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Distant Thunder - A Life Remembered Hollywood "One day, Sy Bartlett called me and said they were going to shoot a movie called Twelve O'clock High. They were trying to get all the actors they could find who were bomber pilots in the 8th Air Force in England to play roles in the movie, and could I have lunch with him and Beirne Lay, Jr. at the studio. I sure could. So he said, 'Come at eleven o'clock, and we can show you what we’re doing before we go to lunch.' When I got to their office, they were in the middle of a story session, so I sat down and listened. Sy Bartlett was pacing the floor, talking the story, while Beirne Lay, Jr. sat at the desk typing it. This went on for a half-hour or so, and as I listened, I thought; that sure has a familiar ring to it. Finally, Sy stopped and said to me, 'What d'ya think? Does it sound authentic?' I said, 'It sure does. That's Red Morgan you're writing about. He was in my Pathfinder group. He got shot down over Berlin the first time we bombed it. I saw him go down.' Sy kind of half smiled, and he and Beirne Lay looked at each other as though I had struck a nerve of some kind. Sy said, 'Have you read the book?' I said no, and he handed me a copy, saying, 'Call me after you've read it, and we'll have you back to meet Henry King, the Director. Let's have lunch.' Over lunch, I learned that when the war came along, Sy, who was an author/screenwriter, went over to cover the 8th Air Force as a correspondent, and flew a few missions as an observer to get the feel of combat. That's where he met Beirne Lay, Jr. who was a Group Commander in the 8th Air Force. When the war was over, they decided to write a novel about it, and picked one of the most dramatic episodes; the story of Red Morgan, as the nucleus to build the story around. When it was published, Darryl Zanuck at 20th Century Fox bought the screenrights as a vehicle for Gregory Peck, and hired Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr. to write the screenplay. The whole thing was a stroke of genius. After I read the book, I called Sy and went back to the studio. He took me in to meet Henry King who looked me over, said 'fine,' and I was in." |
