|
An Evening with Ivan Dixon
By Reginald D. Brown
It has been said that the true measure of success is what you inspire
in others. If that is so, then veteran director/actor/activist Ivan
Dixon could be considered one of the most successful men ever to helm a
soundstage. Over the course of his career, Dixon's impact has been
felt by many throughout Hollywood, and recently, many of them gathered
at the Directors Guild of America's headquarters in Los Angeles to
tell him just what a difference he made.
Presented by the DGA African-American Steering Committee, the salute
to Ivan Dixon drew a standing-room-only crowd. There were tributes from
DGA President Jack Shea; director-members Sidney Poitier and Michael
Schultz; actors Robert Hooks, Tom Selleck, Roger Mosley and Vonetta
McGee; and producer Charles Floyd Johnson. The audience was also filled
with Dixon's friends and admirers including DGA Third Vice President
Paris Barclay; director-members Neema Barnette, Bill Crain, Terri McCoy,
Oz Scott, George Tillman and Robert Townsend; actors Brock Peters and
Robert Clary, Nothing but a Man producer Robert Young; and DGA
past president Gene Reynolds, whose relationship with Dixon heralds back
to his days as a director on Hogan's Heroes. Director Bill
Duke, who co-starred with Dixon's in Schultz's 1975 feature Car
Wash, hosted the conversation portion of the program.
AASC member Dianne Bartlow introduced DGA President Jack Shea saying,
"The African-American members of the Guild wish to thank you, the
DGA leadership and the National Board for retiring the D.W. Griffith
Award." So, set the tone for the evening that focused not only on
Dixon's accomplishments as an actor and pioneer director, but as a
warrior who fought against racial stereotyping.
"Ivan was extremely important to this Guild," Shea said,
"He was one of the people who was the driving force behind forming
the first committee to handle the problems of all of the
African-Americans, the Latinos and the women in our Guild."
UPM/1st AD Leslie Jackson-Houston, who first worked with Dixon on
Universal's Harris & Company, said, "there are many
adjectives to describe Dixon, but the adjective that best describes him
is 'gracious friend.'"
The event featured a microcosm of Ivan's career in film and
television through a moving video presentation featuring vintage clips.
It showed Dixon's beginnings as a stunt double for Sidney Poitier in
Stanley Kramer's 1958 film The Defiant Ones. His subtle
dramatic acting style was demonstrated in a romantic scene with Diana
Sands from Daniel Petrie, Sr.'s 1961 film A Raisin in the Sun,
a poignant heartfelt scene as an aging boxer in "The Great Big
Wish," from a 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone and a
sensitive scene with Abby Lincoln from Michael Roemer's 1964 film, Nothing
but a Man, that elevated him to a cinematic icon in African-American
film history.
Dixon's background as an athlete and stunt double influenced his
action directing style. It was evident in clips shown from the 1980s hit
TV show Magnum P.I., the 1972 action feature Trouble Man,
and the 1973 independently produced The Spook Who Sat by the Door.
Host Bill Duke said he owed Dixon a great deal for helping him make
the transition from New York stage actor to film actor during the
filming of Car Wash. Duke recalled, "Not understanding the
difference between stage acting with a proscenium as large as these
walls and film acting with a proscenium as large as the lens of a
camera, he was very helpful in teaching me that difference. And I
sincerely thank Ivan for his kindness."
A longtime friend of Dixon, Sidney Poitier, seasoned his eloquent
praise with gentle ribbing. "Modest tools in the hands of most of
us barely manage to sometimes get the job done even modestly,"
Poitier said. "On the other hand, there is Ivan Dixon, who wasn't
assigned modest tools like the rest of us. Nature had to go and overload
him with a great personality and a ton of talent.
Front
row, from left: Gene Reynolds, Kimberly Sizemore, DGA Third Vice
President Paris Barclay, Bill Duke, R. Dianne Bartlow, Ivan Dixon,
Robert Hooks, Michael Schultz, Charles Floyd Johnson, Loretha
Jones, Deborah Ward. Middle row, from left: Victor Webb, Sidney
Poitier.
Back row,
from left: Robert Townsend, Bernard Baisley, Neema Barnette,
Reginald D. Brown, Bill Crain, Tom Selleck, Roger E. Mosley,
Vonetta McGee, (unknown), Erma Elzy-Jones, Nandi Bowe, Tyrone
Walker and Elaine Wood.
|
|
"However," Poitier joked, "nature did temper her
generosity by giving him a relatively short fuse. But seriously, I
believe not a day passes that he doesn't say 'thank you' to
someone for a thoughtful gesture or a favor done. Ivan, we're all
gathered here this evening to say a collective thank-you to you. And
when we all get to be as old as you, we all hope that there'll be
somebody around to say something nice about us."
Commenting on Dixon's directing approach during the production of Trouble
Man, actor/producer Robert Hooks said, "It was so much fun
being directed by Ivan Dixon. He had a grip on my character and everyone
else's character. The walk I had in the film, that was Ivan who taught
me how to do that.
"And Sidney is right," Hooks added. "I've never seen
this man not thank people or not say a kind word. You are a giant and I
love you!"
Actor/producer Tom Selleck said, "On Magnum P.I., Ivan's
sets were calm, creative and productive. Some of the episodes had titles
like 'Murder 101' and 'Kapooh.' I can't remember what they
were about, but I do remember what Ivan was about. Mostly more than
anything else, he showed us respect. And in return, he got back an
earned respect."
Producer Charles Floyd Johnson who worked with Dixon on The
Rockford Files and Magnum P.I. expressed his admiration.
"You are truly a pioneer," said Johnson. "And I have only
four words to describe you. You are incredible. You are valuable. You
are awesome. And a nice four-letter word, Ivan, you're just plain
nice."
Actress Vonetta McGee spoke of the lessons in life that Dixon taught
her. "From Ivan I learned that in Hollywood you have to have a
bottom line and you can't go any lower than that bottom line. And you
have to be willing to risk it all for the truth."
Actor/director Roger Mosley talked about his first encounter with
Dixon on the Magnum set in Hawaii. "When Ivan first came on
the set, we were the only black guys on the show. He was the director
and we kind of sized each other up. We had our moments. Yeah, we had our
moments. But … he won."
Director Michael Schultz recalled having to fight the studio to
include the serious element that Dixon and Duke personified in his
comedy feature Car Wash. "But, once they agreed to do the
film, Ivan and Bill were able to bring a serious dramatic relationship
to what was a fluff piece."
Schultz recalled, "The last time I saw Ivan was in Hartford,
Conn., at a small art museum watching The Spook Who Sat by the Door.
I looked around at a sea of young black faces who were astonished that
someone had the guts and the courage to make that picture. After seeing
the picture, I re-doubled my efforts to emulate the kind of work that
Ivan was doing."
Later, as Duke interviewed Dixon, he was able to get him to recall
other important milestones in his career. Dixon revealed that it was
seeing Poitier portray a positive character in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's
1950 film No Way Out that motivated him to want to contribute to
the creation of positive images of African-Americans. Beginning his
Hollywood career as a stand-in for Poitier, Dixon remembered buying
elevator shoes to match Poitier's height. He also remembered the
casting agent telling him he wasn't dark enough for the role. The
audience roared with laughter when Dixon said, "I'd never been
told in my life that I wasn't dark enough!"
Dixon believes that his most important acting role was the character
Duff, a Southern railroad worker in Nothing but a Man. Although
most modern audiences know Dixon as an actor through his work on the '60s
comedy Hogan's Heroes, he admitted he quit the series after
five seasons because he wasn't comfortable with the role and he wanted
to direct.
After discovering one could learn directing by observing other
directors, Dixon decided to pursue it. "I found a guy who laid his
career on the line for me to observe with him. His name was James
Goldstone, who was at that time, the fair-haired director of many major
series like Dr. Kildare and The Man From UNCLE."
Dixon said the studio heads went crazy when Goldstone took him in and
let him observe. "They told Jim, in no uncertain terms to 'get
the spook out of here!' But, Jim said, 'No way. You've had me work
with other young white directors many times and I've never turned you
down. Now, this is the first young man that I've asked to work with
me. And I'm going to do it or I won't work for you anymore.'"
Dixon also talked about getting his directing break on The Bill
Cosby Show in 1970. "I had directed The Blacks at the
Mark Taper Forum starring Maya Angelou, Roscoe Lee Browne, Robert Hooks
and Cicely Tyson and it received great reviews. Bill Cosby happened to
read the reviews and a few days later we ran into each other on the
Warner Bros. lot. He said, 'Ivan, when are you going to do my show?'
I said, 'Tomorrow, if you're ready!' Cosby told me, 'Well, why
don't you come on the set and start observing. And I'll give you a
shot.'" After six weeks of observing on the Cosby Show
set, one day Cosby surprised him with a script for Dixon to direct the
very next week. From that beginning, Dixon would go on to helm more than
100 episodes of shows like The Rockford Files, The Waltons, Magnum
P.I. and Quantum Leap.
Dixon thanked everyone, saying, "I know what it takes to do an
event like this, to organize it and make it work. I really do appreciate
everyone who has helped with this event and those who came out. It's a
wonderful gesture and I thank you for it."
The event ended on a special note when former DGA Ethnic Minority
Committee co-founder William Crain presented Dixon a plaque from the DGA
that read, "The Directors Guild of America is proud and honored to
recognize Ivan Dixon for his dedicated commitment, outstanding service
and years of tireless contributions."
|
