*sigh* I received an invitation to attend Harve Bennett’s memorial service at Paramount. I will cherish it always. Alas, I can’t go. I’m tied up with six baby goats and six baby chicks and I live too far away these days to be able to make it a quick day trip. If I flew there, I would want to stay a few days to reconnect with some Hollywood friends, and I just don’t have that luxury right now.
I met and spent time with Harve Bennett twice–once at his home in Pacific Palisades before he moved to Oregon–and once at a restaurant. In both cases, I was along for the ride while Terry Lee Rioux interviewed him for her biography of DeForest Kelley.
In both instances, Harve was extraordinary. I quickly sensed his decency and equanimity. I could tell he was the full meal deal: sensitive, astute, thoughtful, and a true gentleman.
The visit at the restaurant is a particularly telling anecdote about Harve’s capacity for kindness. As it turns out, in LA there were two possible locations for two cross streets, and Terry and I managed to get to the wrong location, which was quite a drive away from the right one. (This was well before Google Maps and customary use of the Internet.) As soon as we arrived and saw no restaurant, we called the restaurant where we were slated to meet to say we were seriously waylaid (during rush hour traffic) and getting to the right location would take a while. We asked if Harve and Marianne Tyler (Harve’s VP at the time) would prefer to re-schedule or wait. Harve elected to wait–even though it would be at least an hour.
When we finally arrived, of course, we were apologetic but he waved off the inconvenience as it it were a trifle not even worth mentioning.
We had asked for an hour or 90 minutes of his time. He waited an hour for us to arrive and then we spent at least another 90 minutes. At no time did he show any sense of urgency or discontent. He simply invited Terry to schedule additional time to meet him at his home office in Pacific Palisades. Terry did so and I accompanied her there. We spent another two hours there. Terry got the interviews and information she wanted and assurances that she could call him again, any time, if other questions came up. What a guy!
But here’s the thing: before I ever set eyes on Mr. Bennett in person up close and personal in the above way (other than the time I heard him speak at De’s star ceremony in 1991 and the brief seconds I spent thanking him for attending De’s memorial service in 1999), I received a phone message from him saying that he very much wanted to be a part of Terry’s resource list as she compiled interviews about De. In the voice mail message (which I saved) he said he would be honored to contribute to the memory of that “dear, dear man.” And contribute he did. (Get FROM SAWDUST TO STARDUST: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, STAR TREK’S DOCTOR McCOY to get the details.)
I am one of the world’s luckiest people to have been afforded the opportunity to meet and spend actual quality time with one of the nicest, most prolific producers in Hollywood. If you don’t already know his extensive list of credits, here is a link to take you to them:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0071790/
Harve Bennett will forever remain one of (very few) favorite Hollywood celebrities. He was, as he called De at De’s star ceremony, a “really, really” great guy. (Perhaps it takes one to know one.)
If you haven’t heard Harve’s recounting of “The Con of Wrath” be sure to hear a bit of it during De’s star ceremony, which you can find on YouTube. De and Harve pretty much ran the event after the organizers collected the money from the attendees and fled, leaving TREK fans arriving in Houston to no hotel rooms or tickets. From what I hear tell (via Harve) De emcee’d the event both days (by the seat of his pants, without pay since the actors’ fees disappeared right long with the fans’, but De convinced the actors to stay and play anyway because the fans were there and got rooked, too); Harve got the fans hotel rooms. It was a would-be fiasco that Harve and De redeemed for the fans. (If I have gotten any aspect of this story wrong, please let me know and I’ll correct it, Houston fans!)
Rest in Peace, Mr. Bennett. Those of us who knew you, even briefly, love you and will miss you every day of our lives.
