Movie stars who served in other roles

Rambling today. Please bear with me. Too much NCAA basketball watching, bracket-checking and indulging is various and sundry snacks. Also too much washing down said snacks with . . . well, whatever. Now then...

Friend and Torrington native John Reichenberg frequently emails unique and interesting items and articles from his home in Florida. Recently he sent a list, with head shots, of movie stars who served honorably in World War II and/or Korea.

The list is long, and I wish I could run the whole thing here.

These guys are heroes, and not only at the box office.

Former U.S. Marine Lee Marvin jumped out at me. He fought bravely in the Pacific; his battles included the siege of Iwo Jima. The sketch of Marvin revealed that he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery beside former heavyweight champ Joe Louis and Greg “Pappy” Boyington.

Even the youngest of us knows that Louis, aka “the Brown Bomber” was one of the greatest of boxing champions, who, like so many other celebrities, served in the army during World War II. Boyington may be largely forgotten. He shouldn’t be. As the leader of a fighter plane squadron known as “the Black Sheep” he was one of the war’s most decorated heroes, winning both the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. After being shot down in the Pacific, “Pappy”was captured and spent 18 months in a Japanese prison camp. He died in 1988 at age 75.

Lee Marvin was no slouch either, but he did his fighting on the ground. He became a heck of an actor, too. Two Marvin roles, among the many he delivered, stand out in my mind. Both were done in the mid 1960s. The first was with Jose Ferrer, Vivien Leigh and Simone Signoret in “Ship of Fools.” The second is “The Killers” in which tough guy Marvin played a cold-blooded hit man. The cast included Angie Dickinson, Ronald Reagan and John Cassavetes. Yes, then-future president Ronald Reagan, in what I believe was his last movie role (don’t quote me – I’m not positive).

Reagan got busy in politics after that, becoming governor of California in 1967. In 1975 he left that office, and in 1980, was elected our 40th president, an office he held until handing the reins to George H.W. Bush in 1989.

And oh, by the way, here is a reminder, some information I’m sure you know, about “H.W.” While not an actor, he was, at 18, the youngest pilot in the navy, flew three dozen-plus combat missions and was lucky to survive after finally being shot down.

In another email, J. Reichenberg of Naples, (Florida, that is), gave us a photograph of President Reagan shaking hands with a young Donald J. Trump. The picture is accompanied by this quote from Reagan: “For the life of me I don’t know how to explain it. When I met that young man I felt like I was the one shaking hands with a president.” The photo is undated, but it had to have taken place between 1981 and 1989.

Reichenberg, who retired as a Torrington firefighter many years ago, is a 1952 graduate of Torrington High School. We were classmates. I’m hoping to see him in August when our class celebrates its 65th reunion. You know what? August isn’t that far away.

Have to go now. It’s Friday afternoon and I’ve already missed about a game and a half of NCAA action.

There’ll be no more rambling from here; not today

Owen Canfield Around the Corner