I saw the thread about Jack Warden and thought I'd post one about Lee Marvin. He's always been one of my favorite actors.
Lee Marvin served in the Marine Corp. in the Pacific campaign during WW2. (I heard he joined up at the age of 17). According to Wikipedia, Marvin served as a sniper in the 4th Marine Division and was wounded in the Battle of Saipan (where most of his platoon were killed).
Thank God for these men.
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Wow, I didn't know he was buried in Arlington and with the same simple G.I. headstone as thousands of others. I think it says volumes about the man. Thanks for the link!
The first little run I made on the USS Tiru (SS416) after reporting aboard at Pearl in June of 1967 was over to Kailua Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. We anchored out in the harbor and a motor whaleboat from a destroyer took us into the pier. We all went into the first bar at the end of the pier, a place called Akamai Barnes' and inside were Lee Marvin, Jonathan Winters, Richard Boone and some other actors and actresses from Boone's TV show. Boone bought $900 in drinks that afternoon and some of my friends and I drank with Lee Marvin late into the night at a nearby hotel night club, an experience I will never forget in spite of my intoxication. Jonathan Winters, another Marine veteran of WWII in the Pacific, went out to the boat and had a great time running around shouting orders and looking through the scope. A few weeks later we saw on TV that he was committed to a mental hospital, from which he later escaped, I am sure.
Lee Marvin was very happy to have us with him, but did get quite angry at tourists who pestered him for autographs. He was the same guy you see in his movies. He didn't have to act, he was genuine.
ALSO...Mr Lee Marvin did most of his stunts...and yes he was a real leatherneck from WW2. As with all those guys from WW2 (jimmie stewart, lee marvin, ted williams) hard working, devoted to their craft/trade of acting and produced films that required little special effects (no computer crafting), natural acting skills, basicly a take no #hit kind of guy....unlike some of the "actors" from the 80-90's (rambow & arnold both are gun hater).
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