Browse: Home / Celebrating the Living: Bruce Dern

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Attention Must Be Paid: Teresa Wright
  • Disney Byways: Park Incidental Music
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Let's Get Weird
  • The High and Low of Flaherty's 20s: NANOOK and MOANA
  • New Hollywood Got Old

Celebrating the Living: Bruce Dern

Posted By Gillianren on January 21, 2018 in Features | 16 Responses

It’s amazing the things I can learn while doing this project. Did you know that Bruce Dern’s grandfather was George Dern, a former governor of Utah and FDR’s first Secretary of War? Because I surely didn’t know that, nor that he used to be babysat by Eleanor Roosevelt. Or that Marilyn Monroe told him that it was being said he wouldn’t be a success until he was sixty? Or that he and Diane Ladd had a daughter who drowned in a swimming pool before Laura Dern was born? He also claims not to drink coffee or alcohol due to his passion for marathons and to have never done drugs outside the movies. Which definitely puts him apart from some of his costars of the sixties.

The earliest role of his that I’ve seen is in Marnie, where he’s only seen in flashback. He menaces the young girl who will grow up to become Tippi Hedren. But where I really spent time with him was as Joe Danby of Support Your Local Sheriff. I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen it. A lot. I tell people occasionally that they just make me feel tired all over, which is an insult to Joe in the movie. Oh, I’ve seen other movies of his, and one of these days, I will see Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood just for the fascination of the cast, but even when I was in the theatre watching Nebraska, there was a hint of Joe Danby in my head.

Not through any fault of Dern’s. He was excellent as Woody Grant—and he’s right that it’s Woody’s story, but I’m not actually convinced it was a lead role for all that. Kind of the sort of role that usually has James McAvoy following them around, where it’s a movie about someone watching a more interesting person doing things. Still, at his age, you take pride in what you’re doing, and better to get a lead nomination than a supporting one. Though it’ll definitely be interesting to see him as Joe Kennedy, when Chappaquiddick comes out.

One thing you can say about Bruce Dern is that he’s done an interesting variety of roles. He’s one of the only people to have killed John Wayne in a movie. (John Wayne told him America would hate him for it, and his response was that they’d love him in Berkeley.) He’s one of two people to have worked with both Hitchcock and Tarantino. There can’t be many who have worked with both Bette Davis and Samuel L. Jackson, either. Route 66 and CSI: NY. The man’s had quite a career to him, is what I’m saying.

He’s always unmistakably Bruce Dern, even if you’re quietly seeing Joe Danby in your head. He rode the “counter culture” movie craze of the ’60s to a steady career as a character actor. He’s worked with a ton of different directors over the years, including some of the best and some not very good ones. And, I note, a fair number of actors who directed once or twice or repeatedly. He dismisses Peter Fonda as never having learned to act. I won’t comment on that one way or another, but it’s definitely true that Bruce Dern did learn.

Help me replace my missing copy of Support Your Local Sheriff; consider supporting my Patreon!

Posted in Features | Tagged Bruce Dern, celebrate the living, tribute

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

The two CharliesAttention Must Be Paid: Teresa Wright→

A woman and her cameraCelebrating the Living: Kim Longinotto→

Bears wear hats.Attention Must Be Paid: Jerry Nelson→

He's feeling much better now!Celebrating the Living: John Astin→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    30651 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    26383 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    18883 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    17643 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Yvonne, or: CASABLANCA In One Character and Three Scenes

    9536 views / Posted August 21, 2014
  • The two Charlies

    Attention Must Be Paid: Teresa Wright

    May 21, 2022 / Gillianren
  • Because people will take pictures of everything

    Disney Byways: Park Incidental Music

    May 20, 2022 / Gillianren
  • Tunnel vision.

    The Friday Article Roundup: Let’s Get Weird

    May 20, 2022 / The Ploughman
  • Flaherty of the Slightly Lower North.

    The High and Low of Flaherty’s 20s: NANOOK and MOANA

    May 19, 2022 / The Ploughman
  • It's all art

    New Hollywood Got Old

    May 18, 2022 / Gillianren

Last Tweets

  • Attention Must Be Paid: Teresa Wright - https://t.co/vbiIwSb677, 3 hours ago
  • Disney Byways: Park Incidental Music - https://t.co/RFbAVEsBBN, May 21
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Let’s Get Weird - https://t.co/wSqIzaXLpE, May 20

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!