Dick Gautier's feature film debut was in a bit part in the 1964 Navy comedy ENSIGN PULVER, which was a sequel to 1955's MISTER ROBERTS. Gautier played "Stefanowski," one of the sailors on the ship. Joshua Logan directed the film, as he had the first. The unreleased score was by George Duning.
Gautier's first regular television appearance came on the 1967 situation comedy "Mr. Terrific". Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved gas station attendant "Stanley Beamish" (Stephen Strimpell), a mild-mannered scrawny youth who secretly worked to fight crime for a government organization, "The Bureau of Secret Projects," in Washington. All he needed to do was to take a "power pill" which gave him the strength of a thousand men and enabled him to fly, much like Superman, albeit by furious flapping while wearing the top half of a wingsuit. Dick Gautier played "Hal," Beamish's friend.
The series debuted on CBS in January 1967, as a mid-season replacement for the sitcom RUN, BUDDY, RUN, which had floundered against NBC's "I Dream of Jeannie," then in its second season. Unfortunately, "Mr. Terrific" did no better and was cancelled after 17 episodes.
In talking about the series, Gautier admitted "That was a piece of crap! I didn't even audition or read or do anything. They had seen me on "The Patty Duke Show" where I played a musician. Kind of a good part that was very showy and I was fast-talking and glib and stuff. They saw it at Universal and said, "Man, he'd be great for the other guy in 'Mr. Terrific'." My agent, called and said, "You wanna do it?" I said, "I don't know, it's about a guy who takes a pill and becomes a superhero . . . It sounds like shit." He said, "Yeah, it's a piece of shit, but we're guaranteed 13 episodes. Could you use the money?" I said, "Yeah." We did 13 and that was it. Goodbye . . . The guy who starred in it, Stephen Strimpell, had delusions of grandeur. He thought he was doing the Cherry Lane Theater. I mean, really. He went into a producer's office and said, "I won't say this crap!" And he threw the script in his face. I said to him, "Jesus, man, this is a kiddie show! What are you doing? Get your money, button your lip and go home." God, that's all that was, a kiddie show. I don't know what he wanted, but he was very hard to get along with."
Gautier had a small role in the 1967 domestic comedy DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE. In the film, Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke play "Barbara and Richard Harmon," who after 16 years of marriage have a luxurious Los Angeles home, an expensive car, and two well-behaved but somewhat precocious sons. Despite the material success of their marriage, Barbara feels that they don't communicate, and she seeks out a marriage counselor. Bud Yorkin directed then film, which was produced by National General Productions and released through Columbia Pictures. Dave Grusin's score was released on a United Artists LP, which was re-issued on CD by Kritzerland in 2011.
Although he appeared in only six episodes over a three-year period (1966-68), one of Dick Gautier's best-known roles was as "Hymie" the robot in the comedy spy spoof series "Get Smart". Of his role, Gautier said "Hymie never stifled my career. He only enhanced it. I know kids who were named Hymie because they looked like me."
In 1968, Gautier and Peter Marshall (the long-time host of the television game show "Hollywood Squares") wrote the screenplay for the exploitation film MARYJANE. In the film, a teacher (Fabian) trying to break up a local drug ring is framed and arrested for possession of marijuana. Maury Dexter directed the film. The film's score, by Mike Curb and Larry Brown, was released on a Sidewalk Records LP. Reel Time re-issued the album on CD in 2011.
WILD IN THE SKY is one of those films that, for various reasons, has fallen into obscurity. Sometime in the late 1960s, William T. Naud, Dick Gautier, and Peter Marshall came up with a story about a group of anti-war, anti-establishment guerrillas, who scheme to hijack a B-52 and destroy Fort Knox with an atom bomb. It was a comedy. Naud was a producer-director who had made two 1960s exploitation films for the Southern drive-in circuit: THUNDER IN DIXIE (1964) and HOT ROD HULLABALOO (1966). Gautier and Peter Marshall had written the screenplay for the 1968 exploitationer MARYJANE. Peter Marshall had been appearing in films and on television, as a character and as himself, since 1949. But he is best remembered as the 15-year host of the game show “Hollywood Squares.”
In developing their story into a film, Naud and Gautier split up the other major tasks on the project, with Naud directing, and he and Gautier writing the screenplay and producing for Bald Eagle Productions. Starring in the film was Brandon De Wilde. Co-starring were noted character actors Keenan Wynn and Robert Lansing. Dick Gautier took a major role for himself (as the affable co-pilot on the B-52, "Diver"), and the film also featured a number of actors best known for television work: Tim O’Connor (in his feature film debut) had played the role of “Elliot Carson” on “Peyton Place;” James Daly was currently starring in “Medical Center;” Larry Hovis (in his feature film debut) was co-starring in “Hogan’s Heroes,” and sixth-billed Georg Stanford Brown was at that time doing mainly television guest star roles, with the occasional film like DAYTON’S DEVILS (1968).
It’s unclear when filming began. Various news items suggest the film began production in late 1969 or early 1970, under the titles “God Bless the Bomb” and “God Bless You, Uncle Sam.” The film was reportedly completed in late 1971. American International acquired distribution rights for the film, and it was copyrighted on 15 March 1972 under the title WILD IN THE SKY. Shortly thereafter, the film was trade-screened, and an advertising campaign was prepared under that title. Boxoffice magazine reviewed the film on 27 March 1972. Boxoffice reported that the film “is a bit preachy in spots, but for the most part, it’s entertaining and has some interesting side plots.” But the review also noted that “Action lags badly during the last third of the movie, and the laugh lines are rather slow in coming.”
Although it was expected that the film would be released in March 1972, there are no confirmed showings of the film in major cities. I’m sure, however, that it played in some smaller markets under the WILD IN THE SKY title, because I have an ad for the film from a small-town newspaper.
But fate was to intervene in the film’s fortunes. On 6 July 1972, star Brandon De Wilde died in a Colorado hospital from injuries suffered in a traffic accident. The 30-year-old actor had been in Denver to appear in a theater production of “Butterflies are Free.” Perhaps because of this unfortunate circumstance, WILD IN THE SKY was withdrawn from distribution and quietly put on the shelf.
More than a year later, in late 1973, American International changed the title of the film once again, to BLACK JACK. AIP also changed the film’s ending, and created a revised advertising campaign for the picture. The 1972 ads for the film, when it was titled WILD IN THE SKY, show the MPAA rating as GP, but the 1973 ads and reviews for the film as BLACK JACK list the rating as PG, reflecting the MPAA ratings name change from GP to PG that had been made in late 1972. More importantly, the new ads changed the cast billing to emphasize the role of Georg Stanford Brown, who was by then one of the stars of the popular television series “The Rookies,” which had premiered in September 1972. The new ads showed Brown as the star, and positioned the picture as a blaxploitation film, using the tagline "Meet Jivin' Jack Lynch. He's got The Man on the pan...and he's gonna fry him good!"
Even with the new title and ad campaign, the film didn’t get much traction. It opened in New York the week of 6 December 1973, but was all but ignored by the critics. Variety’s “Sege” called it a “sporadically funny comedy” whose “central problem is the absurdity of the plot line” and “the creators’ apparent inability to decide whether the picture is a spoof of the military or basically a thriller with laugh elements as fillip.” “Sege” concluded that the film was “a fumbling hybrid that fails to score on either count.” And Cue’s Donald J. Mayerson, the only major New York critic to review the film, felt that “this idiotic effort” had a “screwy plot,” and he declared that “the results are asinine.”
The public didn’t take to the film under its new guise either, and it quickly dropped out of sight, seemingly for good. WILD IN THE SKY / BLACK JACK has never been issued on video, and no print of the film is known to exist.
Following WILD IN THE SKY, William Naud would write, produce, and direct a few low-budget films in the 1980s. His last film work, before disappearing from view, was writing the screenplay for the 1988 film NECROMANCER. Peter Marshall would continue hosting “Hollywood Squares” until 1988, and make scores of other film and TV appearances besides. He still makes the occasional television appearance. Tim O’Connor appeared in two more features, THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY and ACROSS 110TH STREET (both 1972) before moving back to television for the rest of his career. He retired from screen acting in 1997, but briefly returned for a 2011 film, DREAMS AWAKE. Georg Stanford Brown would have a long television acting career, with major roles in the miniseries “Roots” (1977) and “North and South” (1985). He also began directing when he was still on “The Rookies” and alternated acting and directing until 2005, when he retired from both at the age of 63.
I may be the only one around who saw every episode of Mr. Terrific. Uh, not sure if that's something I should be proud of. But I am proud to have seen every ep of Captain Nice!
I may be the only one around who saw every episode of Mr. Terrific. Uh, not sure if that's something I should be proud of. But I am proud to have seen every ep of Captain Nice!
Yep, I also remember watching both of these fun, campy shows.
I remember Gautier best from his role as Robin in When Things Were Rotten. Also loved his slimy evangelist villain in the original Fun with Dick and Jane.
In 1973, Gautier took his second stab at network television in the situation comedy "Here We Go Again". The show is a "divorce comedy", portraying the post-divorce life of two couples. "Richard and Judy Evans" (Larry Hagman and Nina Talbot), who have a son, "Jeff" (Chris Beaumont), divorce after 17 years of marriage due to incompatibility. "Jerry and Susan Standish" (Dick Gautier and Diane Baker), who have two children, "Cindy and Jan" (Leslie Graves and Kim Richards), divorce after a ten-year marriage due to adultery. Richard and Susan fall in love and marry. He moves into Susan's house, which is near the homes of their ex-spouses.
The show premiered on ABC in January 1973 on Saturday Night at 8:00 PM, as a mid-season replacement for the cancelled western "Alias Smith and Jones." Unfortunately, both shows were going up against the number one show on television, CBS's "All In the Family." Notwithstanding the quality of the show, the fate of "Here We Go Again" was a foregone conclusion, and the show was cancelled after 13 episodes.
Here's the opening of the first episode:
Obviously, a different opening needed to be devised for subsequent episodes, and a theme song was written:
Gautier had the lead role in the Mel Brooks-created sitcom "When Things were Rotten, a spoof of the Robin Hood story. Gautier was Robin Hood, with Dick Van Patten as Friar Tuck, Bernie Kopell (another "Get Smart" veteran) as Alan-a-Dale, Henry Polic II as the Sheriff of Nottingham (whose name was Hubert), Ron Rifkin as Prince John, Misty Rowe as Maid Marian, and David Sabin as Little John. Robert Klein had been offered the role of Robin Hood but turned it down.
For once, Gautier was in a new Fall show, rather than a mid-season replacement. ABC debuted the series on Wednesday night, September 10, 1975 at 8 PM. But the end result was no different than with Gautier's earlier series. The rapid-fire, Mel Brooks style of comedy was perhaps out of place on network television of the era, particularly at the early hour, so despite critical acclaim, the series failed to find an audience against NBC's "Little House on the Prairie," then in its second season. "When Things Were Rotten" lasted only 13 episodes. At mid-season, it was replaced by "The Bionic Woman," which went on to be a success.
A minute-and-a-half of the 30-minute show was taken up by the opening theme song:
