Today we pause to reflect on the men and women who have defended and sometimes died for our nation through two centuries of wars. But since this is a movie column, we'll focus on World War II.
Why? Because that's when wartime involvement by movie stars was at its peak. There weren't many legitimate stars, much less those who enlisted, during World War I, and by the time Korea and Vietnam rolled around the notion of defending your country pretty much lost its appeal for celebrities who didn't want to risk their careers by facing bullets or the fractured support of an increasingly war-weary populace.
Think we'd ever convince Shia LaBeouf, Robert Pattinson or any of today's young self-lebrities to sign up for duty in the Middle East? Fat chance. They would be tweeting "I'm a celebrity, get me outta here" faster than Arlo Guthrie bolted from the Group W bench in Alice's Restaurant. That's a song and movie about dodging combat for principled reasons and not because it's fashionable. Look it up sometime, kids.
Anyway, I uncovered an interesting Web page at www.combatfan.net, a tribute site to the 1960s TV series Combat, listing dozens of Hollywood stars who proudly served during World War II, who believed in that fight's cause enough to risk life, limb and career to enlist, some at the height of their screen popularity and others displaying traits that would later make them stars. Luckily, I can't find anything about movie stars actually dying in combat but each of these men, like their brethren, left something else behind.
So, in the memory of all, here are a few:
Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein) cleared land mines after the Battle of the Bulge and organized USO shows. When Germans began pumping propaganda over loudspeakers, Brooks responded in typically irreverent fashion with an amplified performance of Al Jolson's peppy tune Toot-Toot-Toosie.
Charles Durning (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) landed on Omaha Beach during D-Day and was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and later became a prisoner of war. Durning was presented with three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star.
Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath, On Golden Pond) won the Bronze Star for valor in the U.S. Navy.
Glenn Ford (Experiment in Terror, The Courtship of Eddie's Father) was the rare celebrity who served in WWII then made himself available for duty in Korea and Vietnam, as a captain in the U.S. Naval reserve.
Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind) became a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps after enlisting for WWII duty when he was 41 years old.
That memorably mean look on the face of Jack Palance (Shane, City Slickers) was partly due to reconstructive surgery received in 1943 when his B-17 crashlanded in England, serving in the Army Air Corps.
Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night) lied about his age when he was 16 in order to enlist as a U.S. Navy torpedoman.
James Arness (The Thing and TV's Gunsmoke) was wounded at Anzio and earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Audie Murphy (To Hell and Back, The Red Badge of Courage) did the celebrity service but the other way around, becoming the most decorated American soldier of World War II (21 medals including the Congressional Medal of Honor) then parlaying that into a successful movie career, mostly in war flicks and Westerns.
Eddie Albert (The Longest Yard and TV's Green Acres) lost most of his hearing and gained a Bronze Star for his Navy duty, rescuing wounded Marines from beachheads at Saipan and Tarawa.
The list goes on and on, including Oscar winners Jack Lemmon, Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, James Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Art Carney, George Kennedy, Jack Warden and Jason Robards Jr., plus top box office draws Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen and some actor named Ronald Reagan.
To all of them, and millions who shared their sense of duty and patriotism, we offer our heartfelt thanks on this Memorial Day.
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