Robert Parrish(1916-1995)

A couple of years after directing his last feature film, Contratto marsigliese (1974) Parrish published his autobiography, "Growing Up In Hollywood", which largely avoids mention of his directing career. The book was a big best-seller and was critically acclaimed, one British critic going so far as to say that it was so well-written, "one wonders if he hasn't been in the wrong business all along.".

[on visiting John Ford on his deathbed] We talked about zoom lenses (he didn't approve), John Wayne (he approved), [Henry Fonda] (he approved), Patrick Kelley (he approved, but wished Kelley hadn't turned executive--"Terrible thing for a good sound-effects cutter to allow himself to become the president of a successful film-producing company") . . . . He then said, "Have you won any more Oscars?" I told him I hadn't, and he said, "It turns out they're not as unimportant as I thought, so you should go ahead and win as many as you can".