Influential in My Life That I Think of Him the Same Way I Think of My Own Father,” Randy Carmichael Said in an Interview

A WONDERFUL LIFE influential in my life that I think of him the same way I think of my own father,” Randy Carmichael said in an interview. “I learned how to be a gentleman around Phil. He would give me a bit o f a smack when I’d swear or act up around adults. I would emulate his movements and his speech, the way he greeted people.” Harris occasionally returned to Linton, but his visits were not publicized, and he did not perform. Instead, he chose to fish, hunt, and play poker with old friends. In 1957 the town was abuzz when word leaked that the famous native would be the featured celebrity on the television show This Is Your Life, which usually managed to keep secret the identity o f its weekly tar get. Longtime Linton residents still recall how television sets were ablaze from one end of town to the other the evening that the episode was broadcast. By then, Harris had even won acclaim for his work as an actor in a few dramatic movies, most notably the box-office hit The High an d the Mighty (1954). In the Written by Charles Randolph Grean, the novelty song “The Thing" was recorded by Harris on John Wayne film, which is generally October 13, 1950, for RCA Victor Records. The tale o f a man who discovers a box on a beach and cannot get rid o f it reached number one on the Billboard charts. Other versions o f the song were regarded as the first airplane disaster epic, later recorded by Danny Kaye and Ray Charles. Harris portrayed the protective, belea guered husband of a hysterical passenger. not to,” recalled Polly Miller, a Linton Book about a boy who grows up among Costars Claire Trevor and Jan Sterling were resident who helps maintain the town’s wild animals. nominated for Academy Awards, and the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Collection. “Phil Initially, Harris balked. “Voice-over movie won an Oscar for Best Score. was extremely ‘audience smart,’ and he work then was not considered a big deal,” On television in the early 1960s, Har knew you could not put on the best pos Carmichael noted. After the studio persist ris undertook dramatic roles as a guest star sible performance if you drank excessively ed, Harris agreed to meet with the movie’s on such hit series as Ben Casey and Burke’s beforehand.” creative team— and then came close to Law. In addition, he frequently performed Accompanied by Faye, Harris returned stalking out of the session. “He didn’t read on musical-variety programs, particularly to Linton in the mid-1960s to preside at a the bear’s lines in the straightforward way The Andy Williams Show. During these public park for the opening of the munici that they were written,” Regan recalled. appearances, Harris often joked about his pal swimming pool. His career, though, “He read them as a ‘hep’ bear, speaking fondness for alcohol. He lampooned that seemed to be in a decline ( The P hil Harris- in the way he always preferred. They said, aspect of his persona for the rest o f his Alice Faye Show went off the air in 1954 ‘You can’t do it that way’— and Daddy life, referring to his taste for Jack Daniels as television eclipsed network radio) until threatened to walk.” whiskey during interviews even in his he received an unexpected offer. Walt Disney capitulated. Tire result changed late eighties. His friends and colleagues, Disney Studios wanted Harris to lend his Harris’s life and created an iconic cartoon however, emphasize that Harris always distinctive voice to the character o f Baloo character. With jive-talking Baloo the Bear remained thoroughly professional. “He the Bear in an animated movie version of singing an enchanting tune titled “The knew exactly when to indulge and when Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel The Jungle Bare Necessities,” The Jungle Book became TRACES | Spring 2009 I 21.

Load more