MARQUETTE - Into the latter years of his life, stage and film actor Ben Gazzara held fond recollections of his experiences in Marquette County during the filming of director Otto Preminger's "Anatomy of a Murder" in the spring of 1959.
Gazzara died Friday of cancer in Manhattan, where he lived. He was 81.
In "Anatomy of a Murder," Gazzara played Army Lt. Frederick Manion, accused of murder and defended by attorney Paul Biegler, portrayed by James Stewart.
The movie was based on the bestselling book by the late John Voelker, an Ishpeming attorney and author who successfully defended Lt. Coleman A. Peterson in the real life 1952 Marquette County jury trial.
In a February 2008 interview for the documentary film "Anatomy '59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture," Gazzara said he had only made one movie before "Anatomy of a Murder," and he had no familiarity with this part of the country.
He accepted the role after reading the script. Preminger gave him travel instructions.
"In two weeks, you have to be in Michigan, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I didn't know what that was, Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I said alright," Gazzara said. "We go by train. I said, 'Well, it's alright with me. No airports in Michigan?'"
Gazzara went to the Grand Central terminal in New York to catch the train.
" I see a tall guy with some luggage talking to somebody and it's Jimmy Stewart. I said, 'Look at that, he's going to take the same train I'm taking.' We run together to Ishpeming to make a picture," Gazzara said. "My God, 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' 'It's a Wonderful Life,' all those pictures. There he is, right in front of me, 'Philadelphia Story' So I was too shy to tell him I was on the train. I went to another car."
Gazzara ate dinner alone that night.
"I could have had dinner with him, had some fun," Gazzara said. "No, too proud, too dumb, actually."
But once the cast arrived in Ishpeming, where they stayed at The Mather Inn, things changed.
"Soon enough, we did become friends. He sought me out, which gave me great pride. He asked me would I have dinner with him one night, in Ishpeming, after we did our big scene together," Gazzara said. "So, I said, 'Well, that must mean he likeshe likes what I did. That's nice. Yeah. So I was really proud of that. And he was so sweet and so interested in me during the dinner, what I was doing, what I wanted to do, really wonderful."
Gazzara remained in awe of Stewart throughout the eight weeks of filming.
"I did think about it while I was doing the scene even. I'm saying, 'Look at, look at, look at who I'm acting with,'" Gazzara said. "Here's a guy, when I was a kid, I used to watch his pictures. I used to sneak into the movies to see him. Here I am. I gotta pinch myself to believe that it was taking place, and that he was so present for me and so supportive - really a lesson."
Gazzara also befriended newcomer George C. Scott, who like Gazzara had only limited movie experience. The two men often drank "birdbath" martinis in The Tap Room at the inn.
"His background was theatrical and he knew, he had respect with my theatrical work. So that's really where we bonded, actually," Gazzara said. "Nothing about film, well, there was no film to bond about."
Gazzara remembered the economic slump Marquette County was facing in 1959.
"A lot of guys out of work in that year that I remember," Gazzara said. "And the bars were full. People were drinking."
Gazzara also developed friendships with Voelker and gin-playing companion and Boston attorney Joseph Welch, who played the judge in the movie and famously faced down Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954.
Gazzara said he didn't have a great deal of contact with townspeople during the filming, though many snapped his picture and worked with him as extras in the movie. He was acquainted with staff at The Mather Inn.
"Nothing is better than when a company of actors are put together in a beautiful setting. This was a homey, country kind of inn. The food was wonderful. We ate there, every night we had dinner there together," Gazzara said.
Gazzara said his fondest memories of the filming and the experience involved the unusual long-term friendships he developed. He would later visit Welch in Cape Cod and Voelker and Welch went to Italy to visit Gazzara when he was working on a movie there in 1960.
"Movies are strange because they're a love affair. A movie is a love affair. So you're with each other, you're working with each other intimately, day in and day out. You get to love each other, really. It's a passionit's a love affair," Gazzara said. "And when the movie's over, you say, 'Listen, we've gotta have dinner. We gotta have lunch. Give me your number.' Nobody ever calls anybody. Nobody ever does. Here, they called."
John Pepin can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. His email address is jpepin@miningjournal.net.
