sunshine with moral and critic rot, and the notion that Hollywood writers work languidly besides their pools are, if you will pardon the Britishism, bloody rot.” Died at the age of 82 in California of natural causes.

The Conqueror:
Most reviewers trashed the film and Wayne’s performance. Time Magazine’s critic said “…Wayne portrays the great conqueror as a sort of cross between a square-shootin’ sheriff and a Mongolian idiot…” However it did boffo at the box office and brought in $12 million in worldwide sales. The all-important “ROI” was far more important in the movie-making business than what any critic thought and wrote.

THE ACTORS:

Lee Van Cleef:
His appearance in The Conqueror was standard fare for Van Cleef throughout the 1950’s in the film business. He did nothing but supporting roles — mostly as the villain in westerns and film noir. Then, like many actors in the 50’s, he made the successful transition from the big screen to the small screen while waiting for more movie roles to be offered. In 1958 he was involved in a very serious car accident that no one thought he would live through, let alone be able to act again. It took him a few years to recover physically and to be offered roles. His first big breakthrough after the accident was a role as the villainous henchman working for Lee Marvin in the western
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
, which starred John Wayne. Roles trickled in and he took up painting to keep himself busy until he was offered a starring role in what has come to be known as Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960’s and 1970’s. His most famous role was as Angel Eyes in the Sergio Leone blockbuster
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
starring Clint Eastwood. He died of a heart attack at the age of 69 in 1994.

William Conrad:
The big, booming voice of William Conrad was known to millions of baby-boomers as the narrator of the cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle. Voice acting was nothing new to Conrad. He had been the voice of Marshall Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke, which started in 1952. After
The Conqueror
, he continued to act in movies. But his bread and butter became his voice, and he made the total transition from Hollywood and radio to TV. First he was the narrator of the very popular
The Fugitive
TV show, and then he acted, produced and directed three TV shows for Warner Brothers:
Cannon
,
Nero Wolfe
, and
Jake and the Fatman
. He died in 1994 of congestive heart failure.

A sidebar story on Conrad is that he was given one of the Maltese falcons from the movie of the same name. It was in his bookcase for years. After he died, his wife auctioned it off, thinking she would get $10,000. She was wrong — she landed $398,500!

Ted de Corsia:
Like William Conrad, de Corsia had success in radio and made the transition to TV. His radio credits were
The March of Time, The Shadow,
and
Mike Hammer
. He appeared in many TV shows throughout the 50’s and 60’s and was always cast as the villain —
even in the comedy shows
I Dream of Jeannie
and
Get Smart
. Died in 1973 of a heart attack; his body was donated to medical science.

Leo Gordon:
Leo Gordon followed a very different path to the acting business. After being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army he turned to crime and was sent to prison, having being convicted of armed robbery. However, after his release, he used the GI Bill to study acting. After
The Conqueror
, Leo made more than 150 film and television appearances — mostly as the heavy. He also penned more than 50 scripts for each of the TV shows
Bonanza
and
Cheyenne
. He wrote the screenplay for the movie
Tobruk
and also wrote a well-received novel titled
Powderkeg
. He died in 2000 of an undisclosed illness.

Pedro Armendáriz:
One of the first from the movie
The Conqueror
to die from cancer. Very popular Mexican actor who appeared in other movies with John Wayne. After
The Conqueror
, his most famous role was in the James Bond film
From Russia with Love
(his last role). (Ironically, in 1989 his son Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. would appear in the James Bond film
License to Kill
.) In the early 60’s he started experiencing severe pain in his hips. When he went for a complete check-up at the UCLA medical school he was told he had terminal cancer. He committed suicide by shooting a bullet through his heart in 1963.

Thomas Gomez:
Worked sparingly in films after
The Conqueror.
The main reason for this is that because of his Latin heritage, he refused to take any roles that portrayed Latinos in a bad light. Moved on to minor roles in TV and worked steadily in the theater — especially off-off Broadway. Died in 1971 from injuries suffered in a car accident.

John Hoyt:
After appearing in
The Conqueror
, Hoyt went on to work in many TV shows. His most notable role was on
Hogan’s Heroes
. He also was the voice for the Midas Muffler Commercials. Only decent film role after
The Conqueror
was in
Spartacus
. Was one of the last cast members to die from cancer, in 1991.

Peter Mamakos
: Appeared in some big-time movies after
The Conqueror
, including
The Searchers
(with John Wayne),
The Ten Commandments
and
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
. Like many of the other male character actors from
The Conqueror
, he fared well on TV in such series as
The Untouchables, Wagon Train, Rawhide,
The Red Skelton Show
and
Fantasy Island.
He was rumored to have died from cancer in 2008.

Richard Loo:
Much more popular before filming of
The Conqueror
because of his Asian ancestry, which had allowed him to act in many WWII war movies as the vicious Japanese solider. His career died way down after the late 50’s. Except for stock roles and minor TV appearances he didn’t do much. Like a few others from the cast he too appeared in a James Bond movie,
The Man with the Golden Gun.
His wife was extremely successful as an agent in Hollywood and one of his daughters was very successful in the world of publishing. Died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1982.

Fred Aldrich:
Stayed busy playing very minor roles in many pictures. Like the others — fared well on TV — especially on many episodes of
I Love Lucy
. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1979.

Phil Arnold:
Better known for his roles with
The Three Stooges
, Phil died of a heart attack in 1968 after doing many roles in TV and commercials.

Gregg Barton:
Very active in numerous TV series after the filming of
The Conqueror
.
My Friend Flicka, The Lone Ranger
and the
Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
were some of the series he worked on. Rumored to have died from cancer in 2000.

Lane Bradford: The Conqueror
was one of the few ‘A’ films that Lane appeared in. After the filming, he returned to his genre of choice where he excelled as a heavy in ‘B’ movies — mostly westerns. Died in 1973 of a heart attack.

Larry Chance:
Appeared in
The Ten Commandments
and went on to a solid career in TV. Rumored to have died from cancer sometime in the 1970’s.

John Daheim:
Kept very busy with small roles in movies such as
Jailhouse Rock, Von Ryan’s Express, Shenandoah
and
Silver Streak.
Diversity with TV roles from
Gunsmoke
to
The Beverly Hillbillies
. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1991.

John George:
A dwarf, he played a drummer boy in
The Conqueror
. The bulk of his career was over by the time of the filming. He had many appearances in a lot of films (mostly horror) during the 1930’s. Roles dried up in the 50’s and 60’s, and he died of cancer in 1968.

Leslie Bradley:
After
The Conqueror
Les went into TV where he played various minor roles. His movie credits include
Symbol Maker
and
Attack of the Crab People
. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1971.

Fred Graham:
Did very well as an actor in B-movie westerns both as an actor and stuntman. Most famous role after
The Conqueror
was in the movie
Vertigo
where, in the beginning scene, he and James Stewart are chasing a criminal over the rooftops and Graham’s character falls to his death. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1979.

Michael Granger:
Lots of small TV roles after
The Conqueror
. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1973.

Robert Hinkle:
Had a very successful career in everything he did after the making of
The Conqueror
(not that anything he did prior to the movie wasn’t successful). In 1961 he wrote, directed and produced a movie titled
Old Rex
. Right after that he worked on the movie
Hud
and was credited with helping Paul Newman, Patricia Neal and Melvin Douglas become “Texans.” He signed Glen Campbell, discovered Evel Kneivel. Did great in real estate, opened up two very successful restaurants and still found time to become a licensed pilot. His autobiography came out a few years back titled
Call me Lucky — a Texan in Hollywood
. He is still living.

David Hoffman:
Often went unbilled as an actor in the many small weasel-like roles he played. Hoffman’s date of death and cause is unknown.

Paul Hoffman:
Made one movie after
The Conqueror
and that was the last seen of him in Hollywood. Hoffman’s cause of death is unknown.

Charles Horvath:
Was very active in movies as an actor and stuntman after
The Conqueror
. Some of his better-known movies included
Around the World in 80 Days
and
Elmer Gantry
. Made the successful leap to TV and starred in
Dick Powell Theatre
and
The Twilight Zone
. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1978.