DENNIS WEAVERThe Versatile Sooner

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SOONER V1Af;AzlNE

By SHIRLEY DODSON COBB

He would be known as "Chester" and "McCloud" and by other names .His OU name was Bill . He might have gone to the Olympics,

but he caught a bad case of Broadway fever .

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f Darrell Royal had lost out to alanky kid from Missouri for the

the third string quarterback slot dur-ing the Sooners' 1946 spring practice,would Royal have turned to stage andscreen while his competitor went onto a lifetime in football?Probably not - but Royal's unsuc-

cessful rival, Dennis Weaver, didmake that career decision and still isearning accolades as one ofHollywood's most respected actors .

Football - and the University ofOklahoma drama school - broughtBill Dennis Weaver to Norman fromhis Joplin home . However, it was hisability in track and field that ulti-mately garnered athletic honors inthe old Big Six/Big Seven Conference .When Weaver graduated in 1948, hewas voted the "most versatile man"on campus. His classmates nearly 33years ago recognized the quality thathas paved his way to internationalacclaim .

Sitting in the sun-filled living roomof his ranch-style Calabasas, Califor-nia, home, Weaver recently sharedreflections of childhood, career, fam-ily and philosophy and assessed hissuccesses, including the EmmyAward-winning role of ChesterGoode, Marshall Matt Dillon's mem-orable sidekick on the classic CBS-TVseries, "Gunsmoke .""My versatility?" Weaver muses,

perching his 6-foot, 2-inch frame in-formally on an oversized coffee table ."I don't know why I was given thattitle . . . People come into this worldwith certain interests. Mine have al-ways been varied . I've been able to domost of the things I'm interested in. . . but not as well as I probablyshould. I guess I'm a jack-of-all-tradesand master of none ."His accomplishments refute his

words . During his evolving career hehas:

∎starred in five television series,including a nine-year stint as"Gunsmoke's" gimpy Chester andseven seasons on NBC-TV as "Mc-Cloud," the tall-walking Taos, NewMexico, marshall tracking criminalson the streets of New York .

• defied "cowboy" typecasting andwon acclaim for diverse roles in suchtelevision movies as "Amber Waves,"set amind the midwestern grain har-vest; "Duel," pitting Weaver in his

automobile against the mysterydriver of a huge truck, and thepoignant "Ishi-The Last of HisTribe ."

∎ ran, as an independent candidate,and won election to the Screen Actor'sGuild presidency in 1973 .

• blended his love of country musicwith vocal talent and song writingskills to produce more than a halfdozen albums - some on his own .JustGood Records label - and varioussingle releases, including the recent"Calhoun," a light-hearted duet withhis wife, Gerry. He has his own pub-lishing company, Rajamaya Music,and has been a host on the countrymusic series "Country Top 20 ."

• been honored for his commitmentto family and profession . For their"outstanding moral, social and civicleadership," the Weavers - Dennis,Gerry and their sons, Richard, Robertand Rustin - were named the 1964San Fernando Valley "Family of theYear." For exemplary film and televi-sion work, Weaver was inducted lastyear into the National Cowboy Hail ofFame .

"You're going to leave'Gunsmoke?' You've got

a fortune here."

White-washed brick walls, adornedwith brightly-hued Indian rugs, awagon wheel, and other western ar-tifacts, form a compatible backdropfor the actor, attired in jeans, cowboyshirt and boots. Weaver adjusts hisposition before the massive fireplace,scooping up a fluffy, white pup de-manding its share of his, attention .

Gerry Weaver enters with a tray ofglasses filled with a blend of freshfruits and herbs -- a sample of thenatural foods the couple, both veg-etarians, consume .Weaver and his wife, the former

Geraldine Stowell, met at JoplinJunior College and married October20, 1945. Their enduring union defiesthe ever-spiraling divorce rate,highly publicized among Hollywoodcouples .

"I just love her," Weaver searchesfor the right words to explain theirrelationship . "I like her, . . She's my

best friend . I guess I'm ,justt lucky ."In the moment of silence that fol-

lows, the depth of Weaver's feelingsurfaces; the expression on his angu-lar face and in his deep brown eyesunderscores his words ."She was very supportive of me at

the time my agent and business man-ager were throwing up their handsand saying, 'You're going to leave"Gunsmoke?" You've got a fortunehere,' " Weaver continues . "She'd say,'You don't understand? He's a leadingman ; he's not a second banana .'"

Gerry's style mirrors her husband'sunassuming manner. Garbed in asoftly-gathered cotton printt skirt andcasual short-sleeved blouse, a fringeof curls framing her face, she is awarm and gracious hostess in a graci-ous home .

Such affinity for family may be in-bred in Weaver . Born June 4, 1925, inJoplin, Missouri, he spent his forma-tive years within a close-knit circle,"four kids, my mother and father, andgrandparents - who lived about aneighth of a mile from us ."The 10-acre farm furnished a living

during Depression days. Weavershared the responsibilities. "I was anormal kid," he contends . "I had thesame interests as most other kids . . .played all the games at school, milkedthe cows, hoed the weeds, plantedwhatever was necessary and got thewater from the well."

Yet, there was a difference . "I was alittle more imaginative, I think, thanthe rest of the kids I ran aroundwith," he recalls . "I would go to aSaturday matinee movie, come homeand play all the parts - the blackhats, the white hats . . . Didn'tt havea horse, so I would ride the fender ofour old Dodge truck or a fence - andpractice being mean in front of a mir-ror. I had leanings toward performingvery early . I don't remember notwanting to be an actor ."

But the fledgling star kept his fu-ture plans to himself'. "It was prettydifficult to announce in Joplin, Mis-souri, that you were going to be anactor at the age of 10 . It's not a verypractical thing, as far as most peopleare concerned ."

In high school, his plans surfaced ."I remember those forms that you fil-led out, as a junior or a senior, askingwhat profession you wanted to follow .

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I remember kind of biting the bulletand writing it down," Weaver admitswith a laugh . *'That was a big decision

. . . putting it down in print ."Graduating at the age of 16, with

the state high school high jump rec-ord to his credit, he enrolled in thenearby .Joplin .Junior College and wasu standout in both football andbasketball . lie left school for 27months in the Naval Air Corps andwhile in training set a new speed andagility test record .

Discharged as in ensign, he enrol-led at the University of Oklahoma,with the prospect of a football schol-arship. He encountered stiff competi-tion .

"1 injured my knee and thecoach who had recruited me left,"Weaver explains, noting that the newstaff, Jim Tatum and his assistant,Bud Wilkinson, had their own stableof athletes on hand . "It was nobody'sfault . They had recruits of their own,and there were only so many scholar-ships they could award ."Weaver found the track coach more

appreciative of his talents . Workingtenaciously. he competed in 12 differ-ent track and field events at OU, set-ting individual records and leadingthe cross-country team to the Big Sixchampionship . He won the septathlonat the Colorado Relays in 1948, andwas OU's first decathlon qualifier inseven years .But the young athlete was finding

encouragement from another quarteras well . With Lonny Chapman, achildhood friend and fellow dramamajor. Weaver hitchhiked to NewYork after Chapman's graduation inthe summer of 1947 ."Lonny stayed," Weaver recalls .

"And i n '48, when I was to compete inthe Olympic trials in the decathlon inBloomfield, New Jersey - a subwayride from New York City - Lonnymet me at the train ."The two set out to survey the stage

scene . Stopping long enough forWeaver to throw his hag into a hotelroom, the duo toured Broadway . "Iwas so excited . . . I want to see whatwas going on in New York . . . Wegot a 'scene' in the afternoon . and thatevening I auditioned for an off-Broadway group . I couldn't even getback to the hotel room ; I slept onsomebody's floor," he confesses .

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The next morning, Weaver arrivedat the. Olympic trials in time to "getmy street clothes off, track clothes on,and participate in the first event ."

"I was wiped out," he admits with achuckle . "I had no spring in my legs .It was the worst first day I ever had ; Iwound up in ninth place and shouldhave been second or third ." Weaaver'sslow start took him out of contention,but he ended sixth in a field of 36 .

"It was the end of my Olympic op-portunity, but 1 did get. accepted forthe off-Broadway group . One dooropened, and another door closed," hesays philosophically .

For Weaver, the years of study atOU provided a solid grounding in hiscraft. "College gives you a well-rounded halee to operate from f6r therest of your life," he stresses . "My ex-perience in the drama department

When he wasn't learning his craft in the old Drama Building, Bill Weaver couldhe ftttnd on the OU truck Field, honing his talents in 12 di/%event events . The onlydecathlon qualifier in years, Weaver led the cross-c •ountrq tenet to the Big Sixchampionship and aeon the septathlon at the Colorado Relays . His shot at theOlympics, however, fell victim to the lure of'Broadttway .

gave me great confidence . . . train-ing in all kinds of areas -- play-writing, set ;, a class in directing .

"Jugs getting up on the stage andgetting aaver the fact that you re goingto blsaw your line ; once in a awhile isimportant . I did that a couple rftirnetiat OU. That's a frightening experi-ence and an important hurdle to gotoverWeaver's first job was as under-

study to ('hapm,in in the role nt' thecollege athlete, Turk, in WilliamIngo',s production, "Come Iiiack LittleSheba,' which opened Fehru,ary 15,1950, at the Booth Theatre, On thecompany -s national tour, he took overthe role .Weaver also was accepted to New

York's prestigious Actor's Studio, likeother lop-flight Hollywood state Mar-lon Brando . Paul Newman . JoanneWautdw,ird and Shellev Winters .Under the tutelage of Lee Strasherg,he honed his taleaut,

- It'; very difficult. t o get a toe-hold,to get a start, but work breeds work,"he says of his initiation to the stage ."You just. keep doing something - aslong as it is in the same arena - andyour reputation begins Lo grow .Someone asks you to do summer stock

. an off-Broadway showThat's what happened to me ."

Weaver',; talent and the praise ofhis contemporaries, especially MissWinters, broughtt him to the attentionof Universal International talentscou t .s ."When the head of the talent de-

partment came to New York that fall .he asked me to read something forhim," Weaver says . "I can rememberit was from 'The Glass Menagerie'

When I finished, he said, 'Do youwant to go to California?' . . . and Isaid, 'When do we go?' "

But the venture was "frightening,"Weaver admits . "I was concernedabout so many things . . . I was con-scientious; I had to be perfect . . 'One-Take' Weaver, they called me," helaughs. "That was sill .; : now I'll go 16takes . if that's what . i s needed."

Studio training polished his talentsand added to his abilities. "UniversalInt.ernat.ional had a whole develop-ment program . I had to take dance,vocal coaching . . . do a musical ."And the rnidwestern "cowboy" evenlearned to ride a horse .

Y

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Dennis Wearer perches on the coffee table in the liuirig room of his ranch-stylehome to reflect on the career which had its beginnings in OU draraaa classes .

Weaver joined a repertory companywhich included Rock Hudson, TonyCurtis and Jeff' Chandler. A limitednumber of' leading roles meantWeaver often drew small parts inwesterns .

The industry was facing what someHollywood moguls deemed a "threat"- television- "When I got here in'52," Weaver recalls, "TV was just be-ginning programming . There was areal fear in the studios . because theydidn't know what it was going to do tothe industry . There were tremendouslayoffs. I was released at Universal . Istarted freelancing - movies, televi-sion -- I even delivered flowers for myaunt's florist shop- -

The next three years were "not allthat lucrative," he admits, but thepart of John Brown, Jr ., in the film"Seven Angry Men," proved pivotal tohis future. The movie was directed byCharles Marquis Warren, who laterwould produce and direct "Gun-smoke ." Warren asked Weaver to

read for the role of Chester . Puttinghi :: own imaginative touches Lo work,Weaver whipped up an exaggeratedwestern drawl, hunched look, sus-penders and the now-famous limp, Hewas hired ."That was the open door," Weaver

asserts . "That gave me national rec-ognition. It was extremely success-ful ."The series premiered in the fall of

1955 and brought stardom to the cast :James Arness as Dillon, AmandaBlake as Kitty, Milburn Stone as Doe,and Weaver as Chester Goode ."Gunsmoke" topped the ratings sea-son after season ; Weaver's portrayalwon the 1959 Emmy for best support-ing actor in a series .

But success broughtt the specter ofstagnation. After seven seasons .Weaver wanted to leave the cast . "'1wasn't mad at anybody. It was a nicecompany . We had a great time to-gether, but I didn't want to getpigeonholed into that one character

1982 WINTER

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for the rest. of my career," he explains ."I'd seen that happen with lots oFpeo-ple . sidekicks especially ."Wanting to reduce the gamble .

Weaver searched for a new property ."I did a pilot during hiatus, a musicalfor CBS {'TV Tonight). But 'Gun-smoke' was also for CBS," he ex-plains. noting that the pilot didn'tsell . Weaver went hack to the role ofChester for another season .To keep Weaver with the network,

CBS agreed to let him select anothernew series; he chose "Take a GiantStep," with actress Jane Wyman ascostar. Again, no buyers ; the projectwas dropped. Weaver returned to"Gunsmoke ."On his third attempt, he broke

loose. After appearing in 223 episodesof "Gunsmoke." Weaver completedthe last scene of his 10 scheduledshows for the 1963-64 season and leftthe series .His new series, "Kentucky Jones"

for NBC-TV, premiered the next fall .Weaver had a promise of 26 shows asthe veterinarian-horsetrainer whoadopts a Chinese orphan, Sufferinglow ratings, the series was with-drawn, and Weaver was looking forwork again . "This is a high risk bus-iness," he notes .In September 1967, CBS-TV aired

the series "Gentle Ben," featuringWeaver as a Florida game warden,with wife, son and pet bear . The showended in 1969 .

Weaver then left for Europe to starwith another Oklahoman, JamesGarner, in a western entitled "A ManCalled Sledge," a Columbia release .He continued appearances on varioustelevision programs, including thecameo role of President AbrahamLincoln in the Universal NBC-TV"World Premiere" movie, "The GreatMan's Whiskers." In another pre-miere movie, "McCloud," Weaver por-trayed a U .S. deputy marshall fromNew Mexico, who transports a murderwitness to New York City, remainingto help police solve the crime . Theshow received excellent reviews, andWeaver had found another series .The character, says Weaver, was "a

favorite, because there was more di-mension to it . And l also achieved thegoal that I had wanted when I got intothe business of television to do aleading role in a successful series -

26 SOONER MAGALINE

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Weaver's fluffy, white friend feels freeto interrupt the magazine interview forits share of the stars attention .

to work closely with the producer, thewriters, director, casting - to be re-sponsible, to some degree, as to whatgoes on the screen . It was the ulti-mate for me ."The series also furnished Weaver

with a new "personality ." The simpleChester was exorcised by the astuteMcCloud. "I had a deep feeling forMcCloud. He was a rural character ina complex metropolitan situation,and therefore, a classic underdog -simplistic, in a way, but tough . Hehad a bite and a dry sense of humor,and he always saw things with fresheyes, He cared," he actor explains_If "Gunsmoke" and "McCloud" take

top honors as Weaver's favorite TVseries, the television movie "AmberWaves" heads his list of dramaticroles . Weaver played the part of anudwestern wheat harvester, caringFor his motherless children . "It was awonderful basic script, a great direc-tor and cast correctly . . . all theelements were there . It fit like aglove ."Weaver seems to sense the compo-

nents that make a scene or serieswork In both "Gunsmoke" and"McCloud" he rewrote portions of the

script to enhance the quality of "be-lievability" - essential, he says, tomaking the story come to life . Weaverhelped the refinement of "AmberWaves" - "sanding down the script,"he calls it . "I wrote three scenes out-right - and two songs . I've alwayscalled that my creative orgy ."-"My (midwestern) background

made it possible for me to be at homein the part. very quickly," he adds ."Then when we got the dramatic con-flicts right, the interaction of thecharacters going right, that glove be-came snugger .""Amber Waves" was a showcase for

the improvisatorial quality Weaverfeels forges a link between viewer andfilm .

"When I first came out here .films had a very clinical, stilted feel-ing," he explains. "You could tell thedirector had read a text hook andsaid, 'All right, now you do the mastershot. Now you move in for the twoshot : now for the over-the-shoulder .Now the singles; now the next scene'

. . . It took all the life out ."People got involved in techniques,

instead of getting involved in contentand what's going on in the scenewhat the people are feeling - and canthey get that on film so that otherpeople can feel that also ."

"If you want to be a goodtennis player, play withsomeone better than

you are . . if you wantto be a bum,

hang around with bums ."

Stories about real people. "Theseare the kind of films I want to do," hestresses. "Films like 'BreakingAway,' 'Ordinary People,"Kramer vs .Kramer.'

"No matter what kind of Story I'mdoing - what kind of script it mightbe-whether it's 'Amber Waves' or`Intimate Strangers' - I'll always tryto have that improvisation that, realinvolvement in it .'That same involvement, a sense of

commitment, compelled Weaver totake an active role in the screenActor's Guild . In 1973 . after serving

on the board of directors, Weaver ranfor president as an independent can-didate on a platform demanding im-provement of work rules and per-formers' benefits . He won, scoring thelargest upset in the union's 42-yearhistory ."When I came out here, the guild

was a force ." Weaver contends thatthe favorable aspects of his contractwere principally because of what the

guild had done . Working conditionswere improving, salaries were

improving-because somebody hadsacrif-iced in the late '30s and '40s"People then met in parked ears

and dark corners, because if thestudios knew, they would have beenbacklisted. Now, I thought, it was myturn . . . to give something back . .such things as residuals, payments inperpetuity . . . Those things didn'texist, and I felt I would be a voice intheir support. ."Weaver also sensed dissension

within the organization . "People Celt

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Their marriage has defied Hollywood .statistics . Of his one-and-only wife, Gerry,Weaver say.,,, "I just love her. I like her . . . she's my best friend ."

like some were on the inside, andsome were on the outside, The biggestreason I ran for president was to tryto make everyone feel that it was oneunion and that. they had a voice in it

. . That was the biggest singlething I did . . _ to try to bringeveryone back together again,"

Weaver holds firmly to his com-mitments - to his family, his fellowworkers, and his faith - and the lat-ter is the foundation upon which allthe others rest .

"Faith is the center of my life," saysWeaver, a lay minister in his church .'You've got to have something thatgives you a certain set of' values,something you can lean on, alwaysdepend upon . Those thing,, neverchange . People may try to disguisethem, say that they don't exist, butwhen it comes to the core of things,when it comes to the hard reality, weall want assurance . We all want se-curity. We ail wantt happiness andpeace ."

Brought up with "certain morals, asense of right and wrong." Weaverfeels he has passed this heritagealong to his sans . "I hope I instilled itto some degree. 1 never said . 'This isthe way I believe, so this is the wayyou have to believe,'"Example is the greatest teacher

any of us ever had . I've always toldmy kids. 'If you want to be a good ten-nis player, play with someone betterthan you are. If' you want to he anactor, get in the best workshop youcan find, the best. teacher . And, if youwant to be a bunt, hang around withbums. The environment you live in isimportant ."

In spite of the glamour, the pres-sure, the temptations of the Hol-lywood life, the Weavers seem tothrive in an environment that canonly be described as "wholesome ."

A few steps outside their breakfast.room door, a greenhouse and gardenare visible . Rows of vegetables, fruittrees, lush grape vines, well-cared-forseedlings flourish . "This keeps megoing," he confesses, walking amidhis crops. "You've got to feel good outhere. Close to the ground - stable ."There are a lot of wonderful people

in this environment Hollywood) anda lot of wonderful people outside thisenvironment. I'm fortunate enough tohave them as my friends ."

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