From Bad Sisters to Tarzan: Sara Shane’s Greatest Adventures
an Interview by Michael Barnum
“I was madly in love with Errol Flynn from the moment I saw him as Robin Hood, until I finally met him—which sort of dispelled things . . . .”
“I didn’t have the figure to fashion model because I was too, I guess you would say, rounded.”
“I remember Clint Eastwood was brought under contract and I recall that we all thought, ‘Oh, God, he hasn’t got a prayer.’ He was really a bad actor . . . .”
“Jo Van Fleet, who is in King and Four Queens, was a complete bitch!”
“I was a lousy actress, but boy, put me in a tree and let me swing and I could do a great job of it.”
“But the most fun I had was the Tarzan picture, because of going to Africa and running around in the jungle and working with all of those fantastic guys. I just had a wonderful time.”
“I was disgusted with that recent movie [The Aviator] . . . Faith Domergue was a very close friend of mine so I knew the story between the two of them. It was nothing like it is portrayed in this movie.”
Breaking into films was the goal of many a young gal in the 1940s and ’50s, but for one native of Kirkwood, Missouri, a career in front of the camera was only a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
Born Elaine Sterling on May 18, 1928, in Kirkwood, later moving to St. Louis due to her father’s job, this future film beauty began modeling while still in her teens. At age 18, after a brief time in New York City, she headed west, to Hollywood, California, where her good looks and fantastic figure helped win her a movie contract at M.G.M. Beginning as a bit player in big pictures including Easter Parade (1948), Julia Misbehaves (1948), and Neptune’s Daughter (1949) under her real name, she eventually left M.G.M., switched her moniker to Sara Shane and graduated to lead roles in grade B films like Three Bad Sisters (1956) and Affair in Havana (1957). A bright note in what she would describe as a rather drab film career came when Sara was chosen to play the Jane-like role opposite Gordon Scott’s ape man in 1959’s Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure. Plenty of work came her way over the next decade, particularly on television, and although the roles she played over the years were often nothing to write home about, she did share screen credit with the likes of Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Burr, James Mason, Leslie Caron, Sean Connery, John Cassavetes, and Rock Hudson.
Sara Shane enjoyed her time in the spotlight though she never really took her vocation that seriously and retired from show business at a fairly young age. A few years later she found her true calling while deciding to take the pharmaceutical world to task for what she saw as a slow poisoning of the earth’s populace. She now devotes her life to this passion of hers, a passion developed while witnessing the 10-year illness, and eventual death, of her close friend actress Allison Hayes which was reportedly caused by the consumption of a seemingly harmless, but unregulated, nutritional supplement. As Sara puts it, “This is a crusade that I am on, and have been for several years!”
Sara Shane, now known as Elaine Hollingsworth (she was married from 1949 to 1957 to William Hollingsworth), is also a published author with two books to her credit. Written in the early 1970s, her book “Zulma” tells the true story of a male transvestite who was incarcerated in one of Mexico’s most infamous prisons, and more recently her book “Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry,” now in its ninth edition, has sold more then 80,000 copies worldwide.
The still lovely former screen beauty is as active as ever working as the director of the Hippocrates Health Centre in Queensland, Australia and she often appears on TV and radio promoting healthy living and exposing what she sees as dangerous toxins in our everyday lives. Sara/Elaine was kind enough to take time out of her busy work schedule to candidly chat with Classic Images about her time in Hollywood, her career as an actress, and what has happened in her life over the years.
MB: Were the movies an important part of your childhood?
SS: Movies were everything to us. I was a child of the Depression. We did not have the money to do much of anything, but I managed to get hold of 10 cents every week so that I could go to the movies on Saturday. As I got a bit older I, of course, dreamed of being one of the people up there on the screen.
MB: Who were your screen idols?
SS: I was madly in love with Errol Flynn from the moment I saw him as Robin Hood, until I finally met him—which sort of dispelled things (laughs). Although he was still adorable, he was such a drunk. I loved Ronald Colman, who I eventually did a television show with. I had an opportunity to tell him I had been in love with him when I was 5 years old. That was a pretty insulting thing to say I guess (laughs)! Oh, and there was Hedy Lamarr, who I thought was the most wonderful looking creature that had ever walked the earth. Luckily, I eventually became very close friends with her and I stood up for her when she married [musician] Teddy Stauffer. She was just so beautiful. Greta Garbo was another favorite. Oh, that woman was also so lovely. And to have the pleasure of meeting her, and just looking at her. Wow. She was amazing. By the time that I met her she was in her 40s and still looking fabulous.
MB: Before Hollywood came about for you, you worked as a model in New York. What type of modeling did you do?
SS: Whatever I could get. I didn’t have the figure to fashion model because I was too, I guess you would say, rounded. I didn’t have that stick figure. What I did mainly were face and hand modeling, you know cosmetic ads, skin care ads, “The hair you love to touch,” that type of thing, and that I didn’t do terribly well (laughs)!
MB: And so you switched to acting?
SS: In New York I was modeling and having a wonderful time with my best girlfriend who was engaged to marry Huntington Hartford who was the heir to the A&P supermarket chain. After I’d been in New York for about four of five months Huntington wanted to take my friend to California and she wanted me to go with them. He put us on the Super Chief and set us up in an apartment and introduced us to Los Angeles society. That is when I managed to get a contract at MGM. This was in 1947.
MB: What was your first film at MGM?
SS: I had very tiny parts in movies where you would never even see me, but I was in Neptune’s Daughter with Esther Williams. I think that was my first speaking role and I was absolutely terrified. I played a secretary, you know, with those horn rimmed glasses on! Before that I had a non-speaking role in the film Julia Misbehaves.
MB: And what did you think seeing yourself on the big screen for the first time?
SS: I was horrified (laughs)!
MB: You play a model in the Judy Garland musical Easter Parade.
SS: Oh, yes. Now, it was not during the making of this film, but later on, that I used to go to parties at Judy Garland’s house. Oh, gosh, you would see Judy and Frank Sinatra singing together. It was heaven. I’d have more fun at those parties. Of course this was all later in my career. At the time I did Easter Parade I was a complete and absolute nobody and I would never have been invited to a party at Judy Garland’s house! It was later on that I really started meeting people.
MB: Around 1954 you went under contract to Universal-International and appeared in a couple of their big budget Technicolor offerings for that year—Sign of the Pagan and Magnificent Obsession.
SS: In Magnificent Obsession I had a nothing part which I had totally forgotten about until now. I only say a couple of words. In Sign of the Pagan I think I filmed a couple of scenes with Jack Palance which they cut out. Jack was a darling.
MB: Did you enjoy your time at Universal-International?
SS: It was such fun there. It was like being back in high school, except you were surrounded by these gorgeous people.
MB: Do you remember many of those gorgeous people?
SS: I remember Clint Eastwood was brought under contract and I recall that we all thought “Oh, God, he hasn’t got a prayer.” (Laughs). He was really a bad actor at that time. And Rock Hudson was there. I loved Rock, he was a darling. He was as sweet as could be. He never got snooty or anything when he became successful. He always had time for everybody. Mamie Van Doren was a great friend of mine. I loved her. And Kathleen Hughes and I became very close and we still talk on the phone with each other. I don’t think I have talked with Mamie since I moved to Australia, though, but she sure was a lot of fun! Allison Hayes was there as well, and she and I were best friends up until her death. She was killed by the pharmaceutical companies, you know.
MB: I understand you say a nutritional supplement she was taking caused poisoning in her system.
SS: It was tragic. I went through it all with her from beginning to end. Allison was a brilliant woman, very kind and generous. Allison never reached her full potential in acting, but she was a wonderful person, and very, very intelligent. I miss her still. You know, I was only at Universal for one year and yet I made all those wonderful friendships!
MB: After you left Universal-International your film roles got bigger. You appeared with your friend Kathleen Hughes along with another Universal-International alumni John Bromfield, in Three Bad Sisters.
SS: Oh, my God. Let’s not talk about that one! That’s embarrassing. A terrible clunker. But John Bromfield was a wonderful man to work with.
MB: Hopefully I can get you to talk a little bit about that movie.
SS: It was the greatest turkey of all time (laughs)! And I was just horrible in it.
MB: It did have a wonderful cast.
SS: I can’t tell you too much about Marla English because I didn’t get to know her well. She seemed like a really nice girl though, and she was very, very beautiful.
MB: What was the plot of this film?
SS: I am not sure anybody knew, least of all the script writer (laughs). It was about three sisters, who looked nothing alike by the way. Two of them are bad and one of them is good. I played the good one. Kathleen tries to kill me, I think. Anyway, the whole thing was awful.
MB: Maybe if you had a chance to see it again you might think the movie isn’t so bad.
SS: No, I wouldn’t. I’m sure I would be humiliated (laughs)!
MB: Do you remember how you got involved in the film? Did the producer or director request you?
SS: Oh, I doubt that. I don’t remember how I got that part. And I still regret having gotten it. I just cringe when I think about how awful I was.
MB: How do you feel about King and Four Queens (1956)?
SS: Well, I was pretty terrible in that one too, but that movie, at least, wasn’t as embarrassing as Three Bad Sisters. Plus I got to work with Clark Gable which was just wonderful!
MB: What about the ladies in the cast?
SS: Eleanor Parker was terrific. A very lovely lady. Barbara Nichols was fun and very nice. Jean Willes was nice, also. I didn’t get too friendly with either Barbara or Jean. Not because I didn’t like them or anything, it just didn’t happen. But Eleanor Parker was just sort of my cup of tea. I liked her a lot.
MB: Both Three Bad Sisters and King and Four Queens had young, beautiful actresses in lead roles. Did that cause any competition?
SS: Oh, no. Not in those two films. But there is one thing I can tell you that I think is quite funny. Jo Van Fleet, who is in King and Four Queens, was a complete bitch! We had a scene together and that woman did something that was so unprofessional. She hauled off and hit me. It wasn’t even in the script. She hit me in the side of the face so hard that she knocked me out of frame. She actually knocked me out of the shot! Blood came out of my mouth. It was terrible. But I didn’t stop acting. I came right back into the scene again. They didn’t have to cut it. But the director was furious with her. I mean she could have put me out of business as far as filming was concerned. She came darn close to hitting my eye—got the ear, got the mouth. She must have had big hands. She just walloped me one. She was playing my mother-in-law in the film.
MB: The director, Raoul Walsh, was known as a tough cookie to work with.
SS: A complete bastard! Horrid man. This was my first important picture and I was scared, so I wasn’t about to tell him what I thought of him. But Eleanor Parker was a big star and she had courage. Walsh did something terrible to her and she let out at him and called him every name in the book (laughs)! It was wonderful. I know I am speaking ill of the dead, which is not very nice, but by golly! You know many of those who worked on King and Four Queens died of cancer and I always wonder if it wasn’t because of what was going on up there where it was filmed.
MB: Like the film The Conqueror (1956), your film was done on location in Nevada, wasn’t it, close to where the government had been testing atomic bombs.
SS: Yes, and The Conqueror was filmed just before us. Now in our film the cast was rolling around in all that red dust. I was not rolling around in the red dust in our film because I played kind of a staid character who wouldn’t be rolling around. Jo Van Fleet died of cancer. Barbara Nichols died of cancer. Jean Willes died of cancer. Now, I don’t say it was this, but they’d been doing the [atomic] testing shortly before we got up there. It is rather curious.
MB: You were anything but staid in your next film Affair in Havana (1957) starring Raymond Burr and John Cassavetes. In fact you played a young wife cheating on her crippled husband.
SS: Ugh, that is another terrible one, but actually I had a marvelous time making the film. For one thing I was married at the time and I was thrilled to get away from my husband. Absolutely thrilled! And I stayed down there, in Havana, for a long time reveling in it (laughs)! Secondly, Raymond Burr was in the film. An absolute darling. Loved him to pieces and it was such a pleasure to be around him, he was just so nice. John Cassavetes, however, was a horrible guy and he hated me.
MB: Why would he hate you?
SS: I think part of it was because I was taller then he was. He was only about 5-feet, 7-inches, which is the same height I am, but with shoes on I [looked] taller. He was a very good actor though. Everyone else in the film was great. In Affair in Havana I was supposed to be madly in love with John’s character, but was married to Ray’s character, and hated him. Well this was the problem because I was really crazy about Ray and didn’t much care for John (laughs)!
MB: What were the filming conditions in Havana like?
SS: It was sweltering hot. You just had a constant perspiration. We worked some days a full 22 hours, because we were running out of time and the producers were running out of money. I was so tired that they had to prop me up and push me out in front of the camera. It was beastly. But aside from the heat it was all great fun. I enjoyed it. And it was so interesting to be in Cuba shortly before Castro took over. Of course I had an opportunity to see how terrible the government there was . . . the government of Fulgencio Batista, a terrible, terrible man who kept his people so poor. I was all on the side of Castro.
MB: How long were you in Cuba filming?
SS: I think we were there about six weeks.
MB: One of your most popular films is Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959).
SS: Now that one I am not ashamed of! That is one of my favorites and it was really fun. I was living in Europe at the time. I had moved to Europe after I got my divorce and I stayed over there for about five years. While I was living in London I won the lead in a play in the West End, with Robert Helpman directing. I adored him. He was fantastic and the most enchanting man. He directed me in a scene to audition with in front of the producer and I was chosen for the play. This was it, I was going to star on the West End! But guess what? Actor’s Equity wouldn’t give me permission to appear on stage in London. That was heartbreaking. Well, one week later an agent named Johnny Shepridge, who was a famous character around town, informed me that there was to be a casting call for a Tarzan film. Well, the next thing you know I am on a plane heading to Africa! So if it hadn’t been for losing that show on the West End I would not have had the marvelous experience of going to Africa. In fact, I fell in love with the place and I have been there four or five times since. I was at one time seriously considering moving to Nairobi.
MB: Tarzan in this film was played by bodybuilder Gordon Scott and he became arguably one of the most popular actors to play Tarzan.
SS: I loved him! Absolutely loved him. He was so much fun. I can remember that we were all staying at this outpost called The Blue Post Hotel, which was a few hours drive outside of Nairobi. It was a beautiful place, and it was located near our filming location. Now, I had a huge amount of running around in the jungle to do in this film, jumping over things and swinging through trees and all of that, which I was very good at. I was a lousy actress, but boy, put me in a tree and let me swing and I could do a great job of it. Well, they did not have a big budget for this picture so they couldn’t afford helicopters to fly us in to our jungle locations, we had to walk, and it was often an hour’s walk over creeks, jumping from one rock to another, and through the jungle until we arrived at the set. Then we would work all day in the hot sun. I was the only girl in these exterior shots, the other actress filmed her scenes on a boat. By the end of the day I’d be knackered, as we say here in Australia. One day I’m standing there and they say that we are done and can all walk back. Well, I started to sway a bit and Gordon asked if I was tired. I told him I was exhausted. He picked me up and flung me over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes and carried me an hour out of the jungle. Don’t you just love it!
MB: Well, there are a lot of people who’d have loved to have been in your place!
SS: (Laughs) Well, he was not really my type. I was in love, at the time, with an extremely tall, extremely thin man (laughs!). But as I said, Gordon was adorable and he was the funniest man. He had a brilliant wit. You’d see this guy, this “man-mountain” and you wouldn’t realize what a brilliant wit he had, which must mean that he is highly intelligent, because you can’t be that funny without being smart. Gordon made a fine Tarzan, and I think he was enjoying it too.
MB: It sounds like the cast got along quite well.
SS: Gordon, and Sean Connery, and Tony Quayle, the four of us used to always try to get into the same car when we were going places because we all had the same sense of humor. We laughed so hard—it was really fun. They were all so great. There was nobody on that film that I didn’t just love. Also, my hairdresser on that film was part of our group. We called him “The African Queen” (laughs)! Well, you can imagine why. He was so adorable and had the best sense of humor. So he, Sean, Gordon, Tony Quayle and I were inseparable. And Tony was fabulous, also. I was crazy about Anthony Quayle!
MB: Was Scilla Gabel part of the group?
SS: Scilla was extremely sweet, but her English was limited. We didn’t talk a lot because of that. It was not because we disliked each other, it was just that it didn’t work out. Scilla wasn’t an outcast or anything however, far from it, as she had her little group on the set as well.
MB: This was a pre-James Bond movie for Sean Connery. Did you have any sense that he would eventually become such a super star?
SS: When we got back to London I called all of my friends in the picture business—producers, directors, etc. and I told them about this guy on our movie who is going to be a big star. He is a great actor, he is gorgeous, and I told them that they just had to do something with him. Well, I don’t think many of them did, which was to their loss. Only one person listened and he tested Sean for a role in a movie called Malaga (1960), which was with Trevor Howard and Dorothy Dandridge. But they ended up giving the role to Edmund Purdom! Edmund Purdom!? Now come on, that was so dumb (laughs)! So then, later, Sean was tested for the James Bond movie. And of course if he had made that other crappy movie, Malaga, he’d have never been tested for James Bond. I still can’t understand why anyone would cast Edmund Purdom though, when they had Sean Connery available, but never mind (laughs). I thought Sean was incredible. Just a darling. At this time he was dating actress Diane Cilento.
MB: Jungle pictures, by their very nature, tend to be full of action. And as you filmed on location were there any injuries among the cast and crew?
SS: Well, there was almost one with me. On one day of filming I was standing around in the hot sun, perspiration rolling down my face, looking quite disheveled, and I was talking to a couple of the guys on the set out in the jungle. I forget who I was talking to, but we were just screaming with laughter over something or other. I was laughing so hard that I stepped back without looking and stepped right on this immense boa constrictor! And I mean immense! And I was in my bare feet to boot, as they had just been filming me running around barefoot. I didn’t realize what I had stepped on, but two of the guys picked me up off of the snake. As it turned out, however, it was an “actor”—the snake was. It was curled up on the ground, perhaps it was drugged or something, I don’t know, and so it didn’t attack me.
MB: Did you have a stunt double for any of your scenes?
SS: Nope, that was me all over. They couldn’t afford to hire a stunt woman. Now the scene where I am swimming away from the downed plane, that was all shot in London. I don’t think they wanted to take a chance of me getting gobbled up by a crocodile in the middle of making the movie, so it was not filmed on location it was filmed later on back at the studio. Normally they are pretty careful not to let an actor get injured. But what you had to watch out for on films was that last day of shooting, because then they don’t have a stake in you anymore. Like in that awful, awful movie with John Bromfield, Three Bad Sisters, they had a scene of me jumping off a cliff and almost drowning. That scene was done on the last day of shooting. I mean really, this could have been a close call. If it hadn’t been for John dragging me onto land I might have been carried out by the tide. But what did the film makers care? Their movie was done and all my other scenes were in the can (laughs)!
MB: And of course a near drowning would have been great publicity! Do you have any recollections of the director of Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure, John Guillerman?
SS: I don’t think he had a giant body of film work, but he was a good director. He wasn’t very chummy with the cast as he was very busy. Directors on location, well, it is a hard job. I wouldn’t want to have to do it. He wasn’t the kind to really give the actors any direction, though. He would just set up the scene and let us go for it. I don’t think there was much development of character going on in that movie.
MB: What else kept you busy while you were in Europe?
SS: Well, I had gone to Europe after my divorce, as I mentioned. I bought myself a fabulous little Jaguar with red leather upholstery. After I had been in London for awhile I decided to be adventurous and do some exploring and so I drove to Rome. It was such a beautiful drive, you just have no idea what it was like back then. In the late 1950s and ’60s Americans were very well liked. Everybody loved us. I would stop in strange places and people would meet me and offer to let me stay with them. It was a magic time and I really enjoyed it. Everywhere I went people were so hospitable and fun and welcoming of Americans. An agent had told me to come down to Rome and he would get me all sorts of film work. I figured that as long as I wanted to see Europe I might as well stop in Rome. Of course that led to an incredible social life, as you can imagine. This agent knew everyone and there were parties and dinners all of the time. I never did get a film role in Italy. I won a part but the producers lost the financing. The I got a call from a producer in Germany who asked me to come up there and do a television show called The Tales of the Vikings with Jerome Courtland. Akim Tamiroff was also in it and some other wonderful character actors. I played a princess in this episode and it was a lot of fun and it is a show I would certainly like to get my hands on. They photographed me so well in that one. I saw the rushes and I couldn’t believe it. It was the best photography I had ever had!
MB: You worked quite a bit in television. Do you recall an episode of Dragnet that you did?
SS: Oh, Dragnet! I would love to get a copy of that episode some day, also. I was not deeply ashamed of that one. Jack Webb, in fact, complimented me tremendously. He came over to me and said “Why aren’t you a big star?” Why am I not? That is a good question (laughs). I also did an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Show [episode Captive Audience] which starred James Mason. I am killed off within the first few minutes, but there is a scene in there that was quite good. I knew James Mason prior to working on this episode and he was a darling man, and such a great actor.
MB: So those two roles you felt you did well in.
SS: You see I did not do much studying for my roles, they just sort of stuck me in front of the camera and that was it. I never learned anything about acting. It wasn’t until near the end of my career that I began to be able to do a little better job of emoting.
MB: You did another show for Hitchcock, under the Alfred Hitchcock Presents banner [episode: The Old Pro]; this one opposite Richard Conte.
SS: And that one I was not ashamed of either.
MB: Now we have three (laughs). How about your episode of The Outer Limits.
SS: With Patrick O’Neal. That one was OK also, and Patrick O’Neal was a dream and he was wonderful to work with. He was such a good actor. I believer that the episode is called Wolf 359. In this episode Patrick is in the desert doing an experiment for some big company and I play his wife. Well, of course, everything goes wrong with the experiment.
MB: You play a countess in an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea [episode: Long Live the King].
SS: That was such a cheap show. It was done very inexpensively and it wasn’t my finest moment, but it isn’t too terrible. In the episode there is this boy who is orphaned when his father, the king, dies, and so he becomes the king and he is a complete pain in the neck. I am a countess, but I am also somehow his governess. Carroll O’Conner has a guest spot in the show and he comes through at the end, teaching the boy how to behave properly. And I get my own just desserts because I am a villainess.
MB: Oh, you had a chance to play another villain role!
SS: Yes, but I wasn’t a very exciting villain.
MB: You did a lot of television, but never had a regular part in a TV series, did you?
SS: I almost did. I did a pilot for a show called Johnny Moccasin in which I play a school teacher. It would have been a continuing role and that would have been really nice for the pocket book. Jody McCrea, Joel McCrea’s son, played Johnny Moccasin. It was beautifully done and it was filmed in color; it was a nicely written show aimed at teenagers. It was set to be a series but then they found out that the writer had been blacklisted. The next thing you know the whole show was shelved and nobody wanted to talk about it.
MB: What would you consider to be the highlights of your acting career? What are you the most proud of?
SS: Oh, I am not proud of any of it. But the most fun I had was the Tarzan picture, because of going to Africa and running around in the jungle and working with all of those fantastic guys. I just had a wonderful time. Although acting was fun, I really did it only in order to afford to go into business for myself. Once I had enough money I began buying old houses and remodeling them so that I wouldn’t have to work anymore and have to worry about money, which is how it all worked out. My agent used to call me and tell me that he had an interview for me. I would have to tell him I couldn’t go because I was pouring concrete (laughs), or a roof needed to be put on or whatever. He finally told me that I needed to make up my mind which I wanted to be, a business woman or an actress. So I chose business and was able to retire when I was 40 years old, and I have had a good time ever since.
Once I stopped acting, and I was in a position where I no longer had to work, I decided that I was going to do some writing. I had found out that a very close friend of mine had been put in jail in Tijuana, in a terrible, notorious, prison called La Mesa. It was a horrible place which I had always heard about. They throw you in there and they don’t give you any food or anyplace to sleep. If you have no money, or are not clever, you could starve. I went down to see my friend at the prison taking with me some clothing and supplies. I got to the jail and they asked me what I was doing and I told them that I was a social worker and I wanted to bring clothes in for these poor men. So they let me in. I found my friend and he introduced me to all of these terrible, terrible people. Mexican desperados, drug dealers, just dreadful criminals—and I adored them! So I stayed close by for about four months and did research and wrote a book about the jail called “Zulma.” That was my introduction to writing.
MB: What precipitated your move to Australia?
SS: I was living in Los Angles and hating it because it was so polluted and so crowded. Someone had broken into my apartment and I just thought, “Oh, this is just ridiculous.” I chose to move out of the U.S. again. I looked at a map and decided against Europe because I had already been there. I wanted a place that was English speaking, with a stable government and that was safe. I decided on two places; Australia or New Zealand. I applied to live in New Zealand and they turned me down because of my age. Then I applied to Australia and they also turned me down because I was too old. I then went to a friend of mine who owned a great deal of land in Australia and I asked him for help. He called and somehow got me in. Once in Australia I bought 5 acres of the most beautiful land full of trees and flowers and a big beautiful house. I decided to do nothing but grow my own food and rest. Well, that didn’t last very long because the next thing you know I am writing a book about health and here I am.
MB: And what prompted you to write your latest book “Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry.”
SS: People had been nagging me for years to write a book about health and I kept telling them that I don’t have the kind of credentials to write such a book, and who would bother with it. I just kept making excuse after excuse. Well, one of my friends started a health center here in Australia and made me into one of the directors. This made it possible for me to do the book and it has been a phenomenal success, way beyond my wildest dreams.
MB: You have had an interest in health for quite some time?
SS: Oh, I started that a long time ago. I had lived in Haiti for some time as I had a business there and I caught dengue fever from a mosquito bite. It damaged my liver and it would have killed me. I was only able to bring my liver back into good functioning by going on a good diet. That got me going and I began to read up on everything to do with health. Allison Hayes was also very interested in natural health and it was she who introduced me to Dr. Henry Beiler. He was her good friend and he became a good friend of mine also.
MB: Another famous personality you knew was Howard Hughes.
SS: Oh, gosh, well first of all, I was disgusted with that recent movie about him [The Aviator]
MB: It had some inaccuracies?
SS: It was not accurate at all. In fact I spoke to Paul Jarrico’s widow about it recently. Paul was a writer and was someone who Howard Hughes practically ruined.
MB: What about The Aviator did you feel was incorrect?
SS: For instance [actress] Faith Domergue was a very close friend of mine so I knew the story between the two of them. It was nothing like it is portrayed in this movie. I was so put off because the girl that they chose to play Faith looked like a tart, and Faith was a very gorgeous, lady-like woman and never behaved like she was being portrayed. It was just terrible. Now, as a movie it was enjoyable, just do not think of it as a film about the real life of Howard Hughes.
MB: How did you come to meet Hughes?
SS: I knew Howard because I had a friend who was close to him. Well, I wouldn’t say they were friends because I don’t really think Howard had any friends, but anyway he knew Howard and he thought that Howard would like me. So on the day that I met Howard he tells me that he needs to fly his plane from Burbank to such and such place and would I care to go with him. I thought “Well, why not!” I was just 18 so what did I know. I flew with him and he had me holding the stick and flying this plane. I didn’t really think much of it. I wasn’t thinking “Oh, I am flying with a piece of history.” I just thought “Oh, OK, this guy just wants to go flying,” and so we did. We landed at an airport near the Mexican border and someone met us and drove us back to Los Angeles. During this entire time he never, ever laid a hand on me. Later he took me skeet shooting and he used to come to my house at night and my mother would make him a nice home cooked meal. He said that he liked visiting us because no one ever invited him over for home cooked meals. We had him over quite often and he loved it. It is really weird, isn’t it (laughs)!
MB: He did have a reputation with women, though didn’t he.
SS: I knew of his reputation, but he was never anything but gentlemanly with me. I mean he had girls stashed all over town and I don’t know how he could possibly have been jumping in to bed with all of them. In the case of Faith Domergue, she was 15 years old when he first saw her. And when I tell you that the girl was beautiful, I mean she was right up there with Hedy Lamarr and Garbo as far as beauty was concerned. He saw her and went crazy and thought he could make her into a star. He also wanted her as his girlfriend, but Faith’s mother wouldn’t go for that. The next thing you know Howard bought Faith’s mom an apartment building and put it in her name and she gave him Faith. Now I know this to be true, but it was not in the movie. I just don’t think it would have been that hard for them [the film makers] to research that.
MB: What do you think of the career in show business that you had?
SS: It was really just a springboard. It got me into places that I could never have gone otherwise. For example, how many people from Kirkwood, Missouri can say that they stood cheek by jowl with the Queen of England at a movie premier? Or could say they sat next to Winston Churchill at a theater? How many people have had that kind of wonderful opportunity? That is what my career did for me. It got me out of Kirkwood and out into a world where I could meet some of the most interesting people who ever lived. And for that I am grateful.
MB: Are you ever surprised to find that people remember you and your films?
SS: Yes. I am amazed (laughs)!
MB: But do you get a kick out of it?
SS: What I get a kick out of, really, is what I am doing now. I am making things hot for those who damage the world with their products. I am really making things difficult for them. That is what I am really getting a kick out of. This is the best thing I have ever done in my entire life. I have had people from all over the world tell me that I have saved their lives because of my book. People are killing themselves with the food that they are eating.
Here I am pushing 80 and I am having the most fun and the most satisfying time of my whole life. It is amazing to me that I could still be having such a great time at my age! Also, people might like to go to my website, www.doctorsaredangerous.com where they can see photos of me now, and see what the old girl is up to!
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