MovieChat Forums > The Big Knife (1955) Discussion > Hoff: Louis Mayer or Harry Cohn?

Hoff: Louis Mayer or Harry Cohn?

posted 16 years ago by louchilson
4 replies | jump to latest

According to previous thread, Peter Bogdanovich has stated that the character played by Rod Steiger is based on Louis Mayer. Most likely, the premise of the original play were inspired by the hit-and-run killing of dancer Diva Tosca on September 27, 1933 in Los Angeles. The accident occurred at the corner of Gardner and Sunset Blvd. The driver was DUI and future film-director John Huston, aged 27. His father, Walter Huston, had Louis B. Mayer use his influence to drop the drunk-driving charge. Mayer reportedly spent $400,000 to quell Louella Parsons and keep the story under wraps. Diva's husband, the actor Raul Roulien (Flying Down to Rio) successfully sued the Hustons in civil court but saw the end of his career in Hollywood. He returned to his native Brazil after the two-year long trial. John Huston was sent off to Ireland only to return to California around 1935.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] louchilson 16 years ago

Not based. Perhaps inspired. Key points: Louis Mayer , cover-up of traffic accident culpabilities, Hollywood careers in jeopardy. The Huston story is recounted in Ruy Castro's biography of Carmen Miranda. There is also mention of the supposed cover-up of the killing of a pedestrian by Clark Gable in the Louis B. Mayer bio, "Merchant of Dreams" by Charles Higham. Most likely the Jack Palance character is based on Gable. According to legend, one of Mayer's studio lackeys agreed to be the fall guy for the manslaughter charges. Coincidentally, this accident occurred in October of the very same year and near Sunset Boulevard, too. The Gable story is mostly rumor and has never been documented.

[–] Tom Sutpen 16 years ago

What fascinates me is that the character of Marcus Hoff (Stanley Hoff in the film) has so many of Mayer's traits . . . Buster Keaton once said that, in an office, Mayer was the greatest actor he'd ever seen; and he wasn't being snarky when he said it. The old man could literally cry on cue, and very often did . . . and yet, Harry Cohn seemed to really believe the character was based on himself, solely because of the 'Hail, Columbia' line James Poe inserted into the script (it wasn't in Odets' play). He was so convinced of this that he made Aldrich's two-picture tenture at Columbia a nightmare; eventually firing him off of 'The Garment Jungle' in '57 and seeing to it that Vincent Sherman received the credit (despite Aldrich having directed nearly all of it), thereby causing Aldrich's 5 year exile from Hollywood in the late 50s/early 60s.

http://illusionstreetcar.blogspot.com

[–] Clatskanie 8 years ago

Appreciate the caution with the Gable car wreck cover up. I can't name the source (because I don't recall, but the incident is apocryphal).

I did read a disgusting Houston story. He was friends with a medical doctor who molested his daughter and made the daughter available to his Hollywood friends. Although Houston never touched her it was only because she eluded his opportunity. It was disappointing to read and I thought the source good. However, I can't recall it as well.

LL