 |
Did you know?
Hollywood East it isn’t and never has been.
Nevertheless, Iowa and Iowans have played a big role in
the motion picture and television industry–even if it
takes a fairly liberal interpretation of who is an "Iowan"
to fill out the long list of people in the industry who have
ties to the Hawkeye State.
But whether or not the Iowa link is firm or tenuous, "Stars
From Our Backyard," published by the Iowa Film Office,
contains some interesting connections between the state and
famous and just-fairly-famous movie and television actors,
producers, and writers. Some examples:
• Your average Iowan will know that John Wayne, Donna
Reed, Andy Williams, Cloris Leachman, Johnny Carson, and
Jean Seberg were born here (respectively, in Winterset,
Denison, Wall Lake, Des Moines, Corning, and Marshalltown).
• It would take a bit more of an Iowaphile or movie
buff to know, however, that Sue Lyon (beguiling but
way-too-young temptress in Lolita and Night of the Iguana)
was born in Davenport, or that Gary Cooper quit Grinnell
College in his sophomore year to go to Hollywood, or that
Gene Wilder attended the University of Iowa, or that
Nick Nolte went to grade school in Ames.
• A number of Iowa-born actors and actresses played
parts large and small in television soap operas. One of the
best known was MacDonald Carey (born in Sioux City),
who, in addition to appearing in nearly 30 motion pictures,
portrayed Dr. Tom Horton in the long-running NBC soap Days
of Our Lives.
• Speaking of Sioux City. That’s also the birthplace
of Fred Grandy, who was Gopher on The Love Boat before
he was an Iowa congressman; of actress Sharon Farrell;
and of Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver on Leave It
to Beaver.
• Harriett–The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett–Nelson
was born in Des Moines as Harriet Hilliard. The Nelsons’
neighbor, Mr. Thornberry, was played by Cedar Rapids native
Don DeFore.
• Steve Allen, comedian, actor, and composer,
attended Drake University, and Greg Morris, the cool,
efficient electronics expert Barney Collier on Mission Impossible,
graduated from the University of Iowa.
• Fran Allison, the Fran of Kukla, Fran, and
Ollie, was born in LaPorte City and educated at Coe College,
and Dan Karpan, a former coal miner born in Monroe
County, was an animator at Walt Disney Studios for 16 years,
assisting in Peter Pan, Cinderella, and other animated films.
• George "Superman" Reeves was born
in Woolstock, and Forrest Tucker of F-Troop was born
at Indianola and went to North High School in Des Moines.
Dick Patterson, who had a role in My Favorite Martian,
was born at Clear Lake.
• Alex Karras, who knocked down a horse in Blazing
Saddles, also decked any number of opponents as a University
of Iowa football star.
• Actor Don Ameche was educated in Iowa, and
Samuel Arkoff, who produced some 200 pictures, including
Amityville Horror and Murders in the Rue Morgue, was born
at Fort Dodge. Comedian Tom Arnold was born in Ottumwa,
and a number of authors whose books became movies–including
William P. Kinsella, James A. Michener, and Kurt
Vonnegut Jr.–attended the University of Iowa Writers’
Workshop.
• Ronald Reagan, motion picture and television
actor, governor of California, and president of the United
States, was once a radio sportscaster in Des Moines.
–Larry Fruhling
Related Stories
|
|
