By JUDY SLOANE

Front Row Features

HOLLYWOOD-Last summer, I attended a PBS press junket to publicize their documentary, “American Masters – Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames,” which spotlighted the iconic career of the producer/screenwriter/director, who created such popular and successful movies as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Victor/Victoria,” “The Great Race,” “S.O.B,” “Darling Lili” and the Pink Panther series.

Actresses Bo Derek and Lesley Ann Warren were on the panel to talk about their experiences working with the brilliant director. In 1979, Bo Derek won the role of the unattainable beauty Jenny Hanley in “10,” starring Dudley Moore. In 1981, Lesley Ann Warren nabbed the role of Norma Cassidy, a ditzy gangster’s moll in “Victor/Victoria” alongside of James Garner and Blake Edwards’ wife, Julie Andrews.

These are their memories of working with the screen legend.

Q: Bo, your role in “10” was groundbreaking for you. Can you talk about working with Blake on that film?

Bo Derek: He spoiled me for the industry for the rest of my career. I thought that’s what filmmaking was like. You had a strong filmmaker who was relaxed and confident. I think that’s what impressed me the most, his confidence. For me, I just walked in. I had no experience at all. And he made me feel as though I knew what I was doing, because I had nothing to compare it to. I thought, well, if he thinks I’m good, I’m good.

Q: How was the process of getting the cornrows? Was that easy or tedious?

Bo Derek: That was a ten-hour process with two girls working on my hair, but I think it helped create that unattainable female, that she didn’t have ordinary fluffy 80s hair.

Q: Lesley, by this point in your career, when you did “Victor/Victoria,” you had already worked with a lot of screen legends, people like Walt Disney, the Sherman Brothers. How on your radar was Blake Edwards?

Lesley Ann Warren: I had seen “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” eleven times, so I was already a gigantic fan. And “Days of Wine and Roses” and obviously the “Pink Panther” movies.

Q: Can you talk about your audition?

Lesley Ann Warren: I didn’t audition, which was insane, and what Bo said, basically, he made me feel so comfortable. We had great laughs about how Julie (Andrews) and I had just done “Cinderella.” In the meeting he said, “Do you want to do this role?” And I said, “I’ll do anything you want me to do.” I went home and read it. I would have done anything, but I was thrilled.

Q: Bo, there was some nudity for you to do in “10.” Could you talk about how Blake handled what’s got to be a very sensitive scene to shoot?

Bo Derek: I was very comfortable. I grew up on the beaches of Southern California and you wear a little bikini and it’s not that different than being nude. I was okay with it, and I trusted his taste. Because he already had such a body of work and he did have a special way of presenting women, telling women’s stories. And I thought it was so interesting, it wasn’t a love scene. It was the most important dialogue for my character and partly for Dudley Moore’s character was going on while we were in bed. It was a very different take than a love scene.

Q: Bo and Lesley, you worked with a lot of directors after Blake. What did you find unique about him?

Lesley Ann Warren: The experience with him was so unique for me, before and after. I’ve never experienced the kind of civility and grace and comfortability on a set. When I was doing “Victor/Victoria,” he believed that people couldn’t be funny after 10 hours of shooting, because the mental acuity and the spontaneity get tired. So he would bring us in at 8 a.m. and we’d be out of makeup by 10:30. And we would stop shooting at 5:00 p.m. and, because we shot in England, there was a tea trolley that came around at four o’clock, which was incredibly great.

 Bo Derek: I think the atmosphere came from his confidence. You really had a very strong captain at the helm and the atmosphere of the set and the people on the set he’d worked with for 30 years. They were very close friends. There was just a calm kind of quiet. It was pleasant.

 Lesley Ann Warren: He was also a great audience for an actor. He would fall off his chair laughing. You would hear his laugh through the take, and we’d have to do it again. James Garner and I would rehearse the scene and then Blake would come on the set, and as Bo said, everything was very quiet and respectful, and he would walk around with his viewfinder. And then we did the scene for him that we had rehearsed, and very delicately and with a lot of love and respect and an appreciation for actors, he would change everything. But you never felt shamed or criticized or, “Oh my God, I did it all wrong.” That was such a huge gift for an actor, and I so appreciated it.

Q: Could you ever sense that any of the male characters were a surrogate for Blake?

 Bo Derek: Yes, because Blake often used what happened in his life. He told the story that he was driving in Beverly Hills and there was a bride he could see from behind, and he said, “What if I pull up and she’s the one?” And so that started this whole story [of “10.”] He said that she turned around and looked at him and she definitely wasn’t the one. So yes, at that moment Dudley was like Blake.

Q: Bo and Lesley, if someone hasn’t experienced Blake Edwards’ films before, what’s the must watch three-movie binge you would suggest for them?

Lesley Ann Warren: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” and “Victor/Victoria.”

Bo Derek: I think “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Victor/Victoria” and I’m a big fan of “S.O.B.”

 

Note: PBS has repeated the documentary several times, so do check your local PBS listings – it’s well-worth the watch!