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Cliffhanger Classics On Video Cassettes; Only $109.95
Topic Started: Jul 2 2013, 01:19 PM (2,496 Views)
The Batman
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Great stories, Hawkeye, thanks for sharing.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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riddlerider
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Yes, indeed, great stories. I too was that 1976 festival and found Chill Wills to be the single most obnoxious person ever to attend one of those affairs up to that time. Forty-one years later he still holds the title, as far as I'm concerned.
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riddlerider
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Just remembered another Chill Wills anecdote told to me by George O'Brien, whom Hawkeye also mentioned (and about whom I could go on forever). Wills originated the role of Whopper Hatch in O'Brien's Arizona Legion (1939) and reprised it in another two or three of George's RKO Westerns. Whopper was revived for the Tim Holt series and was played by other actors. I always wondered why he didn't appear in all the subsequent RKO O'Briens and asked George during one of our lengthy conversations.

"Wellllll," George began, obviously weighing his words carefully, "Chill and I didn't get along. We weren't a good fit for each other." Apparently, even back then Wills was an overbearing, obnoxious drunk and all-around pain in the ass. O'Brien finally told unit producer Bert Gilroy that he wanted Chill off the series. He volunteered to do the firing.

As George told it, the conversation was short and sweet. I'll give it to you exactly as he relayed it to me, although this was 40 years after the fact. "Chill," he said to Wills, "I don't think either of us is very happy with our arrangement. I know I'm not. Now, you're a very talented guy and I'm sure you're going to go a long way in this business. But not with me."

Edited by riddlerider, Aug 24 2017, 01:56 PM.
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The Batman
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Thanks, RR. I could listen to these stories and anecdotes all day.


Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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