Happy 100th!

Well, Google is still being belligerent. Now it's not letting Crystal sign in to our shared account to post, so I will put up her tribute for her. Hers was ready even before today, and mine was ready this morning. It is very discouraging that Google has been so stubborn about us using our own account!

~ Lucky_Ladybug

Here we are, once again, on the anniversary of Simon’s birthday, and a very special one—his centennial! Trying to come up with something special for today has been a challenge, but one that I’ve been ready to take on.

Ladybug and I have talked a lot about Simon’s acting abilities in past entries.  And as wonderful an actor as Simon is, I wanted this post to be about Simon the person, rather than just Simon the actor.  Naturally, this was more than a little difficult to find out, due to an inconvenient lack of a TARDIS, but I’ve been able to gather somewhat of a portrait from some archive newspaper interviews that Ladybug and I have found (and all are available for reading as links on our website).

One thing that was evident in the interviews was Simon’s sense of humor.  There’s an article where he relates the numerous times that, as a character actor, people recognize his face but not his name, instead thinking that they met him somewhere before.  After relating the stories, he then goes on to say that he still enjoys them, whether or not the person in question ever figures it out.  The interviewers are always quick to describe Simon as friendly and approachable—indeed, he must have been, for so many people to just walk up to him and casually start chatting about where they’ve “seen” him before!

And, of course, Simon talked at length about the actor’s craft, like how he studies the different facets of their personalities and then portrays them as such.  He described the kinds of roles he likes, and how he will be choosy about them, saying in a 1967 interview that he was “…More interested in getting the right roles than anything else.”  He went on to describe the “right roles” as the memorable ones—which says something about what he must have thought of Tony Vincenzo, as it was a role he would revisit multiple times in the 70s.

More than one of the article writers had pointed out about Simon’s opinions on TV violence.  Simon saw it as a necessary outlet—that it was better for people to deal with their inner anger through that fictional medium, rather than something real.  And though he was aware about the criticisms of TV violence (even getting into a discussion with Jack Lord about whether or not the violence in Psycho led to a real-life case of someone getting killed in a shower), he continued to stand by his views, insisting that it should be realistic enough to make people think before enacting anything in real life, as well as giving young viewers enough of a scare to make sure they won’t try anything of the kind.  Something about this makes me think that if Simon had lived long enough to see the rise of video games in the late 80s and beyond, he probably would have had the same opinions about them, as well; and, who knows—he might have even lent his voice to a character or two.

Gathering all that about Simon from four interviews took a lot of looking just to find them.  There aren’t that many interviews about him—and one of the article writers points out that it is largely due to how humble Simon is, even adding that, in the middle of the interview, Simon would much rather talk about the other people he’d met and work with, rather than just talking about himself.

All in all, the portrait that I’ve managed to put together from these interviews is of a humble, good-natured, and intelligent person who enjoyed what he did, even if he didn’t always get recognition for it.  And while I feel bad that this recognition that Ladybug and I are giving him now is too late for him to read, we both feel very strongly that he still knows exactly what we’re trying to say.

Happy Birthday, Simon.  And thank you for everything that you gave us during your time here.

~ Crystal Rose

 

Rare Gems: News Articles and Ready for the People

A little over a week ago, Crystal and I made a thrilling discovery, one that we had hoped we would make for months. We immediately linked it up with our site. What was it? Articles about Simon.

Just as we had gleaned from the scant information we had managed to turn up before, we found that Simon was a warm, friendly, funny guy. He had a lovely sense of humor and saw the gentle amusement in such oddball situations as people insisting they recognized him, but thinking they had personally met him somewhere, as opposed to having watched him on television.

To our excitement, we also confirmed how Simon approached his characters. He studied each one individually before starting to act out the part. Sometimes scripts were even altered because of Simon’s interpretation of a character! That article mostly described his villains, but I’m sure it applied equally to his heroes as well.

It’s thrilling that Simon put so much time and heart into even his oneshot guest characters. Of course, we could clearly see that he had, but I wasn’t sure if the sympathy we often felt was deliberately introduced by Simon or the writers or if we were picking up on hidden nuances as Simon’s true self shone through even the darkest of scoundrels. Now I know it was most likely both.

I am excited to realize that the more human side of characters such as Howard Walters and even William Poole were brought out on purpose by Simon’s marvelous, professional skills. He wanted every character he portrayed to be three-dimensional, to have both good and bad sides. That is, I’m certain, one of the many reasons why he is still so beloved today.

As previously mentioned, it’s just a misconception that Simon usually played villains. He himself said in one of the articles that it isn’t true, it only seems that way. Sadly, many of the heroes he played are not easily accessible for us to view today. There were many of them on anthology and other shows that are simply not available now, likely because of both not being as well-remembered as other shows and simply because there is no one to re-release them.

I believe the one role of Simon’s that I would like to see more than any other is the prosecuting attorney Murray Brock in Ready for the People. From the information I have found, it was a failed pilot for a television series that was turned into a theatrical movie. Would the series have featured Simon as a regular? We don’t know. For all we know, it could have been an anthology series or one with a rotating cast, such as the later The Name of the Game. All we know for certain is that Simon was heavily involved. It is a great shame that this series failed.

There is something about Ready for the People that makes it highly unique and sets it apart from every other known movie or television series that Simon worked on. As far as we can tell, at least in the failed pilot, Simon was the star. He was not playing second banana to anyone, as he did in every other television series in which he was a regular. Even in movies where he had a large role, such as I Want to Live!, he still was not the first-billed (nor was he the true star even if billed lower). In Ready for the People, Murray is the main character. It’s his character that advances the plot, attempting to uncover the truth about the case he is currently trying. He believes the defendant is innocent and strives to find this out.

(Perry Mason aficionados should find it of interest that Murray’s assistant is played by Karl Held, who portrayed eager law student David Gideon in nine episodes over seasons 4 and 5. Was it because of his role as David that he was chosen for Ready for the People?)

Is there any way to view this relic of the past? Both Crystal and I have searched high and low. I had hoped that, since it was released as a theatrical movie, it would not be as difficult to locate it. But so far we have not had any luck. I believe I was told that it is available on a file-sharing network, either Kazaa or LimeWire, but Crystal and I do not use such sites. I am assuming that the copyright long ago ran out, rendering Ready for the People in the public domain and therefore, legal grabs for anyone. If this is true, I wish it could be located and placed online for all to see. If instead the copyright is still valid, I wish the holder would release it.

This is such a unique role of Simon’s. It should not be lost to time. I of course wish that everything he acted in would be made available. If only two rare productions could resurface, I wish it would be this one and his first collaboration with Darren McGavin, The Problem Child episode of the Purex Summer Specials anthology. Such gems should be viewable to all as examples of classic television, as well as rare and amazing performances by some very talented people.

~Lucky Ladybug