Tarzan.CC: Hello!  Thanks for joining us.  First, I’ve got to complimentyou — it’s amazing how well you’ve kept yourself up!  If I weresingle, I’d be sending you flowers… but NO chocolates, right?  Howthe heck have you managed to stay looking so great?
Elaine Hollingsworth: (laughs)  No, no chockies!  The truth is, staving off old ageis hard work — lots of exercise, clean air, no drugs, the best food,mostly raw, avoiding stress as much as possible.  It’s not easy,and let me put it this way…  I looked better 50 years ago. But I haven’t decomposed the way so many people do by the time they getto 80.  Well, I’m not 80 yet — I’m 79.  And by the way, somany sites on the Internet have my age wrong, older than I actually am,and who needs that?  I was born in 1928.  (TCC:  We’ve since contacted IMDB.com and the appropriate corrections have been made.)

TCC:  Aside from those you’ve acted out on the silverscreen, your life has been a true series of adventures.  You’vedone everything from go undercover to expose living conditions in aMexican prison to taking on the infamous dictator Papa Doc inHaiti. 
EH:  Oh, yes!  (laughing)

TCC:  How do you get involved in these things, and are you ever worried for your safety?
EH:  No,never, never.  I would be now, because I’ve gotten a lotsmarter.  But no, I was fearless in those days.  I think theword is “stupid”, actually!  (laughing)

TCC:  Ifound it fascinating that you wrote articles critical of Papa Doc whileliving under his nose.  Did you ever get backlash from that, orput yourself in danger?
EH:   I did it so no one knew about it.  I wouldn’t have dreamt of doingit if I thought there was any possibility of getting caught.

TCC:  But you saw some of his abuses first-hand?
EH:   Oh, yes, I lived thru a couple of revolutions in Haiti, but I wasn’t inthe midst of them! (laughing)  I saw what it was like there, theway people were terrified of doing anything that could get theattention of the government.  They would have thrown me into jail,and I would have rotted there, if they’d known what I was up to. But I’ve taken on a bigger foe now, a much more dangerous foe — BigPharma.

TCC:  I dowant to visit both Africa and Haiti at some point in my life, but if Ido so, I should probably pack some good mosquito repellant, right?
EH:  Well, you should pack more than that, because there are so many illnesses.  It’s, umm… (pauses, then sighs)  fascinating… utterly fascinating, but I can’t recommend it today.  Haiti is adisaster.  I don’t think people go there anymore, it’s gotten sobad.  It’s a tragedy.  It was such an interesting place, very like Africa, and I adored living there.   But itisn’t what it used to be, it’s become dangerous now.

It was really safe when I lived there, because Papa Doc was a fascistdictator, and people were scared to death of him.  There were 300whites living in Haiti and 5 million blacks, yet I was never afraid topick up hitchhikers.  Never afraid of them, because they weregentle.  I did it all the time!  They wouldn’t hurt me. We couldn’t get a phone — it was very primitive, in fact theelectricity was often out.  I lived up in the mountains, inPetionville, and I had to drive down to Port-au-Prince at night to makephone calls to the US.  Often when I’d come out a bunch of guyswould ask for a lift up the mountain.  (laughs)  And thereI’d be in my car with 3 or 4 hulking guys, sweet as they couldbe…  no problem!

TCC: Haha!  You know, the reason I actually asked that question wasbecause I’d read you’d caught fever from a mosquito bite in Haiti once.
EH:  Yes, I got dengue fever and I don’t recommend it to anyone!  It’s horrible…

TCC:  Ibelieve that’s what Jock Mahoney caught while filming “Tarzan’s ThreeChallenges”.  Amazing he managed to finish the film in spite of it!
EH: Ohhhh….  it’s really awful.  There was another film made inAfrica (I don’t think it was a Tarzan picture), where one of the actorsgot bilharzia, which is the most horrifying illness.  Iknew about it before I went to Africa, and I wasn’t thrilled about theidea of getting wet in those rivers.  Bilharzia lives in theeast-west running rivers, and if you get wet, it goes into any openplace on your body, and it will kill you.

TCC: Yuck…  I think my hunger for adventure on the Dark Continent isstarting to wane.  You know, my brother-in-law just got back froma mission trip to Africa, and believes he contracted malariathere.  He hasn’t tested positive for it yet, but all the symptomsmatch.
EH:  Iknew lots of malaria victims, and it’s terrible, because of therecurring fevers.  There are too many illnesses in primitivecountries and I wouldn’t go to them again.

TCC: Let’s talk about where you are now.  You currently make your homein Australia.  How did a St. Louis, Missouri girl find herself inthe Land Down Under?
EH:  Goodquestion!  We’ve been here almost 25 years now.  It happenedbecause my partner, Ron Bradley, and I were living in Los Angeles andit was terribly smoggy and crowded and crime-ridden.  I’d lived inEurope and the UK for years, and I didn’t want to go back there – it’stoo crowded now, as well.  So, we looked at the map, and when youthink about it, where was there to go?  We wantedEnglish-speaking, because it really is tough living in a country whereyou don’t speak the language fluently.  Of course, we could learn,but it’s such a struggle!

So, there they were on the map — Australia, New Zealand.  The only possibilities.  New Zealand wouldn’t have me because Iwas too old by then.  Australia wouldn’t have me either! They accepted Ron, because he’s heaps younger than I, but they turnedme down, and the only reason that we got here was because I used someinfluence.  I had a friend in high places, and I called him, andhe called the Consul, and after a year of jerking me around, theytelephoned me the very next day and said, “Come in and sign… yourpapers are ready.”

TCC:  That’s funny!
EH:  Yes,but it’s not fair to others and I’d feel guilty about it, except thatwe have been good for this country.  We’ve paid huge taxes, andemployed lots of people.  Ron founded the Hippocrates HealthCentre on the Gold Coast, in Queensland.  It’s been a hugesuccess, and is known all over Australia, as well as overseas.  SoI think they’re…  well they would be happy that theyaccepted us, except now they aren’t crazy about me because my bookblows the whistle on complicity between Big Food, Big Pharma, and BigGovernment.  It tells the truth about what they are allowing inour food supply (no worse than America, of course), and what they areallowing the drug companies to do.  So, I think I’m prettyunpopular now.

TCC:  So tell us about your organization and its mission?
EH:  I’m aDirector of the Centre.  It’s not mine, it belongs to Ron. He started it, and he manages it.  It’s a big place and a hugejob.  Nine acres…  beautiful!  Lots of flowers, fruittrees, organic vegetables, that sort of thing.  And people who arevery, very sick come here to get well.  He runs it and I have myoffices here.  I lecture and give consultations.  But mainly,I research and run my company, which is called EmpowermentProducts.  It’s a mail order business for health products Iendorse.  Very few, I must add, as I don’t approve of many. Also, we have been sending my book all over the world for the pastseven years.

TCC: Yes!  Your book, “Take Control of Your Health and Escape theSickness Industry”.  You just completed the 10th edition, right?
EH:  Justfinished it!  Yeah, it’s been wonderful, very exciting!  Iwrote it really just to…  well people were always asking me whatto eat, what to do to be healthy, how to take care of themselves, andfinally I got fed up (laughing), and said, “Ok, I’m going to write abook.”  So I did, and it took off like a rocket!  We havedistributors in lots of countries.

TCC: Excellent!  Now, here’s a health question for you.  For a fewyears, I took shots for allergies, and still take over-the-countermedications to help control them.  Is there something better andmore effective I should be doing?
EH:  Oh,yes, absolutely.  If you have allergies, it means your adrenalglands are shot — they are exhausted, otherwise you would not haveallergies. You need adrenal help, not drugs to suppress thesymptoms.  No doctor is ever going to tell you that. See Chapter 2 of my book!  Matter of fact, I should give you myAmerican distributor’s number.

TCC:  Yes, please do!
EH:  The phone number is 1-800-984-0064, and his website is www.vitalitybookstore.com — he sells throughout America.  He, and all our other distributors, are listed on our website.

TCC:  Earlier, you mentioned taking on Big Pharma — can you elaborate?
EH:  I’mfighting tooth and nail, and I’m determined to bring down one of thebig pharmaceutical companies in America, 3M.  They falsifiedresearch on a drug called Aldara, and I have proof of this.  Andthey pushed it thru the regulatory agencies with their false, so-calledresearch, and people are dying all over the world because of it. It’s a salve that you put on your skin to get rid of skin cancer. People think, oh, well how bad can it be?  It’s just a creme youput on skin cancer.  The truth is, it’s killing people.  I’vegot the proof now.  And we are in the midst of doing a movie aboutit, and about a safe creme that never hurt anybody.  Oh, by theway, I do NOT sell this — I’m not doing this to make money.

TCC:  HAHA!
EH:  It’s my contribution to the world, let’s put it that way.  Theworld has been wonderful to me, and I’ve decided to give something back.

If you don’t mind, let me give my website address so that people canlearn about this cancer salve that is killing, I would say, hundreds ofthousands of people all over the world.  It destroys the immunesystem, and I explain it all on the website, and I also explain what todo if you get skin cancer — how you can diagnose it yourself and getrid of it yourself with a salve that’s been used since before the timeof Christ.  Are you ready for that?  And again, I do not sellit — I have no financial interest in it.  My website is:  www.doctorsaredangerous.com

TCC: Thanks for that, and here’s hoping I never have to use it!  Now,soy has a reputation here as a healthier alternative to milk, and canbe found in everything from baby formula to a Starbucks latte.  Iknow you aren’t a fan…  Is there something we aren’t being toldabout soy?
EH:  It’sone of the worst things in the food supply.  And it’s all aboutMonsanto Chemical Co. (one of the most evil companies in the entireworld) making billions.  Here’s the story…  For thousandsof years soy was never eaten in Asian countries, because they knew itwas poison.  They used it only as a rotation crop to fix nitrogenin the soil.  Eventually, after a great deal of experimentation,they discovered that if they fermented the soy beans for five years,they were able to remove most of the poisons.  “Most” is theoperative word, because one poison remained, and that is the chemicalin soy that leeches B12 from the body.  So, in Asian countries, itis fermented, and they mix it with meat, fish, or chicken to put theB12 back in the body.  Clever. 

Now the American or Western soy is never fermented because it’s tooexpensive, and it’s just unleashed upon the public, and it is causingtremendous problems.  There are so many dangers, but as a man Ithink you will relate to this —  soy is full of plant estrogens,so if you ingest it you will be getting female hormones!  

TCC:  HAHAHA!!!
EH:  Doyou want that?  You see so many men developing breasts thesedays.  You see little boys never developing their nether-regions,and growing breasts, because of the female hormones.  It’s a disaster. Women who drink lots of soy milk when pregnant, then feed their babiessoy formula, guarantee their babies serious health problems.

TCC:  Yikes!  I think I’m going back to putting skim milk in my Starbucks…  🙂
EH: (laughs)  When you get my book, read the chapter on soy.  Or,go to our website where there is a long essay on soy, free for anyonewho wants it.

TCC: About your website’s name, I agree that some doctors can bedangerous.  I had a friend who was addicted to painkillers andXanax, and had injured himself multiple times while taking them. Yet his physician continued to prescribe them to him despite severalpleas from his family.  What the heck is wrong with some of theseguys?
EH:  BigPharma has taken over.  They own the medical schools, and theyteach the doctors to use their drugs.  When you tell a doctoryou’re feeling unwell, he will probably write a prescription, hand itto you, and give you the bum’s rush.  Most doctors are in a bighurry to prescribe a drug that may give you a fatal illness down theline.  They rarely take the time to ask what you are eating, or ifyou get any exercise, or do tests that don’t require takingblood.   Doctors used to look at patients closely. They’d look into eyes, check reflexes and check over their patientsthoroughly.  They don’t touch patients anymore.  You’re inand out in just a few minutes.  It’s a big money-making industry;it’s not a caring profession, the way it used to be.  During mychildhood I never knew of one child who was seriously ill.  Nowit’s commonplace.

TCC:  InAmerica, our pop-culture promotes the ideal that it’s cool to get highand stay drunk.  Are we just stupid, or has the human experiencebecome so intolerable that people need that kind of escape?
EH:  Oh, Ithink it’s pretty intolerable.  Take a look around you at what’sgoing on in the world.  I can understand people wanting to getaway from it.  The only reason I can cope is because I’m doingsomething about it.  Helping people, educating them. Otherwise, I think I’d find the world impossible, as well.

TCC:  Ithink I need an aspirin…  haha!  Seriously, I could talk allday about these topics, but alas, it’s time to lighten things up andjump back in time to your acting years.  You started your careeras Elaine Sterling, but at some point changed your name to SaraShane.  Tell us how that came about.
EH:  Itwas done by a P.R. man named Russell Birdwell — he came up with theidea.  The movie “Shane” had just come out, so he used it.  Inever liked the name, I always felt uncomfortable with it.  But Iwas young and stupid and I let him do it.

TCC: Russell Birdwell also did something unique to help generate publicityfor you, dividing a picture of you in two, and printing the upper halfin “The Hollywood Reporter” and the lower half in “Variety”.  Tellus about this.
EH:  Well,that was his idea of a way to make me known, and it worked!  Itwas talked about all over town, and there were people putting the twopictures together, hanging them up.  Looking back on it, it’sembarrassing, but I got a contract out of it.

TCC:  Buton the downside, I’ve read that you felt the focus on building the namerecognition ahead of acting skills ultimately hurt your career.
EH:  Oh,yes, that was really dumb.  I shouldn’t have done that.  Ishould have gone to New York and put myself in the hands of one ofthose great schools.

TCC:  Youknow, these days, it appears that the shortcut for many aspiringstarlets is to achieve tabloid notoriety and use it as a springboardfor an acting career.
EH:  Itdoesn’t really work, though, because it makes them look like sluts, andthen they don’t have the talent to back up the publicity.  Well, Iguess some of them become successful, but the actors who are reallygood, and who stay in for the long haul are the serious ones.  Notthese little sluts.  In my time, the actresses were ladies, andthe really great ones now are still ladies.  But some ofthese girls that you see in and out of rehab are such terrible rolemodels for young women.  I expect it makes me seem like acurmudgeon — but I wouldn’t go to a movie to see those girls.

TCC:  Lastyear, TIME Magazine quoted Paris Hilton as saying, “Every decade has aniconic blond like Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana, and right now I’mthat icon.”  Any thoughts?
EH:  Ithink that girl needs to be put away somewhere.  She is absolutelyemblematic of what’s wrong with America.  That people could payany attention to her…   How dare she compare herself toMarilyn Monroe, who was enchanting, adorable, talented? I’m not saying Marilyn was the nicest person on earth — she wasn’t,but she really had it.  That girl had movie star potential. Paris Hilton looks like she should be behind the counter at Woolworth’s.

TCC:  HAHA!!!
EH: That’s not a nice thing to say, because lots of girls behind thecounter at Woolworth’s are lovely, but she looks cheap.  Quote me,I don’t care.  I think she’s a dreadful girl, and they should havekept her in jail!

TCC: Agreed…  Now when you look at the Hollywood of your era vs. theHollywood of today, how much has changed, and has anything remained thesame?
EH:  Oh,it’s a disaster now.  I arrived in Hollywood in 1947, when I wasjust a child, a teenager.  I was a silly little girl with noeducation, nothing at all.  And…  (sighs)  I reallygot lucky.  I was taken up by really nice people, and invited toHollywood parties at famous peoples’ homes.  And I cannot begin totell you how incredible it was.  You’d drive down the street inBeverly Hills where all those enormous houses are, and there you’d seethe huge house you were going to.  You’d hear the band playing outon the street, and you’d see all the windows open — anybody could lookin, anybody could break in.  The doors were open, you just walkedin.  You could crash if you wanted to…  I never did, but itwould certainly be easy.  My first party in Hollywood waslike that, and my eyes were as big as saucers.  We walked in thefront door, and nobody was there to say, “Who are you, where is yourinvitation?”, and who’s there, leaning up against a wall, but ErrolFlynn, drunk as a lord!

This was the kind of life we led in those days.  Completelyopen…  no fear.  Now celebrities hide behind huge wallswith giant dogs running around, and guards with guns.  It’s adreadful change in such a short time.  (TCC:  Yeah, and some of them don’t treat their dogs too well, either, according to recent news reports!)

TCC:  What do you consider the best and the worst of your experiences in the Hollywood scene?
EH:  Well,the best was the fact that they even bothered with me.  I wasincredibly lucky.  I fell into it.  The worst, well I don’tknow.  I didn’t really have any terrible experiences.  Theonly experience I had that I would say was pretty bad was working forthe director, Raoul Walsh.  He was really unpleasant and mean topeople who couldn’t fight back.  But Clark Gable loved him andoften used him for his pictures.  The rest of us couldn’t standhim.  (laughing)  He was very mean.

TCC:  I’vebeen rereading the Tarzan novels, and just finished “Tarzan and theLion Man”, which deals with a movie company’s attempts to film aTarzan-like jungle epic.  In the last chapter, Edgar RiceBurroughs wrote the following scene as Tarzan visits Hollywood:

The Brown Derby wascrowded — well groomed men, beautifully gowned girls.  There wassomething odd in the apparel, the ornaments, or the hair dressing ofeach, as though each was trying to out-do the others in attractingattention to himself.  There was a great deal of chattering andcalling back and forth between tables: “How ah you?”  “Howmahvel-lous you look!”  “How ah you?”  “See you at theChinese tonight?”  “How ah you?”

Reece pointed out the celebrities to Clayton (Tarzan).  One or twoof the names were familiar to the stranger, but they all looked so muchalike and talked so much alike, and said nothing when they did talk,that Clayton was soon bored.

Did Burroughs’ parody resemble the actual scene in Tinseltown?

EH: Probably most Hollywood restaurants were a bit like that, with theusual insincere comments and gorgeous starlets on the make, but by thenI was used to it and probably thought it was normal.  I adored theBrown Derby.  It was great fun, it was casual, and they had theworld’s best salad, called the Cobb Salad — I’ve never had such a goodsalad, and that was what I always ate when I went there.  They hadcelebrity drawings on the walls.  They were caricatures, and youknew you had made it when they put yours up.  But my favouriterestaurant was the original Romanoff’s.  Oh, boy, did I ever loveit.  It was the best place to meet people.  That was where Istarted my friendship with Orson Welles, one of the most interestingand brilliant men on Earth.

It was so much fun in those days!  It was casual, it wasglamorous, and you could park anywhere in Beverly Hills.  Thereweren’t any of those ruinous high-rises that wrecked Beverly Hills –just cute little buildings, and no smog.  I can’t tell you howwonderful it was.  There I was in this glamorous, exciting town,and people accepted me, and invited me to their parties.  It wasreally a remarkable thing to have happen to a dopey girl from a littletown outside St. Louis!

TCC: Burroughs’ scene painted a very superficial, or shallow image of theHollywood crowd, but the people you knew seemed quite the opposite –very genuine and caring.
EH:  Well,of course there were always the predatory men and the silly littletwits — the girls who are trying to sleep their way around.  Butoverall, no, I don’t have any criticisms of them.  I loved them.

TCC:  Nowyou’ve mentioned that much of the information found about you on theInternet is false.  We’d love to help you set the recordstraight…
EH:  (biglaugh)  I did NOT date Harry Karl!  Oh, it’s soinfuriating!  I don’t know how these things happen.  I thinkthe press agents of these men sent out information to get publicity forthese creepy guys.

TCC:  HAHA!
EH:  Oh, Iwas furious when I saw that!  And it’s still there, in print onthe Internet, that I dated some of these incredibly sleazy men, that Ihadn’t even met.  The truth is, I got married quickly to aprominent, handsome, wealthy businessman.

TCC:  William Hollingsworth, right?
EH:  Bill Hollingsworth, yes, and I was protected from all that.  I didn’t date those creepy guys!  (laughs)

TCC:  Anything else you’d like to debunk?
EH: Almost everything they’ve written about me is false. (laughing)  It would take a book to try to tell you all about it.

TCC:  Inour past conversations, you’ve been so modest, even downplaying thesignificance of your acting career, though you’ve shared the screenwith many Hollywood legends.  Please tell us what you remembermost about working with the following:

Rock Hudson in “Magnificent Obsession”.
EH:  Sweetas pie.  A really, really nice guy.  Fun, cute sense ofhumor, loved classical music, gentle.  Everyone loved Rock. We all knew he was gay, but the press liked him a lot, and never”outed” him.  Of course, once he had AIDS it was impossible tokeep it quiet that he was gay.

TCC: That’s amazing…  Back then, you could keep a secret like that,but these days, the “stalkerazzi” and the scandal rags would be allover such a story.
EH:  Yes,that’s one of the things that’s so wrong about what’s going on. My God, these poor people having all these awful stories told aboutthem.  I’m not surprised that they lash out at thepaparrazzi…  I would do it, too!

TCC:  And the press were generally more respectful at the time, right?
EH:  Oh,absolutely.  And of course, not of everybody, but when they likedthem, they wouldn’t dream of saying nasty things.  Rock was reallyvery protected.

TCC:  Jack Palance in “Sign of the Pagan”.
EH:  JackPalance…  He was nice, I liked him.  He was talented, andvery obsessive about his work.  Very involved in his actingfocus.  I didn’t have any problem with him, but Ludmilla Tcherina,who was the star of the movie, wasn’t crazy about him because in one oftheir scenes he grabbed her and shook her so hard that her arms werecovered in black and blue marks.  She showed it to me, and wasvery upset about it.   I didn’t have anything to do in thatmovie, and I doubt you would even notice me.

TCC:  Clark Gable in “The King and Four Queens”.
EH:  Oh,Clark was absolutely adorable.  I loved him to pieces.  Whenthey told me I was up for that part, I really wanted it, but I didn’tthink I had a chance.  They tested four girls at the same time,and I was in the dressing room, shaking like a leaf, when it was myturn.  So out I went, and sat down on a log on the set, while theylit me.  Lights were glaring at me, and in minutes the most famousface in the world arrived and sat down and said, “Hello, Beautiful!”(laughing) and in about three minutes he was kissing me… it was part of the scene!  And I was thinking to myself, here Iam, kissing the most famous man in the world, and we had never evenbeen introduced!  But that’s Hollywood!

TCC:  Wow!
EH:  Clarkwas a darling, all the way thru the movie.  Oh, and I must tellyou something Clark did, that indicates the kind of a man he was. I was very inexperienced, and when that happens most actors try toupstage.  You know, they’ll grab you if you have a scene whereit’s appropriate, and twist you so that the back of your head and hisfront are shot.  But not Clark…  We had this scene, where Iwas too stupid to get myself into the right position, and he put hishands on my upper arms, and so gently pulled me around so I’d be in thepicture.  It’s very unusual, as so few actors do that, but he didit and it was very kind of him.

TCC:  John Cassavetes in “Affair in Havana”.
EH:  Don’tget me going on him (laughing)…  We spent two months in Cubafilming and got to know each other pretty well.  I was supposed tobe married to Raymond Burr and hate him, and have an affair with John,and love him.  This was not easy, because Ray was such a darlingand John was not the nicest man on Earth.   He didn’t like mebecause we were the same height, and he felt insecure because he wasn’ttaller than I was.

TCC:  I’ve read that in many films, a shorter actor will stand on a box or something to get around that…
EH:  Well, that would have been difficult, because we had lots of long shots.

TCC:  AndI was surprised when I learned that for other actors, they actuallybuilt reduced-scale sets to create the illusion that they were taller.
EH:  Theydid build a trench for Sophia Loren to walk in when she and Alan Laddworked together.  He was short, so they shot them at waist height,and you couldn’t see the trench.  (TCC: This was in 1957’s “Boy On A Dolphin”.  Ladd also stood on a boxin 1958’s “Deep Six”.  Coincidentally, many consider this greatactor’s finest film to be “Shane”, which was the inspiration forElaine’s stage name.)

TCC:  And this leads us to an actor in our favorite of all your films — Sean Connery in “Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure”!
EH:  Oh,he’s absolutely adorable.  You know how small a part he had inthat movie, but he really stood out.  I was living in London inthose days, and when location was over and we returned to London, Icalled all of my friends who were in the picture business (laughing) –well, practically everybody I knew was in the picture business– and I said, “I’ve come across this actor who’s going to be a HUGEstar, and you’ve got to meet him!”  So some of them did, but mostdidn’t.  And one of them actualy tested him for a part in a moviecalled “Malaga”.  (TCC:  Released in 1960 as “Moment of Danger” — “Malaga” was the U.S. title) He did not get the part…  They gave it to Edmond Purdom, if youcan imagine.  So Sean didn’t get the part, and guess whathappened?  If he had gotten that part, he wouldn’t have been available for the Bond movie.

TCC:  This was after “Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure”?
EH:  Right after.  They tested him while we were still doing interiors in London.

TCC:  So just getting that one part would have kept him from becoming Bond!
EH:  Unless they had been willing to wait two months, which was unlikely.

TCC:  Aswe have now come to the subject, tell us about “Tarzan’s GreatestAdventure”, which was your final feature film.  How did you getthe role, and were you excited about it?
EH:  Ilove that movie.  I loved doing it, and had a most wonderfultime.  It’s  kind of an interesting story.  I was inLondon, and I met Robert Helpmann, a famous ballet star and director,and a marvelous man.  He wanted to put me in a lead in a play hewas directing on the West End.  Nothing’s bigger than that for anactress — to be starring in a play on the West End of London. Number One.  So I was really excited.  He gave me the script,coached me in the part, and then had me audition in front of the peoplewho were financing it.  I got the part!  I was going to starin London.  It would have been incredible — so exciting!

So, guess what?  Actors’ Equity turned me down.  Theythreatened to start a strike if they didn’t give the part to an Englishactress.  I was heartbroken!  One day later, I got a phonecall, “Come in for an interview…  We’re interested in you for aTarzan movie.”  And I thought, oh, crikey.  A Tarzanmovie?  What a comedown from starring in the West End with one ofthe best theatre directors.  But I went, and (laughing) the nextthing you know, I was flying to Africa!

TCC:  Were you a Tarzan fan before this, either of the books or the films?
EH:  No,no.  Not at all.  I’d seen Lex Barker, who was a gorgeousTarzan, and had a fantastic body.  Really wonderful as Tarzan, andI think I’d seen him in one Tarzan movie.

TCC:  You know, he later had quite a run making films in Germany.  He made films in several countries, actually.
EH:  Yes,he worked quite a lot in Europe.  We were friends inHollywood.  We saw him a lot at parties and played tennis withhim.  He was a really good athlete.  Then, we ran into eachother frequently during the years I was racing around Europe, having aball.  I’d bump into him lots of places, film festivals andthings, but we never worked together.    

TCC:  What was it like shooting on location in Africa?  Do you have any special memories?
EH: Absolutely fabulous.  I had never been to Africa, but I’ve beenthere four times since then, because I fell in love with it.  Onthe way from the airport to our hotel, Anthony Quayle and I weresitting in the car together, with the two of us going, “Oh, look atthat!  Look at the giraffe!  Look at this, look at that!” We were so excited!  Then of course, we had a long drive to get toThika, the place where we were actually shooting.  And when wewere there, in this very, very rough part of Africa, he and I justdidn’t think about safety.  We wandered around, going, “Oh, let’sgo down here…  let’s look at this, look at that!”  We had aball together, because we were both complete tourists, I guess,having a wonderful time!  After shooting, we’d even go down andswing from the trees!  (laughing)  They had it all set up,and it was so much fun!

TCC:  Ibet it was!  Now, Gordon Scott was a larger-than-life hero to somany of his fans.  What do you remember of working with Gordon,and do you have any special anecdotes for us?
EH:  I have one heavenly anecdote!  First of all, Gordon was so funny. He had the most wonderful sense of humor — you’d never meet anybodyfunnier than Gordon.  Now, to me that shows intelligence — hecould take anything and make it funny.  You don’t come across manypeople like that, so I know he was really bright.

So Gordon and Sean and Tony and I were inseparable.  We werealways together, and when we’d go places we’d see to it that we got inthe same car.  We had so many laughs, so much fun.  This wasnot a rich production, and so we had to walk to the set.  The carswould stop, and then off we’d go, and sometimes it would take 45minutes to walk thru the jungle, or go wading thru streams, hoppingfrom rock to rock, to get in to where we were shooting.  Some ofthe scenery was really beautiful  — you know that, because you’veseen the film.  Well, that was fine, because I was in great shape,no problem.  And then we’d work all day, we’d run around in theheat…  (It was very hot, so it was hard work).  And oneday, by the end of the day, I was “knackered” as we say in Australia,and I think I swayed a little bit, and Gordon looked at me and said,”Are you ok?”  I said, “I’m really tired,” and the next thing youknow, he picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder like a little sackof potatoes, and carried me out of the jungle!   It was socute…

TCC: Though your character in the film was named Angie, I’ve heard fansdescribe her as more closely resembling the Jane of the books than anyof the actual Janes before.  Not surprisingly, I later read you’vealso been voted “Best Non-Jane in a Tarzan Movie”.
EH: (laughs)  I thought Jane was a nice girl from a nice family whogot stranded and then married Tarzan.  I haven’t read the books,so I don’t know.

TCC: Well, from the Hollywood tradition, she was sort of this happyhomemaker jungle wife, but in the books she actually became quite acapable woman — quite a survivor.  Was there any intention tomake Angie a Jane-like character, or was it coincidence?
EH:  Oh, not at all.  They wanted her to be a good-time girl, a party girl.

TCC:  Ialways found it strange that in my copy of “Tarzan’s GreatestAdventure”, one scene fades out as Tarzan pulls Angie down for a kiss,and the next time you see them, they’re arguing as she prepares toleave him.  I’ve heard that some footage (i.e., a “kissing scene”)was cut from the theatrical release.  If this is so, pleasedescribe what was removed.
EH:  No,not true.  That was it.  That’s all we shot.  Theydidn’t want to shock the little kiddies by bringing sex into the movie.

TCC:  Itgives the impression that there is something missing, because it goesinstantly from a romantic prelude to a tiff between them.  Maybeit’s just that she was starting to care for him…
EH:  Shewants him to leave the jungle and come home with her, and he won’t doit.  And so she knows he’s going to go off and try to kill Slade,and she doesn’t want him to get killed.

TCC:  Well, that’s another long-time rumor that we get to debunk!
EH: Yes!  And I think I’m the only one left alive who can tell youthat!  Not really, though, because John Guiillerman, the director,is still alive.

TCC: HAHA!  We have an exclusive!  Now, after the climactic battlewith Slade, Tarzan looks down at Angie’s boat as it continues down theriver, and then he turns and heads off into the brush.  I wasn’tclear…  did the scene infer that he had a change of heart andwent to catch up with Angie, or that he gave her one last glance beforecontinuing on alone?
EH:  No, just one last look at the girl disappearing down the river.  That’s all it was.

TCC:  Fromwhat I understand, many of the major players were invited back forGordon’s next film, “Tarzan the Magnificent” (though only Al Mulockreturned).
EH:  Iwasn’t invited back, and I don’t think Tony Quayle was.  Of coursehis character, Slade, was dead by then.  You know they killedhim.  They killed Sean Connery in the movie and they killed Tony.

TCC: Again, there is a lot of false information out there, but I’d read thatboth Quayle and Connery had been invited to return — not in the sameroles of course, but as different characters.  Also read that SeanConnery on turning them down offered to be in the next one.  Itseemed more normal back then to have actors reappear as differentcharacters within a series.  Jock Mahoney for instance playedvillains in two Tarzan films, before and after playing Tarzan himself.
EH:  Well,frankly, I doubt that is true, I really do, because Tony Quayle was abig actor with a great deal of dignity, and he had a great part in thatmovie, and he wouldn’t have done such a thing.  And of course,Sean was working on the Bond movie.  But Al Mulock…  I’minterested, I didn’t know that Al worked in another Tarzan.

TCC:  Yes,he was back for “Tarzan the Magnificent” as another villain — one ofthe Banton brothers.  Back to Sean, my info came from the book”Tarzan Of The Movies” by Gabe Essoe, which seems to quote Sean afterhe’d been optioned for Bond, but before filming had begun.  Ofcourse he had no idea at the time how successful that movie wouldbecome, or what it would lead to.
EH:  After starring as Bond, there was no way he would do that, a little low-budget Tarzan movie…  no, no, no, no…

TCC: There is conflicting info on why Gordon left the Tarzan series. Some say he wanted to avoid typecasting and declined to continue in therole, and others say that producers wanted to take the character in anew direction, opting instead for a leaner representation of theape-man (Jock Mahoney).  Do you know the truth either way, or didGordon ever discuss the topic?
EH:  Ihave no idea.  I totally lost track of Gordon, I’m sorry to say,because it’s very sad when you lose track of people that youlike.  And that happens on almost all movies — you meet people,and you enjoy being with them, and then you never see them again. It’s really sad.  Of course, I did see Tony again, because I wasin New York when he was doing “Sleuth” on the stage.  So we gottogether then.  But I haven’t seen any of the other people.

TCC:  “Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure” was critically acclaimed, and is considered by many fans as one of the best, if not the bestof the series, though I’ve read when it was released it performed verypoorly at the box office.  Is this true, and if so, was it just acase of bad timing?
EH: (laughs) I have no idea.  I was in London when it was released,and I have a picture of myself at the theater where it opened, standingin front of the poster of Gordon carrying me.  That’s the last Iever heard of Tarzan.  That was the end of it, nobody said a wordto me about how it did, and then I moved to Paris.  Oh, by theway, I saw it in Paris, dubbed into French.  That really knockedme out, to see myself speaking French!  But you have evidence thatthe Tarzan movie did not do well financially?  I don’t understand,because it was an excellent film with a good script, marvellous actors,and good direction.  It probably got a bad release.

TCC:  Itshould have been the “Batman Begins” or “Casino Royale” of its time –a real “reboot” of the series (sans origin story).  The challengeas with many major franchises was to overcome a waning audience causedby too many lackluster entries.  In his book “CelluloidAdventures:  Good Movies, Bad Timing”, Nick Anez credits theexcellence of the movie, but primarily blames the poor box office takeon Paramount’s horrendous marketing choices.  In America, theydecided to release it as the bottom half of a double-feature, pairedwith either a Jerry Lewis picture or a horror film, so the targetaudience was incorrect to begin with.
EH:  I also think that the Tarzan movies became passe’, and all sorts of other things became more popular.

TCC: Luckily with time, though, “Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure” survived andbecame the fan favorite it is today!  Speaking of time… Wow!  It goes by fast!  We have just a few morequestions.  Looking back at your whole career, is there anythingyou would have chosen to do differently?
EH: Everything!  (laughing)  For one thing, I would not have goneinto acting.  I would have done something else with my life. Although I had an incredible amount of fun, and it opened up doors forme that were unattainable in other ways, I think I would have beenbetter off developing my brains.  On the other hand, I might nothave gotten into what I’m doing now without that background.  Allthe experience I had in television, radio, theater, stage and filmsgave me confidence in front of crowds.  Because of that, I cantalk to an audience of a thousand people without a moment’snervousness, and talk without a script for hours.

TCC:  So it really prepared you as a public speaker?
EH:  Oh,yes, it was a stepping stone.  What I’m doing now is the bestthing I’ve ever done in my life, both for pleasure and for helpingpeople.  And it’s a marvelous feeling to be able to do that,because the days when I was in films, I was pretty empty-headed, tryingto make a buck and keep my head above water, and support myfamily.  But now there are some pretty important thoughts goingaround in my head, such as exposing Big Pharma and the corruptgovernments that permit them to poison people.

TCC: Elaine, thanks again so much for taking time out of your busy scheduleto talk with us, and before the curtain closes, is there anything you’dlike to say to your fans?
EH:  Well, who?  My one fanout there?  How can I have any fans? (laughing)  It’s weirdthat anyone is still interested in me…  that was 50 years ago!

TCC:  HAHA!  Well, that’s the thing about the Internet…  it breeds new fans!
EH:  Yes it really does!  The Internet is astonishing, and it’s our best weapon against the “bad guys.”

All I can say to those few fans of mine out there, and the millions of Tarzan fans, is…  take care ofyourselves.  Don’t get into the clutches of the pharmaceuticalindustry.  They want to kill you with their drugs, and I’m talkingabout legal drugs — they are worse than the illegal ones!  🙂

Copyright ©  2007 by Sky Brower and Elaine Hollingsworth
Text may not be duplicated in any form without express
 permission from the authors.

This interview was conducted via phone on July 9, 2007, and is the second in our Gordon Scott Tribute Series.

Many think of Elaine Hollingsworth as a health advocate and author ofseveral books, but might ask what connection she has to the world ofTarzan.  Well, classic film buffs might know her better as Sara Shane,one of the hottest new starlets of the 1950s, who lists among her manyacting credits a starring role as Angie opposite Gordon Scott in”Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure”!

And speaking of adventures, the ones she’s lived in reallife rival anything seen on screen!  From Hollywood, to Haiti, toAfrica, to her current home of Australia, join Tarzan.CC as Elaine shares with us about her travels, her book, “Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry”, her experiences in Tinseltown, and of course, her memories of working with Gordon Scott!

Return to the Jungle
A New Adventure Awaits You...
I’ll always remember Gordon Scottthe way he was when we were running around in Kenya —  young,strong and incredibly healthy.  I’ll never forget the hot, steamyday when I was knackered and he tossed me over his shoulder and carriedme out of the jungle.  Great fun, and a real iron man.  Elaine Hollingsworth, April, 2007