Osprey
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Redford post
Remembering Redford
Redford’s visit to the border and the post about it took me back in time. I worked with the guy up in Utah. I remember we were the same age, born on
the same day; him in New York I think, me in Parawan, Utah August 18, 1936.
In 1972 I was training horses in Paradise Valley at the foot of the Cedar mountains near Cedar City, Utah. They shoot lots of movie scenes around
“Movie Ranch” near Cedar Breaks and they sometimes contract with me for animals on the westerns.
So I got the deal for Jeremiah Johnson with shots around Lee Valley, Long Valley, all around Zion National Park. Very first day Redford’s regular
stunt man broke a rib. The whole crew pointed to me because of my hotshot football star days at Southern Utah state university way back when. Turned
out to be a great gig because most of the stunt stuff was on horseback, I was the same build and age as the actor and with the long hair, all that
beard and buckskin my uncle Ernie could have doubled. I had done some stunt work before around these parts on other movies and I had my card.
These western sets are usually pretty informal and it’s not unusual for the stars to mingle with the groundlings. It’s not always smooth because
there’s that thing hangin’ in the air; “I’m supposed to say this, he’s supposed to say that.” A lot of fumbling around with them trying to be a
“regular Joe” and the crew trying hard not to “suck up”, get too personal or too chummy like we knew the people like we all went to grade school
together somewhere.
It was a little different with me and Redford because we had to talk a little about the stunts. He wanted to do all of them but he was a hot property
even way back then and the bosses didn’t want him taking any chances. We had a down day and he asked me to show him around some so we got in my old
Jeep and toured the Breaks and the Zion shoulders. Some stunning views up there and he was enjoying just being off the set while I played local tour
guide.
We did enough chit chat that he asked me if I could maybe take some time off to scout around “Color Country”, as they call it, do some fishing. I was
honored that he would ask me and I gave him my address and phone number but I never heard from him.
He’s probably talking about me right now. Telling some hotshots about his ole’ buddy stunt man pal in Southern Utah (me and Buster Carrier who did the
jump for him in Butch Cassidy) and how sorry he is that he didn’t have more time to relax, just run away and play with his ole’ buddies.
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Santiago
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Dude....
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Udo
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My wife loves you even more now than before, George.
Highly impressive resumé, IMHO.
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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Osprey
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I don't have any bad feelings about Redford not contacting me because it was because of him, at a cast party in Cedar, I got to meet Cheryl Sarkisian
(you probably know her by just Cher) and that began a whole nother world for me.
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DavidE
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Fascinating Osprey. Thanks.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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Ken Bondy
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Jorge you are my hero.
carpe diem!
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Osprey
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I should have (in the first post) dedicated, as I do now, the subject to Dennis -- a little spur of the moment fiction to take his mind off his
maladies.
I wish those things had happened. I hate Redford. I particularly hate his hair. No man should be allowed to have hair like that.
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vandenberg
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Jorge,
You still got it.
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BajaBlanca
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great story !!!
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JZ
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I can tell you all about meeting Jack Black at a bar at the Diskill in Austin 2 weeks ago... not the same cache though... LOL
RR is a legend.
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thebajarunner
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Fiction or not,
I bet old RR is still talking about you...
Reminds me of a story (true story, by the way) that my brother in law tells.
Many years ago he served his Army hitch playing viola in the "Strolling Strings" unit of the USA (tough duty, but hey, he is a musician)
I asked him if the president ever spoke to him personally, and he said "Sure"
"One evening LBJ was making the rounds of the room, walked behind our band and growled 'Outta my way, son'"
There you have it, conversation with the rich and famous
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durrelllrobert
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| Quote: | Originally posted by thebajarunner
Fiction or not,
I bet old RR is still talking about you...
Reminds me of a story (true story, by the way) that my brother in law tells.
Many years ago he served his Army hitch playing viola in the "Strolling Strings" unit of the USA (tough duty, but hey, he is a musician)
I asked him if the president ever spoke to him personally, and he said "Sure"
"One evening LBJ was making the rounds of the room, walked behind our band and growled 'Outta my way, son'"
There you have it, conversation with the rich and famous |
I have a cousin that lives in Park City that is a good friend with Redford. Last time I was there we had dinner with him at a restaurant. I was amazed
at how short he is.
Bob Durrell
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Frank
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Thanks Jorge, you have a great gift
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