Born in Budapest in 1912,  Andre De Toth came to Hollywood in 1942 after an apprenticeship writing and directing for the Hungarian stage. De Toth is famous for directing House Of Wax (1953) in early 3D while simultaneously  holding full membership in the elite ophthamologically challenged group known as the eyepatch directors: John Ford, Raoul Walsh, Fritz Lang and himself.

Not everyone in Hollywood was interested in the A list. Andre de Toth kept his head down and worked with relative independence on lower budgeted films. Both his Oregon films, The Indian Fighter and Day Of The Outlaw, were B Westerns made with big names (Kirk Douglas, Robert Ryan).

Hungarian directors made a large contribution to Hollywood. Charles Vidor and Michael Curtiz also came from Budapest. Andre De Toth died in 2002, leaving behind seven wives and nineteen children.

]]> http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2010/12/andre-de-tothoregon-filmmaker/feed/ 0 http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2010/04/scorecard-afi-top-50-movie-starsoregon-films-subset/ http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2010/04/scorecard-afi-top-50-movie-starsoregon-films-subset/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:40:30 +0000 Anne Richardson http://www.talltalestruetales.com/?p=6436

American Film Institute’s Greatest American Screen Legends list contains actors selected by more than 1,800 AFI members.

Here are the stars on that list who appeared in Oregon films.

Listed in order of their rank (on that particular list):

#3. Jimmy Stewart, in Bend In the River and Shenandoah.

#7 Clark Gable, who apprenticed on the Portland stage before hitting Hollywood.

#12 Gregory Peck, in MacKenna’s Gold.

#13 John Wayne, in The Big Trail, Stagecoach, and Rooster Cogburn.

#17 Kirk Douglas, in Indian Fighter and The Way West.

#21 Buster Keaton, in The General.

#22 Sidney Poitier, in All The Young Men.

#23 Robert Mitchum in Rachel and the Stranger, The Lusty Men and The Way West.

#25 William Holden, in Rachel and the Stranger.

#9. Marlene Dietrich (on AFI’s separate list for top female stars) , in Golden Earrings.

The most recent film on the above list, Rooster Cogburn, was made in 1975.

Three years after that, Penny Allen shot Property, using CETA funds to pay her crew. She may or may not have sensed she was launching a renaissance of Portland based independent filmmaking.

Seven years later, her sound man, Gus Van Sant, made Mala Noche, and Oregon film history no longer was confined to showcasing our strengths as the world’s largest and most scenic sound stage.

A sharp eyed reader of The Far Corner alerted me that Kirk Douglas took his one man show “Before I Forget” onstage last Friday in Los Angeles. Undaunted by his ninety plus years, the man behind the man behind One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest also uses his Myspace blog to actively support the reparation movement.

When Milos Forman came to Oregon to shoot One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, he was following in the footsteps of three of his new colleagues.

Star Jack Nicholson had just finished directing his own Oregon film.

Producer Michael Douglas had just finished starring in his own Oregon film.

Father Kirk Douglas, who gave the film rights to Kesey’s novel to son Michael, began his own producing career years before with his own Oregon film.

Total number of Oregon filmmakers working on Cuckoo’s Nest: 4 (counting Milos himself)

Kirk Douglas was miffed, and no wonder. It is easy to see why Kirk Douglas saw himself as Randal P. McMurphy, the man who challenges his roommates in the looney bin to think for themselves. As a producer, Douglas defied industry practice in 1960 when he openly credited blacklisted Dalton Trumbo with authorship of the screenplay for Spartacus, a decision widely viewed as bringing an end to the blacklist all together.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Spartacus was the ninth film made by Kirk Douglas’ Bryna Productions company. The Indian Fighter, an Oregon film, was the first.

Not one of the cowboys in these Oregon Westerns came from Oregon. The closest thing Oregon has to a homegrown movie cowboy is Ringo Kid, Ernest Haycox’ fictional creation, played by John Wayne on the big screen.

Oregonians did lots of things in Hollywood. But not ride horses.

So who did?

J. Warren Kerrigan in The Covered Wagon (1923)

Hoot Gibson in The Flaming Frontier (1926)

John Wayne in The Big Trail (1930)

Eddie Cantor in Whoopee! (1930)

John Wayne in Stagecoach (1939)

Dana Andrews in Canyon Passage (1946)

Jimmy Stewart in Bend of the River (1952)

Robert Mitchum in The Lusty Men (1952)

Kirk Douglas in Indian Fighter (1955)

Jeff Chandler in Pillars of the Sky (1956)

Robert Mitchum in The Way West (1967)

Clint Eastwood in Paint Your Wagon (1969)

Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif in MacKenna’s Gold (1969)

Photo credit: Anne Richardson. If you know where to look, you can make out the only traffic light in all of Wallowa County.

Kirk Douglas heads across the plains to build a Utopia, but all he has to work with are marginal farmers, bankrupt businessmen, religious zealots, parolees, visionaries and con men, who are more prone to listen to Richard Widmark. Robert Mitchum attempts to guide them.

Not the right Western to start with, if you’re dubious about the genre. Start with the model they worked from, The Covered Wagon (1923) or my personal favorite, The Big Trail (1930).

Things To Know About The Way West

1. Sally Field’s first film role

2. Andrew McLaglen’s second Oregon film (after Shenandoah)

3. Kirk Douglas’ second Oregon film (after Indian Fighter)

4. Robert Mitchum’s third Oregon film (after Rachel and the Stranger and The Lusty Men)

5. Made the same year as Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate.

The Way West was shot entirely in Oregon, an impeccable credential for qualifying as an Oregon film.

Behold the genesis of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest!

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York) produced, as well as starred in Indian Fighter, a B western with numerous claims to fame. Watch this film to see a ) Walter Matthau play a bad guy b) Elsa Martinelli, an Italian import, play a Sioux and c) director Andre de Toth, one time protege of Ferenc Molnar, pay his rent.

The hero of Indian Fighter is loyal both to the white settlers who hired him to lead them safely through Indian Territory, and to the Indians who are his longtime friends, but who are regarded as enemies by the people who have hired him as guide. Shake, mix, repeat.

This is the first of three Douglas family Oregon projects. Kirk Douglas returned to star in The Way West (1967). He hoped to make One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1976), but turned that project over to son Michael Douglas – who continued the family tradition of hiring European emigre directors to direct Oregon pictures.

Set in Sioux country, Indian Fighter was actually shot in Central Oregon. At a recent screening at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton, audience members were able to identify family members in the cast. It has long been claimed as an Oregon film.