
One of the elements of the wonderful book "Remembering Walt," by Howard and Amy Green is the range of people they interviewed: writers, artists, family members, journalists, Walt's pilot, executives, and on and on. Many of the names in the book are unfamiliar to all but the most erudite Disney fan; they're the incredibly talented men and women whose names never became household words - but who were instrumental in fulfilling many of Walt's dreams.
That said, the Greens also did a number of interviews with the celebrities who populated Walt's films and television shows. Included among them was Kurt Russell,
whose first film for the Disney Studio was "Follow Me, Boys" when he was 13. Walt saw something special in him, and put the teenager under contract. The actor's career, of course, included a number of Disney films including "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes," "The Barefoot Executive," and "The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit."
And, of course, Kurt Russell's career has included dozens of other popular films including "Escape from L.A.," "Stargate," "Backdraft," "Tango & Cash," and "Silkwood."
In the excerpt from the Green's interview that follows Russell talks about the story of his relationship with Walt; and how that friendship launched a remarkable career.
Q. What were your first impressions of Walt?
A. I was about 13 and I went over to Disney to do "Follow Me Boys" with Fred MacMurray. It's funny, I don't remember the first time I met Walt. I remember though that he reminded me of my grandfather, who was a pilot and a man who I looked up to a lot. Walt was very personable, very easy to communicate with and to talk with and I just found him to be very friendly.
I do remember that when he came on the set, you knew it. People would start shaking things up a little. "Walt's here… Walt's coming…" I kinda' didn't know what was going on the first time that happened, but when he did come down, I didn't know why everybody was like that. He just seemed very friendly and I got to know him over a period of time.
Q: After the film was finished they put you under contract, right?
A: I sorta' knew something was going to happen because the script lady, who was a very tough old gal, who I also liked a lot, she kinda' pulled me aside one day and said, "You know, Walt likes you a lot." I said, "Oh, that's good." And she said, "I think they're going to offer you a contract to stay around here."
And she said, "Do you know why Walt likes you?" And I said, "No," and she said, "Because you have a good time. You're not intimidated by him." And I never could figure out why anybody would be intimidated by him. He was just a very easy-going guy.
Q. Did you see him much?
A. I used to see him every time I'd go to lunch. There was a ping pong table that used to be right by the commissary there. And a guy named Mickey, who was my stand-in, and I, we'd go over everyday and play ping pong during lunch. And Walt would always wave and sometimes he'd wave for me to come on in to the commissary and I'd come in and we'd talk for a few minutes.

One time he said, "Why do you always go over there for?" And I said, "Oh, I'm playing ping pong." So, every once in a while he'd come out and play ping pong with me. He was fun. Mickey and I had some pretty good games and he just had fun.
I can remember different times when he would come down to the set and one time, he came down and said, "Have you ever seen the animation department?" And I said, "No." And he said, "Would you like to see it?" "Sure!"
He said, "Well, you've got about three hours off and you're done with school today…" He knew my schedule; he had already checked it out. And he said, "So, why don't you come with me now?" So, we spent about two hours going through the animation department and during that time he gave me some cels of animated movies. I was 13 or 14 and I just tucked them away, put them in the garage at home.
Q: Did you call him Mr. Disney?
A: Oh yeah, I always called him Mr. Disney. Everybody said, "Call him, Walt," but I wasn't brought up that way and there was just never any question, he was "Mr. Disney." I don't remember him ever saying "Call me, Walt" or anything like that.
Q: You sometimes screened Disney films with him, didn't you?
A: Yeah. Sometimes he'd come down to the set and ask, "Do you want to see part of a movie" that was being put together? So I'd watch a movie or parts of a movie with him and we'd talk about it and he'd ask me questions. A couple of times he said, "Do you have any interest in the business other than just acting?" And I said, "Not really; I don't know." He said, "Because you seem to have an interest in character development." And we talked about that stuff. And then through those conversations I realized that I was getting a chance to learn about scripts and structure and character from him.
What was interesting about him as I look back on it now is that he was picking the mind of a sort of uninhibited thirteen-year-old. He would not so much lay out scenarios or teach as much as he did sort of kick ideas back and forth. He would ask "What did you think of this?" I don't know if he was learning from me. But I think he was finding out how a young mind worked.
I remember he came by one time and said, "Do you want to see some of this movie?" and I went and watched this movie with him. Afterward, there were a number of people there, and he was sitting there, and they nodded and said it was a real good - "Looking good, Walt."
He said, "Okay, yeah…," and I could see he was thinking. Then he turned to me and said, "Well, what did you think?" and I said it was good. And he looked at me and smiled and said, "But you wouldn't tell your friends to go see it?" And he said, "Be honest." I said, well I guess I wouldn't and he said "You're right. It's kind of ho-hum."
Then right there and then he said, "We need…" and he went into this into this sort of reverie on animation and characters and the men were grabbing pieces of paper and writing things down. . . And I got the opportunity to see, first hand, someone invent on the spot. It was very interesting. It was fascinating to see.
Q. How would you describe your relationship with him?

A. I never felt like I was working for him. He was more of a cool guy who treated me with an adult-type of respect. I always had a good feeling around him. The feeling that I got reminded me of the feeling I had when I was with my grandfather. I always associated him in that regard.
Q. You have a rather amazing story that took place after he died. Tell us.
A. When he died, a couple of years later, this woman asked me to come to his office. And at that time his office had been preserved. I went there and it was strange the way I'd been asked to come there; I didn't know what I was doing there really. I sort of wandered around the office and she stood there with me. I don't know if she was his secretary or what she was. She was telling me that this is the way his office was on the day he died. It wasn't morbid or anything. Again, I was young and so it was like "Yeah, great."
She said come over here and look at this and she was showing me the desk and the last thing he wrote was my name. I never put that together either. She said that was the last thing he was working on. She said, "Do you know what that was about?" And I said "No;" I had no idea at all. So that was a weird situation. I never knew if she knew that for sure or if that was in fact, true. And that was the last time I was in his office.
Q. And what's your most outstanding memory of Walt?
A. The main things I remember about him were the conversations we had, which sometimes were fairly long. They were not about how to play scenes. They were about who people were and what would seem real. I know that some of the things we laughed about were if you could create movies - whether you're writing or directing or producing or acting - in a way that people think they're looking through a window and seeing something they aren't necessarily supposed to see. If you could create that kind of a feeling with an audience, then you've done your job.
We used to talk about that a lot, ways we could create that illusion. We both liked that. It just made us laugh. It was sort of a kick, an impish thing between us. It was like fooling someone, if you could do it good enough so that they didn't know it wasn't real
As I get older, no matter how long it's been, I know there are certain people in my life, who have had a strong impact on me - if I can very distinctly remember them and their face - and Walt is one of those people. I'm 46 years old now. I was about 16 when he died. So that's 30 years ago and I remember him just as if I'd seen him 10 minutes ago.
I didn't know it at the time, but I think I probably learned as much from him about how I look at this business in terms of creativity, character development and story development and what is best for the movie. I'm still very aware of the things in our conversations that were clear to me in terms of pacing, getting an audience interested in a story, telling that story, the different ways to tell stories and the different ways characters can be portrayed to tell a tale. Not only did it never leave me, but I think that I didn't really realize until I was about 25 how much of a foundation had been laid through my conversations with him. I have since come to respect and appreciate the level of knowledge that he was willing to pass on and communicate with someone who was very young.
There aren't very many men - especially, a 61 year-old man - who would treat a thirteen year-old with equality in conversation. He just didn't talk down to me. He did it in a good way that didn't make me feel too self-important. That wasn't what it was about. He was genuinely interested in the conversation.
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