Ernest Harada

ACTOR

You’ve had a remarkable career that includes a show-stopping Broadway performance as a Physician, a Madam and a British Admiral in Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, many TV series guest spots and roles in feature films including Rosemary’s Baby, Earthquake and Death Becomes Her. How did your involvement in Valley of the Dolls come about?

I thought I was on my way to NY to be a starving actor. But one of my friends, John Garfield Jr., known as David, was in California and involved with the New Talent Program at Columbia Pictures, where Harrison Ford was at the time, too. So was another classmate, Dean Goodhill, who appeared in a Columbia movie with Glenn Ford and Inger Stevens but later became a very famous film editor (and earned a 1987 Oscar nomination for The Fugitive). 

In 1966-1967, 20th was very happening.

All the soundstages were booming. Joe Scully was this medium built, nice-looking guy in his 40s, very unassuming. He liked me and said, ‘I’m going to put you to work right away so you can get your SAG card.’ He was one of several casting directors on the lot at the time. He wasn’t necessarily the biggest of them. His office was located in the Executive Building and, like a lot of them at Fox, it was very clubby, with wood paneling, lots of burnt orange and brown accessories, very 50s even thought it was the ‘60s. It was utilitarian, workmanlike. 

Right after I visited Joe, he walked me onto the lot to the soundstage where they were screen-testing actors for Valley of the Dolls. When I realize what actors go through to get their SAG cards, I realize that I was handed a piece of cake by Joe. Doing screentests meant I would get into the guild immediately. It was incredible. So, as I said, I went from Joe’s office to the stage where they were, just then, testing Kathryn Hays. Her test was already in progress but they put me to work right away testing with Barbara Parkins. She was testing for Neely.

Valley of the Dolls was a very tough movie to cast.

The women they saw or considered for the roles – it was almost like a redo of the search for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. Everyone wanted to be a part of it. The book was huge. Everyone you could possibly name showed up to test or meet with the casting people, the producer David Weisbart, the director. Neely O’Hara wasn’t easy an easy role to cast, especially. She was based on kind of an over the top character, Judy Garland. Well, that isn’t easy to find, is it? There weren’t a lot of Judy Garlands out there back then and there certainly aren’t now. 

What were impressions of Barbara Parkins as a person and as a possible Neely?

I remember being on that soundstage thinking Barbara Parkins might have done a pretty terrific job in the role. I still do. I adored her. Of course, she was just so beautiful. But she was also the kind of person who’d say, ‘I’m going to get a cup of coffee. Can I get you some?  What do you take in your coffee?’  Barbara Parkins had what no one else in Hollywood had at the time – elegance and class. She brings that but she was also an actress, too, and she showed that. I could see why, although she tested for Neely, they cast her as Anne. That character was a classy coed from New England and Barbara fit that. I tested with a number of people, some of whom I can’t recall now, I’m sorry to say. But I spent more time with Barbara Parkins than with anyone else. She was always very kind and patient. She would always talk and hang out. But I certainly remember that I also tested with Patty Duke.

How did that go?

That was … different. I had known her from The Miracle Worker. She tested more than once. Unlike Barbara, she was always in a hurry. She just wanted to do it and get out. I thought she was overboard as an actress, right from the test. But then again, the whole script was like that. I guess, though, that’s what helped make it an iconic ‘60s piece. There were others who tested for other roles like Raquel Welch. She tested in London, I think. Not an actress. Physically, she is sensational, a marvel. She looks good. But that’s about the beginning and the end of it.

I’ve watched several of the available screen tests and noticed something about Patty Duke’s test. You have a line about your boss Lyon Burke. The line is “He not in.” Pretty typically racist for the era. Do you recall that line?

Yes and I hated it but I just gritted my teeth, said it, and thought of my SAG card. I never thought I was going to be in the movie anyway.

Unlike other actresses who tested with you, Patty Duke repeats the line twice.

Oh, I remember. I didn’t find Patty Duke to be a nice person. 

 You worked for director Mark Robson in Valley of the Dolls and Earthquake. 

I’m duly grateful to him for that. Mark was my first director on my very first film so everything was wonderland new, the whole shebang -- lights, camera, action. But he was tough. I felt Barbara was wary of him and Patty was vexed. Was it the part she was playing? Or him? I dunno. I thought she was way over the top and I didn’t know where it came from. When I saw the film I wondered myself if she had been directed that way and if not, as a good director he should have helped her find her character, if only for the sake of the film. I don’t think he was a good director for actors. His focus seemed elsewhere.

Where?

He seemed more preoccupied than most with camera set-ups. He’d do very few takes and also seemed very preoccupied with the schedule. I only saw and heard him give directions to actors on physical actions, never on motivation, dynamics, acting. As some know, Judy Garland was fired from the film and replaced by Susan Hayward. Talk about fire and ice. I love Judy! She probably was devastated by the firing as any performer would be. Of course the Neely role is her. She was so vulnerable at that time but perhaps if he were a different kind of director it might have worked out. What would be awful for a Judy Garland, I think, is that I never felt Mark Robson was particularly warm with any of his performers. If anything, he seemed brusque and sometimes impatient. Most other directors I worked with after him were more concerned with the performances and working with the actors to achieve their vision. He was not great with actors – or people in general. Right after doing Valley of the Dolls, I worked with Roman Polanski in Rosemary’s Baby and the contrast was striking.

In what ways?

Well, Rosemary’s Baby is iconic, a masterpiece. Valley of the Dolls is iconic, too, though no one’s idea of a masterpiece. There was such a difference between Roman and Mark. Roman was great with camera but also great with actors. He knew how to talk to you as an actor. Actors sometimes want help and Mark Robson didn’t want that kind of communication – I’m not sure he was capable of it – with the women he cast. I saw it with Patty Duke, Sharon Tate. Ultimately, one of the reasons why I love the stage so much is that it’s an actor’s medium whereas movies are a director’s medium. It’s their vision that hits the screen and what you see in Valley of the Dolls is Mark Robson. Thinking about directors I’ve worked with who work well with actors like Roman Polanski or Blake Edwards – well, I would not put Mark Robson in that category. The man obviously had good taste, though, because he later cast me in Earthquake. (laughing)

What films did you do for Blake Edwards?

(laughing) Several Blake Edwards films that I’m no longer in, though I maybe appear as an extra in one or two like. Blind Date or The Man Who Loved Women. I asked him, Why do you keep hiring me?  I never turn up in the roles you hired me for. He said, Well, I like having you around. I was in Houston for four weeks on one of his movies and yet it was with a one-week commitment. I made a ton of money on that.