I have stories about Robert Redford from my time working underfoot in show business that I cherish. He was one of the good guys – aware of his stardom and how people reacted to him – and yet he always looked you In the eye and said hello. Even if you were the one person with the lowest status in the room.
Here are my two stories from other underlings.
When I worked as an assistant to a Hollywood producer in the nineties and early aughts, the standard procedure was to answer the phone with, “Nancy Drew’s office, Sarah speaking…” So, the person on the other end of the phone would know they got the right office, and almost the right person. This why during my time in Hollywood, my dream was to have a job that didn’t have someone else’s name in the title, ie. Nancy Drew’s Assistant. But I digress…
My friend, ‘M’ worked a production company where they strived to be more egalitarian. (In Hollywood, can you even?) So when the assistants answered the phone, they’d been instructed to say the name of the company, and then their own name. So, something like “Good Times Rolling Productions. I’m M.”
Security for the building was connected through the phone system. So, if someone wanted to enter the underground parking, they had to dial into the office. One time M answered the phone and the person on the other end responded immediately, “Robert Redford, star of stage and screen. Can you buzz me into the building?”
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My friend, ‘J’ worked in the music department at a large movie studio. One time they had a full orchestra in the recording hall on the first floor of the building. The place was crawling with musicians 24/7. The chaos was exacerbated by the fact that the building was being remodeled. There were only two restrooms available for over a hundred musicians, producers, and recording staff. When they took breaks in between recording sessions, the lines for the restrooms were long. A lot of coffee was being consumed during the long sessions that stretched well into the night, so many people went in search of toilets in other places and on other floors of the building.
And so that’s how after ‘J’ had locked up her office and was heading out for the night, she bumped into Robert Redford coming up the stairs. He mentioned he was in search of the men’s room. Wanting more than anything in the world to be off assistance to him, she put her hand at his elbow and escorted him down the hall to the restroom. With a great flourish of her arms, since she was dealing with a movie star, after all, she opened the men’s room door, and held it open for him to walk through. But In order to hold the door open for a movie star of his caliber, she’d taken a step inside the restroom.
He hesitated for a moment and then said, “I’ll take to from here.”
She stepped out of the men’s room and hurried away. The next day the halls echoed with laughter when she repeated the story.
May he rest in peace. The last of his generation. And the reason we call some men movie stars. He truly was.