| About That Night
On Saturday, April 21,three of us
were lucky enough to attend the Western Heritage Awards at the National Cowboy and Western
Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. We had gone
there expecting to meet with Bill Pullman, introduce ourselves and give him the best
wishes of everyone involved with this site. Not
only did we have that meeting, but we also found ourselves among nearly 900 attendees at a
great western party in a truly world class museum.
Our experiences that night far exceeded anything we had anticipated.
The prospect of meeting a
movie star can be daunting. If you believe much of what has been written and said,
Hollywood seems to hold itself to different standards than the rest of us. Behavior that
wouldn't be tolerated in the real world seems to be the norm. So, no matter how much an actor has a
reputation of being a regular guy, you're never quite sure what the reality will be. Who knows what Hollywood considers regular?
Bill and Tamara Pullman
quickly dispelled any concerns in that regard. From the moment they entered the museum, it
was clear they didn't expect any star treatment. Coming
through the main entrance along with everyone else, with his trademark hair blowing in the
fierce Oklahoma wind, Bill and his wife, Tamara, drew no special attention to themselves.
In fact, they went up to the registration table, like everybody else, and identified
themselves. Fortunately, we had no trouble
spotting them and were able to guide them over to a corner of the lobby for a semi-private
discussion.
We introduced ourselves to
Bill and briefly told him how we contributed to the site and that we were members of his
online fan club. He smiled since he
recognized both of those efforts and held out his hand for us to shake. He then introduced
his wife and his cousin, whom he was staying with that weekend. Tamara, who was as gracious as she was lovely,
immediately offered to get us some drinks.
In order to put us at ease,
Bill asked how we all met and how we got to Oklahoma City.
We told him that we had him to thank for our meeting. He laughed and asked how that was possible. We then recounted how Juanita and Liz met several
years back when they discovered they were both from Dallas.
At that point, Bill mentioned that he loved Juanita’s Southern accent. We also said that Anne came all the way from New
York for the chance to see him.
We then talked about the
website, and how it originally started and all the contributors. Then we mentioned the list, and how he had many
devoted fans from all over the world. He said
he appreciated both his list fans and the hard work put into the website. We believe he’s started looking at the site,
but Tamara said that she hadn’t since she’s learning about computers. Juanita then asked if we could please take a
picture of his shoes for the Shoe Page. He
looked puzzled, until we explained what that meant. He
seemed amused and said, “Oh Man, my wife will be happy to know there’s a place
for my old shoes” and gave us the go ahead.
The time we spent with them
was a blur of activity, filled with conversation, giving gifts, and taking pictures. Bill and Tamara did their best to make us feel
comfortable in what was a very unusual setting. They
were obviously old hands at this kind of event and Bill demonstrated an amazing ability to
focus on a conversation in spite of all the hoopla around him. We were happy to present him with a first edition
(i.e., old and tattered) of "The Virginian" and a double CD of “ Themes from Great Western Movies”. The
gifts were sincerely appreciated since both Pullmans are avid western fans. Bill even
mentioned that the museum also has a first edition of “The Virginian” so he was
glad to have one for himself.
At one point, after Bill had
signed some items for us, we were able to snap a few pictures as a group and then
individually. He surprised us by taking out
his own camera and asking someone to take a photo of all of us. There was some local press in attendance, as well
as two magazines, and the museum's own staff photographer.
Since it had only taken a few minutes before people noticed Bill, there were
already quite a few onlookers circling. We did our best, though, to overcome the "deer in headlights" syndrome and tried
to make the most of the situation. In our detemination not to stare at him and to pepper
him with questions, we can’t offer too much inside information, or tell you much of
how he looked that night. Thank goodness for
pictures!
During a conversation about The
Virginian we all commented on how beautiful the soundtrack was. Bill then responded with a story on how the
soundtrack was put together. It seems he was
in Finland filming “Spy Games” when he heard a heavy metal Finnish band. He promptly got a copy of the band’s music
and asked Nathan Barr (The Virginian’s composer) to model The Virginian’s
soundtrack after them. During that time, we
also teased him about not wearing cowboy boots. He
responded by noting that he didn’t want to seem like a cowboy poser, out of respect
for the attendees, but did manage to wear something fit for the occasion – a western
shirt. He even flipped his tie up and proudly
revealed the western buttons hidden underneath.
Bill was very generous with his time
with us, and wanted to support the site in any way he could. For example, upon hearing
that we liked the soundtrack, he immediately said that he had a full copy of “The
Virginian” CD and would send it over for putting up on the site. Bill also felt that it would help Nathan’s
career, as he was just starting out and wanted more exposure. When asked if “The Virginian” was ever
going to come out on DVD, and he unfortunately said no.
Tamara also spent some time with us,
even though she didn’t have to. We said
that her dress was a nice shade of green and that her purse was very unusual. She laughed and said that it belonged to her
daughter, Maesa. Liz then gave a mini Casper
flipbook created by her daughter Megan for Maesa. She
said thanks and told us Maesa loved to do those too.
The Pullman children were being watched by a babysitter, which enabled the Pullmans
to come to Oklahoma and then continue up to Montana afterwards.
Eventually, though, our time ran out
and someone signaled Bill that it was time to move on.
He agreed to meet us again later so that we might get a picture of him with the
Wrangler Award. Reluctantly, we parted
company and he was off to patiently sign more autographs and to pose for innumerable
pictures. In the interim before dinner was
served, we found ourselves mingling along side the likes of Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, Dennis
Weaver, Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner and Barry Corbin.
The awards ceremony lasted about
three hours, during which we enjoyed a terrific dinner and classic western music by the
Sons of the San Joaquin. We were seated with
a lively group of locals who were excellent dinner companions- hospitable and eager that
we should know all about Oklahoma in general and the museum in particular. The program
included a hilarious turn by Wrangler recipient, Bob Brown and a very moving tribute to
the late actor, Richard Farnsworth, who had a long history with the museum. Bill's award
for “The Virginian” came last and was well worth the wait.
As you might expect his speech
was self-effacing, spontaneous and full of humor. He deferred to Ruth Fainberg and then to
Dennis Weaver, who was very complimentary of Bill’s talents both as an actor and as a
director. Bill began by drolly noting the lack of Chilean sea bass on the menu, then
mentioned TNT, which has been single handedly keeping westerns alive. He also talked about his kids appearing in the
movie and how his wife had been the head wrangler.
He followed that with a very funny anecdote about his less than expert ranching
skills and how he and his brother had put in a fence upside-down. Bill was obviously enjoying himself and
thrilled with the award.
The evening wound down with
quite a few people lining up to chat with the celebrities, lingering, as if not wanting
the evening to end. But end it did, as
we headed in Bill's direction and saw that he was completely surrounded. We spoke briefly
to Ruth Fainberg and found that it was a big night for her, too, addressing such a large
crowd and having her parents in the audience. It was quickly apparent the wait for Bill
would be a long one, so we decided to cab it back to our hotel and treat ourselves to a
glass of champagne. As we sat in the bar,
reviewing the night, we marveled that things had actually worked out better than we dared
hope. There had been no travel glitches, Bill
had arrived and somehow found us, and we had, incidentally, discovered the warmth and
hospitality of Oklahoma. Most of all, we came
away with a new appreciation for the Pullmans who were unfailingly gracious and generous,
making the night a success and charming everyone along the way. It seems there are some regular people in
Hollywood- we met them. |
