Robert Osborne

Private Screenings: Robert Osborne (2014)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Turner Classic Movie host Robert Osborne has the tables turned on him on his very own show. This time out Osborne is the guest while Alex Baldwin serves as the host. I think a lot of TCM fans are going to be shocked hearing about the career of Osborne, which believe it or not started off with him being an actor. We get to see several clips from commercials that the young Osborne did before we then learn about how he got into journalism. From this point on we learn about his relationship with Lucille Ball and how he ended up kissing the hand of Bette Davis at her AFI celebration. Osborne shares all sorts of interesting stories here about his early days in Hollywood and how he eventually worked himself up to the host at Turner Classic Movies. For the most part Baldwin asks some pretty good questions and Osborne is certainly very long on the answers. There's also a section where Osborne talks about some of his favorite movies and actors. As well as a section where he talks about the Private Screenings series and his now infamous interview with Robert Mitchum and Mickey Rooney. Fans of TCM are certainly going to enjoy hearing about the life of Osborne and after it's over you'll certainly appreciate him even more.

... and the patience of a saint, at least when he interviewed Robert Mitchum back in 1996 who just clammed up every time the camera rolled during Mitchum's private screening.

Turner Classic Movies has been rerunning some of the Private Screenings that Bob did over the years in which he interviewed various stars and directors in memoriam of his passing, and this time, in 2014, the tables were turned and three year Essentials co-host Alec Baldwin interviewed Robert.

Robert may have grown up in the small town of Colfax, Washington, but he seemed to be never of Colfax. He said he always had a passion for film, even breaking both arms changing a marquee there at a theater where he worked as a teen, and wanting to move to a big city as soon as he could.

He really lived a charmed life as far as lucky breaks went. Even his unlucky breaks were lucky. Case in point - He was in ROTC in college because that meant only a two year commitment to the armed forces after graduation, and he was actually looking forward to going overseas during his time in the service. Well everybody he knew DID go overseas except himself, stuck in Seattle. One of the people he met while doing plays in his off time there recognized him 20 years later on the Dinah Shore show when he was a guest talking about Oscar trivia and that led to his job at the Hollywood Reporter. That job, in turn, led him to New York City, the place he'd always wanted to be. While eating dinner with Dorothy Lamour and two other fellows, one who happened to be the head of AMC, the group began discussing movies, and the AMC executive was impressed with Bob's knowledge. The head of AMC eventually left that channel to go to TCM when it first started and asked Bob to be the prime time host of Turner Classic Movies. The rest is history.

Bob started out in the entertainment business as an actor. I know I was amused to see him in commercials buying beer, drinking beer (he went straight from soda to martinis as an adult he said, never cared for the stuff), selling insurance talking about building a retirement cabin in the woods - where he came from not where he was going, and acting in the short running soap opera "The Young Marrieds" which he said he found almost unendurably dull because of the repetitive nature of the material. As a contract player for Desilu it was another lucky break - his friendship with Lucille Ball - which set him on the path to writing about the entertainment industry rather than acting in it.

At the beginning of the interview Alec Baldwin asked Bob if his success was due to luck, charm, or talent. As Bob's story unwinds the truth is Bob really was on the receiving end of some lucky breaks as far as meeting people at the right time and place who could help his career, but the fact is that Robert Osborne would probably never have caught the attention of those people if not for his charm and talent. Mr. Baldwin alludes to that fact at the end of the interview.

The outtakes at the end pretty much confirmed what I always suspected - Alec Baldwin was probably Bob's favorite Essentials co-host. The outtakes revealed a good natured running battle over whether or not 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty was an essential and Bob blowing a kiss to Alec in response to one of his remarks.

An empathetic guy, a scholar, a lover of cheese (in food, not necessarily film), and a man who still missed his dog Schroeder decades after the dog's death. Truly a unique and class act has passed from this earth. Catch this interview if you can. As in all cases, me repeating what Robert Osborne said is not in the same league as hearing him say it himself. Hopefully TCM will put all of the Private Screenings Bob did out on DVD someday.

This Robert Osborne love fest is a treat for TCM devotees who've seen Osborne on their TV screens night after night, year after year, and would like to know more about the man behind the movie trivia. Robert Osborne has interviewed a couple of dozen classic Hollywood personalities over the years as part of TCM's "Private Screenings" series, but here, in honor of his twentieth anniversary as the face of the network, Turner Classic Movies turns the tables and the interviewer becomes the interviewee.

Alec Baldwin, who'd co-hosted three seasons of TCM's "The Essentials" series with Osborne, steps in as the guest host for this special "Private Screenings" entry. And that's not all. Several of Osborne's showbiz friends pay him tribute in heartfelt "talking head" testimonials. Liza Minnelli, Eva Marie Saint, Robert Wagner, Joel Grey, and others all have such wonderful things to say to and about him. It gets pretty mushy at times, but is about as loving a tribute as you'll ever see to a man who's still alive.

Robert Osborne's story is fascinating. From small-town beginnings in the Pacific Northwest, he made his way to Hollywood as an aspiring actor. Lucille Ball put him under contract and became a sort of mentor to him. She encouraged him to give up acting and put his enthusiasm for movies to good use as a writer. As a Hollywood journalist, Osborne would hang around the stars he'd watched growing up. He was living his dream. After years as an entertainment journalist and television personality, Osborne was in the right place at the right time to join Turner Classic Movies for its launch in 1994. He's been the on-air host and ambassador for the channel ever since.

Robert Osborne was a big-time movie buff from a young age, and what's interesting is that he loved the movies and movie stars of classic Hollywood at a time when there wasn't much of a "film appreciation" movement and a lot of the stars of yesteryear had been largely forgotten. (Osborne recalls Lucille Ball being impressed that the young Osborne knew character actors like Edward Everett Horton.) He spent his free time in college poring over old issues of The New York Times, doing independent movie research. He was a film historian when there were no careers for film historians. There was no TCM in the 1960s or '70s, but Robert Osborne carved out a niche for himself as a classic Hollywood guru and Academy Award expert.

I'd known that Robert Osborne had an acting background, and the real treat of this "Private Screenings" special is the treasure trove of rare footage of Robert Osborne as a young actor. There are clips of his TV work (a 1960s soap opera, the pilot episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies") as well as a handful of vintage commercials. Later clips show Osborne's appearances on talk shows as a movie expert.

Osborne seems to have endeared himself to just about everyone he's met. His likability has made him many friends in Hollywood and helped shape his career path. Jane Darwell took a liking to him in Washington and helped him get situated in Hollywood. There, Lucille Ball took him under her wing. Natalie Wood helped him out as an inexperienced journalist, Olivia de Havilland became a lifelong friend, and all of his showbiz connections led him to his place at TCM.

To a lot of people the name Robert Osborne is synonymous with Turner Classic Movies and it's great to finally shine the light on the man who's spent decades shining the light on others. Osborne's interview is as interesting and entertaining as any movie star's. The man is a legend himself. A must-watch for TCM fans.