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When my uncle, Hal Roach, had made a success in Hollywood he sent for my
grandmother from Elmira, New York, where he was born. She came out and he told
her, “You look around Los Angeles and Hollywood, Brentwood … anywhere you want
to live, I'll either buy you a house of your choice or build you one anywhere.”
My grandmother looked for weeks and weeks and weeks and finally she said, “I
want to live in the movie studio. That’s where all the action is.” And being a
dutiful son, my uncle made one end of the studio into a lovely two-story house
with a formal dining room and a screened-in porch with a swinging bed, which
was common back East.
Every time I went to visit my grandmother, when I went out her back door, I was
at the studio and was free to do anything. I knew the rules … you don’t make
noise while they’re making a movie and you don’t move anything. So I grew up in
that environment. I watched them making a number of movies. My uncle was then
known for his comedies … Laurel and Hardy … he was famous for putting Laurel
and Hardy together. And also, for first, Our Gang (pictured above), and then
Little Rascals. I was in a few of the Our Gang episodes. And he did make some
serious movies, he made “Of Mice and Men,” which is a classic.
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