Noel Marshall

Noel Marshall (April 18, 1931 – June 30, 2010) was an American agent,[2] co-producer, briefly a director, and actor. He moved to Hollywood, California, in his 20s and began investing in the production of a handful of films, including William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist.

Noel Marshall
Marshall and wife Tippi Hedren in 1982
Born
Noel Bangert[1]

(1931-04-18)April 18, 1931
Chicago, Illinois, US
DiedJune 30, 2010(2010-06-30) (aged 79)
Santa Monica, California
NationalityAmerican
OccupationTalent agent, producer, director, actor
Known forRoar
Spouse(s)
Jaye Joseph Marshall
​
(
divorced)

​
(
m. 1964; div. 1982)

Paula Marshall Doss
​
(
m. 1985; div. 1992)
Children3

In the 1970s, Marshall and his family, including his wife, Tippi Hedren, and step-daughter, Melanie Griffith, began production on Roar, which is notorious for its 11 year accident-ridden production due to the many production mishaps and damages caused on-set. The cast and crew worked with real big cats, leading to 70 people being injured during the making of the film. It later received the tagline "The most dangerous movie ever made".

Life and career

Noel Marshall was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent his early childhood in Southern Chicago, alongside eleven younger siblings.[3] He had developed an interest in animals when he was working a summer job at the St. Louis Zoo. He moved to Hollywood in his 20s so that he could work in television.[4] Marshall also produced fiberglass automobile bodies during the 1950s under his company Bangert Enterprises.[1] As an agent in Hollywood, one of his clients was William Peter Blatty, who would later write the novel The Exorcist. Blatty made a deal with producer Paul Monash to team up for the film adaptation, but they had arguments over plot changes, so Monash left and Marshall was made executive producer. He was also executive producer for Mr. Kingstreet's War, and The Harrad Experiment (both 1973).[4]

Roar
Main article: Roar (film)

As director, Marshall wrote, co-produced, and starred in the film Roar (1981), which revolved around big cats and featured actress Tippi Hedren, his stepdaughter Melanie Griffith, and his sons, John and Jerry. The idea for the film happened when Hedren finished filming Mr. Kingstreet's War in Africa. Both Marshall and Hedren saw a game warden's house in Zimbabwe overrun by lions, and learned about awareness for endangered animal and big cat species. The two conceived an idea for a film that the family could be a part of, which would center around many African cats.[5] Marshall wrote the script, and gave the film a working title, which was Lions, Lions and More Lions.[6] He also convinced Japanese and British investors to provide the funds for the movie.[3] Marshall and Hedren approached animal trainers for support on the training of numerous big cats, and were told the idea was impossible, dismissing them both as "brainsick" and "completely and utterly insane" to allow big cats on-set without at least two experienced trainers for each animal.[7][3] Hedren originally wanted actor Jack Nicholson to play the role of biologist Hank, but Marshall himself took the role instead.[3]

Production started in Santa Monica, California, in 1976; shooting for the film was scheduled to last six months but took 3 years to shoot, and 11 years to make.[8][9] During that time, Marshall and his family began housing lions first at his Sherman Oaks home, a property he bought in Santa Clarita, and later in Acton, California.[10][11] The animal cast eventually reached to 132 lions, tigers, leopards, cougars, and jaguars.[9] Roar was accident-ridden due to the injuries inflicted on the cast and crew that were caused by the animals. Over 70 people are believed to have been injured, giving the film the title of the "most dangerous movie ever made".[12] Marshall's attacks from the lions during scenes were life-threatening; his wounds from the scratches and lion bites became infected and later gave him gangrene.[13] It took him years to recover from the injuries he sustained on-set.[8] Other accidents included a flood from a broken dam, a fire, destroyed equipment, financial issues, and a feline virus which plagued most of the big cats.[10]

Marshall used the proceeds from his executive position on The Exorcist to help fund the film, leading some of the crew to believe it was plagued by the "curse of The Exorcist" due to its financial association.[7][14] After two years of production, most of the financiers had already pulled their money out.[15][7] The finances restricted Marshall and his family from paying the animals' food bills and paying for the damages caused became a burden; investors gave payments of up to $1 million, but this barely paid back the debt. This resulted in their four houses being sold in order to pay the debt, and the entire production crew was fired to compensate for the losses.[10] Marshall and Hedren decided to continue the production and rebuilt the sets that had been destroyed, and hired many different crew members to finish the film.[7] The film's budget thus increased due to the issues and cost $17 million altogether. When it finally released outside of the U.S. in 1981 it received negative reviews and brought in $2 million[N 1] worldwide.[16] It was screened for only a week in theaters.[11][17]

After the filming of Roar, the big cats used were moved to the Shambala Preserve, established by Hedren.[10]

Later life

Marshall was slated to produce a film adaptation of the 1978 biographical novel Shadowland by William Arnold after Marie Yates, then Arnold's literary agent, negotiated a movie deal with Marshall. The rights for the film, called Frances, were sold by Yates to Brooksfilms, the production company of Mel Brooks. Marshall claimed that he offered her a better position in the film's production if she gave Brooks the rights without paying Marshall fees as co-producer, and to take Arnold out of the contract and easily "fuck Marshall". Arnold ended up filing a lawsuit against the company and producer Jonathan Sanger for copyright infringement.[18]

A later film where Marshall was also credited as producer was A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988), starring River Phoenix,[19] though he never directed or acted in another film again.[13] He left show business to run marketing for an HMO in Florida. The Daily Beast reports that he was working on a film script before his death.[20]

Personal life

Marshall and his first wife, Jaye Joseph Marshall, started a talent agency together. They divorced, and Marshall married Tippi Hedren in 1964, previously having been her agent and manager.[4][21]

I would try to be in the scenes with Tippi and Melanie, because they felt better when I was nearby. We grouped together as a family. Not that we thought dad was really trying to kill us, but it really seemed like he was out for us for some reason.[22]

John Marshall, son of Noel Marshall and actor in Roar

After production of Roar, Marshall and Hedren divorced in 1982,[10] with Hedren saying Marshall would constantly become angry when they fought, leading her to secure a restraining order against him, stating he could not physically abuse her or come within 20 feet of their home, and for him to also seek psychiatric care.[23] Marshall's son John would confirm that the divorce was due to the events that happened during production.[22] He reflected on numerous incidents, including Marshall's treatment of Griffith. He recalled that the cast had safewords when the scene became too risky, but when Griffith used hers, Marshall did not listen and kept the scene going.[20] In a 2015 interview with Xfinity, he made a link between the treatment of the family during filming as the reason behind the divorce. John also said that behind the scenes, Marshall once hit him for standing up to him, and would simply tell Griffith not to be afraid of the lions instead of taking action to protect her.[22] Marshall was labeled "intense" by John, as he would often become angry on-set of the film and would shout at the cast, crew, and animal handlers when a take was ruined. John explained that he would do so because the disruption halted the scenes that mostly relied on waiting for the animals to do something that could be included in the film.[20]

Marshall died of cancer on June 30, 2010 in Santa Monica, California.[21]

Filmography
Year Film Credited as Role Notes
Director Producer Screenwriter Other
1965 I'll Bet No No No Yes Himself
1971 Mister Kingstreet's War No Executive No No
1973 The Harrad Experiment No Executive No No
1973 The Exorcist No Executive No No
1981 Roar Yes Yes Yes Actor Hank
1982 Blue Peter No No No Yes Himself
1988 A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon No Executive No No
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References

Notes

  1. John Marshall disputes this, and says that "$2 million is a long way off". He also claims that Noel said the movie made $10 million.[10]

Citations

  1. Hacker, Geoffrey (February 12, 2011). "Noel Bangert's First Car: The Stag (Hop-Up / Motor Life, March 1954)". Undiscovered Classics. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  2. "Myra/Raquel: The Predator of Hollywood". Time. November 28, 1969. Retrieved December 1, 2008.(subscription required)
  3. Tirosh, Gur. "The Story of Roar; The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made". History by day. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  4. "Obituary: Noel Marshall, film director and producer". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. July 17, 2010. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  5. "1969 – Tippi Hedren". gorongosa.net. Parque Nacional da Gorongosa. Archived from the original on 3 July 2008. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
  6. Frye, Carrie (October 19, 2012). "How To Get Your Lion Back When It Runs Away: Life Lessons From Tippi Hedren". The Awl. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  7. Stobezki, Jon (February 19, 2015). "Utterly Terrifying ROAR, Starring Tippi Hedren And Melanie Griffith, Joins Pride Of Drafthouse Films". Birth.Movies.Death. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  8. Lumenick, Lou (April 11, 2015). "Son of 'Roar' director: 'He was a f—ing a–hole' for making us do the movie". New York Post. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  9. Collis, Clark (April 15, 2015). "Fifty Shades of Grrrrrr: The insane story of 'Roar'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  10. Pappademas, Alex (April 17, 2015). "'We'd All Been Bitten, and We Kept Coming Back': 'Roar' Star John Marshall on Making the Most Dangerous Movie of All Time". Grantland. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  11. Worden, Leon (March 6, 2005). "SCV Newsmaker of the Week: Tippi Hedren". scvhistory.com. SCV Press Club.
  12. Bahr, Lindsey (April 16, 2015). "'Roar': "Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made" Charges Into Theaters". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  13. Bealmear, Bart (April 14, 2015). "'Roar': Cast and crew risked life and limb in the most dangerous movie ever made, 1981". DangerousMinds.net. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  14. Schmidlin, Charlie (April 6, 2015). "70 People Were Harmed in the Making of This Film". Vice. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  15. Buder, Emily (July 7, 2015). "'Holy F*cking Sh*t' Discovery of 'Roar,' the Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made". IndieWire. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  16. Weinburg, Scott (February 24, 2015). "Forgotten Cult Classic ROAR is Back — and It's Freaking Wild!". Nerdist. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  17. Dirks, Tim. "Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters and Flops: The Most Notable Examples". filmsite.org. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
  18. Hammer, Joshua (March 21, 1983). "A Shadowy Figure Says He Was Frances Farmer's Lover, but a Lawsuit Claims Different". People. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  19. "Noel Marshall". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
  20. Yamato, Jen (April 11, 2015). "'Roar': The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  21. "Engagement: Tippi Hedren & Noel Marshall, 1964". SCVTV. February 1, 2001.
  22. Onda, David (July 9, 2015). "The Unbelievable True Stories Behind 'Roar,' the Most Dangerous Film Ever Made". Xfinity. Movies. Comcast. Archived from the original on August 1, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  23. Knickerbocker, Suzy (March 24, 1982). "Hedren's Marriage Ends". Syracuse Herald-Journal.
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