History, of course, does repeat itself, and lightning can strike twice. So it makes sense that when Mary McKenna
Brando, the estranged wife of Christian Devi Brando went shopping for a divorce lawyer, she`d choose the very same man who represented Christian`s mother, Anna Kashfi, when she sued his father, Marlon Brando, over custody rights in 1972. The lawyer: Marvin Mitchelson, who`s probably walking around mumbling to himself, ”Like father like son,” and ”Chip off the old block.” Jackie Gleason`s waist isn`t the only thing about him that`s oversized. He`s got an ego to match. In the August Playboy he explains why an ”I-I-I complex” is absolutely essential to performers. ”An actor`s vanity is his courage. It`s the only thing that keeps him going. For someone who makes $200,000 or $300,000 a week to walk out onto a stage and entertain maybe a million people, humility is senseless. If he starts scuffing the sand with his toe, he`s full of crap. It`s commercial naivete. If you think you`re good enough to earn that kind of money and entertain that many people, you can`t be humble.”
Sometimes, without even knowing they`re doing so, people write their own epitaphs. In one of his last interviews before he died last year, actor Rock Hudson was asked if he had any regrets. The actor`s reply, quoted in ”Rock Hudson: Public and Private,” by Mark Bego (New American Library): ”Oh, I have a few. I wanted a family; I didn`t have one. I wanted to sail around the world in a big ketch I owned, but I was always too busy. I wanted to direct a movie, but I never got the chance. Besides, I don`t think I could act and direct at the same time. I was never good at doing two things at once. But I had a lot of fun along the way. I found a few friends.”
REPLAYS ”LIBERTY IS ALWAYS DANGEROUS, BUT IT IS THE SAFEST THING
WE HAVE.” HARRY EMERSON FOSDICK
”ONE SHOULD NEVER PUT ON ONE`S BEST TROUSERS TO GO OUT TO BATTLE FOR FREEDOM AND TRUTH.”
HENRIK IBSEN
ANOTHER MAN`S LIBERTY STOPS AT THE TIP OF MY NOSE.” ANONYMOUS
