Up Close and Personal With Beverly Roberts

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            Roberts, now 94, starred with such actors as Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn in her heyday. Today, she is still active, paints and is living out the rest of her life happy and healthy.

Q: Where were you born?

A: I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and my dad was a salesman for a chemical company and my mother had a few jobs, but she always wanted to be a singer.

 

Q: When did you know you had talent?

A: In high school, the drama teacher said that I had real talent and later sent me to the Eva le Galliene Civic Repertory theater, which I was later accepted. It was a multi-faceted place, nothing like that now exists. Eva Le Gallienne was a very famous actress, particularly at that time, and every year, she chose about 30 apprentices who did tiny parts in her productions while learning things like makeup, voice, production, stage movement, fencing, and dance. I graduated from Girls High School in June and started at the Civic Repertory Theatre in September. It was an important first step in my career, not so much for what I did -- which were extra bits and pieces -- but what I was exposed to.

 

Q: When did you get your first break so to speak?

A: I was in a few Broadway plays when I was 16, but it didn’t last. I had a friend who was in a play and she heard that I had a pretty good voice. So, I got some jobs singing in cklubs in New York when I was about 21. There was a Warner Brothers scout in the crowd one night, and she approached me. She set up a screen test and I was later sent a contract to come to California. It was s small salary but I was excited and it was a start.

 

Q: What were some of the movies you made?

A: I was actually in quite a few, one of Humphrey Bogart called China Clipper in 1936 and another The Perfect Specimen, with Errol Flynn. I loved Errol Flynn immensely; he was a real maverick and adventurer, kind of like the parts he played. A swashbuckler in life, as well as in pictures. Unfortunately, women went after him in ways that oftentimes got him into trouble. And he wasn't terribly good at resisting temptation. But, outside of that, he was a perfect gentleman on the set, and I was very fond of him. I also did God's Country and the Woman, which was in the second movie they ever made in Technicolor, too. I think I would have gone to the next level as an actress, but I just never got that big break so to speak. I think I could have definitely had a more spectacular career in the movies, but I found out along time ago that things don’t always go the way you think they will. From my point of view, God's Country and the Woman was a good, successful picture, and probably one of the better parts I had -- Bette Davis turned the role down because she didn't like the story. A great deal of it was shot in Washington and Oregon. Parts of it were shot at Spirit Lake near Mount St. Helens. The result is it contains some historic footage of that beautiful area before the later volcanic eruptions changed it.

 

Q: What movie were you in with Bogart?

A: Two Against the World … Bogey was marvelous, interesting, and complex. He too had a wonderful ego. But, with Bogey, that ego was directed toward the achievement of something good for the picture, as well as himself. He was not star-centered. He was an achievement-centered person. And, as a result, he could be difficult as far as the studio was concerned ... I remember that during Two Against the World he had lots of problems with the script, and he tried very hard to make the dialogue better. There simply was no time, and that frustrated him.

 

Q: Who were you friendly with in those days?

A: Oh, all sorts of people like Bette Davis, Anne Sheridan, Olivia De Havilland, who I am still friendly with and her sister, Joan Fontaine.

 

Q: Who was your agent?

A: Johnny Hyde, the same man who was Marilyn Monroe’s; agent, but I never met her.

 

Q: When did you leave acting?

A: I left Warner Brothers in the 1940s thinking my contract would be picked up b another studio, but it never was. Instead, I toured the country singing and came back to the east Coast.

 

Q: What did you do when you came back?

A: an executive officer for the Theatre Authority of New York. whose members comprise the five entertainment unions. The organization exercises jurisdiction over the appearance of performers at charity events for that half of the U.S. east of Omaha, Nebraska. I had been on the council of Actors Equity and on the board of AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). In fact, I helped run the strike that created AFTRA. And later, through George Heller (AFTRA's executive secretary), I was appointed administrator of Theatre Authority, Inc.

 

Q: What was your role and what does the agency do?

A: We governed the appearance of performers at charitable events of all kinds, whenever artists were asked to donate their services.

 

Q: Who did met though that job?

A: I met everyone from Jerry Lewis to Sammy Davis Jr. and almost all the stars. Tyrone power and Robert Stack probably made the biggest impression on me.

 

Q: When did you retire?

A: I retired in 1977 and I’ve been in Laguna Niguel ever since. This is the best place in the world, it doesn’t get much better.

 

Q: What do you like to do now?

A: I paint with watercolors, and I am a Christian Scientist. I’m just very happy to be alive, I’ve had a very rich life and I don’t have any regrets about anything.

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