A celebrity story about Christopher Hewett from author, Ben Bryant’s Hollywood memoir
- Posted on 11th November 2013
- in celebrity books, celebrity stories online, celebrity story, entertainment books, funny celebrity stories, Hollywood books, Hollywood memoirs
- by Ben
As I have said before I never envisioned this as an entertainment book, a compendium of celebrity stories or a
Hollywood memoir.
It was just my life and the folks I knew and worked with. Turns out that others did see it that way. Christopher Hewett was one of my favorite people: as funny off stage as he was on and in the movies.
My last acting gig on the stage in 1972 was a definitive experience. Here’s the story excerpted from chapter 11 of Three Stages:
“Neither production nor acting work came until the early summer when I got a call from Christopher Hewett.
“At that time he was best known for playing “Roger Debris*” (above) the world’s worst director in Mel Brooks’ hilarious movie, The Producers.
“In real life Chris was an excellent and respected director. He had directed Betsy in Boys from Syracuse and had done several Broadway plays. He gained national fame a few years later in the title role of the sit-com, Mr. Belvedere. We had worked together at Goodspeed but how he knew I’d make a good Luther Billis in South Pacific I never knew.
“Anyhow he was directing the show in Boston and offered me the job. I was torn. Did I want to continue acting or concentrate on getting into the production world? I asked Chris if I could think about it overnight and he agreed. As usual my best friend was wise in her counsel. Betsy told me that this was a perfect opportunity to learn the solution to that puzzle. I loved the role, it was going to be a first class production and if I got tired of it quickly I’d have my answer. I called Chris the next day and accepted the job.
“In June I was off to Boston and Betsy got a stock touring gig in the Steven Sondheim show, Company which was (happily) ending its tour with a week each in Cohasset and Beverly, Massachusetts both of which were near Boston.
“I found a small furnished apartment in a quaint neighborhood, Beacon Hill, I think. The theatre was in Saugus, a short ride from town. I believe we rehearsed at a studio in Boston. Elaine Cancilla (later Mrs. Jerry Orbach) was a fabulous Nellie and I’ve forgotten who else was in the cast but they were all excellent and Chris was a delight to work with.
“One morning at rehearsal I was reading the paper and noticed that a local art theatre was showing The Producers that afternoon. I mentioned it to Chris and he confessed that he’d never seen the movie. That was it, Elaine and I said we’d go on strike if we didn’t take a recess and go see it. We went.
“Sitting with Chris watching himself as Roger Debris was a truly wonderful experience. When he made his first appearance in drag wearing an outrageous green gown I asked him where they got it and he replied, “From my closet, dear boy.”
******* Buy Three Stages
[Company closed,] “Betsy went home and we continued to play South Pacific to full, enthusiastic houses. For the first week or so, the show had been lots of fun but by the time Betsy had gotten to town with Company the bloom was off the rose for me and I was ready to retire from the stage. Earlier that summer I had run into Theo Bikel and when I told him I was beginning to do film production work and was thinking of quitting acting he had said. “No one should be an actor if they can live without it.”
“I could live without it and after the contractually required four weeks I called Chris and gave my two weeks notice. He was pretty pissed off for a while but when we saw him backstage after a broadway show a few years later he had forgiven me.”
NOTE: I recently found out that Chris’s character name in The Producers was, in fact, Roger De Bris. “Bris” is the term for the Jewish ceremony of male circumcision. I’d always thought the name was “debris”, as in trash, which is what Roger was known for and the way it was pronounced in the movie.
Leave it to Mel Brooks to find layers of comedic meaning in his characters’ names.
Tags: Christopher Hewett, Jerry Orbach, Mel Brooks, Mr. Belvedere, South Pacific, The Producers, Theodore Bikel
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