4 Movie Buffs Not About to Fade Out

By rights, Hollywood should have stopped taking their calls years ago, but don’t dare tell that to the actor, the cameraman, the producer and the dancer.

They are all four long retired, living in the same industry-run retirement home in the San Fernando Valley, their working years in the entertainment business a generation gone and many, many movies behind them.

But for a few months each year, these golden guys join a list of the most luminous names in show business. Instantly they become as weighty as Scorsese, carry the cachet of Cruise and are as sought-after as Sir Spielberg himself.

They are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and their votes each year help decide who wins the Oscars for everything from best picture to best musical score. Until the voting period ended Tuesday, they were front row observers of the madcap publicity wars waged by movie studios, a tradition that evokes flashbacks to their grand old Hollywood days.

The prestigious ranks of the academy include Hollywood insiders in the primes of their careers. They also include a handful of residents at the Motion Picture and Television Fund’s retirement community in Woodland Hills, affectionately known as the Lot.

Veterans such as William “Hal” Riddle, a 78-year-old former character actor whose credits include such blockbusters as “Hang ‘Em High” and “The Great Race.” And Fayard Nicholas, an 83-year-old tap dancer who headlined at the Cotton Club and on several Depression-era films.

There’s Norman Felton, producer of such TV hits as “Dr. Kildare” and “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” And cameraman Lothrop B. Worth, who began his career in silent films and went on to work on “The Donna Reed Show” and “The Real McCoys.”

In the weeks before this year’s Oscar presentation, academy voters from entertainment’s Leisure World had their say in the fate of the films of 1996, from “Sling Blade” to “Shine” to “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”

“The attention we get from the industry prior to the Oscars, well, it’s kind of an ego boost for an old man like me,” said Riddle, a drawling Kentuckian born in 1919. “The phone rings. The mail comes in bunches. And I read every letter, watch every film sent my way.”

Under academy rules, members nominate only those finalists in their line of expertise: Actors nominate actors, directors pick directors. But after the nominations are announced, the 5,235 voting members can cast a final ballot in every category.

That’s when all Hollywood hell breaks loose as studios spend millions in promotions to woo precious academy voters.

Although academy officials have stiffened guidelines on just how far their promotions can go, Riddle and other voters in the past have received expensive coffee table books on the making of films such as “Malcolm X” and “The Age of Innocence.” There have been videotapes packed in pricey black lacquer cases, hardcover editions of screenplays and exotic linen-covered boxes bearing personalized brass plates.

Even without the gifts, this year brought an avalanche of letters, calls and videos.

“I received calls from New York producers who wanted to make sure I had seen the movie ‘Shine,’ nominated for best picture,” said Nicholas, whose dance and film career with his brother Harold as the Nicholas Brothers spanned 50 years. “They sent me a video and then called back to see that I got it. Then they sent me another one, so now I have two.”

Felton has seen promotional stunts so outrageous they made him laugh. Like the man who came to his Malibu home in the 1970s asking if it was the house of a then-famous actor.

“When I told him no, he said, ‘Anyway, he’s been nominated for an Academy Award this year. Are you going to vote for him?’ ”

Such ploys aside, these conservative academy members miss the days when Hollywood movies were shown in grand palaces, not multiplex shoe boxes. And while they applaud the use of thrilling special effects in recent blockbusters, they say the quality of many modern films has slipped. Cameraman Worth says he has seen Oscar-winning films that were out of focus and poorly lighted.

These members play by the rules and won’t discuss their final picks. But they did give a few hints as to their preferences: First off, they were put off by the sex and violence in best-adapted-screenplay nominee “Trainspotting” and in “Fargo,” which is nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture. They figured these films must have been aimed at a younger and perhaps more adventurous audience.

“Fargo,” for instance, depicts a scene in which a body is fed through a wood-chipper.

“I couldn’t watch them all the way through,” Riddle admitted. “I had to close my eyes.”

Felton loved the sweeping grandeur of the desert scenes in “The English Patient” but admitted he was a sucker for the genre of movies such as “Gandhi” and “Out of Africa” filmed in exotic locales. But actor Riddle said he couldn’t stay with what he called the restless plot in “The English Patient.”

He preferred Billy Bob Thornton’s intense portrayal of the insane asylum resident in “Sling Blade” and was bowled over by Billy Crystal’s cameo performance as the ditch digger in “Hamlet.” He said Tom Cruise’s powerful role in “Jerry Maguire” demonstrated his strongest screen presence to date.

Still, Riddle lamented that actress Debbie Reynolds was ignored for her role in the Albert Brooks movie “Mother,” a film during which Felton nearly fell asleep.

Nicholas still likes “sexy movies” and enjoyed the candor of “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” while the others snickered at what they thought was a bawdy film that glorified a pornographer.

Riddle says smaller independent films such as “Sling Blade” now have better chances at going head-to-head with major studio productions for top honors. In his day, voters had to make time to see films at theaters; movies are now home-delivered in videotape form.

“Oftentimes,” he said, “the votes are split over two heavyweight films, and the next thing you know, this longshot comes out of nowhere. It happened with Daniel Day-Lewis and ‘My Left Foot.’ It’s so great to hear that gasp in the audience as the little guy walks up to take the Oscar.”

Felton knows firsthand the power of independent endeavors. In 1963, he proposed producing a new television show for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about a young hospital doctor. The studio balked at the idea, so Felton produced the show with his own money.

When it was done, MGM had a change of heart and went with the show, which became the wildly popular “Dr. Kildare.” “Because of my own past,” he said, “I have a real affinity for the grass-roots production.”

And come Oscar time, they have another guidepost for film excellence: Ted Turner’s classic movie channel.

“That means old movies that were made in our day, films that had better stories and weren’t overdone sexually,” said the 93-year-old Worth, whose camera work captured actors from Marlene Dietrich to Gary Cooper. “These films give us a comparison. And frankly, today’s new movies are at a decided disadvantage.”

But while some older voters give up their rights, fearing they are out of touch with younger moviegoers, Riddle views things differently.

He still cherishes arguing with a smiling, flat-topped Worth over small details of old films. And he remembers the pure excitement of seeing motion pictures from “Casablanca” to “Star Wars” for the first time.

Most of all, he holds his academy vote dear, knowing that his say-so--dispatched from a place far-flung from the old film lots of his past--could make the difference in bestowing Hollywood’s highest honor on a deserving nominee.

Said Riddle: “I love films so dearly I’m going to keep my vote until the day I die.”

As veteran voters, all four received invitations to Monday night’s big event at the Shrine Auditorium. But they’ll be watching the results at home.

“We’re retired now,” Riddle said. “The hassles of big productions are behind us. It’s time to relax.”