Boulder City has found its way into the middle of what has been dubbed “a premier postmodern Western.” Dealing with reincarnation, mysticism, visions, purgatory and the Wild West, writer Jim Jarmusch brought together actors Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Mitchum, Crispin Glover and Iggy Pop for a black and white film titled “Dead Man.”
A few weeks ago my framily (friends who are practically family), Monica Maltese and Gabriel Carvajal, came through Boulder City on a cross-country adventure. They started out on the East Coast and were San Diego bound.
As your Throwback Thursday columnist, I have a dark secret to share. I’m an enthusiastic silent-film fan who, in an attempt to find a tie between Boulder City and my favorite silent-film star, Charlie Chaplin, accidentally discovered an amazing link to Hollywood history right off Arizona Street. Actor, radio host and writer Will Rogers not only came to Boulder City, but he stayed at the Boulder Dam Hotel.
Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson are forever cemented in Hoover Dam’s history. The four legendary singers, along with National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Jimmy Webb, all played a big role in the song “The Highwayman.”
Roger Daltrey of the legendary rock band The Who came through Boulder City in 1996 to film what can easily be considered one of the worst movies of all time. Daltrey’s career with The Who has been filled with accomplishment after accomplishment, including being inducted into the Rock &Roll Hall of Fame, the UK Music Hall of Fame and having seven albums noted on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Daltrey’s career as an actor, however, has been plagued not by a lack of talent but unfortunate script choices.
In 1969, one of Las Vegas’ brightest names had a memorable television appearance, only it wasn’t from Vegas; it was on top of the Hoover Dam. Actor and musician Sammy Davis Jr. came through Boulder City before crossing over to the Hoover Dam, film crew in tow, to perform in a taped variety TV special titled “Frank Sinatra Jr. with Family and Friends.” The television special ran in October 1969 but was filmed in May of the same year.
Actor Warner Baxter was widely known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the movie “In Old Arizona.” He was one of Hollywood’s top paid actors in the 1930s, too. But what people usually don’t know about Baxter is that he also was an inventor whose contributions to the gun industry are still widely regarded. People also forget that Baxter came through Boulder City for a 1933 movie titled “I Loved You Wednesday.”
Before he played Baron Victor von Frankenstein for Allied Artists International’s 1958 independent film “Frankenstein 1970,” William Henry Pratt aka Boris Karloff was living in Boulder City seeking a divorce from his wife, Dorothy Stein. According to the book “Boris Karloff: A Bio-Bibliography” by Beverley Bare Buehrer, Karloff married Stein, a librarian, years earlier when he was a bit actor. With fame rising, and a girlfriend on the side, Karloff headed to Nevada for a quickie divorce.
In 2004, I was sitting in a movie theater watching “Miracle” starring Kurt Russell. I couldn’t wait to see what Disney had done with the true story about the infamous 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team. Shortly after the movie started, I spit my drink out. There, on the screen staring back to me as the captain of the Soviet hockey team, was my friend and former Las Vegas Thunder International Hockey League player, Sasha Lakovic.
Imagine you’re an actress with the exact same height, eye color, hair color and physical measurements as Marilyn Monroe. Now, imagine a movie company puts you under contract not for your talent, but simply because of your resemblance to Monroe. This was what life was like when actress Sheree North decided to start making movies.
