I was saddened to read of the death of a favorite character actor Dean
Stockwell. He's one of fewer than half a dozen child actors who made a
successful transistion to adult actor, whose life wasn't ruined by
Hollywood.

If you look at him as a child and as an adult, the face is instantly
recognizeable as the same person.

The Boy With Green Hair (1948) wasn't Stockwell's first movie but it was
the movie that featured him prominently as the title character and made
him well-remembered by audiences. The film was a parable with a
pacifist message. Howard Hughes hated the project. At one point he
actually called Stockwell into his office to demand that he re-take
several scenes with dialogue Hughes wrote to thwart the pacifist message
of the script.

Stockwell, all of 12 years old, refused to cooperate.

That's an amazing Hollywood story.

I'm rather fond of a made-for-tv movie he starred in Paper Man (1971)
which was a decent predictor of privacy implications of massive computer
databases with all information about everybody.

He was the Cylon Cavil on the revived Battlestar Gallactica. Ok, ok.
Nothing about that show was his fault. The great scheme was Cavil's and
when it was finally revealed in that post-series tv movie, the audience
still had no idea why the Cylons did anything.

In article <sme1pa$anj$2@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

> I was saddened to read of the death of a favorite character actor Dean
> Stockwell. He's one of fewer than half a dozen child actors who made a
> successful transistion to adult actor, whose life wasn't ruined by
> Hollywood.
>
> If you look at him as a child and as an adult, the face is instantly
> recognizeable as the same person.
>
> The Boy With Green Hair (1948) wasn't Stockwell's first movie but it was
> the movie that featured him prominently as the title character and made
> him well-remembered by audiences. The film was a parable with a
> pacifist message. Howard Hughes hated the project. At one point he
> actually called Stockwell into his office to demand that he re-take
> several scenes with dialogue Hughes wrote to thwart the pacifist message
> of the script.
>
> Stockwell, all of 12 years old, refused to cooperate.
>
> That's an amazing Hollywood story.

Sure is.

My mom told me that there was a lot of buzz about The Boy with Green
Hair when it came out. The usual assholes of the time decried it as a
"Red" movie. Pat O'Brien once said (perhaps in his autobiography) that
he had career trouble after making this film; he said he'd been put on
a "graylist" for it. I remember that John Ford had to fight the studio
in order to cast O'Brien in The Last Hurrah ten years or so later.

On Tue, 09 Nov 2021 12:53:53 -0500, A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:

>My mom told me that there was a lot of buzz about The Boy with Green
>Hair when it came out. The usual assholes of the time decried it as a
>"Red" movie. Pat O'Brien once said (perhaps in his autobiography) that
>he had career trouble after making this film; he said he'd been put on
>a "graylist" for it. I remember that John Ford had to fight the studio
>in order to cast O'Brien in The Last Hurrah ten years or so later.

Also seems noteworthy that Stockwell survived Barbara Hale by less
than five years.

I've believed for the last 40+ years that the film was the source of
the song "Nature Boy" but Wikipedia says I've been wrong this whole
time.

Terry del Fuego <t_del_fuego@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I've believed for the last 40+ years that the film was the source of
>the song "Nature Boy" but Wikipedia says I've been wrong this whole
>time.

Nature Boy was definitely not written for the movies.

In article <i0mloghou15kl1f4d2en80qga818cr6pkb@4ax.com>, Terry del
Fuego <t_del_fuego@hotmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 09 Nov 2021 12:53:53 -0500, A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
>
> >My mom told me that there was a lot of buzz about The Boy with Green
> >Hair when it came out. The usual assholes of the time decried it as a
> >"Red" movie. Pat O'Brien once said (perhaps in his autobiography) that
> >he had career trouble after making this film; he said he'd been put on
> >a "graylist" for it. I remember that John Ford had to fight the studio
> >in order to cast O'Brien in The Last Hurrah ten years or so later.
>
> Also seems noteworthy that Stockwell survived Barbara Hale by less
> than five years.
>
> I've believed for the last 40+ years that the film was the source of
> the song "Nature Boy" but Wikipedia says I've been wrong this whole
> time.

I thought so too. Dam,n.

They used to run this film on Channel 9 in NYC, which means the rental
must have been about 55 cents Canadian.

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>I was saddened to read of the death of a favorite character actor Dean
>Stockwell. He's one of fewer than half a dozen child actors who made a
>successful transistion to adult actor, whose life wasn't ruined by
>Hollywood.

>If you look at him as a child and as an adult, the face is instantly
>recognizeable as the same person.

>The Boy With Green Hair (1948) wasn't Stockwell's first movie but it was
>the movie that featured him prominently as the title character and made
>him well-remembered by audiences. The film was a parable with a
>pacifist message. Howard Hughes hated the project. At one point he
>actually called Stockwell into his office to demand that he re-take
>several scenes with dialogue Hughes wrote to thwart the pacifist message
>of the script.

>Stockwell, all of 12 years old, refused to cooperate.

>That's an amazing Hollywood story.

For those who have never seen the movie, TCM is doing it overnight
Thursday, 3:30 am Friday 10/21/2022