The Heidi Chronicle

By Stephen Fried Vanity Fair May 1993 Buck Henry takes a bite of chicken hash and leans forward to speak above the restaurant din. “It’s like we’re part of a secret society, or a club of some kind,” he says. “People come out to that house for these parties, and a lot...

The Corpse as Big as the Ritz

By Ron Rosenbaum Esquire August 1973 Sergeant Forrest Hinderliter of the Gila Bend (Arizona) Police had been up since two in the morning with a dead body and a shaky story. He’d found the body—a black man with a bullet hole in his back—lying on the floor in Apartment...

Hollywood’s Second Coming

By Brad Darrach Playboy June 1972 Roaring like a stegosaurus, a yellow monster crashed into a green country store and knocked the front out. A church spire tilted silently and fell off like a hat. Bricks exploded, dust hid the sun. With a flash and a boom, a big brass...

Breaking the Wall

By Pat Jordan TV Guide (original draft) 1989 Studio Executive to Director of Stick: “You’ll have to re-shoot some scenes.”   Director to Executive: “I don’t have to re-shoot any thing. I’m Burt Reynolds.”   Executive to Director: “You used to be Burt...

Magnum, P(retty) I(ndecisive)

By Pat Jordan GQ October 1989 Tom Selleck is faced with a dilemma. He is being forced to make a decision that will annoy at least one of three people. “Well, I don’t know, Esme. What do you think?” His publicist, Esme Chandlee, who is seated beside Selleck on a sofa...