“The
All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood”
November
30, 1986 on CBS
Directed
by Dick McDonogh
Written
& Produced by Paul Keyes
Music
by Nelson Riddle
THE PARTY-GOERS
Clinton
Eastwood Jr.
(Honoree) is an actor, filmmaker, musician, and political figure.
After achieving success in the Western TV series “Rawhide,” he
rose to international fame with his role as the Man with No Name
in
Sergio Leone’s Dollars
trilogy
of
spaghetti Westerns
during
the 1960s, and as antihero
cop
Harry Callahan
in
five Dirty
Harry
films
throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. He has two Oscars for Directing and
Producing Unforgiven
(1992) and another two for Million
Dollar Baby (1994).
He received a special Oscar in 1994. At
the age of 74, he was the oldest recipient of the Academy Award for
Best Director to date. Eastwood
won
election as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea,
California in
April 1986.
A Mitt Romney supporter, he
delivered a prime time address at the 2012
Republican National Convention
to an empty chair representing Barack
Obama.
Eastwood has had personal relationships with a number of women, with
partner Sandra Locke famously filing a palimony suit in 1989. He was
married twice and also had a relationship with co-star Frances
Fisher.
Lucille
Ball
(Hostess) was
born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen
career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’
due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning,
she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which
eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television
situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband,
Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful,
allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming
it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known
as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s
marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy
returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted
six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s
Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr.,
as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show”
during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more
attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon,
which was not a success and was canceled after just 13 episodes.
Monty
Hall
– Chairman of Variety Clubs International
Clint
Eastwood’s Family (center table)
- Sondra
Locke – partner of Clint Eastwood. The
Outlaw Josey Wales (1976),
The Gauntlet (1977),
Every
Which Way But Loose (1978),
Bronco Billy
(1980), Any
Which Way You Can (1980),
Sudden Impact (1983) - Ruth
Wood – Eastwood’s mother - John
Beldon Wood – Eastwood’s step-father - Jeanne
Bernhardt – Eastwood’s younger sister - Alison
Eastwood –
Eastwood’s daughter (age 14) by Maggie Johnson - Kyle
Eastwood
– Eastwood’s son (age 18) by Maggie Johnson
Credited
Entertainers & Speakers (with
credits shared with Clint Eastwood, introduced by Monty Hall)
- *Sammy
Davis Jr. - Roberta
Flack
– Play
Misty For Me
(1971), Sudden
Impact
(1983) - Cary
Grant - Merv
Griffin
– “Talent Scouts” (1963), “The Merv Griffin Show” (1967-74) - Jill
Hollier - +*Bob
Hope - Marsha
Mason
– Heartbreak
Ridge
(1986) - *Don
Rickles –
Kelly’s
Heroes
(1970) - Nick
Perrino and
the Variety Club Orchestra - Don
Siegel –
Director of Coogan’s
Bluff (1968),
Two Mules for Sister Sarah (1970),
The Beguiled (1971),
Play
Misty for Me (1971),
Dirty
Harry (1971),
Escape from Alcatraz
(1979) - James
Stewart
Uncredited
Attendees (with credits shared with Clint Eastwood)
- +Bea
Arthur - Tom
Bosley - Charles
Bronson – “Rawhide” (1965) - Joan
Collins - Tyne
Daly – The
Enforcer
(1976) - Altovise
Davis – wife of Sammy Davis Jr. - Phyllis
Diller - *Barbara
Eden – “Rawhide” (1963 & 1964) - Zsa
Zsa Gabor - *Eydie
Gorme - *June
Haver – wife of Fred MacMurray - Florence
Henderson - Hal
Holbrook - Brian
Keith – “Rawhide” (1959) - *Harvey
Korman - *Bernie
Kopell - *Steve
Lawrence - Michele
Lee - *Fred
MacMurray - *Dick
Martin - *Gary
Morton – husband of Lucille Ball - George
Peppard - Lynn
Redgrave - *Charles
‘Buddy’ Rodgers - *Cesar
Romero - Mort
Sahl - Joan
Van Ark - Dick
Van Patten - Jonathan
Winters
*
Appeared with Lucille Ball on one of her television series’
+ Appeared with Lucille Ball in films
THE ALL-STAR PARTY
Monty
Hall says that this is the 11th annual Variety Club All-Star Party.
The previous year President Ronald Reagan was honored. Two years
earlier, Hall hosted the 1984 event honoring Lucille Ball. In 1982
Ball participated in the All-Star Party for Carol Burnett.
“All-Star
Party for Lucille Ball” (1984)
also featured Monty Hall, Sammy Davis Jr., James Stewart, Joan
Collins, Bea Arthur, Joan Van Ark, and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
The
show was taped on September 28, 1986 on an NBC stage at the network’s
Burbank headquarters and broadcast by CBS on November 30.
Proceeds from the evening were
used to expand the existing drug and alcohol center operated by
Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula, near Carmel.
The
broadcast aired opposite “The Wonderful World of Disney” on ABC
and sitcoms on NBC. It earned a 21 rating, winning its time period
and the night. The highest rated of the “All-Star Parties” was
for Frank Sinatra in 1983.
Hardly
anyone in the large audience knew Clint Eastwood personally, as Sondra Locke recalled in her autobiography:
“James
Stewart, whom we’d never met, gave a speech; Joan Collins, whom we’d
never met, sat very near us. Yet everyone acted like good friends.”
Marsha
Mason
is the first to speak about Clint, talking about their recently
finished yet-to-be-released film Heartbreak
Ridge.
She
introduces Roberta
Flack,
who performs “The
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Ewan MacColl from the film Play
Misty for Me
(1971). Flack
thanks Eastwood for liking the song and introduces Bob Hope.
Bob
Hope: “I
won’t say he’s a tough mayor, but he’s got a SWAT team to deal with
overtime parking. His motto is ‘Walk softly and carry a big percent
of the gross.’ Now that he’s mayor they give the death penalty for
jay-walking in Carmel.”
Hope
compliments Cary Grant for looking good for his age. Eerily, the day
before the party aired, Grant died. CBS
paid tribute to Grant with the following statement after the closing
credits:
Hope
mentions Eastwood’s only musical, Paint
Your Wagon
(1969). Hope sings his signature tune “Thanks for the Memory”
with special lyrics for the occasion.
Cary
Grant
reads
a letter from President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was honored with an
All-Star Party the previous year, 1985. Grant also read a
congratulatory telegram from President Reagan in 1984, when Lucille
Ball was honored.
Merv
Griffin
introduces newcomer Jill
Hollier
who sings “How
Much I Care” from
Pale Rider (1985)
with melody by Clint Eastwood and newly written lyrics for the
occasion by Sammy Cahn.
Film
Director Don
Siegel
talks about being assigned to direct his first Eastwood picture.
Don
Rickles
takes the stage to ‘roast’ Eastwood and the other party attendees.
Sammy
Davis Jr. says
that his relationship with Eastwood goes back to “Rawhide.” He
sings “Misty”
by Erroll
Garner and Johnny
Burke from the film Play
Misty for Me
(1971). Davis has written an introduction to the song to be spoken
by Clint Eastwood as Dave Garland, his disc jockey character from the
film.
Jimmy
Stewart calls Clint “a credit to the motion picture industry”
as both actor and director.
Jimmy
Stewart: “He
is an actor who took the art of acting back to basics. He is the
common denominator of the common man. You
portray a man of the world… you stick up for yourself and all the
rest of us.”
Monty
Hall
talks about the charitable endeavors of the Variety Clubs
International. Lucille Ball takes the stage.
Ball:
“Clint, you’re
such a big star because you’re such a big hunk.”
Ball
notes that Clint has filled the room with many of his past production
and behind-the-scenes co-workers.
LUCY & CLINT
In
1972’s “Lucy and the Group Encounter” (HL S5;E14) Lucy Carter
says that if she were stranded on a desert island she would want
Clint
Eastwood
to be there.
A
year later, when Jackie Coogan played “Lucy’s Tenant” (HL S6;E7),
Lucy wonders why guys like Clint
Eastwood
don’t rent rooms!
In
1974, in “Milton Berle is the Life of the Party” (HL S6;E19),
Harry says he wouldn’t come to one of Lucy’s parties even if Clint
Eastwood
were a guest! Nor would he be swayed by Elizabeth
Taylor, Frank Sinatra, or Princess Anne – but he changes his tune
when it turns out to be Uncle Miltie.
In
1960, Clint
Eastwood was
one of Lucille Ball’s first choices to play her romantic lead in the
Broadway musical Wildcat.
When he (and a few other A-list marquee names) were not available,
she settled on Keith Andes (above).
After
Lucille Ball’s passing in 1989, Clint
Eastwood sent
a note of condolences to Gary Morton. The note is recreated in the
2004 book Lucy &
Desi: The Real Life Scrapbook of America’s Favorite Couple.
Genealogists
say that Lucille Ball and Clint
Eastwood
are actually related! They are ninth cousins, once removed.
Six
months after playing Lucille Ball in the TV film “Lucy & Desi:
Before the Laughter” Frances Fisher started filming the Clint
Eastwood film Unforgiven
(1992). The two had a personal relationship
that produced a daughter in 1993. They are no longer together.
This
Date in Lucy History – November 30
“Too
Many Crooks”
(ILL
S3;E9) – November 30, 1952
“Lucy
Gets Her Maid”
(TLS S3;E11) – November 30, 1964
“Lucy
and Rudy Vallee”
(HL S3;E12) – November 30, 1970
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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