Who was that actor?

[Ed Gordon]

I was listening to a podcast with Ellen Burnstyn talking about the Actors Studio Drama School. The discussion got around to The Last Picture Show and the cinematographer Robert Surtees. She shared a story Robert had told her about working with actors. Listen below:

Does anyone have a clue as to who the actor and the movie Surtees was filming might be? In the full interview Ellen was talking about The Last Picture Show (1971) which Surtees was shooting at the time.

[Mike Newell]

No idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if story it was true. Likely one of the bigger cast ie not a star name.

[Ed Gordon]

We know that Surtees told the story in 1971 while filming The Last Picture Show, and Ellen identifies the actor who died on set as "the leading man" Surtee's filmography on IMDB starts in 1943. There are lists of actors who died during filming, but I don't see any obvious candidates.

Regardless, I think the story is probably true, and reminds me of the story about the drinking buddies of John Barrymore's who stole his body for one final toast:

In the 1930s, artist John Decker’s cabin studio on Bundy Drive in Brentwood, California, became the de facto clubhouse for a rowdy gang of Hollywood A-listers that included writer Gene Fowler, art critic Sadakichi Hartmann, and actors Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields, and John Barrymore (among others). These so-called “Bundy Drive Boys” partied often, drank always, and generally encouraged their reputations as high-society mischief-makers—so it’s not a bit surprising that they’re at the center of one of the most outrageous rumors from the Golden Era of Hollywood: That after Barrymore’s death in 1942, one or more of his cronies supposedly smuggled his corpse out of the morgue for one final toast.

A Descendant Weighs In

After decades of hearsay and a couple of dubious firsthand accounts, Drew Barrymore (granddaughter of John) actually confirmed the story during a recent appearance on the YouTube series Hot Ones.

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