My Five Minutes with Robert Redford

Thanks to Sasheen Littlefeather, Rob was my straight man in a comedy scene!!

I’m at that time of life where I like to regale anyone who will listen to me with my fantastic stories from the vast expanse of the years I’ve lived. One five-minute story from my life, will always “stick out” for me and that is the moment, Robert Redford pointed at me.

Young, fresh from Goshen, Indiana, ‘scholarshipped’ on pageant, Rotary and American Legion Voice of America speech contest winnings, and my overnight earnings at my summer job at Mr. Donut, I was now in NYC and in love with NYC, life and my acting school, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

AADA has a long and illustrious past and we were told that AADA was “the oldest acting school in the English-speaking world”. Diana Riggs, Cleavon Little, Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes and many other graduates would come to speak to our class. The girls among us, all starry eyed, in flared jeans, boho blouses, long hair and Bonne Bell flavored lip gloss, often sat together in the lower theater, anxiously awaiting our AADA graduate star to cross to center stage, sit and take questions from us. Before people said BUZZ, there was BIG BUZZ at AADA that day.

Once, a classmate of mine, actually stood up and said to Cleavon Little, “is it true what they say about….”, a naughty line from Blazing Saddles, and oh my good goobly goo, the place erupted. Cleavon answered good naturedly. I actually don’t remember his rejoinder, but it was funny whatever it was! But nothing comes close to the audience reaction when Robert Redford, also an AADA grad, came to speak.

I was in the front row, with a group of other 18–20-year-old students. We girls sat with each other and I’m not sure why that was, but maybe it was because we wanted to whisper to each other about how gorgeous RR was. I feigned boredom about it being Robert Redford, saying to the girls, “He’s not a serious actor!” or some such unknowing nonsense. They were fawning, sighing, nearly fainting over him when he walked in, and I said something like “Oh for heaven’s sake! Stop it! He’s our dad’s age!” and, of course he was my dad’s age. My dad would have been 89 this year, same age as Robert. But that didn’t dissuade the histrionics going on behind me and to the side of me, as I watched my friends nearly lose their minds. It must have been a small taste of what it was like to see the Beatles during my mom’s young years.

The moment arrived and so did Robert. Here he was in all his Hollywood glory, striding onto the stage, jeans, boots, jacket, blonde hair combed just so, piercing blue eyes and crinkles at the corner of his eyes, just like dad! He sat at the table set for him center stage, flanked by the uppity stuff of staff at AADA. We giggly girls, (well they were giggling, I was pretending to be bored), were in front in the audience, right of center.

They opened up the lecture to the audience for questions. Every hand shot up, including mine, but I didn’t have a question in mind, because I knew I would never be called on and just joined in the excitement of the moment.

There were about 150 of us in the lecture hall/theater. There were a few questions which required fairly long answers. Then it was time for his last question and this time, I thought of something. The year before, Robert had been nominated for an Oscar for The Sting, but he didn’t win. It was also the infamous Oscars, where Sasheen Littlefeather strode onto the Oscar stage in full indigenous regalia, not accepting the Oscar on behalf of an absent Marlon Brando. It was at the time a shocking thing!

So, I had my hand up in the air and so did the all the young women around me. I didn’t care if he called on me, and I even laughed it off! But suddenly, Rob, Robert, Robbie turned to me, pointed at no one else in the room BUT me and everyone in the theater, knew he was pointing at me…and I…well I…suddenly, could not speak. My mouth opened WIDE, and though I tried to make words come out of my mouth, I was voiceless, speechless, and worse, I could not close my mouth. I had lockjaw and literally could not make my jaw snap shut. My eyes were as wide as my mouth was open. Poor Robert tried to help me by using some foreign language I could not access because my brain had completely melted down. His voice came out in slow motion sounding digitally altered, even though we didn’t know what that meant yet, like we do today. I could only blink at him in some sort of morse code, that said “I am awestruck by your majesty, Robert!”

Robert leaned forward on the table, and you could see he was trying to ‘reach’ me to help me and was almost willing me with those electric blue eyes, to “get it out!” But still nothing, no fricative sounds, nor utterances of any kind, no grunts, no sighs, no squeaks, no nothing was coming out of my mouth. Even though I was silent, that didn’t mean sound didn’t erupt forth. I swear I felt the hot breath as the laughter volcanically erupted behind from the one hundred and forty-nine other students in the theatre.

Suddenly with great force, the audience filled the theater with the loudest collective laughter and guffaws I ever heard even unto this very day. I realize now that I had gotten one of the biggest laughs I would ever get in my life, off stage, on stage, or backstage. While the laughter lifted and rose, it would start to fall and then climb higher than it had at first. I can still remember the roll of it! But still, I could not speak, and I collapsed falling backwards into the arms of a girl behind me, who like a good AADA actor, began fanning my face to revive me, drawing an even greater wave of appreciative laughter for my Lucy Ball/Carol Burnett moment.

After the laughter finally, and I mean finally died down, (seemed like it took forever!), I was able to collect myself, sit upright, smooth my hair back into place, and actually ask the following question, my cheeks bright crimson and my heart beating wildly: “Did you think Marlon Brando was right in refusing the Oscar and would you ever refuse an Oscar for a good reason or good cause?” Truthfully, I have no idea how he answered the question, because, after finally getting my question out, I blanked out again, albeit with fly trap closed, and I heard nothing anymore. The theater, my friends, the staff on stage with Robert all faded away into soup of swirling colors and sounds. And just like that, the lecture was over.

While the other students were scurrying to their musical theater class, or fencing, or scene study, I got up from my theater seat and followed Robert Re-dreamy out to the lobby of AADA. I was a shy 20 feet behind him as other staff walked him out too, but I in my mind’s eye, I didn’t see any of the staff. I knew they were there but couldn’t see them! I only had eyes for Robert. As he walked through that lobby, it seemed to me he was ensconced in golden light! His jean jacket was cobalt blue, like his eyes, his boots hit the floor just right, and I can’t even tell you what that means! It didn’t matter that he was smaller than life because as all have noted, he was not tall, it is true, but he had ‘stature' and authority even then, way before Sundance.

I felt compelled to watch him walk, down the AADA hallway, get into his limo and drive away. I wanted to know it was all real! I turned around when the limo door closed, giving him a shy little ‘bye bye’ wave standing on the stone stoop of AADA. He didn’t see me. I sighed, still not believing what just happened.

Slowly, dreamily, and as starry-eyed as my classmates were, mere mortal minutes before, I turned back to go inside my school and walk back down that hallway, a changed young actress, to my next class, wondering if Robert Redford would ever remember the girl he absolutely gobsmacked at his old Alma Mater.

Of course, I was the talk of AADA for at least a week and that little episode brought me comedic roles; Sabina in Skin of Our Teeth, Sophie in Star Spangled Girl and other roles. I had, thanks to Robert Redford, made the audience at AADA laugh good and hard. Robert Redford was my straight man, and I will love and remember him always for that gift. RIH Roberto. Love ya! Kim