| speeder |
08-20-2012 08:34 AM |
He may have had cancer, but still it's a shocking turn of events. He had young children.
I met him in 1987, when I worked at Westwood Porsche. He was shooting BH Cop II and I sold him a 911. Black cabriolet. We had just sold Eddie Murphy a new 928, I guess that a lunch conversation on the set can turn into buying another new Porsche for these kinds of guys. :D
He had just totalled a new Kawasaki Ninja, the biggest/fastest one at the time, and the studio forbid him from riding MCs until the film was wrapped. This is a common type of rider in the contract of big $$ talent, the insurance company and the studio have a huge investment and want the film to wrap w/o delays. Tony had a great "need for speed", maybe the most extreme example I've ever seen. He was an incredibly nice guy, and what is referred to as a "regular guy", seemed like he came from a working class background in the UK. He treated me like an instant buddy, just another car guy, even though I was a 27 y.o. nobody working selling cars.
He invited me to the set, I distinctly remember the giant cell phone he had. One of those things the size of a small suitcase with the handset on top. :D I met the Navy pilot who did all of the stunt flying on "Top Gun" that day, he was another Tony buddy. They had just shot that the year before. I forgot his name but had a fascinating conversation asking him questions about how they actually shot that film. We were sitting around together for long periods of time while they shot scenes.
CA. has a law that requires all cars to be delivered to the retail customer at the dealership premises. This was impossible because Tony was shooting 14 hour days, (or more), for the next couple weeks and he wanted his car. The only time I've ever seen this exception made, I delivered it to his house late at night after the day's filming was done. Even Eddie Murphy had to come down to the dealer to get his car. He was renting a beautiful modern house way up on Angelo Dr. in Holmby Hills, (Bel Air), great Porsche roads. I brought him the car one night, hung out for a short while and collected a check for $47k and change. I still remember the approx. amount. He had to give me a ride all the way back to the dealer where my car was, he was a crazy driver. To jump in an unfamiliar 911 and twist it the way he did on that drive scared me a little. He was really tired, though, and needed to get back home to catch a few hours sleep before doing it all again for 14 hours the next day. He was an adrenaline junkie to the extreme; planes/cars/bikes/rock climbing/women/partying/film-making/etc., I've never met someone with so much energy and lust for life who was not batschit crazy.
I did not cross paths with him again for a few years but in the early '90s, I had a GF who was working as a receptionist at RSA. RSA was Tony and Ridley's commercial company in the U.S.A., they were a couple of the biggest commercial directors in the world and made a fortune just on that end of the business. They also had a branch in Europe, maybe Asia too. I was broke as a spoke at the time and used to stop in for lunch sometimes. As is the custom in the world of Hollywood production, lunch is catered in everyday and it's never cheap crap. Time is too valuable to have people leaving a set or an office to go off for lunch, so they bribe you with good food to stay. An unforgivable sin is to run out before everyone has eaten, so there is always more than enough. For a time, I went frequently and they did not mind because Tony liked me and everyone loved my GF. I wound up going rock climbing with Tony and his nephew, (Ridley's son), out in Joshua Tree one weekend. Once again, I got to see his adrenaline addiction and crazy relationship with risk-taking. I will always cherish my memories of that guy. :cool:
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