- 9 hours ago
The Green Girl - actress Susan Oliver documentary
A feature-length documentary about Susan Oliver, known primarily today as Star Trek's first iconic Green Orion Slave Girl in the original 1964 pilot, which was reused in the 1966 classic 2-part episode The Menagerie. One of the most recognizable women of the 1960’s, she was a highly- prolific actress who worked frequently from the 1950's until well into the 1980's. Susan was also a record-setting female aviator who won five world records for light planes and eventually became one of the first women qualified to fly the Lear Jet. The 1970’s saw her interests turn largely towards writing and directing. An original member of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women in 1974, she fought Hollywood’s entrenched “boy’s club” mentality to eventually become one of the only women directing major TV shows in the early 1980's, including M*A*S*H. Tragically taken by cancer in 1990 at just 58 years old, Susan Oliver has been inexplicably forgotten by many in the industry to which she gave so much of herself. This documentary chronicles and celebrates the remarkable achievements of her enigmatic and all-too-short life. Features over 3-dozen interviews, including Susan Oliver's contemporaries Lee Meriwether, David Hedison, Kathleen Nolan, Nancy Malone, Roy Thinnes, Gary Conway, Peter Mark Richman, Monte Markham, Rosey Grier, Celeste Yarnall, John Gilmore, Charles Siebert, Tom DeSimone, Chas. Floyd Johnson, Biff Manard and Clay Lacy.
A feature-length documentary about Susan Oliver, known primarily today as Star Trek's first iconic Green Orion Slave Girl in the original 1964 pilot, which was reused in the 1966 classic 2-part episode The Menagerie. One of the most recognizable women of the 1960’s, she was a highly- prolific actress who worked frequently from the 1950's until well into the 1980's. Susan was also a record-setting female aviator who won five world records for light planes and eventually became one of the first women qualified to fly the Lear Jet. The 1970’s saw her interests turn largely towards writing and directing. An original member of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women in 1974, she fought Hollywood’s entrenched “boy’s club” mentality to eventually become one of the only women directing major TV shows in the early 1980's, including M*A*S*H. Tragically taken by cancer in 1990 at just 58 years old, Susan Oliver has been inexplicably forgotten by many in the industry to which she gave so much of herself. This documentary chronicles and celebrates the remarkable achievements of her enigmatic and all-too-short life. Features over 3-dozen interviews, including Susan Oliver's contemporaries Lee Meriwether, David Hedison, Kathleen Nolan, Nancy Malone, Roy Thinnes, Gary Conway, Peter Mark Richman, Monte Markham, Rosey Grier, Celeste Yarnall, John Gilmore, Charles Siebert, Tom DeSimone, Chas. Floyd Johnson, Biff Manard and Clay Lacy.
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PeopleTranscript
00:15is earth all right the same old earth and you'll see it very soon and you won't believe how fast
00:20you can get back well the time barrier has been broken our new ships can
00:35this is vena susan oliver's vena is really kind of iconic aside from spock's ears and the telosians
00:43big you know butt heads that was really one of the big pops of alienness you know that nbc could
00:49sell rca color tvs with susan is kind of like the bright light of that episode it was gene's way
00:55of pushing that censorship envelope as much as he could and his green girl orion slave girl is
01:02actually one of the personas of vena who was the pivotal guest star character that susan oliver
01:09wound up playing but then it wound up being just another unsold pilot on the pile and then they
01:14reboot the show the show is going and lo and behold they go back and take the cage when they
01:19get under
01:19the gun on time schedules and they get behind because star trek is a massively hard show to do
01:25in 1960s so they go back and they reuse the cage and make it the one and only two-parter
01:31of the
01:31original series it's our save our ass moment for the producers of the original star trek they use the
01:37one hour make it into a two hour and bottom line here's susan and vena lives when i first put
01:43up a
01:43website this was around 95 and of all the things i put up then or since i think i had
01:50more emails
01:51from people about susan oliver than any other subject so i wasn't the only one who was fixated
01:58on her who sort of thought my god she was amazing and so sort of something very haunting about her
02:04the menagerie which for years was my favorite star trek episode and probably had a great deal to do
02:11the fact that she was in it she wasn't just a uh an iconic star trek figure which a lot
02:17of people
02:17are immediately drawn oh i know who she is but she was a fine fine actress what happened how did
02:25somebody who was that good who lit up the screen like that not have an endless career not have the
02:33kind of star career that her star power sort of justified because there really was something kind
02:38of magical about her and her background her history her whole life is is fascinating
03:10so
03:18so
03:20so
03:22so
03:24so
03:24so
03:48Her father had remarried, and he had children, and the finances
03:54were just not there to continue.
03:56And when she first told me she was going to be an actress,
03:59I thought, that's interesting.
04:01That's so different from what I would have expected
04:05from her very retiring personality.
04:08I met Susan in September 1950.
04:12We were both going to the Neighborhood Playhouse School
04:16of the Theatre in New York.
04:18And we worked with Sandy Meisner and Martha Graham.
04:21We had people in class like Joanne Woodward and Steve McQueen,
04:26Sid Pollock, a lot of wonderful, wonderful people.
04:29So we got great training.
04:31I thought she was terrific.
04:33She was one of the better ones in class.
04:35It was a gang of broke actors.
04:38I mean, the typical quintessential story, wait tables, do this,
04:41do what you have to do until you get noticed and whatever.
04:43I began spending my time trying to figure out a stage name,
04:46for I couldn't imagine seeing Gable's back and Gerke's got him on any billboard.
04:51All of the time she had in New York in the early days,
04:54that was all great work.
04:56I do remember seeing the earliest Playhouse Nighting
04:59and the earlier New York shows.
05:01Very little of that's ever done now.
05:03You know, a live performance or something like that.
05:05And she was a part of all that.
05:07She also came to Hollywood, and we started a date,
05:10and we had wonderful times together.
05:12I met a man from Warner Brothers who said,
05:15Susan, they're casting a small film about a girls' reform school
05:18called The Green-Eyed Blonde.
05:19But I have blue eyes.
05:21He said, that's okay.
05:23They're shooting in black and white.
05:24Within one week of coming to Hollywood for the first time,
05:28I'd gotten the lead in a film.
05:30He's all right, isn't he?
05:31He's fat.
05:32He's a lot better off than he was when we got him.
05:34He smiles all the time now.
05:37Green eyes.
05:38You can't keep him, you know that, don't you?
05:40And she somehow miraculously was being offered
05:44a seven-year non-exclusive contract by Warner Brothers.
05:48But, you know, Paul Newman and Natalie Wood
05:50were under contract to Warner's,
05:51and neither one of them could get a non-exclusive contract.
05:55And Susan had only done this one, you know,
05:58kind of almost a B-grade movie.
06:00Kiss me, Cliff.
06:02Kiss me so hard we won't even know there's events.
06:06They did a lot of PR.
06:08There was a lot of things going on about it.
06:09I was now being written up in Luella Parsons' column
06:12and escorted to big stars and producers' formal parties
06:16and given publicity buildup at the studios.
06:19They were taking pictures, and she'd be on top of me,
06:21and she'd be playing with my hair.
06:24And, you know, all that stuff for the cameras,
06:27which meant nothing.
06:29Finally, the interview was over, and she said to me,
06:32whew, just thank God I went through with that shit.
06:35It was just shit.
06:37And she meant it.
06:38She hated that sort of thing.
06:40And I said, well, it's all part of the game.
06:42The studio wants you to do it.
06:44She didn't like doing all that kind of phony publicity,
06:47which you have to do when you're a young starlet.
06:50She was then playing the leading role in Look Back in Anger
06:54because Mary Urie had left the cast and Susan took over the part.
06:59In order to do the play, I had to allow Warners the right
07:02to call me back with a two-week notice.
07:04They did that now for an opus called Up Periscope with James Garner.
07:09I read the script and told them nicely,
07:11Up your Periscope.
07:13Garner said that Up Periscope was just another piece of crap
07:17that Warner Brothers put him in.
07:19You just had no choice.
07:21You had to do whatever they asked you to do,
07:23and if you didn't, they suspended you without pay
07:26and added the time to the end of your contract.
07:29She wanted to do theater,
07:31and took the chance and broke the contract.
07:34No, you don't do that.
07:36Jack Warner, he picks up a telephone,
07:37and it's just like an underground cable
07:40that goes to almost every studio and everybody in Hollywood
07:43that says Susan Oliver is taboo.
07:45By all accounts, not just Garner's,
07:48he was a nasty individual.
07:50Even his brothers couldn't stand him.
07:52He was a vindictive person,
07:54so it wouldn't surprise me
07:56if he were somehow involved in keeping her from working.
07:59Whether he did or not, he probably couldn't have cared less.
08:02He had so many actresses and so many people.
08:05I'm sure she never thought I should never have done it,
08:08I should never have left.
08:09I'm positive knowing her.
08:12That sounds like her.
08:15I probably would have done the same thing.
08:19I can see her doing it.
08:20She was strong-willed, you know,
08:22and wanted to do theater.
08:25Theater was most important.
08:26Actors like to be in front of an audience.
08:33There's nothing like being in front of an audience.
08:36On paper, it probably was good for her,
08:39but professionally for her movie career, it hurt it.
08:42In the early 60s, you still needed a studio,
08:44and she did have that contract with Warner Brothers,
08:47and I think that was a mistake on her part
08:50if she really wanted to be a movie star.
08:51Warner Brothers is very good about getting their contract players' experience on television,
08:58but then also propelling them to big-time movie roles.
09:00Maybe I didn't appreciate how rare it was to get a movie contract
09:04since I'd gotten mine so easily.
09:06Maybe I just really didn't feel comfortable playing the game side of Hollywood.
09:10The studio gave me $8,000 worth of severance.
09:14Soon thereafter, I was asked to replace an actress on Broadway in an imported hit, Patat.
09:20We only lasted a week, but I received a Theatre World Award
09:24for Promising Newcomer along with Larry Hagman.
09:27At the presentation, I looked up and saw a small woman beaming and waving.
09:32Congratulations, dear. I only came because of you and Larry.
09:36It was Helen Hayes.
09:37I decided to heal the wounds from the play's closing
09:40and take my Warner's money and go blow it all on a first trip to Europe.
09:44On the return trip from Paris, Gene Kelly helped me get a seat
09:48on the supposedly full Pan Am Boeing 707.
09:51She's flying across the Atlantic at 30,000 feet from Europe to New York,
09:57and the plane suddenly takes a dive down to 3,000 feet.
10:00It was something where the autopilot malfunctioned.
10:02She said that the captain was crawling on the aisle,
10:06pulling himself from seat to seat to get back to the cockpit.
10:11It leveled off, I guess, at the very last second.
10:14I said, boy, that must have been pretty scary.
10:16What were you thinking when you thought you were going to die?
10:19She said, well, I'm ashamed to tell you.
10:20I remember thinking, I can't go now. My billing will be lousy.
10:24A headline flashed in front of me.
10:26Big commercial airline disaster. Gene Kelly killed.
10:30Then under other victims, my name listed alphabetically.
10:34I said, you're about to die and all you're thinking about is your billing?
10:37And she said, yes, you must never tell this story to anybody.
10:40She said, never again will I fly.
10:43He didn't like flying after that, and I don't blame her.
10:47You couldn't very well have a career in the movies if you didn't fly.
10:51What were you going to do, take a boat?
10:53California now seemed where my work and home were to be,
10:56so I gave up the New York apartment.
10:58And my mother also moved out to the West Coast.
11:01Once you've done theater, a lot of theater,
11:03and a big paying job comes along,
11:07you really can't blame her for coming back to Hollywood
11:10and being here to get in on the money that was being offered to all of us.
11:18Well, the Gene Creeper story, she played sexy and a vamp.
11:21Why don't we have supper or breakfast or both and get to like each other?
11:25What happens to be a girl?
11:28There always is.
11:31It's her birthday, and we're celebrating it tonight.
11:34Maybe if you called her and asked, pretty please.
11:38In her next movie, Butterfield 8, she's the good girl,
11:42jealous that her boyfriend, Eddie Fisher,
11:44has more interest in Elizabeth Taylor, eliciting sympathy.
11:47Just for the record, what did happen to your dress?
11:51Well, it's a funny thing.
11:53One minute it was there, and the next minute it wasn't.
11:56Much like your virtue, I presume.
11:59She was just so versatile.
12:01And I think for TV, you know, she was sort of like a chameleon,
12:04and for television, it was perfect.
12:06Television was really coming into its own
12:09in terms of production values and quality entertainment.
12:13It was really almost as good as the movies that you saw.
12:16Growing up in the, you know, the late 50s, early 60s,
12:20watched a lot of television.
12:21I recognized the same actor or actress appearing
12:24many times in different episodes,
12:26and Susan Oliver was somebody whom I remember.
12:29When you saw the name Susan Oliver in TV Guide,
12:32and you're with your family,
12:33and you're figuring out what you're gonna watch that night,
12:36you went with the show that she was in
12:38because you knew it was gonna be different, good.
12:42There aren't that many actors I can think of
12:44that we remember so much from guest spots.
12:47You have Susan Oliver, who was almost always
12:50on the first choice list to be the female guest star
12:53in these shows, and by the nature of it,
12:57she got some of these incredible parts
12:59that are part of pop culture.
13:02There aren't too many shows you can find
13:03from the late 50s to the mid-70s
13:06that she didn't appear in at one time or another.
13:09She plays a Russian in Ben Casey.
13:11She did a T.H.E. Cat episode.
13:13The Outsider, Johnny Staccato.
13:15Your father tried to hire me.
13:17I thought that you...
13:18I know.
13:19He built a cage around me with a big sign,
13:22don't touch, and nobody did.
13:25I mean, you could just rattle off a hundred different shows
13:28and still have more that you've forgotten.
13:30I was absolutely bowled away in the line-up.
13:33I thought, okay, I know her character
13:34in her first two lines,
13:36and yet you watch the whole progression of the teleplay,
13:40and good, bad or indifferent,
13:42she still does a performance.
13:45Sounds funny coming out of you.
13:46I hope so.
13:48What makes you so much better than them, huh?
13:50I didn't say I was so much better.
13:51But you think it, just the same.
13:54Come on, you want to fight?
13:55Come on, put them up.
13:58I don't think I'm going to like you.
14:02She was stroking my head as we were going through lines.
14:06Her phone started ringing, and I stopped
14:08and looked to where her phone was,
14:11and I said, you know, you're going to answer the phone.
14:13And then she kind of smiled, and she said,
14:16you know, that's the first time I've not answered a telephone.
14:19I was splattered.
14:20I'm by that.
14:22That telephone would be ringing all the time,
14:24but she'd be answering it all the time,
14:26and she would want to do whatever it was,
14:29and it was all mostly TV.
14:32It's having people look up to you,
14:35and it's walking down the street
14:37knowing that nobody's talking about you behind your back.
14:41What do those Cartwrights do to you, anyway?
14:44They treated me like a lady.
14:46The Twilight Zone.
14:48I remember reading in the Twilight Zone book
14:51that Scott Zerke wrote, you know,
14:53if there were Martians,
14:54they certainly wouldn't look like Susan Oliver.
14:56Now, men look at me.
14:59Powerful, long and like.
15:02Makes me feel like someone new.
15:05I've seen it.
15:06She was on wagon train four times.
15:08You ever see a girl shoot so good?
15:11Sure.
15:12But not a pretty girl.
15:14Route 66 is a very kind of popular 60s show,
15:17and she did some really good dramatic work there.
15:20Susan was in three of those.
15:22She had one of her best parts in one of them.
15:23She played a woman with a split personality
15:25who has a romance with Martin Milner, you know,
15:27and it's this big, meaty, dramatic role.
15:28What have you had floated away?
15:31The keys.
15:34Where do you suppose you'd have gone?
15:36Catalina?
15:37Honolulu?
15:38Inland?
15:41I don't know.
15:43Pick a place.
15:43I don't want to pick a place.
15:44I don't want to float away.
15:46She did an early Ozzie and Harriet episode.
15:49She played a junkie on The Nurses.
15:51She was great in that.
15:53The key to the fourth floor cabinet.
15:55Oh, boy.
15:56I never used it.
15:58I never touched anything in the hospital.
16:00Lenny, just as once.
16:02This last time.
16:05I'm going out of my skull.
16:08She told me she studied voice
16:10with Maria Callas' teacher.
16:13Sleep all the night through.
16:20Go to sleep.
16:24Go to sleep.
16:25Go to sleep.
16:27Close your eyes now.
16:31And rest.
16:33She played so many different characters.
16:35Maxie Schramm was killed last night.
16:37Does that mean anything to you?
16:38Is that why you dragged me in?
16:40Bums like him get knocked off every day.
16:43I'm busy.
16:43I've got some shopping to do.
16:44Are you going to bodyguard me?
16:48Should I say guard my body?
16:51I'm the only one who wants to help him.
16:53Yes, ma'am.
16:54Would you please go home?
16:58Wait until you got back.
17:00We did some more of a connection.
17:01Man, you flipped out.
17:02You know how long since I've had a fix.
17:04I've got to get straight, hurry, like now.
17:05You have to get out of here before it's too late.
17:10It's already too late, will you?
17:12You know it and I know it.
17:13It can't be.
17:14I have to marry Rance.
17:16She was on the Virginian four times.
17:17You're the one that married me, honey.
17:22Maybe that's because I couldn't stand it either.
17:25Who's he, mommy?
17:26He's his old friend, Kathy.
17:29Rawhide?
17:30Well, I guess you'll have to come along with us.
17:33Who needs you?
17:36We're just trying to help you out.
17:37Help!
17:38How do you think I got in this mess?
17:40Hitchcock.
17:41Please, try to understand.
17:43You've been pretending so long now.
17:46You don't know what's true anymore or what isn't.
17:50Who are you?
17:51You know who I am?
17:54Oh, of course, now I know.
17:56You're an imposter, aren't you?
17:57You're one of Gerald's friends.
18:00People respected her and then wanted her on the shows
18:04because she could deliver.
18:05I'm not impressing you, am I?
18:08Yes.
18:10Yes, you are.
18:11She is really one of the most astounding,
18:16consistently good actresses that worked in this business.
18:20And she had a lot of qualities that burst off the screen.
18:24You liked her.
18:25You believed her.
18:27And she held that screen.
18:28When the close-up was here, she was thinking.
18:32She wanted to be associated with quality,
18:35and you definitely got that from her persona.
18:37We had wonderful writers who wrote that light,
18:41those light moments for her,
18:43and she pulled it out because she was a good actress.
18:45Are you sure you didn't have a man here with you tonight?
18:47What for?
18:49Did you smoke cigars?
18:51Oh, I must have let it go out and all the excitement.
18:55What a shame.
18:56No matches.
18:58Oh, goody.
19:00Have you been smoking cigars long?
19:05Only since I gave up pipes.
19:08You see, Daddy was very fond of pipes and cigars.
19:13I thought you said you hated Daddy.
19:17Hate, love, hot, cold.
19:21She was always looking up through the glasses with those gorgeous eyes,
19:25and even black and white, there was color in her eye.
19:27We all had lust in our heart for Susan Oliver.
19:30I mean, she was very, very dynamic, powerful, good,
19:33always good in everything she was doing.
19:34She did an Andy Griffith episode.
19:37She played a con artist who sort of seduces both Andy
19:39and the deputy, Bernie Fyfe, you know, separately.
19:42She's able to act, but it also emphasizes her sex appeal,
19:46which was considerable.
19:47You're a deputy.
19:48I should have guessed from your star.
19:51Star.
19:54Oh!
19:55Bad.
19:55Bad.
19:57What's to say, it is shaped like a star.
20:00You wear it right over your heart, don't you?
20:04Hmm?
20:06She played a great nutjob
20:08in several shows like The Defenders.
20:10Who yelled at you?
20:14Daddy!
20:16Daddy yelled at me.
20:20He sent me away.
20:22I mean, she was great on The Fugitive, the two parter,
20:25of the story I heard was that it was only supposed to be regular one-part episode, but
20:29it was either a producer or a director who just fell in love with her and made it into
20:32a two-parter.
20:33It was one of the episodes that kind of defined that show, which is now considered one of
20:36the best dramas of the 60s, because she played the sort of tragic blonde who falls in love
20:41with Richard Kimball.
20:42Stay a few more weeks.
20:44All right.
20:46A few more weeks.
20:49Good.
21:01She's great in it.
21:02That's her kind of part.
21:03You know, she's left alone, looking off sadly, wistfully at the end.
21:07She was mainly thought of as a TV actress.
21:11I don't really think her film career took off, which I don't understand why.
21:16Character is interesting.
21:18Joan Crawford made sure when there were scenes with Diane and Susan that she didn't wind up
21:24in a two-shot or a three-shot with them.
21:26And she would stand, according to Diane McBain, over to the left, so the camera was just on
21:31her, or there was Robert Stack with her in the scene.
21:34But she made sure that she was not sharing scenes with the two pretty blondes.
21:38And if you watch the movie, there's rarely a scene where they're all in the same frame.
21:43And I've heard of actresses who really didn't want to spend too much time with someone
21:48absolutely gorgeous.
21:50And that's, you know, Susan was that.
21:52And she kept that beauty for so long.
21:55Susan did sign a contract in 63 with MGM, but she deserved better than playing second
22:01fiddle to Connie Francis in, you know, a musical Looking for Love.
22:04One feature that Susan did was your cheating heart with George Hamilton.
22:09It was a very good part.
22:10She completely was able to assume the character as it aged through the film.
22:17That, to me, was like an eye-opener.
22:20It's like, my God, this isn't just one of the starlets of the day.
22:24I don't think you could have seen Tuesday Well do that, maybe, or Diane McBain or any of
22:30the other starlets.
22:31The point is, what I was, I am and I always will be.
22:34You know, that's the one tune of yours that I am just sick to death of hearing.
22:40Just a poor country boy, dragging your heels all the way.
22:44And when you get to the top, you act like you sneaked in the back door.
22:48Somebody's going to throw you out any minute.
22:50She gave us a fabulous performance and the critics took notice of it.
22:53But I don't think it did well and it was a small picture.
22:56I think that's why she wasn't pushed by MGM.
22:59When she got there in 63, 64, the top two were Jane Fonda and Yvette Mimou.
23:06And what happened with Dr. Zhivago was that MGM produced it.
23:10David Lean was the director.
23:11And MGM was pushing Jane Fonda first to star in it.
23:15And then MGM started to push Yvette Mimou for the part.
23:19The problem for Susan was she should have been mentioned for it.
23:22Especially when she was under contract to the studio that was making the motion picture.
23:26I think after that, they probably let her go because MGM started to let their contract players go by 65
23:30and 66.
23:31The first Jerry Lewis movie is, I think, the first thing I saw her in.
23:35The Disorderly Orderly.
23:37That was my first, like, wow.
23:39Because she always had a beautiful actress as a co-star.
23:42It was not a comedy role.
23:44She was playing a girl with mental problems.
23:46I don't think it's a great movie.
23:47I don't think it's a great Jerry Lewis movie.
23:49But she's fantastic.
23:50I'm yours if you want me.
23:52You said that.
23:53Or didn't you?
23:54Yes, I just said that.
23:55You said it because you're grateful.
23:58Yes, I am grateful now.
24:00But in time, I'll learn to love you.
24:03Because you're good and you're kind.
24:07It won't be hard to love you.
24:10America at that time was very much in front of their TV sets in the 60s.
24:14I know I grew up in that era more than going out to the movies.
24:18Three networks, that was it.
24:20And if you had a fairly popular show, you could get up there where you would have 45, 50%
24:26of the audience on that night.
24:27So if you went out the following morning, everybody had seen it.
24:32Not like today.
24:33There's a lot of selections today.
24:35Nowadays, it's sort of understood that there's a continuity.
24:37And if you're in season one of ER playing some character, then you might turn up again in season eight
24:43playing that character.
24:43So you can't, you know, once you've done that, you're done.
24:46But in the 60s, the rule of thumb was that it was really once a year.
24:49It's like you could do a show once a year.
24:51And then you come back the next year playing a different character.
24:54And it was just sort of thought that audiences wouldn't notice or care or wouldn't throw them.
24:57You know, it made sense because these were good actors and the producers liked to bring them back.
25:01And they wanted her to write for you.
25:02Adventures in Paradise was on for three seasons.
25:04She did one every year.
25:05She was on The Virginian four times.
25:07So clearly the producers of these shows thought, oh, this is perfect for Susan.
25:09Or, oh, I'll look for a script for Susan.
25:11And apparently from everything that I've heard and read, she was easy to get along with, easy to work with.
25:17You know, everything is word of mouth.
25:18And so she stayed very busy.
25:22Paint in Place was an important show for her because she was on it for about five months.
25:26Paint in Place was on four times a week.
25:30It was that popular.
25:31It was television's first primetime soap opera.
25:35There he was, way down on the rocks.
25:39And they were all looking at me and they were saying, she did it, she did it, she did it,
25:45she did it.
25:46When she was a little kid, she pushed this other kid off a cliff.
25:49And now he's grown up and he's blind.
25:50I didn't know what to say.
25:51How could you?
25:52The girl you were so anxious for Chris Webber to meet turns out to be the monster they all say
25:58caused his finest.
26:00I think most people were really getting into her drama.
26:05Everybody was rather stunned that she was written out so quickly.
26:09And it does not end well for her character.
26:12Well, my favorite thing that she's done is Star Trek.
26:15Perhaps they made me out of dreams you've forgotten.
26:19But I'm dressed you in the same metal fabric they wear.
26:23Well, I have to wear something.
26:26Don't I?
26:26Yeah, it is amazing to think that millions of times around the world for all these years, Susan Oliver's face
26:31has been the last thing you saw when you watched early Star Trek.
26:34And that story about just coming out with the crew there.
26:37I mean, it's 1964 and you don't get to do that kind of thing very often in 64 television.
26:43And for those guys, you know, in full living color to have the green girl, just that's hysterical.
26:49Talking about her reaction about they were either leering or afraid to leer.
26:53And she gives it all.
26:54And I know that the final edit didn't even have all of her dance.
26:57I mean, it got a little not raunchier by today's standards, but just a little more animalistic.
27:03And it's fascinating now to learn that Susan wasn't actually a dancer by trade, but she was a smart and
27:08talented woman.
27:09And a week of choreography gave us what we see on screen.
27:13The Invaders in color.
27:16Invaders was 67, 68, wherein I met Susan Oliver.
27:20Your husband's working for Midlands Academy.
27:24Sooner or later, it could get him killed.
27:27Darling, I don't know what this is all about, but if what he's saying is true, then please stop now.
27:33The secret of working with good actors is they make one another better, more profound.
27:40There's an understanding of the material that you may have missed, a nuance.
27:46And she never missed nuance.
27:48And if it wasn't written, it was in her eyes.
27:53And that's magic.
27:55That's why everyone loves her eyes.
27:58Oh, Andy.
28:03Used to be friends once.
28:05Remember?
28:06Obviously a beautiful face and a demeanor that was off-putting.
28:13I knew there was a formidable person there.
28:17A case without much evidence, but with a great deal of outrage over the death of a beloved senator.
28:22And you want me to help you make that case, don't you, Andy?
28:26Quinn Martin hired the best of every department.
28:29Quinn Martin always paid top dollar for actors.
28:31He believed in production value.
28:33He did more location shooting than most shows did at the time.
28:35He liked to use the same actors again.
28:37He had really set ideas for who should play what kind of role.
28:41One way that was important to Susan was that he had a lot of shows on the air.
28:45I think my attitude would have been with her that she was in here doing this role.
28:51Now, why isn't she doing a series?
28:53There were very few actresses who were that prolific who didn't get a regular series.
29:00She's beautiful.
29:02She's extremely well equipped.
29:05She's intelligent.
29:08Where's her shot?
29:11Susan Oliver does not believe that a series spells success for a young and aspiring actress.
29:16She has turned down no less than three of them.
29:19I had to do a lot of soul searching.
29:21What are the reasons for a series?
29:23First, to make money.
29:24Second, to be known.
29:25But it takes you out of the movie and theater arena.
29:28I decided I had plenty of time to do a series later.
29:32She turned it down.
29:33That is surprising.
29:35Being a series regular, that was not the big deal.
29:39Having that guest starring role, it meant you were a star.
29:43Whereas if you were stuck playing one role on a television series, you were exactly that.
29:48You were stuck.
29:49I did a series for seven years, Barnaby Jones.
29:53And that took up a lot of my time, and I wasn't able to do anything else but that.
30:00They want to offer me a series, Aquanauts, a bunch of guys underwater.
30:03I didn't want to do just slucky TV.
30:05I wanted to do good movies.
30:06She didn't want to ever be locked into anything.
30:10She didn't want to be controlled.
30:12She was in the catbird seat as being the perfect guest star that went from show to show to show.
30:20You could work a short period of time, get a lot of exposure in television with just a few days'
30:27effort of working.
30:28You could almost do one every other week.
30:31I don't think I set her for any films.
30:32When I represented her, it was all television.
30:35But she just worked constantly.
30:37And we'd have lunch at a restaurant.
30:39Boy, people would walk up to her.
30:40Can I have your autographs?
30:41I saw you in this.
30:42I saw you in that.
30:43I thought she's so recognizable and so well-liked and so well-respected both within and outside of the industry
30:50that I thought, why didn't anybody ever move her onto the big screen?
30:53Had she taken the TV series, it would have meant half a million dollars to the agency.
30:57Her agents proceeded to take revenge.
31:00Two directors asked her why she turned down parts in their movies.
31:03Susan didn't even know about the roles and would have been quite interested.
31:06Was there something actually beneath her that she should have done that would have given her more notoriety?
31:13I found myself doing a terrible film called The Love-Ins.
31:16I'd turned it down flat at first, but the director and James MacArthur, who was an old friend, had come
31:22to my house bearing flowers and champagne and promises from the producers that it would be done with taste and
31:27empathy.
31:28We all take on things and we feel that, well, the script's not very good, but I'll make something of
31:35the part.
31:36It never works. It never works.
31:38If the script is not there, forget it. Forget it.
31:43Her LSD freakout scene to me is a standout. The movie is not.
31:49For your own good, put down the LSD.
31:51She's really doing this kind of weird dance and her long blonde hair, she's throwing it all over.
31:56I didn't, that was like shocking in a way because I didn't, I didn't see that. Susan always kept her
32:02kind of cool, you know, the good scout girl and that's how she really was. But that was something sensual
32:07and disturbing.
32:08It was amazing and the picture was in color and it did have at least good production values. But I
32:14can't remember her looking more beautiful than she did in that sequence.
32:17It's kind of sad on one hand to see that she was reduced to doing that. On the other hand,
32:22she was in her late 30s and she was playing a college girl and she looked, you know, in her
32:27early 20s.
32:28Susan had a lightness to her, a sweetness that she appeared younger than she was.
32:36Very beautiful.
32:39So tell me.
32:40The fact that she had to play those younger roles for so much longer than one would think would be
32:46appropriate is an indicator of the fact that there just weren't other roles.
32:49There weren't middle roles for middle-aged women that she could play.
32:53The night of our wrap party at MGM, I went alone to an empty soundstage and sat there in the
32:58dark and wept over lost dreams and compromised principles.
33:03A lot of these, Yvette Mimou, Sue Lyon, Carol Lindley, they were all up for Bonnie and Clyde. Their names
33:08are mentioned for Rosemary's Baby, The Graduate.
33:10Susan's name never comes up for those big roles and I think it's because without signing that contract early on
33:17in the early 60s, late 50s, it did really hurt her.
33:20And she's just as talented as those actresses and should have been considered for those big roles, but she just
33:26didn't have the backing of the studios.
33:28And by the late 60s, with the studio systems collapsing and doing a lot of television, her name meant nothing
33:34at the box office. She had it for TV.
33:39Then I must get to be warden case.
33:45Takes a fox to be warden. Pig's too dumb.
33:49Because she was able to change her persona, Susan went from one to the other, to the other, to the
33:56other.
33:56Two men are dead because of you. Don't you understand that?
34:00That was all a mistake.
34:03I never meant for it to work out that way at all.
34:07Well, here's something special.
34:11So are you.
34:14You're late.
34:15Late for what?
34:17What's love like, Mama?
34:19Are you asking me?
34:22Well, you better love, haven't you?
34:25Only once.
34:27She would have hit 40 by the early 70s, and she still kept working a decent amount until mid-70s,
34:36I'd say.
34:36There was no denying when I would watch her work on screen, either in film or television, why she was
34:45successful as an actress.
34:56She wound up in independent movies earlier than her counterparts.
35:11She did have a great canon of work, even when the scripts aren't that good, or even the photography might
35:18not be that flattering.
35:20She comes across very good as an actress.
35:23God damn it, David.
35:24What do you want me to do?
35:25Do you want me to take an aphrodisiac?
35:27Do you want me to get stoned?
35:28Do you want me to walk into your bed under hypnosis?
35:32Have I been wallowing in my own self-pity?
35:34Sinking!
35:34Sometimes they're overlooked because they're in weak projects.
35:38After all, my brother is an attractive man.
35:41Carlos must...
35:44But why'd you have to make such a big fuss?
35:46Just because a poor widow had a...
35:48She was a virgin!
35:51What?
35:51Navarro failed as a director in that sometimes when you have great actors and you let them have their way,
36:00they can go over the top.
36:02Susan is almost the only one that is not giving a performance, but being a character.
36:09She does a wonderful job in that film.
36:12I do remember Patricia telling me Susan would look at her mother, Ruth, and is this scene, did I do
36:18that scene okay?
36:19She did direct Susan to a certain amount.
36:21I wonder if Ruth was jealous of Susan because Susan was so beautiful and was so talented and was having
36:27all these really amazing opportunities, and Ruth wanted to have that spotlight on her.
36:32Her mother was a very important Los Angeles Hollywood astrologist.
36:37She made most of her money that way.
36:39Well, I would think she probably used Susan's fame to help her business.
36:42Sue Oliver and her mother, Mrs. Oliver, who's hidden there, a wonderful woman.
36:46Her mother being a major Hollywood astrologer and in touch with everybody in the industry, you know, there's nothing wrong
36:53for them to be on close contact, but it did seem a little excessive somehow.
36:57Her mother was an overwhelming influence in Susan's life.
37:02My family put out my birth certificate, my birth announcement with no date on it because they didn't want her
37:10reading my charts and setting up my life for me before I had even had a chance to live it.
37:15And I know that she did this for Susan frequently, and I've heard a lot of stories about her from
37:19my grandmother, her sister, which are not necessarily beautiful stories.
37:24Her looks matched her demeanor, a shriveled old bag, I couldn't stand her.
37:32She was a lovely lady, and she called me and invited my wife and I over, and she made it
37:39a chart for Alexandra, my daughter, which was quite good, very interesting.
37:43She was a very clever woman.
37:45And she adored her mother, just worshipped her.
37:49I couldn't believe that.
37:51That the sunshine person would like this cloudy day.
37:56The circumstances of Susan's early childhood with a single mother and strained economic resources were very unstable, and they would
38:08bounce around from place to place.
38:09Do you really think I have illusions about her?
38:13That I invented memories that never happened?
38:17Sweet nothings?
38:19Me walking down the street in a little white frock, with Mama holding me by the hand?
38:24They undoubtedly created a certain, you know, bond between them that I think explains the nature of their relationship.
38:31And I think a lot of Susan's self-confidence or lack of self-confidence was probably because of the way
38:36that her mom treated her.
38:37I don't feel very lovely, Vera. I just had a session with Mother.
38:40I was at her home, down here in Los Angeles, in the living room, in the dark, in the dark
38:45corner, and Ruth walked into the kitchen.
38:48And Susan motioned for me to be quiet.
38:50Don't make a sound.
38:51And they just kind of talked across the room, and then Ruth went up to go to sleep.
38:55And then Susan continued the conversation with me.
38:58You can't control your daughter unless you live there. I mean, no, she was omnipresent.
39:06I was over the house. A few times she'd come in there, and I mean, she'd sit down in the
39:12conversation.
39:13And I mean, took it over. I didn't even come over to see her.
39:16When they clashed, they clashed.
39:21I do remember Susan being very angry of Ruth taking over certain parts of her life.
39:27And really stepping in places that she should not have been stepping in.
39:32To give you a feel for the thing, Susan had some gold stock, and her mother sold it.
39:37And when Susan found out about it, she was just incensed.
39:41I want to know the reasons. All the reasons.
39:48Mother.
39:49So steering Susan's life away from, I don't know, romance and goddamn fun.
39:59Somewhere along the line, a mutual friend said,
40:02You know Susan's a pilot.
40:05And I said, a pilot? You mean, what do you mean a pilot?
40:09You mean like flying a pilot?
40:11And she said, yeah, she's quite amazing.
40:17A high-flying TV and film actress, Susan Oliver,
40:21makes final preparations for a daring light plane solo flight to Moscow.
40:25Oh my God. I never knew that.
40:28A treacherous trip crossing the Atlantic in the north.
40:31Oh.
40:33I'll breathe.
40:34In 1964, an old friend, Hal Fishman, called.
40:38He'd just gotten his private pilot's license.
40:41Hal was a fabulous guy.
40:44And he really liked Susan.
40:47I found myself at Santa Monica Airport in front of my first light plane.
40:51I literally threw myself prone in front of it, crying.
40:55Hal stuffed me in the right seat.
40:57I clenched the arms of the seat, galvanized.
41:00We took off.
41:01It was beautiful.
41:03The next day, I drove out to the airport and plunked down my $625 for the complete course,
41:09leading to private pilot.
41:11She went to a hypnotist about her fear of flying.
41:14And it's my personal feeling that she was really over-hypnotized.
41:19Because not only did she no longer have that fear, but she felt she had to fly.
41:24She was a good pilot.
41:26She caught on real quick.
41:28I mean, she didn't toot her own horn too much.
41:31She just tried to do it.
41:32And I believe that if she could have traded her acting career to being a professional pilot,
41:39she might have made the switch.
41:40The flying community is pretty tight.
41:43You know, so there was a lot of reinforcement when you did these things and a lot of encouragement.
41:48As opposed to acting, which was kind of clawing and tough.
41:54I often wondered whether when the acting roles didn't come in, the really good ones,
41:59that she just naturally went to where she found herself having more fun and more challenges.
42:04I came across an article about a dashing Czechoslovakian who was an ace pilot,
42:09as well as having won air races and done competition aerobatics.
42:13He was also a champion hydroplane racer.
42:16His name was Myra John Slovak.
42:18The photo showed he had dark, good looks.
42:21I really like Myra because he's done some crazy damn things.
42:26In 1953, he defected to the West by hijacking a Czech airline's C-47 Dakota.
42:32He and three friends knocked out the pilot and locked the cockpit door.
42:36I thought I'd like to meet the man.
42:38Preparation for the 1966 Reno Celebrity Air Race became a good excuse to do that.
42:44And then I got a call, and I called her.
42:45She called me, and we got to get it.
42:47As for the 400-mile cross-country Celebrity Air Race,
42:51James Franciscus came in first, with me next by only a couple of seconds.
42:55I'd been in the lead most of the way, but my partner gave me a wrong heading near the end.
43:00He apologized profusely, but I didn't mind.
43:03I was still of the school that held a man should win.
43:06It was very unusual because she kind of really devoted herself to flying, which from my point of view, I
43:13admire her for it.
43:14They were buddies because of the flying, but there's more to the relationship than just flying.
43:22Being with her, he always said nothing but lots of laughs.
43:27Hell suggested, why don't you go to Moscow for the film festival?
43:32And even added, why don't you fly there?
43:35And she came to me and she said, would you mind to help me?
43:39I said, I have flown Atlantic before, so more than happy.
43:43But we're going to do it one way.
43:45It's going to be my way.
43:46He is a severe, almost angry taskmaster.
43:49Absolutely no girlish excuses or tears are allowed.
43:53I flew with her from Houston to Los Angeles in a thunderstorm, and she wanted to keep going.
44:00I said, Susan, there's no way, no way we're going to go to the thunderstorm.
44:04So there gave me indication.
44:05She was so anxious to do it that her safety and common sense had been pushed on its side.
44:13Who was pushing?
44:15If the company was pushing, who sponsored her?
44:17If she was pushing, probably she.
44:20I want to do it.
44:21I want to do it.
44:22Because she was a very determined lady.
44:24I hope she wasn't pushed into flying across the Atlantic, you know, for Rockwell or to impress her boyfriend.
44:32They weren't really particularly interested in helping her do the job, just as long as they could get her out
44:38there on the Atlantic, and then whatever happened would be news.
44:41There was a wrong time, wrong dates to fly Atlantic, beginning of wintertime.
44:46If she had a problem, if she went down, in these days, Atlantic is mean.
44:52You can't survive in the North Atlantic water for more than 54 seconds.
44:55There are many, many people who never made the Atlantic.
44:57And when they said that she's ready, I said, no, she's not ready.
45:01Coming from a Navy background where safety was paramount, and then seeing what she was going to go through as
45:08a novice, kind of panicked me.
45:10She had the touch, she had the feelings for it, but she didn't have any experience.
45:15In Atlantic, they take lots of experience.
45:17Anyone working with Susan at the time could have been so upset by her trying to do this with the
45:22lack of experience she had, if they cared about it, they would be trying to tell her not to do
45:27it.
45:27And if she was just going to go ahead and do it, they would just say, I can't deal with
45:31it anymore and walk away from it.
45:32There's a new mix-up regarding the departure date because of the Russians.
45:36I call Myra to tell him, I have to come east now, I plead.
45:40Then I wash my hands of the whole thing, he shouts.
45:43Go kill yourself by yourself.
45:45He slams the phone down.
45:47Those are his last words.
45:48I must have heard her feeling, but I wouldn't have the conscience to say, go ahead.
45:54I could see she was really distressed.
45:57Maybe, why am I doing this kind of thing?
45:59But I can't get out of it, too much is in motion already.
46:03It's her first trip of any length over water.
46:06She'll make seven stops between New York and the Russian capital while attempting to set speed records.
46:12I was functioning in a sort of fog, compounded by my eagerness to be off.
46:18The media people were there, too, waiting in the rain.
46:21Lots of goodbyes and good lucks.
46:22I let the engine warm, then turned and waved to the group in the rain and taxied slowly away, moving
46:30towards my appointment with destiny.
46:33The thing about the flight that stunned me was her approach into Greenland and how she was committed to go
46:41in there in that fog.
46:43And there was no other option.
46:44She had to do it.
46:45She could see the wrecks of three or four other airplanes that had crashed there.
46:50One of them had crashed just only a few weeks, I think, before she flew in there.
46:56And the mere fact that she could do that showed me this woman had nerves of steel.
46:59To get out, she had to take off and then make a circling climb, stay within the walls of that
47:07fjord, not hit those, and then go up through that overcast.
47:12There is such absolute reality here.
47:14No clanging civilization, no Hollywood, no background music or script to save you, no discordant or phony relationships, only yourself
47:24and your own challenge.
47:26Coming into Scotland, she iced up and she was losing altitude because the plane was loaded up with ice.
47:32Fortunately, she got into warmer air.
47:34And she had to land in Denmark because the Russians refused her airspace.
47:38All I want to do is fly my little plane and get away from the hocus pocus of either Hollywood
47:44or politics.
47:45I just want to be left alone, to be, to be free, even to feel stupid, which is how I
47:51feel now.
47:52Arriving at JFK in New York, I again meet some press.
47:55Only this time it's just one photographer, for I have not arrived in triumph.
48:00He keeps insisting I hike up my skirt higher above my knees.
48:04Did they ever ask Lindbergh to bear his biceps?
48:08I talked to her shortly after she didn't make it to Moscow.
48:11I read it in the paper and I located her and called her and got some money.
48:14She was heartbroken about that.
48:15And, uh, but she was tough.
48:18Anyone that would break world's records and fly solo halfway around the world has got to be independent in some
48:23of the other things that you've done.
48:24And yet you say that you actually took up flying and made this course for a man who then, when
48:30you get back, turns out not to be there, not to be a part of your life.
48:33I thought he'd just be proud of me, but it wasn't.
48:37I cannot say I'm dumb.
48:39No, I would be a wrong thing to say.
48:41I would say we disagree.
48:44And probably she was a hothead and I was a hothead.
48:48And we clash.
48:50We were drinking from a bout of wine.
48:53And she said, yeah, that asshole broke my heart.
48:56I didn't want to hurt her feelings.
48:58I just disagreed.
49:01And why she didn't let it go, I have no silence idea.
49:05Boy, do I have lousy luck with my men.
49:09That was the last time she was going to have anything to do, she basically said, to do with men.
49:14I've seen so much writing on the internet, everybody asking because she never got married, you know, what her preference
49:21was.
49:21My experience was that every time I saw her, she was with a man.
49:25I don't think she was gay at all.
49:29I think she was very heterosexual.
49:32She got to know a lot of baseball players.
49:34I think she even dated Mickey Mantle as she dated other people.
49:38I asked her, could I take her to buy a hot dog or hamburger?
49:41To my amazement, she said yes.
49:44This was a time when blacks and whites didn't mingle that much.
49:48She had no problem with mingling with anybody.
49:50She was just a wonderful woman.
49:53It was about 1.30 in the morning and I just decided to knock on her front door.
49:57She said, yeah.
50:00And I said, I want to sleep with you.
50:03She said, what?
50:05I said, no, I'm serious.
50:07I just want to be able to say I slept with Susan Oliver.
50:10We don't have to have sex.
50:12I just want to sleep with you.
50:14So she said, come on in.
50:17The first time we visited her at her house in Laurel Canyon, she surprised us by saying
50:22she had a friend that was coming to visit and take us out.
50:26And this young, gorgeous man came up and put us in his Bentley and drove off.
50:30And it was George Hamilton.
50:31I met Kathy and then we later became married and Susan was the maid of honor at our wedding.
50:36She showed up with Sandy Koufax.
50:38It was kind of distracting because of all the people, you know, that were at the wedding,
50:43Robert Stack and Carolyn Jones and Aaron Spelling, the person that got the most attention
50:47was Sandy Koufax.
50:49The relationship with Sandy Koufax was far more serious than any of the others that she
50:53had as far as we knew.
51:01She told me something about her not being Jewish, being a big negative in his eyes.
51:07I don't think it had anything to do with her not being Jewish.
51:12I think it's Susan being Susan.
51:14I'm sorry I'm late, Captain, but you can't have lunch and break your engagement all in a
51:18half hour.
51:19She didn't want it.
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