Bernie ... The world-famous movie star!
If you’re young, you wouldn’t know Bernie Schwartz. If you’re older, you still may not know him but once he changed his name, you likely became a fan like me. The name change came when he enrolled in acting school and became one of Hollywood’s most famous actors. When they say, “In America, you can become everything you ever dreamed of even the president “
— I always think of Tony Curtis.
All the stuff you need to know about him, career-wise, you can access online. It’s impressive.
His family was so poor, that his parents couldn’t afford to feed him and his brother so they put them into an orphanage.
For me, his transition was remarkable and puzzling.
How do you go from being that poor to becoming a Hollywood movie star?
He was married to an equally famous actor, Janet Leigh.
He was the father of actor Jamie Lee Curtis.
He appeared in The Defiant Ones
and Some Like it Hot
and Houdini and Trapeze and The Boston Strangler and, of course, Spartacus
— over 100 films covering 6 decades. He was gold at the box office.
When I met him, he was well past his career, even the successful one he had on TV with Roger Moore.
Lorraine and I were in LA to celebrate her birthday. I took her to the city’s most famous restaurant at the time. It wasn’t the fancy, high-roller bistro you might expect. It was above a hair salon and across the street from Tower Records on Sunset Blvd — ya, that Sunset Blvd.
The restaurant's popularity was hard to understand. The year was 1995. The kitchen and the cooks with the big hats were actually in the dining room - not hidden in the back. The tables were close together. If you were expecting a quiet dinner there was no privacy — nobody hid — nobody got the VIP treatment.
You sat beside Carol "Hello Dolly" Channing
(who my waiter said dined there every night), Charles Laughton,
Steve Lawrence, Rex Harrison, Peter O’Toole, or Vanessa Redgrave.
On our visit, we sat next to a no-name actor who wasn’t happy with the contract his agent was proposing as they raised their voices with one another and pointed fingers a lot. That sort of conversation seemed to be common in this room - so Hollywood.
The owner and chef was a guy with a strange name,
Wolfgang Puck.
He introduced Hollywood’s millionaires to a thing called
California Fusion Cuisine became the darling of the movie colony and led the way for the celebrity chefs we know on TV to become so popular today.
So that’s enough about Spago.
When we visited to celebrate Lorraine’s birthday it was just a regular Tuesday night ... I had to make the reservation a month in advance.
I don’t remember what we had but Puck was selling $20 pineapple pizzas and hamburgers with provolone and anchovies for $25. Dinner wasn’t memorable but the vibe was.
I found myself standing next to Sammy Kahn and recognized him immediately. Kahn created music that was nominated for 31 Academy Awards (he won 4 times including; “All the Way” & “High Hopes”).
I mumbled as I introduced myself as a fan of his work. “I’m from Toronto”. He was surprised that I recognized him. He offered to buy me a drink. I think he wanted to hear more about me being a fan of his.
Just then, there was a rustling noise in the room. Hollywood movie star, Tony Curtis, was weaving his way to the exit. He seemed very drunk and I could see his white hair piece pompadour as he high-fived, laughed and skated his way through tables. His soon-to-be 6th wife,
Jill Vandenburgh, 45 years his junior, was behind him trying to keep up.
She was taller than Tony and big — ya know, big.
Tony was way too happy and sloppy for a guy who was supposed to be on the wagon. As he got closer to me, I could see he was hitting every busboy and table cleaner with a fifty-dollar bill, remember, it’s 1995.
I knew the bill’s denomination because one of the busboy's hands shot up in the air as he shouted, “It’s a fifty!” I assumed he was hoping other diners would get the hint.
Then, more $50s to the bartenders as he approached Sammy Kahn and me. They embraced as longtime friends and Curtis looked at me — thinking I was a friend of Sammy’s because I was standing next to him. When he realized I was an outsider he looked away to avoid me, I asked if he would mind taking a picture with Lorraine, whose birthday we were celebrating. With that fabulous 1000-watt Hollywood smile, he said, “I’d be delighted” ... “Where is she?”
I admitted she was in the Ladies’ room and be “out in a minute”. So, Hollywood’s great star and Hollywood’s great songwriter and I stood facing each other and took a run at some small talk ... “what do you think the weather will be like tomorrow”?
When she emerged, I introduced her to my new best friends. She barely took notice and moved next to Tony (for her “Hollywood close-up”).
Kahn’s eyebrows were a mile high — because I didn’t ask him to join the photo.
Lorraine and a true movie legend, in Hollywood, at its most popular beanery — everyone smiling for her birthday.
The photo, taken with a Polaroid camera is fine but Tony didn’t really look like that Hollywood icon you’d remember ... especially with that terrible rug that he used as a toupee. In the photo, he looks like a life-sized cut-out of Tony Curtis with my wife grinning beside him. Suffice to say, meeting him was a great prize but showing you that photo wouldn’t do him justice. See what I mean (above)?
We departed the restaurant together ... me and Lorraine and Tony and Jill. Outside, the paparazzi were assembled. Somehow, they knew Lorraine and I were nobodies and had their lenses focused on Tony and his partner. We shaded our eyes from the exploding camera flashes and our car jockey ran off searching for our rental car.
Tony passed out the $50s again to anyone connected to his car delivery. And, just when I expected Jill to move to the driver's side, Tony maneuvered her out of the way and collapsed into the bucket seat on the driver’s side. As mentioned earlier, the icon was way over the line on some substance and, in my opinion, unfit to drive.
Our car was brought up behind his and we pulled out of the lot in single file.
I thought this was going to have a terrible ending. We slid out onto Sunset Boulevard.
I stayed a safe distance back - thinking the worst.
Remarkably, incredibly, his car stayed in its lane, he didn’t make a mistake, stopped ahead of red lights, and stayed at the speed limit. When we approached the light for his Belair neighbourhood, he slowed, put on his turn signal and drifted off into the Hollywood night.
I was very happy Bernie Schwartz made it out of that orphanage in New York, became a movie star legend and was safely on his way to his mansion in Belair.
I liked every one of his films - he was a natural and his creativity didn’t stop with movies. He was an accomplished artist and you can view his colourful oil treatments online.
Orphan and Hollywood movie star icon, Tony Curtis, passed away in Las Vegas 12 years ago at 85.
If you are interested in some other celebrities
I've had encounters with ... JUST CLICK ON THE NAMES BELOW. :
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