Listmembers--

My extreme apologies for the amount of time I have taken to transcribe this
second-to-last segment of my John Christopher Strong interview. After this
conversation ended, Mr. Strong and I were able to have one more very brief
chat, where he shared with me a quick story about Tony Franciosa, and the
automobile that Franciosa drove during the series. I will endeavor to post
that last, brief segment to the list within a couple of days.

And since it's brought up in the conversation below, there ARE arrangements
being made in the near future for one of our listmembers to photograph Mr.
Strong's Scanner prop. :)

Since this 'Part Six' of the interview begins in the middle of a thought, I
have included the last few sentences of 'Part Five' to jump-start this
portion. ;)

Enjoy--

Jim Alexander
probecontrol@...

=======================================

S = John Strong
A = Jim Alexander
--------------

S: That's right. We tried to break (new) ground in that show, and did it
successfully. Unfortunately, times and ratings dictate things that you don'
t expect. And I think that because we'd had a lot of major talent wanting
to come aboard as guest stars... and I think that if Leslie had gone a
little further... if Leslie had stayed with the show, it would have
maintained its integrity.

A: One could only guess what it might have been like. You likened (SEARCH)
to a 'first girlfriend', but you'd been a trendsetter before--you'd broken
new ground before...

S: Yep! Yep!

A: THE OUTER LIMITS was TERRIBLY trendsetting, and you were breaking new
ground with that. You had GREAT guest stars...

S: THIRTY-THOUSAND DOLLARS an episode!!!

A: Great guest stars wanted to do OUTER LIMITS too, so it's interesting to
ME that you would call SEARCH 'your first girlfriend'...

S: Well, you know... there're a lot of PERSONAL reasons for it, as well.
There's relationships with people within the cast and the show, and... OUTER
LIMITS was an anthology. You just had people come in for their three days,
and go away.

A: Same crew, but different people in FRONT of the camera.

S: We started on OUTER LIMITS with talents like Conrad Hall, William Fraker,
Haskell Wexler... the greatest cinematographers of all time.

========================
NOTE: In addition to THE OUTER LIMITS, cinematographer Conrad Hall worked
on other Leslie Stevens projects like STONEY BURKE (1962) and INCUBUS
(1965). He won Academy Awards for his work on BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE
SUNDANCE KID (1969), AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999), and ROAD TO PERDITION (2002).
His imdb credits are at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005734/

Among other films, William A. Fraker worked on ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968),
BULLITT (1968), and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977). More on
Fraker at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005710/

Haskell Wexler contributed to such classic films as IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
(1967), the original THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968), and ONE FLEW OVER THE
CUCKOO'S NEST (1975). More on Wexler at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005549/

Conrad Hall and Haskell Wexler are two of only six cinematographers to
achieve stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
===========================
S: ... some of the great cinematographers of all time!

A: The VERY best.

S: So, you look at things, and you say well, "I consider SEARCH a first
girlfriend" because it was a pretty, pretty show.

END OF PART FIVE
================
BEGINNING OF PART SIX

A: It was lush!

S: We went to Lake Arrowhead (to double) for Germany.

===========================
Strong is apparently speaking of the LAKE ARROWHEAD LODGE in Arrowhead,
California--located about 90 minutes from Los Angeles in the San Bernardino
National Forest. More at:
http://rentalo.com/properties/lake_arrowhead_resort1.html
http://rimoftheworldhistory.com/lakearrowhead.htm
http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=dspv&&itid=&itdx=&itty=new&from=m
and
http://www.hotels.com/property.jsp?property=245240&PSRC=TAQ&hotelname=LAKE%20ARR\
OWHEAD%20RESORT&isRedirect=true
===========================
A: Ahhhhhh!

S: Remember the Bavarian sequence?

A: For the PROBE pilot. Right.

S: Yeah.

A: The hotel used for the pilot--same place?

S: It was the old Lake Arrowhead Inn. And we also went to The Madonna Inn
down in Riverside (California)...
===========================
The Madonna Inn is located at 100 Madonna Road, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93405.
More at: http://www.madonnainn.com/

Incidentally, imdb.com lists Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, and San
Bernardino National Forest, California, as filming locations for the PROBE
pilot at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069125/locations
===========================
S: We went to more places on that show that ANYBODY! And we had a great
cinematographer named John Stephens, who I'd known for years.
===========================
John M. Stephens worked on television shows like McCLOUD and ALIAS SMITH AND
JONES, and films like SECONDS, GRAND PRIX, ICE STATION ZEBRA and TITANIC.
More details on Stephens at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0828497/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHxwbj0wf\
HE9am9obiBzdGV2ZW5zfGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=7;ft=20;fm=1

Incidentally, John M. Stephens and John Christopher Strong worked together
again in 1987 on the TV Movie, STEELE JUSTICE.
===========================
S: (Stephens) worked with our company at Universal (Studios). Universal
would never let John Stephens do anything... and I got him on to be the
Director of Photography of Doug McClure's segments of THE VIRGINIAN. And
then he became our Director of Photography for the PROBE pilot,
(unintelligible) and did some of the episodes.

A: Understood. And they looked incredible! Obviously, you made a good
choice. (laughs)

S: Yeah... he's still a wonderful cameraman, and he's still a great friend.

A: Anything that you'd like to say to the fans of the show on the web,
regarding your memories and experiences... I mean, over-and-above all the
other things that you've shared so far?

S: I just want to say on behalf of me, and Leslie, and everybody involved
in the show... that we had a GOOD RIDE... and we thank them for their
appreciation of the work we did.

A: Well, you'd be surprised... or maybe you WOULDN'T, after all... how many
people there are out there who still have deep, deep affection for SEARCH. I
'd like to offer YOU something, in case you're interested. Do you have
copies of the show?

S: No

A: Are you interested in them?

S: Oh, sure.

A: We'd love to send them to you.

S: That'd be great!

A: Current projects?

S: I'm doing a new 3-D animated feature film called P.C. & THE WEB PIRATES.
It's an animated 3-D feature. Then we're doing a movie called THE IRON
DUKE... and a movie called THE LAST PISTOLERO.

A: We'll be looking for all those in the upcoming months.

S: We're going to be starting the animated feature up in Canada. There's a
CGI house up there that's spectacular! And they do all the things that I
did with computers... that I did by hand!

A: (laughs) Gotcha!

S: You know, Bruce Lee was a dear friend of mine, and Leslie and I were
going to produce a show called THE WAY OF THE DRAGON.

A: Right.

S: And THE WAY OF THE DRAGON eventually became (the TV series) KUNG FU.

A: Right.

S: And I brought Bruce in to meet Leslie, and he loved him.. and we wanted
him to star as Caine in THE WAY OF THE DRAGON. We took him in to (some
studio executives), and Bruce ripped off his shirt, and did some gyrations,
and some kicks... and missed them by millimeters! And he was the embodiment
of what we believed that that show could have been. And we thought Bruce
was the biggest hit in the world in that meeting. And actually, he scared
the bejesus out of'em. They said, "Nobody's gonna want to watch a real
Chinese go across the desert. So we're gonna get an American... for the
TVQ." And that was IT.

A: And we saw where KUNG FU ultimately went, because it was considered
successful, and was just released on DVD recently, and STILL plays in
syndication.

S: That's correct. But Bruce went on to become one of the great movie
stars of the world, and one of the great cult heroes of the last two
generations.

A: Was, and always will be. You were correct in your assessment of him,
weren't you?

S: Yep. And then Raymond Chow...
===========================
Raymond Chow is a Hong King film producer whose career has spanned 30 years.
Despite having a prolific career, Chow is likely most known (by American
audiences, anyway) as being the man responsible for bringing Bruce Lee to
international fame through Lee's all-too-brief motion picture career. More
on Chow at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0159494/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHxwbj0wf\
HE9cmF5bW9uZCBjaG93fGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=20
===========================
... asked me, as an homage on GAME OF DEATH, to come in and work on GAME OF
DEATH and design a Main Title and End Credits as an homage to Bruce, from
all his pictures... which I did. And it's become the most famous piece of
film on Bruce that there is.

A: Right. A very cohesive, beginning-to-end, kind of a retrospective on
Bruce in just a few seconds.

S: That's correct. Five minutes in the front, and five minutes in the back.

A: In fact, Hugh O'Brian was involved in GAME OF DEATH, wasn't he?

S: Absolutely!

A: Pulling one of your old friends back in, weren't you? (laughs)

S: That's right! You ALWAYS bring your friends in!

A: Well... I'm sure that there's a dozen more questions that I'd love to
ask, but I need to be considerate of your time, and...

S: If you're ever in need again, to talk or chat, or (if there's something
you) need to find out anything else about... there's LOTS of things that I
remember that were great... I guess it comes out of conversation, as opposed
to...

A: True. Kind of stream-of-consciousness. So, you're offering that if there
's something that 'slipped though the loopholes' that you don't mind me
calling again?

S: Not at all. You can do it anytime you want.

A: You're very kind, and I appreciate that a great deal. We will work on
getting you copies of the episodes, and we'd love to send them to you.
Could we ask one thing of YOU? We're interested in photographing your
scanner prop. Could we set up a time to do that?

S: SURE! You can... you can do whatever you'd like.

A: (laughs) Well you couldn't be much kinder than THAT! I'll let you go.
I'm sure you're a busy man, and I appreciate your time, sir.

S: It's been a great pleasure. Tell all the folks out there that SEARCH is
still alive!

A: (laughs) Don't we KNOW it! Through the probecontrol.com website, and
through people writing in there from all around the world... just about
weekly. There're going to be a lot of people that are thrilled to find out
some of the answers to the questions that I've asked you today, and it's
going to take a bit to get it on the website, but you're going to have a lot
of people who are going to have a good time reading through the interview
transcript. Thank you very much, sir.

S: You're very welcome.

A: I appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

S: All right, bye-bye.

A: Bye, now.