Why I left John Wayne, said “No” to Clint, quit my series and married Stanley Kramer! Karen Sharpe!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- After appearing with John Wayne in the 1954 blockbuster, THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, Karen Sharpe won a Golden Globe as the Most Promising Female Newcomer. Duke put the young actress under contract at his Batjac production company, where she joined another newcomer, James Arness. Karen's audition for the role in THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY almost didn't happen! In fact, she wasn't even supposed to shown up and read for director William Wellman. What happened? In this exclusive interview with producer Rob Word, you'll find out how Karen got the part and why she decided to break her Batjac contract with Wayne. What did Duke have to say about her departure?
After leaving John Wayne and her contract with BatJac, young actress Karen Sharpe appeared in dozens and dozens of TV shows...most of them westerns! Karen soon got her own TV series, the western JOHNNY RINGO, and was cast by the series' creator/producer, Aaron Spelling. It was Spelling's first series and Karen recalls befriending this funny little man earlier in both their careers. Once again, Karen decided to strike out on her own and she quit the series mid-season in 1960.
Constantly working, she appeared twice on GUNSMOKE and other memorable series for that era, including DEATH VALLEY DAYS, THE RANGE RIDER, THE GRAY GHOST, YANCY DERRINGER, TRACKDOWN, BONANZA, LARAMIE and more. In two episodes of RAWHIDE, Karen recalls being "stuck" with romancing the series' ramrod, equally young co-star, Clint Eastwood. What she really wanted to do was work with RAWHIDE's trail boss Gil Favor, Eric Fleming!
However, Karen's favorite story is meeting a talented director who kept trying to date her. At first, she didn't want to go out with him. Luckily for both, she did. It was producer/director Stanley Kramer! Find out all about their romance and much more in this in-depth conversation with Karen Sharpe Kramer, a very classy leading lady.
This extended conversation combines two previous AWOW episodes that were recorded May 2019.
Following Karen’s conversation, a full episode of Jock Mahoney’s THE RANGE RIDER, will be screened. It’s “The Chase” (1953), guest starring Karen as a beautiful gang leader.
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#famouspeople #johnwayne #westernfilm #tvclassics #tvshow #tv #leadinglady #retro #academyawards #goldenglobes #clinteastwood #TVwestern #jockmahoney
#stuntman #actor #actress #actresses #romance #awordonwesterns #wordonwesterns
#robword #interview #interviewer #talkshow #filmdirector #stanleykramer #karensharpe
#karen #autry #clint
Good Morning. Thank you for always having great interviews . You are the only one keeping our childhoods of Westerns alive!!
Thanks, mary. Great memories aren't they? We try hard!
She is a great story teller with a lot of class.
Thanks for this Rob.
todays Hollywood Should Be Ashamed Of Ignoring Our Great American Actors in the Past. Exept For You Rob, Thank You o Much. I Love her Story. Truly
Hollywood . I was raised in Hollywood in the early 60s. peace,Polyester My father was a Dj for the L.A. basin Country and Western Music. we had the greats over.
Awesome, disco. Thanks. Who were some of the performers who dropped by?
Patsey Cline, hank Williams, Johnny Cash and June Carter. I was a Little boy in the 59's and we were living in Compton. their City Hall aired on Tv some of the best talent. In the early 60's we lived in Hollywood. i went to hollywood jr. High. I was In Math Class The day Kennedy was Killed. My dad Smiley Monroe narrated the Hollywood Christmas Parade for radio. we were looking over the Parade in a Balcony.
Hank Williams sr. song. Straight Out Of Compton''
The HIGH and the MIGHTY was really memorable fillm. It ended up nominated for academy award. I love this woman.
She's really Sharpe.
The nostalgia is off the chart with Rob and his interviews.
Thanks, Kyle.
Karen is as great an interview as she is an actress. What an intelligent woman and great communicator! She sure made your role easy. Karen was one of my favorites. She was a level above and really stood out. Thanks Rob for inviting Karen to share her movie and TV experiences.
What a beautiful woman and a beautiful interview. She’s so refreshing and great storyteller. Wonderful ❤
Glad you enjoyed it, Janice. Thanks
As a nine year old boy I saw the High and the Mighty at the drive-in in Long Beach California. Movies back then were an escape during the difficult times growing up. Sometimes I would spend all day in a darkened theatre watching the double features over and over. Movies smoothed out the rough times during those days.
Rob You Just don't Age !!! Again, Great work. Peace, Djdiscoworm you-tube
Many thanks, Rob, RJ and Team AWOW for another interesting interview. Karen Sharpe is delightful and very articulate with a wealth of information to impart. Many thanks again for this excellent oral history. Be well, all of you.
Robert Stack was in the "High and the Mighty"? That must be how he landed his part in "Airplane"!
Loved that story about Stanley Kramer and Karen's meeting and marrying.
Great episode, I love hearing stories about John Wayne and Jim Arness. Things had come out on the internet about them becoming enemies later on in life. I like to believe they were not true. Thanks Rob, for what you do
I like to envision the main title to Johnny Ringo as a cross between The Rifleman and James Bond.
I see it!
Great interview and fun to watch..
I can't thank you enough for these interviews. We are so blessed to be able to see & learn from these. I hope you can keep this up for many, many years. 🙏🙏🙏
Once again, Rob, you have outdone yourself again. Great interview.
I know what happened between Karen and Jerry Lewis when she made Disorderly Orderly. She is a very classy lady, so I won't bring it up either, I just know it wasn't a pleasent experience for her.
Love this interview Rob and really like Karen Sharpe. In my opinion still a lovely looking lady.
She might have realized she was working with a genius. But only if they were filming in France.
@@hiramnoone A genius huh? Okay, Lets hear it in her own words th-cam.com/video/ddH-T91K0tU/w-d-xo.html
She was in so many great projects. She needs more time to discuss more of old hollywood. I am sure she is a wealth of knowledge of a lot of goings on in the industry.
Love your interviews Rob, and thank you. Growing up in England in the 60s, I remember with great fondness The Range Rider, Cheyenne Body and many more Westerns and characters. They were aired early evening on our black and white TV....did you have same problems in the US with errant tv aerials messing with the vertical holds, infuriating!?
These great shows have stayed with me, and I still dream of becoming a cowboy. Your terrific prorammes transport me back to happy times. Keep up the great work Rob, which I watch on my phone, when not interupted by a bad signal.....just like the old days.
Thanks, Eddie. An antenna on your phone probably won't help much! LOL
What a marvelous interview, Rob. And a marvelous woman.
Another good one, Rob! Even Dick West, the all-American boy, was a little less irritating than usual.
I do love your interviews and themes, just so wonderful to have someone like you Rob.. thanks for doing a such exemplary work, congrats !!!! 👏👏👏
I first saw Karen in the Don Durant Western "JOHNNY RONGO" and fell in love with her. She broke my heart when she said that she hated that show. Wonderful actress and another good interview. Thanks, Rob! Rob, as a post script. Don Durant's gun was an actual gun built during the Old West. It was called a "LAMATTE". Steve McQueen's sawed off .30-.30 Winchester was never around during the West. It was the most popular toy that sold well after WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE left the air.
Rob, didn't you do an earlier interview with Karen about her appearance on "THE WILD WILD WEST?" It was then that I heard her say that she hated her role on "JOHNNY RINGO." As a 6yr. old, I "hated" girls but fell in love with her "LAURA" on Johnny Ringo. I also had a crush on Patricia Blair in "THE RIFLEMAN." So much for a little boy who "hated girls!" LOL!
This AWOW episode is an extended one that combines her two past episodes. We are getting many new viewers and I've been trying to include everything we shoot to make them longer. Thanks, terry.
Thanks for this engaging interview. What a wonderful storyteller.
Oh, she is just lovely!
I have a DVD of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? and Karen is on the Special Features and she speaks of the making of the film & the actors, she's very interesting!
Just a week or so ago I watched an interview with her Daughter, Kat, with Harvey Brownstone , she resembles her Mother very much!
I didnt know about the Westerns she made, The Range Rover was a lot of fun, thank you!!!
👍👍
Thanks, Karen. Yes, the resemblance is amazing. I had fun doing Harvey's show too.
@@AWordonWesterns
I believed I watched it the night it premiered! I should watch it again, my memories don't seem to be sticking like they used to...😉
Yes I remember the feature which I watched. Guess who's coming to dinner is one of the best KRAM ER MOVIES. SHE also was around for a MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. she has some great memories of another of my all time favorite comedies.
Wow, Rob... Your stuff is always fascinating... but THAT was amazing... I liked the longer running time [but, then again, how could you help it?]... When he was little my son LOVED Range Rider... He even called himself Dick West [and this was the early 2000's, not 1957 :)
Good job, Brother!
That is sooo cool. Dick West the all American boy!
Wonderful interview! Congratulations!
Great episode Rob - Thank you and have a good week. 🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎
What a marvelous guest and interview.
And thank you again for mentioning Victor Jory, who is so under appreciated.
Glad you enjoyed it, Karl. It's always nice to shine a light on the great Victor Jory!
Victor Jory unappreciated ? He was like a God to me growing up in SAN DIEGO. The police lieutenant on the weekly episodes of MANHUNT set in the city of San diego was huge.
@@markr.devereux3385 Lucky you, Mark. It was a syndicated series and wasn't carried where I grew up. I know Jory from his feature films and later guest star appearances on TV. He was always an interesting performer. What a voice! I'm going to track it down. Thanks.
It aired in the Chicago area.
I have a bad D.V.D. from a memorabilgia show, that is all I've found.
I believe he played Lt. Fanukin.
Nice to know three of us remember.
He also did an episode of "Banacek", he and Broderick Crawford played old gangsters.
@karltork6040 if he was an actor in the 1930s when he looked middle aged even at that time and on MANHUNT he looked a little grizzled but always suit and tie and hat. The credits used to show the old city jail near the harbor before it was demolished where the detectives had there offices. I remember as a kid picking up my grandfather when he got released at the portal and he complained about rats and cockroaches. It was a Spanish neo colonial architecture.
The only thing the Kid did that was really wrong was letting Karen Sharpe get away in the long run
Very cool interview will you be doing video for John wayne birthday
Our Friday Night movie, WORD'S WAYBACK, will continue our John Wayne movies through the rest of the month. My guest for next Sunday's A WORD ON WESTERNS/WAYNE will be Janet Arness talking about Duke and his good friend (and her husband), James Arness. They both have a May 26th birthday that day. It's gonna be a party, jerry!
Remarkable lady. Nice episode of Range Rider too.
Enjoyed the interview
Ms Karen is fun to listen, too
She's great walking talking history!
Kind regards from Adelaide, South Australia 🇦🇺
Howdy, back at ya down under, Sammy.
LeMat Revolver
I use Lemats in Red Dead Redemption Online
I don't think I could speak if I saw John Wayne standing next to the camera. Mrs. Kramer has worked with everyone who was anybody AND then being married to Mr. Kramer, WOW! Thank you Mr. Word for this video. Where are you going to do FUTURE INTERVIEWS, since you mentioned you have left the Autry.
On location. I'm hoping to be able to book guests easier and will be able to have longer conversations.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻✨👍🏻
Walter Greene scored several episodes of The Range Rider and its sister series The Gene Autry Show (both shows were done by Autry's Flying A Productions). His other credits include Woody Woodpecker and Pink Panther cartoons (the former succeeding Clarence Wheeler), several B-movies, and the Tarzan TV series (the one with Ron Ely). Irving Friedman later went to work for Screen Gems.
Thanks, pryce. I always like Greene's scores and didn't know he did work for Woody Woodpecker. Thanks!
SCREEN GEMS home of GUNSMOKE and my grandmother from Columbia studios was an assistant editor and had such stories of the cast being like a surrogate family. The full hour episodes were a challenge of film cutting final edit & sound ready for broadcast on Saturday evenings.
Screen Gems was not involved with Gunsmoke, which was produced (as well as aired) by CBS for its entire run.
Possibly the ONLY actress who could make me take my eyes off of Barbara Eden in the same scene! Karen Sharpe was in the pilot for "I Dream of Jeannie" as Larry Hagman's fiancée.
Wayne actually got Arness the part on Gunsmoke
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
She is still beautiful. She gave a wonderful interview. Not to be a pain but have to ask if you found a place for Janet Arness interview from last year during their birthday? Is there ever an interview you have done that you don't use? You do a wonderful job! Keep it up!
Thanks, stacie. Janet's stories of her romance and love affair with Jim are very special. I've been saving my conversation with Janet because this coming Sunday lands on Jim's birthday and I thought it would be a perfect way to celebrate! Yep, next Sunday is May 26th. We get lucky sometimes. Other times...not so lucky. We always try and use every interview. Once, during a full day of interviews at the Autry, we lost all of the audio. The only sound was recorded on the cameras and it's practically unusable. Very frustrating. RJ, however, feels that he will be able to finally save the conversations using AI. We hope to have those available soon. Thanks again. And don't miss Janet next Sunday!
@@AWordonWesterns Thanks so much! Appreciated.
took me awhile to remember Paul Goddards name, from Lost in Space.
Mark Goddard. He sadly passed away last October.
th-cam.com/video/XwlG9qjy0ho/w-d-xo.htmlsi=fb976PuwGvLfoN1l
Mark is in our 2023 Memorial Tribute. Wish I could have had him on the show to talk about his career. Thanks, Col.
I always wonder why Jock Mahoney went by so many changes in his name.
That is the LeMat Grapeshop Pistol or based on it.
Did she do the riding in that short? She was a good horsewoman.
🎉
.....I meant Bodie 🌞
Cant possibly tell you enough how I dont care!
there actually was a pistol with a shotgun barrel, it was the LeMat revolver made between 1856-1865. LeMat's revolver was used by such famous Confederate officers as Major Generals Braxton Bragg, Stonewall Jackson,J. E. B. Stuart, Richard H. Anderson, and Captain Henry Wirz. Confederate Major General J. E. B. Stuart "was known to favor the LeMat revolver". General Beauregard's personal engraved LeMat, which he carried throughout the war, is preserved at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.
Amazing. Thanks for the info, seymour. It was rare to see such an unusual revolver for TV.