Henry Darrow, Roberto Contreras, and Bob Hoy

The following free-wheeling conversation is the result of an informal get together with Roberto Contreras, Henry Darrow, and Bob Hoy, on August 23, 1996.  These fine actors discussed THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, their character roles (Pedro, Manolito and Joe) -- and beyond.  While there was little or no prodding from the staff of TRAIL DUST magazine, we do, however, acknowledge a large debt of gratitude to Mr. Hoy, for making this all possible!

Roberto: Is this my good side? (Laughter).

Henry: Manolito was the best role I've ever had.  I patterned it after two Shakespearean characters, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and Iago, from Othello.  At times there was a darkness to him that I wanted to bring in.  My outfit, though, was a mix - a bastardized version.  I did a show one time, and some well-known historian picked it apart!

Bob: Henry had a horse, El Diablo, that I wouldn't want to ride on the show.  He looked beautiful, but he was spooky.  My horse was Mackadoo.

Henry: He was wonderful.  And a great dialogue horse, too.    
 

Bob: People could move around in front of him, and he'd just stand there.  You'd be doing this great scene with Henry, and Mackadoo would be closing his eyes and going to sleep.  But once you got on him, he knew what he was supposed to do.  You couldn't use spurs on Mackadoo, though, because he'd start to buck!  Cameron's horse was Prince, with a blaze face that looked like the map of South America.  Cam wanted his horse to be alive, so he would move Prince around a lot.  That old horse would start sweating!  He'd lose about 150 pounds a season.

Henry:  Leif's horse always went sideways!

Roberto: Rudy Acosta had been around for years BEFORE Chaparral.  He had won the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar.  And Rudy could memorize anything.  It didn't matter.

Henry: I saw Rudy for years, then all of a sudden, he's on The Chaparral.  A bigger than life character.  There were some roles he took that were really fine work.  He played many bandidos, like Robert has, like I have.  You fall into kind of little boxes and patterns.  And every now and then, out comes a role that you grab and really do something with it.  Rudy had a lot of that during his career, and he worked with the biggest actors in town.

Roberto: A guy from NBC showed up on the Chaparral set one day - wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie AND IT'S HOTTER THAN HELL!  They egged me on to joke with him.  I said, "No, no.  I don't know who he is.  I'm going to get in trouble!"  He's talking to the producer, to everybody.  I'm walking around, and this guy keeps looking at me.  This went on for about five minutes - and he really got nervous.  Finally, I took him for a long walk.  Then I asked him, "How are things today at NBC?"

Henry: Bob was good at doing that, too.  Then it became known, and it was like an honor to be taken in!

Bob: Don Collier got ripped off with the best setup gag!  Robert Lansing was playing a U.S. Marshal, and he finished up his work - but hid out for three days, on his own time.  Then he rides up, in costume, while we're doing pickups.  "Mr. Cannon," he says, "I've been called back to Washington.  They've asked me to find a man who can fill this job.  I've looked at all your men (as he's removing his badge) and there's only one person for this position -- SAM BUTLER!"  And, he puts the badge on Don.  Collier knows that if he becomes he Marshal, he's off The Chaparral -- and out of the show.  He looks down at the badge, and Billy Claxton yells, "Cut!  That's it!"

Henry: The whole crew, EVERYBODY, moved away, because they were starting to break up.

Bob: Don is still sitting there on his horse.  He looks at the badge, then, finally, say, "I'm out!  I'm out of the show!"

Henry: Then there was the Thanksgiving episode -- where everybody had a chance to find the turkey that got lost!

Bob: It was 110 degrees - at 8 o'clock in the morning.  We had a real turkey in a cage, and it was turning purple from the heat.  One of the stunt guys, Jerry Gatlin, was driving this little buckboard in the scene.  He's supposed to hit a bump in the road, the cage breaks open, and the turkey gets away!  WE DID THIS SCENE FOUR TIMES.  Finally, the Humane Society guy yells, "Hold it!  This is very hard on the turkey.  Why don't we kill him?"  And Jack Lilley, who doubled Leif Erickson, said, "Speaking for the turkey, I think he'd rather take another ride for the scene!"

Henry: Jack Lilley was a funny guy, with a flat, dead-pan delivery.

Roberto: I really enjoyed myself at the Chaparral reunion in Old Tucson a few years back.  I thought something would come out of that - a 20-year picture or something.

Bob: With Cam alive, it would have been okay.  I know where the holdup is - David Dortort, our producer, wants to do it, but things happen, and he gets so involved.

Henry: But the years keep going by.  I've had people ask me if Manolito could be involved in a remake?  I think so, but I have no idea what the concept would be.  NBC co-owns The High Chaparral with David Dortort.

Bob: You could do a story -- what happened afterwards; then reflect back.

Roberto: And Pedro had a kid.  There's a lot of ways to go.  The ranch is gone.  Big John died.  It could be done.

Henry: But you'd have to bring in some young people!  The one idea they had back around 1990 was to bring in the Mexican Revolution.  That would have been an interesting premise.  And then, a la The Magnificent Seven, they pick up Bobby, see what Sam's doing, then come ahead to help my sister, Victoria.  I would like to have been found running a little magic show -- across the border -- drunk out of my gourd!  They don't recognize me because I've got a beard.  It could have been made in Mexico, where it would have been well-received.  But nothing ever happened!

Bob: The High Chaparral was based on the Kitchen Ranch, in Arizona.  Kitchen was the one who honed out a place in the middle of Indian country.  And it was in the original script for Joan Caulfield to be killed off.

Roberto: Just the way we did the pilot.  I knew it would be a hit!

Henry: When we were first shooting, we weren't even on the air.  I was an unknown, even though I'd been in the business since 1954.  But people kept telling me,  "This is going to be your break!"

Bob: We had a good skipper, Kent McCray, and a good crew on that set.  Kent could run a TV show or a movie -- and be 3,000 miles away.  It would run just like he wanted!  HE NEVER WAS ON TOP OF PEOPLE.  Things just ran smoothly.

Henry:  Anthony Caruso played El Lobo on one of our episodes.  He was an incredible heavy -- a vicious rapist and pillager.  But they liked the character.  The killed him at the end, but Tony wouldn't stop moving.  Billy Claxton would say, "You're dead.  Tony, you're dead!"  BUT TONY WOULD JUST KEEP GOING!

Bob: We called him No Die! And Noah Beery, Jr., was an asset to our show, in the episode where Leif and Linda go to San Francisco.  I doubled Noah for years on horseback -- and you didn't have to!  He could ride better than most of them.

Roberto:  I did several episodes of Circus Boy with him.  Nice guy!

Bob:  Victor Jory was a fine actor, and a real friend of mine.  He was tough physically, too.  Victor played Barbara Hershey's father on one of our shows.

Roberto:  He was one of the first actors who refused to work in a picture when they wouldn't use real Mexicans.

Bob: Let me tell you a story about Contreras!  He comes up to me one day and says, "This is disgusting!  Marlon Brando playing Emiliano Zapata!  How would you like it if I played Abraham Lincoln!"

Henry (looking at Roberto): This man taught me how to cook!  He would get an empty oil can, out on location, put it in charcoal -- and he'd be cooking, making fajitas!

Roberto: When I wasn't doing anything, I might as well cook.

Henry: Leif had a thing with the breathing.  And he'd play three quarter to the camera.  Cam would make good eye contact.  At times, Mark Slade did a little take off on Brando.  We all had our things.  I DID TAKE OFFS ON GILBERT ROLAND.  And the banter between Linda Cristal and myself was all ad-libbed.  THEY LET US DO IT.  Linda would start it -- she trusted me.

Roberto: Tell the story about the time Henry Hathaway met Robert Mitchum.

Bob: Henry Hathaway was a film maker.  Nobody will ever take that away from him.  Mitchum went to see Hathaway in his office.  "Look, Bob, I may scream, holler and yell when I'm on the set -- but I don't mean it!"  And Mitchum replied, "That's fine, Henry.  And by the way -- people who scream, holler and yell when I'm there, I knock them right on their ass.  AND I DON'T MEAN IT EITHER!"

Roberto: I had an inside line for the last season of Chaparral.  I knew who was coming back.  I told Rudy Acosta to straighten up.  The same thing for Mark Slade.  The were both gone for the fourth season.  I've never been fired from a picture.  I know my limits.  And no one was trying to be better than anyone else on Chaparral.  And the sweat was real!  My agent called me one time about another series.  "You're going to meet the producer, the director, and the writer.  You're in!  This is a lead, and I want you to give them a good impression!"  I said, "Wow!"  Then I went out and bought a new shirt.  I arrived at their offices -- and there were about 50 Mexicans waiting there.  They keep passing me by, and I keep looking.  I finally asked, "What are my chances!"  I was the last one they called in -- AND I GOT THE PART. The series was Border Patrol, with Richard Webb!

On that note, the conversation came to an end.  This particular afternoon, however, will remain a very pleasant memory for many years to come!