Triad Today

In 2007, Hillary Clinton was the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, but she was derailed by a man with better ideas, more charisma, and a bigger following. Now, eight years later, Hillary is once again the presumptive nominee of her party. The problem for Mrs. Clinton, though, is that history might repeat itself. She may once again be derailed by a man with better ideas, more charisma, and a bigger following. That man is independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a 73-year-old political rebel who neither party has been able to buy or bully.

Sanders officially launched his campaign for the White House on May 26, with polls showing him trailing Hillary by 38 points in New Hampshire. By the end of June he had cut that lead down to 8. And not only is he gaining on the Democratic favorite, he’s actually beating the Republicans’ top guns in head-to-head match-ups. He leads Jeb Bush 48% to 47%, Scott Walker 48% to 42%, and Donald Trump 59% to 38%. Yes it’s early in the process, but those kinds of numbers should cause serious concern among the old guard in both parties. Right now, those party loyalists are holding on to the hope that Americans who agree with Bernie’s approach to government will come to their senses by February. But what if they don’t?

Everywhere Sanders appears in public, he draws record crowds, and they have the same enthusiasm for him as did the crowds who showed up for candidate Obama in 2008. What’s more, Bernie is a master at using social media and the internet, which helps him reach and communicate with followers in every State. Last month, for example, he gave a speech via video simulcast and invited small groups of supporters to gather and watch the webcast. In Winston-Salem alone, over 150 of his supporters attended the event, and at Democratic headquarters no less. That was just one of the more than 3,500 such gatherings nationwide which drew over 100,000 devotees.

One of those supporters was John Schoonover who told The Greensboro News & Record, “I’ve never worn anybody’s button before, but Bernie’s different.”

That’s an understatement. Bernie is one of the few elected officials who voted against the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (Hillary and the GOP field supported that war).

He’s for universal health care and a single payer system, calling it “Medicare for all.” (All of the other candidates merely fought over what part of a flawed system they liked). Bernie supported same-sex marriage throughout his political career (Hillary just came to her senses on that issue two years ago). He is pushing for free tuition at public universities, and has made income inequality the lynchpin of his campaign. And he opposed the Trans Pacific Partnership, which will just continue the devastation NAFTA has already wrought on the American middle class. He’s also the oldest Presidential candidate in the race, the longest serving independent in federal history, and he’s Jewish. Yeah, I’d say Bernie Sanders is different, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Here in America we tend to write off candidates who aren’t part of the political mainstream because we’re told by columnists and pundits that so-called fringe candidates can’t win. And even though we might believe in what that fringe candidate stands for, we tend to vote for the more established politicians because our guy just doesn’t stand a chance. Well Bernie Sanders does stand a chance, and if everyone who agrees with his positions votes for him in the primaries, then he will be the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2016. Yes Bernie Sanders is different, and it’s a difference we should all embrace.

Back in 1976 Bruce Jenner’s likeness was everywhere. He was on magazine covers, cereal boxes, and posters, and appeared on talk shows, variety shows, and in movies. Having just won the Olympic gold medal in the Decathlon, and named as the AP’s Male Athlete of the Year, Jenner was a sports hero of the highest order, and the attention heaped upon him was well deserved.

Today, nearly forty years later, you can’t look anywhere without seeing Jenner’s image again, only this time around, he’s in the news BECAUSE of his likeness, and not because of an outstanding achievement.

In those intervening four decades, Jenner hooked up with the Kardashian clan and learned first-hand from wife Kris and step-daughter Kim how to orchestrate, manipulate, and sustain an outlandish event, then turn it into a cash cow. For Kris and Kim it was a sex video. For Bruce it was slowly transforming into what he refers to as a woman, and calling himself Caitlyn. I have resisted writing about the Jenner story for three reasons.

I didn’t want to further legitimize the Kardashian circus machine which so enthralls the American public. I didn’t want to be labeled “transphobic.” And I didn’t want to disrespect those who have struggled quietly to become transgender. But after the ESPY’s gave Bruce/Caitlyn the Arthur Ashe Courage Award earlier this month, I could no longer sit back and stay silent.

First of all, there is nothing courageous about a multi-millionaire, hen-pecked white guy taking hormones and wearing a dress for Vanity Fair. Even worse is that the politically correct ESPY crowd (most of whom probably never met Arthur Ashe), passed over some very deserving people with real courage to honor Bruce/Caitlyn. I’m sorry, but I find the whole thing to be a disrespectful publicity stunt that dishonors Mr. Ashe’s memory.

I was fortunate to spend a Saturday afternoon with Arthur back in the fall of 1988. Some mutual friends of ours, Drs. Sandra and Stephen Vaughan, were hosting a private party to celebrate the publication of Arthur’s groundbreaking trilogy, A Hard Road to Glory, and it was a chance to honor the man and his achievements. We all knew that Arthur had undergone heart surgery several years earlier, but none of us knew that the great humanitarian had contracted AIDS from tainted blood used during his operation. In fact, as best I can recall, Arthur himself had only learned of his fate a month or so prior to our meeting.

Anyway, about a half hour before the party, a knock came at my office door. It was Arthur. He had just gotten off the interstate, and wanted to make sure he had the correct directions to the Vaughan’s house. He was quiet and soft-spoken that day, which was par for the course for Arthur. But he also seemed a bit distant and sullen, and that was not normal for the tennis great. I gave him directions, then followed in my car to the event. Several years later we all learned why Arthur was overly quiet that day. Hell, he was probably still in shock.

His plan was to keep the AIDS diagnosis private, but, faced with being outed by a journalist from USA Today, Arthur finally and reluctantly went public in 1992.

It wasn’t the first time Arthur had dealt with adversity. Forty years earlier Ashe had been denied access to the whites-only city tennis courts in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia. He spent the rest of his life fighting racism, even to the point of being arrested for protesting apartheid. Overcoming racism took one kind of courage. Facing a horrible death took another kind of courage altogether.

Ashe had both kinds. Some columnists and commentators have speculated that, were he alive today, Arthur would embrace Bruce/Caitlyn’s “courageous” transformation, but I disagree. Arthur didn’t suffer fools, frauds, or showboats lightly. Jenner is first and foremost a celebrity in the Kardashian mold. He is not a hero. He is not a role model, and he is certainly not courageous. Lauren Hill was courageous. She died in April at age 19 after playing basketball while battling cancer. Noah Galloway is courageous too. He competes in adventure runs despite having lost an arm and a leg in Iraq. Either Lauren or Noah would have been fitting recipients of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. But then, neither of them was a millionaire showman like Bruce/Caitlyn.

And lest you think mine are the ramblings of an old, out-of-touch heterosexual guy, be advised that even some in the LGBT community are none too pleased with Bruce/Caitlyn’s grandstanding either. They point out that, unlike most of the estimated 700,000 transgender people in America, Jenner hasn’t lived with the fear of losing a job, being beaten up at work, or denied opportunities to support a family.

I can’t possibly know what it’s like to overcome racism, and thus far I don’t know what it’s like to face a death sentence, so I suppose I don’t really know what courage is. But I sure as hell know what courage ISN’T, and that’s posing for Vanity Fair.

Keith Grandberry (right),
with Oprah Winfrey and Bob Brown

As CEO of the Winston Salem Urban League, Keith Grandberry acted locally while thinking globally. Today as founder of Helping Hands Consultants, he acts globally but thinks locally.

I first got to know Keith when he was transforming the Urban League from a local agency with limited scope, into a regional organization that served people from all walks of life. His approach to meeting the needs of a diverse population was particularly effective following the great Recession of 2008, and subsequent economic downturn that resulted in unprecedented lay-offs. I recall asking him once if having the word “urban” in its title meant that WSUL only served minorities. Keith responded by saying, “The Urban League is in 18 counties and many of the people we serve are not minorities. We serve everyone. We serve middle-income people. We serve folks who have lost their jobs, and who need to be re-trained. We try to provide a service to everyone, because we believe everyone is important.”

I quickly learned that Keith meant what he said. He worked with Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke and Piedmont Federal to have the bank donate a building to the Urban League, where the City of Winston-Salem, Forsyth Tech and Wake Forest University partnered with the League to establish a training center for people who had been displaced from their jobs. He obtained a $100,000 grant from the Wachovia Foundation that allowed WSUL to help unemployed managers and executives prepare to re-enter the job market.

He expanded the senior program from two counties to eighteen, making it the largest subsidized program for seniors in the state, and one of the largest in the nation. In addition, those seniors had access to social media and computer training through a Digital Inclusion program. As a result, people over 55 had the skills to re-enter the workforce.

And Keith founded the Youth Leadership Institute in partnership with Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools’ Alternative program and the Nehemiah Leadership Institute, in an effort to stem the rising high school dropout rate. Historically about 70% of students who are sent to alternative schools drop out. But Keith teamed with volunteers from Winston-Salem State University and the City to create a mentoring, tutoring, and paid internship program that engaged students. The result? 95% of the students stayed in school.

Keith also used his considerable networking skills to persuade high profile individuals to support and participate in a number of initiatives. For example, nationally recognized facilitator Stedman Graham helped structure the youth program. Meanwhile Keith partnered with UNC School of the Arts to establish the Larry Leon Hamlin and Sylvia Sprinkle Hamlin scholarship. And he persuaded his friend Maya Angelou to lend her name to Novant’s Women’s Health and Wellness Center, one of the few such centers in the country named after an African American woman. As such, Grandberry demonstrated that education, the arts, and healthcare were all inexorably linked to job readiness and economic development.

Given his many accomplishments and track record for empowering people by using creative strategies, it was not surprising that last year, following President Obama’s African Summit, Keith was encouraged by his mentor and White House advisor Robert J. Brown, to start his own company.

Helping Hands Consultants is a global development company that is, among other things, engaged in numerous projects that will strengthen Africa’s economy. Thus far, Keith has met and negotiated with leaders from the Kingdom of Lesotho, Ghana, Liberia, Botswana, and South Africa (including Winnie Mandela) to bring jobs and industry to the continent. But American and European companies don’t want to invest in countries with an unskilled labor force. That’s where Keith’s success at the Urban League comes in handy. In some areas of Africa, 90% of high schools have no library, and most provinces have no hospitals. And so, Keith is networking with investors to establish libraries and hospitals, along with job training programs, all in an effort to empower people by providing education, healthcare, and resources that will make them employable. It is the same multi-faceted, humanitarian approach to economic development that Grandberry used here locally, and now he is making it work on a global stage.

When he’s not traveling overseas, Keith appears as a regular member of my Triad Today Roundtable panel. Recently I asked what has motivated him all these years to promote economic empowerment, and he cited the teachings of his mother, grandmother, Winnie Mandela, and Bob Brown, saying, “Helping others is not a choice. You don’t choose to help others only when you’re up, or ignore them when you’re down. You choose to help others because paying it forward is God’s way of giving his blessings through us.” His is a philosophy that has helped thousands of folks in the Piedmont Triad, and is now doing the same for thousands more in Africa. They are fortunate to have Keith Grandberry as an advocate, and I am proud to have him as my friend.

In 1920, H.L. Mencken wrote, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” University of Michigan professors Arthur Lupia and Jesse Menning echoed those sentiments at a 2006 symposium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Said Menning, “Politicians can use fear to achieve self-serving outcomes (or suboptimal policies) that are bad for voters. In it, a politician provides information about a threat. His statement need not be true.”

In the spring of 2009, President Obama was in the throes of lobbying for his proposed healthcare reform legislation. The Affordable Care Act would, among other things, provide for Medicare-covered end-of-life counseling. Under the plan, doctors would be reimbursed for sitting down with their elderly patients, and educating them about such things as a living will and hospice care. It was a good plan too, because according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about 75 percent of the people who die each year in America are age 65 or older, and many of them don’t understand the benefits of hospice care until it is too late.

In an effort to derail “Obamacare”, Sarah Palin, Representative Virginia Foxx and other Republican alarmists spewed inflammatory myths about end-of-life counseling, saying that it would allow the government to create “death panels”, and decide when seniors would die. “Republicans have a better solution that is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government,” said Foxx. It was the kind of political hate speech and fearmongering that Mencken and Menning had warned about, and it was effective. Obama had to jettison Medicare-covered end-of-life counseling from ACA, or else watch his healthcare reform package go down the tubes.

In the years since then, a modicum of reason has replaced some of the rhetoric, thanks in part to a 2014 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) titled “Dying in America.” According to the Associated Press, the report concluded that “too many deaths are filled with breathing machines, feeding tubes and other treatments that fail to extend life, and make its final chapter more painful and unpleasant.” That report inspired Medicare officials to announce last Wednesday their intentions to fully cover end-of-life counseling starting in 2016.

Dr. Joe Rotella, Chief Medical Officer of the Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care told the AP that Medicare’s move is a “little miracle, given the death panels furor.” Rotella also said that he thinks the controversy has finally passed. The AMA even jumped on the bandwagon with President-elect Andrew Gurman saying, “This issue has been mischaracterized in the past, and it is time to facilitate patient choices about advance care planning.” And here in North Carolina, last week’s announcement was long overdue for hospice providers. “Hospice care allows patients to live out their final days and weeks in dignity and comfort. Medicare’s new regulation will help facilitate education about the care we provide so that patients can avail themselves of hospice services while there’s still time,” said Denise Watson, CEO of Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care.

And so, barring any unexpected uproar over the next 60 days, the new regulation will be cleared for implementation next year, and it will allow some 55 million Medicare beneficiaries and their families to make more informed choices about end-of-life care.

Back in 2009, “death panels” was a Republican talking point by political alarmists, designed to derail healthcare reform. In 2015 those same alarmists are six years older, and that much closer to needing end-of-life care themselves. I guess now their muted opposition to Medicare covered counseling is what Menning meant by self-serving outcomes.

Last week Governor Pat McCrory stopped by the ABC45 studio to tape a special edition of Triad Today.

It was McCrory’s sixth visit to the program. The unedited half hour discussion will air this weekend. What follows are highlights from my exclusive interview with the Governor.

JL: In light of the Charleston church massacre, would you be in favor of stricter gun policies such as a much longer waiting period, and upping the age limit for gun ownership?

PM: I don’t think we need any new laws, but I do think we shouldn’t weaken the laws that we currently have.

That’s one reason I want the state legislature to continue to allow the sheriffs to do background checks, because it’s often our 100 sheriffs in North Carolina who know the background of someone who’s maybe involved in domestic violence, or has mental illness problems which federal background checks don’t always show…The guy who did this terrible crime in Charleston, not only was he a racist, but I also think he had some drug and mental health issues. … Everyone’s talking about the gun issue and the racial issues, but I think there’s some serious drug and mental health issues too.

JL: You’re in favor of banning the Confederate flag from license plates, but—

PN: The battle flag, and that’s from a state-sponsored license plate.

JL: I understand, but is that really going to make a difference?

PM: For a shooting like this, no. But the battle flag has been hijacked for the last 50 years by the KKK and now by hate groups. I think we did the right thing by not allowing the battle flag on state-sponsored license plates because of the signal it sends. But, at the same time, I think there’s an overreaction on the Left to take it out of war memorials and cemeteries.

JL: Speaking of racial divides, there have been a number of incidents in which a racist white cop shoots or assaults an innocent black person, and it’s always in a city where blacks are under represented on the force. Shouldn’t we require local police departments to hire according to the demographic make-up of that city?

PM: I’m not sure that would be legal because then you’d be making an employment decision based upon someone’s skin color…but I’m a firm believer in having a pool of candidates that resembles the community.

JL: Same-sex marriage is legal in our state, yet the General Assembly overrode your veto of a bill that will now allow magistrates and register of deeds to opt out of serving same-sex couples if it offends their religious sensibilities. Any comment?

PM: I’m conservative when it comes to marriage between a man and a woman, but I believe I was sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of North Carolina…and I don’t think a magistrate should be exempt from that… If you have a job and you swore an oath to the Constitution, you ought to follow it. And if you vehemently disagree with it because of whatever belief, then you ought to quit your job.

JL: The General Assembly is also trying to block you on bringing a bond referendum to the voters. Why do we need the bonds you’re proposing?

PM: I’m a firm believer that we have to invest in the next generation… We’re the ninth-most populous state in America, and we haven’t had a bond referendum in fifteen years, and during that fifteen years, we became the ninth-most populous state. The first part of the bond is for transportation, and that would, for example, finish I-74 in Winston-Salem which is desperately needed. If we don’t pass the bond, then I-74 won’t be built for another decade. So are we going to prepare for growth, or are we going to react to growth?

JL: Senator Wade finally prevailed and the General Assembly has passed a law that will restructure Greensboro City Council, and essentially strip the mayor’s office of power. As a former mayor, and now governor, do you think state government should meddle in local government?

PM: As a conservative I believe in local control, so the governor and the state legislature shouldn’t meddle in Greensboro City Council business. If they want to do that, then go run for mayor, go run for city council. You were elected senator, so do your job… For whatever reason when some people get power in one area they want to keep the power they might have had from where they lived.

The Governor and I covered a number of other topics during the half hour, including his revised approach to Voter Photo ID’s, the relationship between education and the private sector, and whether he would consider running as vice president if asked by the party nominee. The full interview can be seen Saturday at 7:30am on WXLV ABC45 and again on Sunday at 11am on WMYV MY48.

Kathy Garver is most famous for her role as orphaned teenager Cissy Davis in the hit comedy Family Affair, which aired on CBS from 1966 to 1971. But Cissy was not Kathy’s first role. In fact, by the time Family Affair premiered, Garver was already a Hollywood veteran who always seemed to play characters younger than her actual age. At 11, for example, she could pass for a six-year-old child when standing next to Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments. But young Miss Garver made her mark on the small screen too, appearing in over a dozen TV shows before she reached her teens. And while she excelled in comedies and dramas, Kathy’s favorite roles were in Westerns, like The Rifleman, The Big Valley, and Daniel Boone.

KG: I love Westerns. I’m a cowgirl at heart, and I love to be outside. And I love animals, and so it was really fun for me to ride the horses and to be shooting outside instead of being in a stuffy studio. It was just a delight. I also liked the stories and I liked the people. I liked it when men were men and women were women (laughs) and we were all forging forth. I’m an adventurer and a romantic, so all of that mixed together to make me really like Westerns.

Kathy liked Western stars, too, so it’s no surprise that she had great chemistry with Family Affair patriarch Brian Keith, himself a veteran of TV and movie Westerns. But in order for CBS to land Keith as Bill Davis, bachelor uncle to Cissy and her younger siblings Jody (Johnny Whitaker) and Buffy (Anissa Jones), the Tiffany Network had to pay Brian a big salary, give him a piece of the profits, and make him a promise that he would only have to work 29 days a year. That last condition was great for Keith, but not so much for Garver and the rest of the crew.

JL: It’s hard enough to learn lines for one show, but due to Brian’s schedule, you had to keep 32 episodes in your head at once. What was that like?

KG: Well that was a challenge (laughs). It was one of those things that one learns to live with. In reality though, I think it was more of a test for the wardrobe ladies’ abilities to try and match things. There was this one episode (season 3, episode 27: “Flower Power”), a hippie episode that we shot during Brian’s 29 day “visit” to our show, and I filmed in an outfit with this necklace, and we shot all of his scenes. Fast forward two months later, and I had taken some of my wardrobe home. Well, I didn’t realize we were picking up that scene, and I didn’t have the necklace with me. So poor Thelma, our wardrobe lady, had to speed out of there and go all around Hollywood. She did not find the same necklace, but it was quite similar, and if you have an eagle eye, you’ll see it on that episode.

Despite a challenging work schedule, though, Garver recalls her time on Family Affair with great fondness.

JL: What made Family Affair so popular and so enduring?

KG: Classic story lines. We had fabulous writers on our series including Edmund Hartmann who oversaw the scripts, and was also president of the Writers Guild, and had written wonderful movies. But it was the classic story line of, “Here’s the problem, how are we going to solve it?” Then there’s the climax, and the denouement. We also had wonderful actors. And it endured because it was something to which anybody could relate to today, no matter what kind of family you have. And the characters all loved each other, so love to me is all-enduring, classic, and will be around forever.

Nevertheless, Family Affair was canceled by CBS after five seasons. ABC was then poised to pick up the popular show for a sixth season, but went with a new family comedy instead. That new sitcom was The Brady Bunch. Kathy was disappointed, but not deterred.

KG: I think everyone was kind of surprised because it was not expected. But then you say, “OK it’s time for the next move.” I had graduated college, so I thought, “Should I be a lawyer? Should I do a play? Should I go back and work in films?” So I was ready for my next step.

That next step included more TV and film jobs, and a career in voiceover work. Kathy has also written a book titled Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood, which is being released in September. She sent me an advance copy of the book which is chock-full of entertaining stories, like the time she appeared alongside Burt Reynolds on Hollywood Squares.

JL: Burt asked you to spend the weekend with him, but you turned him down. Why?

KG: Dumb (laughs). He was darling and he was nice. Maybe I was a little afraid, a little timid. I don’t think I was ready to make that next big step, spending the weekend with a movie star, no matter how appealing.

That kind of maturity and restraint was an indication of how well rounded and well grounded Kathy was, despite her celebrity status.

JL: You wrote in your book that you never wanted to be a star, that you just wanted to be a working actress. So how did you stay so level-headed? And how did you avoid the tragedies that had befallen so many other young actors, including Anissa who died of a drug overdose at 18?

KG: It was my parents who did not spend all my money, but saved it all for me. It was my education. I went to school and found out there’s more to the world than just acting. I learned how to control my finances so I wouldn’t spend $2,000 on a pair of shoes, then when a series is canceled, not have any money. And I invested wisely. And it was not doing drugs.

These days when Kathy’s not acting or teaching other actors the art of voiceover, she is a popular fixture at nostalgia events, such as the upcoming Western Film Fair in Winston-Salem.

KG: I love to meet the people at those events. It’s a real ego boost when someone says, “Oh I watched you on Family Affair. It was my favorite show!” So it’s kind of nice. I like that.

Yes, but do Kathy’s fans know she was really 21 years old while playing Cissy as a 16-year-old?

JL: You’re famous for being able to play characters who are younger than you are in real life. Since you look so young, will you be playing 90 year olds when you’re 100?

KG: (laughs) I hope so, Jim. I can only hope.

Surviving Cissy can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com. The Western Film Fair runs from July 8 through July 11. For more information, visit WesternFilmFair.com.

She seduced James Bond in a casino and posed nude for Playboy, but ask Lana Wood to describe herself, and she won’t say “sex symbol”. “Believe it or not, I was an incorrigible tomboy as a kid,” said Wood. And like most tomboys, Lana never dreamed of becoming an actress, but when your big sister is movie star Natalie Wood, you sort of gravitate to the family business. Lana spoke with me last week from her home in southern California.

JL: I gleaned from your book, Natalie, that you were never obsessed with acting, but that your mom pushed you into it.


LW: I think when you’re born into a household where your sister is already a recognized star and things revolved completely around the motion picture industry, then that becomes your norm. But I don’t think that would have been what I would have planned or chosen for myself. I actually wanted to be a marine biologist for many years, but I was always working.

But I like acting very much. I love meeting new people, even being uprooted constantly going from set to set. But no, I didn’t want to be a star. I just wanted to do my work and go home.

And though Lana didn’t want to follow in Natalie’s footsteps, her first film role had her playing a younger version of her older sister in The Searchers. It was a classic Western that gave little Lana a chance to be around all sorts of critters and one larger-than-life cowboy.

JL: What was it like working with John Wayne?


LW: I adored John Wayne. He was like this big sort of lumbering presence, and he would stand next to me, and pull out these Allenbury’s black currant pastilles candies, which he was always chewing on, and had with him all the time. He would open up the tin and say to me, “Take one.” Then he’d say, “Take another one.” (laughs) Then he’d give me a pat on the back, and off he’d go. He always acknowledged my presence.

Somehow being around horses and cowboys made the job of acting more palatable to tomboy Lana, so much so that as she grew into adulthood, she always jumped at the chance to work in the Western genre, both in film and on television. Her small screen credits included such oaters as Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, and The Wild Wild West.

JL You really loved doing Westerns, didn’t you?


LW: Yes, I loved it because I’m a horse person. They could put me on any horse, and I wasn’t afraid of snakes or animals of any kind, so yes I adored Westerns. The genre appeals to me, but I also like the connotations of the genre as well. When I was doing Grey Eagle with Ben Johnson, they put me on a horse bareback that I had never been on in my life and said, “Go as fast as you can from here all the way down to the cabin, and we’ll follow you on this camera.” The horse stumbled and they panicked because they thought, “We’ve lost her!” But I was fine and kept right on going.

Along the way, Lana paid her dues by acting in all kinds of genres, including a recurring role in the groundbreaking nighttime soap, Peyton Place.

JL: Peyton Place was sort of racy for the time.


LW: Oh yes, that stirred the pot enormously, very racy back then. That was sensational. It’s just too bad I was so young when I did it. I would like to have experienced it with a few more brain cells (laughs).

But the woman who described herself to me as having once been a “scarecrow with large breasts”, grew into an accomplished actress, and became comfortable in the spotlight, and in her own skin. So much so that she readily accepted Hugh Hefner’s invitation to pose nude for a 1971 issue of Playboy. That photo spread landed her a role in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever opposite Sean Connery. And though the couple’s on-screen romance was cut short by villains who threw Lana off of a hotel balcony, Wood and Connery struck up a real-life romance away from the cameras.

JL: Connery has a reputation as sort of a misogynist, so how did the two of you get along?


LW: We got along great. Sean is how Sean is. At least he is not full of pretense. I would rather be with someone where I can say, “Wow, I don’t like this or that about them, but at least I know who they are.” I wouldn’t marry somebody like that, but it was fun at the time.

In recent years Lana has been outspoken in her quest for the truth about what happened the night her sister Natalie drowned after having spent time on her yacht with husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.

JL: The tabloids have made it sound as though you think RJ murdered Natalie, but if he was involved, surely you believe it was accidental?


LW: Of course it was accidental. Vengeance is not mine though. You know what I mean? I’m missing that gene. People ask why I don’t do this or that, and I tell them, “because it does not change the outcome,” and I’m very much a bottom-line person.


Now if somebody said “If you do this or that, your sister will come back,” then I’d walk over broken glass. But that’s not going to happen. This is very complex, and yes I believe he was involved, I mean he was there. Do I think he should be punished? I think people dole out their own punishment. I think people are far better at punishing themselves than anyone else could be, and I can only imagine what it is RJ’s had to live with.


That doesn’t mean I’m not loyal to my sister because I miss her horribly. It ruined a great many lives, most of all it ruined Natalie’s life. Let’s please remember that.

Today Lana is constantly on the go. She is currently shooting one film, and has three others in production, and is very much in demand at nostalgia events. Next month she’ll be appearing at the Western Film Fair and Nostalgia Convention in Winston-Salem. In fact, Lana is so busy, I was lucky to even catch up to her for a telephone interview.

LW: If I sound winded right now, it’s because I’m changing my clothing because I need to take my granddaughter to a swim party.


JL: All my buddies will be jealous when I tell them that I was on the phone with Lana Wood while she was getting undressed.


LW: (laughs) You’re funny!

Funny maybe, but I too am winded because I just glanced at Lana’s Playboy photos. Be still my heart, and thank the Lord for tomboys!

Lana’s book Natalie is available through Amazon.com. The Western Film Fair runs from July 8 through July 11. For more information, visit WesternFilmFair.com.

The North Carolina General Assembly never ceases to amaze me. This is the august body that in 2013 considered jail time an appropriate punishment for any woman who displayed her areola in public. The bill was proposed by a legislator who feared that wild women would overrun our State, displaying their naked breasts. But as I pointed out in my column at the time, areola can also refer to a pimple, which means every teenager in the State would be arrested if the bill was enacted. Cooler heads prevailed, and neither breastfeeding women nor teenagers with acne were sent to prison.

Unfortunately cooler heads do not always prevail in Raleigh. Last week the General Assembly once again distinguished itself when Senator Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore managed to successfully override Governor McCrory’s veto of a bill that effectively makes homosexuals second-class citizens. Senate bill SB2 says that magistrates can refuse to perform marriage ceremonies, and registers of deeds can refuse to issue marriage licenses, if their religious beliefs prevent them from doing so. How, you ask, did this absurd bill ever see the light of day?

Before the ink was dry on a federal court decision making gay marriage legal in North Carolina, a Wentworth magistrate, John Kallam, resigned in protest rather than face the unpleasant task of having to join two men or two women in matrimony. Kallam’s resignation was just the ammunition Berger needed to put a back door fly in the high court ruling’s ointment, by playing the religious freedom card. Even though 51 of 54 register of deeds polled were against the bill, SB2 passed with flying colors. But never fear. Governor McCrory had made it clear that he would abide by the court’s decision despite his personal opposition to same sex marriage. Further, the Governor was opposed to any civil servant shirking his or her duties for any reason. To his credit, McCrory stood up to bully Berger and his right wing, homophobe cronies, and issued a veto of SB2.

As expected, Berger and his Senate crusaders voted to override McCrory’s veto. But opponents of SB2 still had hope that the House override would fail. However, Speaker Moore, who controls the calendar, scheduled his override vote on a day when a number of pro-McCrory representatives were absent.

The Governor came up short by one vote, and SB2 became law. “It’s a disappointing day for the rule of law and the process of passing legislation in North Carolina,” said the Governor.

Indeed. Especially because Berger has been known to play hard ball, and we may never know if the Senator and Speaker Moore exerted pressure on the absent members to stay away from work so that the bill could pass. In any event, while Berger’s bill was aimed at discouraging gay marriage, he has effectively opened up a legal can of worms that could allow magistrates and registers of deeds to take a powder anytime they don’t approve of a particular couple. Don’t want to issue a license to a Black groom and a White bride? No problem. Don’t want to marry a Jew to a Catholic? That’s OK too. Don’t want to officiate for a Democrat bride and a Socialist groom? Just hide behind SB2.

Like Mr. Kallam, Swain County magistrate Gilbert Breedlove had also resigned in protest of the gay marriage law, but after last week’s successful override vote, he gloated to the Greensboro News & Record that now he can “bring my morals and integrity to the position instead of checking it at the door.” The problem is that the lawmakers who voted for SB2 did check their morals at the door, then closed that door behind them in order to keep out anyone who doesn’t look, sound, or believe the way they do.

I really wish the General Assembly had stuck to regulating naked nipples, and stayed the hell out of the nuptials business. What a bunch of boobs.

During his eight seasons as an NFL cornerback, Fred Williamson was known as “The Hammer” because of the way he judo-chopped receivers with a forearm to the head. That was 50 years ago, and now Williamson is just shy of 80. But make no mistake, The Hammer could still beat up me and 10 of my friends in a street fight with very little effort. Of course I don’t have 10 friends, but that’s another story.

After retiring from football, Fred became an actor, and attacked his film and TV roles with the same zeal as he once had with wide receivers. His big break came in 1969 when Fred was cast as Diahann Carroll’s love interest in the groundbreaking television series, Julia. I asked my friend Diahann how it was to work with Fred. “I liked him,” she said. “He had a very dry sense of humor and so do I,” (laughs) “and also I thought he was quite serious about his work, which is terribly important, particularly when you’re doing a television series, and you’re together on a daily basis.”

Even then, Diahann recognized Fred’s drive and ambition, and she also predicted the course he would set for himself. “He wanted to conquer the world, which was so very difficult for black actors to do, and the few who have done it, have found it was more sensible to also be part of producing and directing.”

And that’s exactly what Williamson did. He set out to control his own image and his own destiny and has, to date, produced and directed over 30 films. I spoke with Fred late last month as he was returning from a Wounded Warriors event.

JL: Why was it so important for you to branch out from acting and become a writer/producer/director?

FW: It’s really simple. The kinds of roles they were offering blacks at the time just did not fit my image and my character. I mean, I graduated from Northwestern University with an architectural engineering degree. As a matter of fact, I worked as an architectural engineer for Bechtel Steel in the off-season when I wasn’t playing football. So I had an image of what I wanted to see in Hollywood, and it just wasn’t given to me. At that time blacks needed heroes. We didn’t have any heroes. All we had was Sidney Poitier, and Sidney is a great actor, but he didn’t represent anything to me on a physical side. Me being a physical person, coming out of football, I’m not the kind of guy who can turn the other cheek. That’s my weakness. If you hit me, I’m taking you out. Anyway, that was a time when they were siccing dogs on black people, and turning water cannons on blacks in the street. There was no stand-up guy in Hollywood to represent us.

So I took it upon myself to be that kind of guy. Also, I knew that if I was going to be successful in the film business that I would have to do it myself.

The film that launched Fred’s big screen career was The Legend of Nigger Charley.

FW: That was my step into being a black man on film. Being harassed, being a slave who kicks the master’s ass, runs away, and becomes a gunfighter in the West. That stood the black community on my side, watching me make this transition into being a tough guy.

Williamson continued that tough guy persona in a string of movies that some critics labeled as “blaxploitation” films. Fred didn’t necessarily see it that way.

FW: Back then blacks were making films that were all about “Let’s get Whitey”, “Let’s pay back Whitey”, and that’s not the kind of films I wanted to make. It’s not the way I felt. I killed all the bad guys, regardless of race. If you were bad, you went down in my movies.

JL: Speaking of race, guys like you have come under fire from blacks and whites alike for using the “N” word in your films. Do you ever wish you hadn’t done that?

FW: If people hide from the word, then it is an issue. If it’s used and overused, it doesn’t become acceptable, and it doesn’t create any negativity. Also, everything has a different interpretation when you say it, like I say “Dawg” a lot.” (laughs)

JL: A couple of years ago, the NFL tried to enforce a 15-yard penalty for anyone of any race who used the “N word on the field.

FW: Yeah, well look how fast that went away. They were trying to be politically correct, but I guarantee you that word is being used out there by big fat guys staring at each other at the line of scrimmage.

JL: Speaking of the NFL, I guess with all of the new rules in place to protect the offensive guys, if you were playing now, you’d be in jail.

FW: No, they would just fine me $25,000 as soon as I stepped out onto the field, and when they kicked off, they would fine me another $25,000 because they know I was going to drop the hammer on somebody.” (laughs)

JL: But a lot of NFL players have retired with concussions and suffer with the effects of long term injury, so it’s a serious issue.

FW: Yeah, but how do you know where the concussion came from? That’s the problem. You can’t prove that your concussion came from when you played in the NFL. You could have got it in high school or college. That’s the argument that the League is going to get around to. The only way to prove it, is to take a baseline MRI the first day of camp, then do a follow up periodically. Then you’ve got an argument.


JL: Did you like playing football more than making movies?

FW: No. You can’t compare an athlete to an actor. An actor is full of bullshit. You can kiss ass and get a part in a movie, but you can’t kiss ass and make a team. A team is ability, you’ve got to be good enough to do what you say you can do. An actor is in a business, and I’m lucky to be in it, but it’s not the same as being a professional athlete.

JL: Did you have as much fun making westerns as I did watching them?

FW: Yeah! I mean you try to ride a horse and look cool when you’ve never been on a horse in your whole life, and you try to ride like John Wayne—shit! That’s a challenge, that’s great, that’s creative stuff. That’s doing something different in your life, and it’s challenging.

I originally called Fred because he was scheduled to attend next month’s Western Film Fair in Winston-Salem, but that now conflicts with a movie he’s scheduled to shoot in Rome. Before we concluded our conversation, I asked Fred to repeat his oft-quoted “3 Rules of Law” that he has for anyone who wants him to star in their film.

FW: You can’t kill me in the movie. I have to win all my fights, and I get the girl at the end of the movie if I want her. If you don’t want to do that, then I ain’t interested.” (laughs)

So sayeth “The Hammer”. But he better look out, ‘cause someday when he least expects it, I will actually have 10 friends, and we’ll be ready to rumble.