by Paul Fischer
HECTORELIZONDO of RUNAWAYBRIDE
For
the last five years he's been Dr. Philip Watters, stern administrator
of Chicago Hope and in most of the dozen Garry Marshall
directed movies he's appeared in, Hector Elizondo
has played men-in-charge. Earlier this year, in The Other Sister he was
a building superintendent. In his better known Pretty Woman role he was
the hotel chief who took a sloppy looking swan of a street hooker and
turned her into Cinderella. In real life, Elizondo is fairly bursting
with good humor. In The Runaway Bride, Elizondo reuintes with Pretty
Woman stars Julia Roberts and Richard
Gere, playing Gere's best friend -- and new husband to Gere's ex-wife
and boss, a USA Today editor played by Rita Wilson.
During our chat, he was scatting jazz (and told us that Kind of Blue
by Miles Davis, was his favorite album); singing bits of Bob Dylan
songs; dropping into a dead on NY Jewish accent and, all the while, "pushing
the chicken" . . .
Hector Elizondo: I'll tell you where that comes from. I used to
work, part time, in a deli, in those days when your parents made you work
just so you should know what work was like. And you'd make 4, 5, 6, ten
dollars. The little Jewish man who owned the place would say "When they
ask you what the special is today, just push the chicken". Whenever I
promote something, I'm pushing the chicken.
CrankyCritic:
So this film is like a Pretty Woman reunion?
Hector Elizondo: Yes, oh yes. Very strong sense of that.
CrankyCritic:
This time out, you did most of your work with Richard Gere.
Hector Elizondo: Yes, and it's my third movie with Richard. American
Gigolo was my first.
CrankyCritic:
Was there concern that this would just be a rehash of Pretty Woman?
Hector Elizondo: No. I work with Garry no matter what. What I wanted
to keep going was the streak.
CrankyCritic: Now at twelve movies.
Hector Elizondo: Yes. And it's based on loyalty more than anything
else. We take great glee that in a business that isn't very loyal, we
are very loyal to each other. Sometimes I just walk through; I just show
up, as in The Other Sister. I wasn't hesitant at all. I was looking
forward to working with Garry and when I read the script I thought "this
is going to be nice".
CrankyCritic: Why does Garry Marshall consider you his good luck
charm?
Hector Elizondo: I guess I work well with others
CrankyCritic: How much time did you spend on Runaway Bride?
Hector Elizondo: Three days. That's all I could do.
Hector Elizondo: [laughs]
CrankyCritic:
Have you ever been stung?
Hector Elizondo: Not bad. Just a misinterpretation of a fact here
and there. Not badly at all. I've dodged bullets but there's no scandal
in my life.
CrankyCritic:
So, how was it, 10 years on?
Hector Elizondo: We're ten years older. Julia is now a consummate
actor. A true professional. She knows how to handle herself beautifully.
She's lived a life and it's made her a better actor. It's what you bring
to the table. She has a wonderful passion with her orphanage, war orphans.
Richard has his work with the Dalai Lama. They're serious about what they
do. I respect them highly for that.
CrankyCritic:
And one of your pursuits is the revival of radio drama.
Hector Elizondo: Oh, I love radio drama. I prefer radio. I started
in radio, again accidentally. I wasn't looking for this kind of work at
all. Which reminds me of a fortune cookie: you often find your destiny
on the path you take to avoid it. I started in 1946 in radio. I was ten
years old. I was discovered singing in a school play. Someone was in the
audience and it's six degrees of separation.
CrankyCritic:
Tell us.
Hector Elizondo: It's a real New York story. Public School PS 54,
no longer there; it was the play of the month. Your class put it on and
your parents came on Thursday afternoon. I had a part in a play and then
I sang a song which I had no right to sing "St. Louis Woman" I didn't
know what I was singing but it sounded cool to me. So who's in the audience?
The man who wrote the blues, the father of the blues, W.C. Handy.
Little blind gentleman who had to be supported. And at the end of it my
English teacher brings him up and he said "You have swing son. That's
something you can't learn." And I thought "What is he talking about?"
Next thing you know I'm at a rehearsal studio, auditioning for a TV show
called "The Okey Dokey Ranch House with Wendy Barrie," a precursor to
Howdy Doody. And I got the gig. I did that and the Amoco hour on radio
and said, that's it I don't want to do this anymore. Because you have
to rehearse after school and I wanted to play! My father said fine.
CrankyCritic: But it was probably big bucks, in those days.
Hector Elizondo: The first check, talk about a different time,
we open it up at the kitchen table. And my father looks at it and says
"This is not good. I don't like this. You can't be making this much money.
It's not good"
CrankyCritic:
How much?
Hector Elizondo: Twenty dollars. He says "Do you know how hard
it is to make twenty dollars?" So he took it and put it in the bank. And
a few months later I quit show business.
CrankyCritic:
Gee, that lasted.
Hector Elizondo: [laughs]
CrankyCritic: What's your favorite role to do?
Hector Elizondo: Anything that makes you laugh and cry.
CrankyCritic:
Do you have one in particular?
Hector Elizondo: I loved The Price. I did that here, in
New York, in 1993 at The Roundabout. I loved Steambath.
CrankyCritic:
You got the Tony Award for that.
Hector Elizondo: Yeah.
CrankyCritic:
But you didn't do the PBS television version.
Hector Elizondo: No. I was working for Neil Simon on Broadway.
I tried to get out of that wonderful job, Prisoner of Second Avenue,
but he wouldn't let me. You can trust a Neil Simon script. Every dot.
Every dash; that pause means something. He takes all the jokes out, practically.
Pretty Woman was the easiest job I've ever done. I just wore the
right toupee.
CrankyCritic:
Do you have a collection?
Hector Elizondo: Yeah, I've got a bunch of them. Depending on what
I need 'em for.
CrankyCritic:
Do you have any desire to go back to theater any time soon?
Hector Elizondo: Yes. Very much so.
CrankyCritic:
And you get the immediate reaction from the audience
Hector Elizondo: Once you've had a sense of that, movies are very
laborious. On those, I've said it before, I work free. It's the waiting
they pay me for.
CrankyCritic:
Of all the Garry Marshall films, do you have a favorite?
Hector Elizondo: The first one, Young Doctors In Love. That's
the one he offered me immediately after we met, which is itself an anecdote.
I was invited to a basketball game at some producer's house, didn't know
who 'cuz I'm just in from New York. He's defending I give him a pass and
hit him in the mouth. It was Garry. His house. His basketball. He goes
"you're a louse passer but a terrific actor. I've got a movie for you."
And that's how we met.
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