The Saga of Steven Hill Part 2
In a sign of good faith, the network scheduled Mission for Saturday nights from 9 to 10 pm against strong competition like The Lawrence Welk Show and The Hollywood Palace on ABC, and NBC's Saturday Night Movie. The network even kicked in additional funds to help defray Desilu's enormous deficit.
CBS's main concern about Mission - perhaps its only one - was Steven Hill, who was perceived as bland and not commercial as a lead. Early in the season CBS vice-president Perry Lafferty held a luncheon for more than a dozen CBS and Desilu executives. The purpose of the lunch, says Lafferty, "was to try and get Steven Hill off the show. Lucille Ball was expected to show, but she didn't come. She had put down this ultimatum that he would stay." Evidently, Lucy - and Desilu - were still behind Geller and Solow.
"Bruce thought that Steven Hill was a very good actor with interesting, offbeat elements," according to (Producer Joseph) Gantman. "Bruce would often try to go offbeat, but he resisted for a long time from saying he made a mistake." Hill's contract put forth very specific requirements. "Everything that we had to do for him, including his shoes and hose, had to be kosher and sent from New York," says (Geller secretary) Olga Griffin. Those prerequisites were a mere annoyance compared to the clause which allowed Hill to leave the set before sundown every Friday, in accordance with his religion. It was so important that Hill would walk off the stage in the middle of a scene as Friday night approached. Friday is the last workday for television productions, a day when most companies work late to complete a show. Mission would often shoot through midnight and still be behind schedule. The disappearance of the leading man every Friday afternoon was yet another production hindrance. "Bruce's main beef was that Steve Hill would not work past sundown and he wouldn't break that rule," says director Charles Rondeau. "That was the agreement and it drove Bruce crazy. He wanted more out of Steven Hill."
"The production problems were unfortunate," says Gantman, who recalls the trouble intensifying as the season went on. "They developed; it became more to the letter of his contract. Being an Orthodox Jew, he'd insist on being at prayers at a certain time. He then begins to say, 'But I have to leave here in order to get where I have to pray. I can't work up until that time, you don't expect me to. . .' It was like that. What will happen is that people will disagree amiably, but then, over a period of time it becomes very disagreeable. If someone understands your problems and says he understands them, you feel better about it. But if he doesn't care about your problems, then you really begin to resent him. And I think that's what happened." Steven Hill may have felt exactly the same way.
At times Hill lived up to his reputation for being unpredictable. At times he was hypersensitive: Dust from the soundstage rafters would fall on him and he would become infuriated and threaten to complain to the Screen Actors Guild. At other times he could be insensitive, calling Barbara Bain unprofessional for humming prior to a close-up during which she was to make a light-hearted comment. "Geller would come down and say, 'Why are you causing so much damned trouble?'" Charles Rondeau recalls. Most of the time, however, Hill was preoccupied with his spiritual calling, trying to arrange praying meetings among Desilu's Jews, or attempting to persuade Mr. and Mrs. Landau to have a Kosher home. Landau remembers Hill (who always called him "Landau") testing him on Jewish history or pointing out how the Jewish people have been persecuted throughout history.
"As is the case with any convert, Steve was very involved," says Greg Morris, who was probably closest to him. "Steve was a very intense, nice man. He was not treated very well." Hill had to phone Greg to learn if the pilot had sold. "I was surprised that they did not inform Steven Hill," says Morris, who believes Hill may have had a misconception regarding the amount of work expected of him. "Whether someone gave him the wrong information or not, I don't know, but what he wanted to do was just deal with the apartment scene, and the four of us would deal with the rest."
The main beneficiary of Hill's absences was Martin Landau, which I believe I have discussed upthread in another "M:I" post.
End Part 2.
In a sign of good faith, the network scheduled Mission for Saturday nights from 9 to 10 pm against strong competition like The Lawrence Welk Show and The Hollywood Palace on ABC, and NBC's Saturday Night Movie. The network even kicked in additional funds to help defray Desilu's enormous deficit.
CBS's main concern about Mission - perhaps its only one - was Steven Hill, who was perceived as bland and not commercial as a lead. Early in the season CBS vice-president Perry Lafferty held a luncheon for more than a dozen CBS and Desilu executives. The purpose of the lunch, says Lafferty, "was to try and get Steven Hill off the show. Lucille Ball was expected to show, but she didn't come. She had put down this ultimatum that he would stay." Evidently, Lucy - and Desilu - were still behind Geller and Solow.
"Bruce thought that Steven Hill was a very good actor with interesting, offbeat elements," according to (Producer Joseph) Gantman. "Bruce would often try to go offbeat, but he resisted for a long time from saying he made a mistake." Hill's contract put forth very specific requirements. "Everything that we had to do for him, including his shoes and hose, had to be kosher and sent from New York," says (Geller secretary) Olga Griffin. Those prerequisites were a mere annoyance compared to the clause which allowed Hill to leave the set before sundown every Friday, in accordance with his religion. It was so important that Hill would walk off the stage in the middle of a scene as Friday night approached. Friday is the last workday for television productions, a day when most companies work late to complete a show. Mission would often shoot through midnight and still be behind schedule. The disappearance of the leading man every Friday afternoon was yet another production hindrance. "Bruce's main beef was that Steve Hill would not work past sundown and he wouldn't break that rule," says director Charles Rondeau. "That was the agreement and it drove Bruce crazy. He wanted more out of Steven Hill."
"The production problems were unfortunate," says Gantman, who recalls the trouble intensifying as the season went on. "They developed; it became more to the letter of his contract. Being an Orthodox Jew, he'd insist on being at prayers at a certain time. He then begins to say, 'But I have to leave here in order to get where I have to pray. I can't work up until that time, you don't expect me to. . .' It was like that. What will happen is that people will disagree amiably, but then, over a period of time it becomes very disagreeable. If someone understands your problems and says he understands them, you feel better about it. But if he doesn't care about your problems, then you really begin to resent him. And I think that's what happened." Steven Hill may have felt exactly the same way.
At times Hill lived up to his reputation for being unpredictable. At times he was hypersensitive: Dust from the soundstage rafters would fall on him and he would become infuriated and threaten to complain to the Screen Actors Guild. At other times he could be insensitive, calling Barbara Bain unprofessional for humming prior to a close-up during which she was to make a light-hearted comment. "Geller would come down and say, 'Why are you causing so much damned trouble?'" Charles Rondeau recalls. Most of the time, however, Hill was preoccupied with his spiritual calling, trying to arrange praying meetings among Desilu's Jews, or attempting to persuade Mr. and Mrs. Landau to have a Kosher home. Landau remembers Hill (who always called him "Landau") testing him on Jewish history or pointing out how the Jewish people have been persecuted throughout history.
"As is the case with any convert, Steve was very involved," says Greg Morris, who was probably closest to him. "Steve was a very intense, nice man. He was not treated very well." Hill had to phone Greg to learn if the pilot had sold. "I was surprised that they did not inform Steven Hill," says Morris, who believes Hill may have had a misconception regarding the amount of work expected of him. "Whether someone gave him the wrong information or not, I don't know, but what he wanted to do was just deal with the apartment scene, and the four of us would deal with the rest."
The main beneficiary of Hill's absences was Martin Landau, which I believe I have discussed upthread in another "M:I" post.
End Part 2.
