Harry Carey Jr. is a name that you may not recognize, but if you're a western or John Ford fan you'll certainly recognize his face. You may also recognize the name in that he's the son of the famous western star Harry Carey.
Long known as a member of John Ford's stock company, along with the likes of John Wayne, Ward Bond and Jack Pennick, he was given the opportunity to headline Wagon Master with Ben Johnson.
Wagon Master finally sees a release onto DVD and it even includes a commentary with the gregarious Carey and Peter Bogdanovich.
M&C had a wonderful opportunity to call in and interview the delightful gentlemen as well.
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We worked together but I tried to explain to her and whatever contact I had with the public I accept myself as a supporting player and not as a star. Stars had a certain quality that made them stars and I didn’t have that. I knew I could perform and play roles and I could be a successful actor as a character actor so it didn’t bother me not being a leading man or star
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He could’ve used him in Stagecoach. He would’ve been great for that part that George Bancroft played. He decided to do this remake and put me in it. It was tough because he was very tough on me in that.
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When he made Mighty Joe Young and those films before he made Yellow Ribbon he was very wooden, stiff, and talked like an amateur. When Ford got him in front of the camera in Yellow Ribbon I saw how he relaxed him and got him loosened up. He made him be Ben Johnson through the character that was in the picture. It was marvelous to watch this transformation.
You saw Ben just fall into that and become natural, un-stiff. He won the Academy Award later on. So Ford actually made Ben Johnson’s career.
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Ben says “I was talking to Dobe (Carey's nickname due to his hair being the color of an adobe brick), Mr. Ford.” He said “I know, what did you say?” He said “I was just talking to Dobe” and he wouldn’t repeat it. Then Ford said “hey stupid, I asked you a question.” And that was the end of that. It was all over.
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I’m gonna make a movie with you and Ben. He just told me right then, and you can ride him in the movie. He says “it’s a nice little story” and that was all I heard. The next thing you know we were over at the studio.
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Real corny, with the actors. It was all a big hammy thing. The people up there took it seriously. They thought it was a dramatic role. It was very funny. We had the best time doing that. It was a riot. We rehearsed in the evening and put this show on.
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I thought oh boy he’s got it. He’s gonna be one and he was. They felt that producers had already done their job and didn’t belong on the set after they started filming.
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He said to make a character out of this guy Parnell. He’s a West Point snob and a rich kid, comes from a very wealthy family, and he thinks he’s slumming in the Calvary. He gave me the whole idea on the way to play the part so that I was a conceited ass. He was a great help to me. It made the part not as attractive, he was friendly, but it was a tremendous help for me.
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He was the shit for the day and Ford kept making him do it over and over again. Widmark got mad and went over and took the bottle and broke it. As I was reading this I was thinking it would make a great scene in a film called The Life of John Ford, because Ford then looked at where the camera would be and said “Doesn’t he have a temper.” The irony being that Ford’s temper was the worst.
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By golly, he had his handkerchief. He had a habit of chewing on his handkerchief. And he had his handkerchief hanging out of his mouth and he looked very grotesque and strange looking and Slim Aarons shot a picture. He heard the click and said I told you not to do that and threw the camera overboard. That was the end of that.
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We did a show together one time, a comedy thing directed by Norman Lloyd. We got along famously and had a great time doing that. Lindsay and I were good friends and Vincent was very cold to me on that and it ruined our entire relationship.
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Finally after about a month of it I see him in the camera shop and he asks how long have you been in it (the U.S. Navy) and I say a couple of years. He says that the old man told me you were a recruit. It was terrible.
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Please visit http://harrycareyjr.com/ to read more on Harry Carey Jr. I know I had a wonderful time chatting with him.
Wagon Master is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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