Christopher Walken: Not Really Strange or Bizarre

Christopher Walken was born March 31, 1943. He is arguably the most famous cult movie actor in the world. He seems to specialize in psychos and misfits and has appeared in about 100 movies.

His roles over the years have ranged from the suicidal Vietnam veteran of The Deer Hunter (for which he won an Academy Award) and the tortured psychic in The Dead Zone to the campy villain in Batman Returns and the psychotic gangster in King of New York .

Who me, eccentric?

"As a person, I have a quality that is eccentric. I have always played people who are kind of disturbed, or at least rhythmically different. It’s very fortunate that I’m an actor. If I worked doing anything else, I would probably be fired just for the look in my eye"

Punctuation? What’s that?

There's a halting rhythm to Chris’s speech that has led to countless impersonators. He paces his words like this: It's as, if, he's . . . following. The punctuation rules, of another . . . galaxy.

Chris attempts to explain: "I have a peculiar way of speaking, I guess. It's the punctuation, I think. I just have odd punctuation. When I was a kid, it used to bother me that they would say, 'The period goes here. A comma goes here. This is this way.' I thought, 'No, it's not. It is if I feel like it.'"

One of his many impersonators tells it this way: “At the supermarket Walken stared at a plump tomato and then puts it back.”I DON’T. Buy the tomatoes with. The stems. On them. They don’t. Degrade. They go. Down the sink. And into the WATER. Then. They get lodged in the throats of little. OTTERS."

Acting

Christopher may be the most fascinating actor working today. His choices are always risky, which makes for interesting work. You can watch him eat a bowl of corn flakes and you'd be riveted because he's just unpredictable.

Elvis

Actor / director Peter Berg quotes Chris saying, “I like to find a little bit of Elvis in every role that I play.” Berg says, “If you look back on his roles now, it does make sense. I don't think I'm giving away anything too secretive, but that is one of his things."

Comedic villains

Even with the most ruthless characters Chris has played, there's always been a comedic undertone to his roles.

"Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training… You know, where the audience is part of the show.”

Acting trick

Chris says his “little trick” is to develop a little secret about the character he is playing.

He explains it this way: “I’m a big Jerry Lewis fan. I heard him say once in an interview that his big secret is he is only nine years old, and I thought, yes, absolutely. He’s like a kid. You get that feeling within certain people. Mick Jagger has it. I think that is a wonderful quality, especially when you get older"

Every time I had a scene with somebody I'd be thinking: What do you think of my hair? Do you like my hair? Do you like what they did to me? That they made me look like this? So next time you see the movie, every time I torture somebody I'm really thinking, You see what they did to me with this hair?`"

Speaking of hair –

Chris says, " My hair was famous before I was." He adds, “There is a theory that my hair grows right out of my brain."

Chris considers his “Don King” hair to be essential to his film success.
"I can’t explain it. I’ve thought about it a lot. It’s just a force of nature. They matted it down for Catch Me if You Can, and I felt naked."

Pretty boy

Chris confides, "I used to be prettier than I am, but I think I look better now. I was a pretty boy. Particularly in my early movies. I don't like looking at them so much. There's a sort of pretty thing about me."

Joseph Papp has said, “The sensitive side of him is feminine. There is a marvelous ambiguity about seeing this very sexy, good looking man move quite eloquently onstage."

On being an actor

“Sometimes I’m very happy with what I’ve done and sometimes I get depressed that I'm not better."

Chris thinks that being an actor is something where you actually get better as you get older. He believes that emotional power is maybe the most valuable thing that an actor can have.

He says, “I think my strength… it’s my only strength. It’s the only thing I have. I know I’m original. And sometimes it’s not good and sometimes it’s very good.

Dancing

If you are a fan of Chris’s intense characters, you may be interested to learn he started his show business career as a dancer. His most famous role before the movies was in the 1963 stage musical Best Foot Forward. His co-star was Liza Minelli.

Early on.

As a child, Ronnie (Chris’s real name) and his brother did modeling and advertising work. When he was 10, he and his brother would take the subway to Manhattan and hang around the TV studios.

He appeared in the background of many family TV shows, such as The Colgate Comedy Hour. As a teenager, he pursued a song and dance career.

It was during a 60s touring production of West Side Story that he met Georgianne, his future wife. They married in 1969, and have been together 35 years.

Georgianne gave up acting and is now a casting agent.

Home life

While his screen roles are more often on the bizarre side, his home life seems rather normal.

Christopher and Georgianne lead a fairly quiet life. They live a few hours outside New York City with several cats. They have no children.

"I live sort of in the country and I like that. It's very quiet, it's beautiful. Really almost everything I do is by myself. When I come to work, usually I just come to work. I never ask anybody anything. I get confused when people tell me things. Information can be very confusing."

When asked what he thought was the sum total of his work, Chris replied, "Oh, I have an answer for that. It is what Don Quixote said. I hope to add some measure of grace ."
Editors note:

This article would not be complete for me without mentioning my all time two favorite Christopher Walken scenes.

Both were written by Quentin Tarantino.

The first is Chris’s sociopath- with-a-heart-of gold in Pulp Fiction. In an eight page monologue, he plays a former Vietnam prisoner of war who hides his dead buddy’s watch in his rectum until after the war, so he can return it to his buddy’s son.

The other is the Sicilian gangster he plays in True Romance. He is about to execute Dennis Hopper, a security guard, for not revealing his son’s whereabouts. When Hopper asks who he is, Walken responds: "The Antichrist. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you.’’

The two then have a philosophical conversation touching on the Moorish invasion of Sicily. Hopper calls Walken an eggplant. Walken calls Hopper a cantaloupe. Then Walken blows Hopper’s brains out.

This article was written with information acquired from past interviews, film magazines and fan sites.

For other articles of interest to those over 50 (seniors and boomers) visit www.LetLifeIn.com. With a cutting edge and a (sometimes irreverent) sense of humor, LetLifeIn.com explores all aspects of being 50+ -- the concerns, the issues, and the controversies as well as the fun stuff.

At Our Age, How Does Good Sex Become Great Sex?

Chat rooms often become forums for people to sound off or say inane things. Recently I was perusing them and found one that surprised me. Someone asked a very interesting question. The responses it elicited were thoughtful and insightful, never flippant.

I hope I’m not doing anything I shouldn’t by collecting some of the responses and passing them along. In any event, I’ve omitted their names.

The Guy Who Asked The Question Wrote:

“I was thinking about how a lot of women say they have great sex with younger men and that young men never seem to complain about the quality of the sex with older women. So the sex is great. But what makes it great? Is great sex a result of the emotional and mental aspect of the experience, or is it just the physical part. Or is a combination of all three?”

“The Magic Combination”

“I think spectacular sex is a combination of physical, emotional and spiritual. Mechanics alone can result in good orgasms, but when you have the other elements, sex can be transcendent (Think Tantra—the Kama Sutra is not just about positions, but about the entire spectrum of the male-female relationship). The pleasure of two bodies coming into contact in various ways, caring enough to want to please your lover, knowing that he cares enough to want to please you, trusting each other enough to say what you need, telling each other what you’re feeling, letting go until there is nothing in the universe but the two of you, and then holding on to each other in the aftermath.”

But this kind of sex is not possible without a good relationship outside the bedroom (or wherever else you might get the urge). Respect, caring, loving kindness, sensitivity to each other’s non-sexual needs, affection expressed in daily life (a kiss before leaving, a touch in passing, a phone call to say you care –these all affect the sex as well.”

“You might say this is a woman’s point of view, but I have found that men often want more than just an exchange of bodily fluids, too.”

“Yes, And…”

“What makes great sex is love, respect, communication, loyalty, at least for me anyway. Plus, we have to add on equal sex drive, technique, and listening to each other when each says what he or she wants during sex.”
“I don’t think I’d want it any other way now. I’ve gone the route of ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ and that just feels empty now. I’d rather not have sex than to have it where we’re both just using each other and there’s no love or caring involved.”

“For Me it’s The Connection”

“It’s the closeness to each other, the getting so into each other that it’s all that matters at the time”.

“And to be able to laugh during sex, and trust each other enough that even when things don’t go, umm, exactly right, it’s no big deal.”

“To accept pleasure as well as give it.”

“Good vs. Great.”

“The difference between good sex and great sex? When one person wants to please and pleasure the other that’s good sex. When both people want to please and pleasure and to be pleasured, that’s great sex!”

“Love or Lust?”

“Whether you are in love or in lust, when you both feel it, want it, and both care enough to make each other feel good and take each other to the highest peak, then that’s great sex.”

“Sparks”

“Sparks are what makes good sex great. I haven’t had much experience in that department. But I am with someone now that makes the sparks fly, and oh, my God, it’s all the difference in the world to be with someone you love.

For other articles of interest to those over 50 (seniors and boomers) visit www.LetLifeIn.com. With a cutting edge and a (sometimes irreverent) sense of humor, LetLifeIn.com explores all aspects of being 50+ -- the concerns, the issues, and the controversies as well as the fun stuff.

Goldie Hawn: Keeping Doors Open

Goldie Hawn was born in November 1945, which means she will be 60 years old in a few weeks.

Goldie Hawn was born in November 1945, which means she will be 60 years old in a few weeks.

Growing up

She told Mike Wallace on 60Minutes, "I was awkward as a young girl. I just didn't feel very attractive. And boys didn't take me as sort of their -- they didn't-- you know. I wasn't the girl with the big hoo-has."

"And I think that I'm happy about that. Because I like that I got an ugly girl's personality. In other words, a homely girl always has to develop that muscle. And I did. But the good news is that I never considered myself beautiful at all. And I still don't."

Her big break

It came in 1965 with a starring role as a ditzy blonde in the TV show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. That ditzy blonde image started by accident.

One day, producer George Schlatter asked her to introduce some segments on the show. Goldie explains it this way:

"I was a little nervous when I went on, and I'm a little bit dyslexic, which means I'm not a lot dyslexic. But I do switch words sometimes and numbers sometimes. So the camera went on, and I got the words mixed up, and I started laughing. And I said to George, 'George, I did it wrong.' And he said, 'No, Goldie, it was just fine.” A few flubbed lines later and Goldie was an overnight sensation on the No. 1 TV comedy show in America.

The rest, as they say, is history.

On to the movies

Goldie’s first film role was the same ditzy blonde she played on TV. She won the Academy Award as best supporting actress for her role in Cactus Flower.

Her career took off, her personal life didn’t.

During that time, Goldie went into a period of depression. "I was afraid. I left everything I knew. I left every friend that I had made. I was away from my family. I was in Los Angeles, Calif. I'm a family girl. I don't know. I just lost it."

It took nine years of psychoanalysis to get through the anxiety and depression.

Favorite funny guy

Over the years, Goldie has worked with many of the comedy greats, including Steve Martin and Woody Allen. When asked who her favorite was she said, “Steve Martin is so easy to work with, and Woody is a genius - just watching him work, dream, think and act was a real treat, something I would love to do again.

But my favorite partner in comedy was Chevy Chase. Working with him, I just laughed and laughed. And, of course, Kurt. He is fun and funny, real and so true. What a guy.”

Speaking of Kurt

"He (Kurt Russell) is the love of my life and we're now one of Hollywood's longest-established couples.” (22 years)

That first date

Their first date was on a Valentine's Day. At the end of the evening, Goldie invited Kurt in. As Kurt explains it: “I turned around to say something to her, and saw her running towards me. And then she jumped up on me. It was sheer honesty – that was exactly how she felt. She wanted to hug me."

So how come you’re not married?

Goldie has said that not being married is a blessing - and that both she and Kurt have three failed marriages between them, so why bother.

"We are often asked why we have never married. I laugh it off and say, 'Been there, done that.' It didn't work for either of us."

Goldie explained, “I don't like the idea of somebody closing a door and saying, 'You can't walk out the door.' I don't like that feeling. Now, if somebody keeps the door open, I could be a bird in that cage forever and never fly out."

Good days vs. bad days

“ We have a lot of good days," says Kurt. "I figure it this way. If it's 3 percent really bad, and 7 percent not too good, but 90 percent fabulous … I think I'll take that.

Goldie says, “I would honestly say that ours has been 2 percent really bad, 2 percent so-so, and 96 percent fabulous."

On raising children

Not being married hasn’t stopped Goldie and Kurt from raising four well-adjusted kids. (two from her second marriage, one from his first and one that they had together)

“My advice is to love them. Let them know they are the real stars, no matter how many people are praising you... Admit to your own frailties so they will not be afraid to talk to you about their fears.”

Sex

Goldie’s daughter, actress Kate Hudson described their home life: "We have a very sexual family. Sensuality has never been a hidden issue. We were always very open about those things. My mother is a very sensual person, and sexy and all that."

Religion

Goldie’s interest in things mystical and spiritual is very real. She has practiced meditation for more than 30 years and she has converted to Buddhism. She has said, “What I’ve learned through my meditation is a sense of equanimity, a sense of all things being equal.”

Jew-Bu (?)

"I call myself a Jew-Bu, because my tribe is still Jew. But my philosophy and my practice is really Buddhist," says Goldie. “One of Buddhism’s main practices is understanding and experiencing compassion, and how that ultimately is a road to happiness.”

On aging

Goldie explains, “You find yourself attached to your own image; and you find yourself attached to other people’s images. The trick is to become aware of these attachments and to become aware of the impermanence of them.

The view of yourself is ever-changing because you’re growing older, your body is changing, your face is changing, everything is changing—but you have a tendency to grasp onto youth, to grasp onto the ability to always look beautiful.”

On aging in Hollywood

Goldie has been quoted as saying, “There are only three ages for women in Hollywood - Babe, District Attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy.”

Eternal youth?

When asked the question, “Are you sure you haven't found the secret of eternal youth?” Goldie said, “How funny! No, I haven't, but I am sure of one thing. Death is a given, so live now and be happy. Or as happy as you intend to be.”

For other articles of interest to those over 50 (seniors and boomers) visit www.LetLifeIn.com. With a cutting edge and a (sometimes irreverent) sense of humor, LetLifeIn.com explores all aspects of being 50+ -- the concerns, the issues, and the controversies as well as the fun stuff.