In the late sixties my fiancee (dancer Mark Hudson) got a job performing in a revival of the musical "Knickerbocker Holiday". It was set to star Burt Lancaster in the lead role of Pieter Stuyvesant and Mark was quite excited to be in the show. Rehearsals and previews took place in San Francisco and I would fly up to watch.
I've referred to my crush on David Niven in an earlier post, but with Burt Lancaster I was absolutely star struck! I had grown up idolizing him and had seen all his movies. Mr. Lancaster picked up on this and started teasing me about it. I would end up with a red face every time I was around him.
After the show opened in Los Angeles, Burt Lancaster threw a pool party at his house in Malibu. And of course Mark and I went.
Walking past the pool (in my lavender bikini), I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and came face to face Kirk Douglas! Reaching out to shake my hand he said "Hi, I'm Kirk Douglas". (like I wouldn't know) I almost fell in the pool. "Spartacus" is one of my all time favorite movies. At this point I could not talk. To make matters even more embarrassing Burt Lancaster came over to make introductions. (not missing an opportunity to tease . . .) There I was standing between Spartacus and the Crimson Pirate!
I think I spent the remainder of the party in a corner of the pool.
No comments:
Post a Comment