A Final Salute to Lieutenant Hanley
by Steve Rubin
(This tribute appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, October 20,
2000. It is reprinted here with Mr. Rubin's permission.)
The baby boomer generation lost one of its heroes on Monday
Rick Jason is gone. He was better known as Lieutenant Hanley on the long-running
1960s World War II series, "Combat!" As they often say in Hollywood war
films, we lost us a good man. Jason was not only a wonderful human being, a devoted
husband, and a fine actor, he was one of our best storytellers with links to the
"Golden Age" of Hollywood. Fortunately for us and for historys sake, most
of his memories are documented in a just-published autobiography, Scrapbooks of My
Mind, which I am eager to read, as are thousands of his fans.
There is an old clich? "if you remember the 60s, then
you werent there." Well, Rick helped me remember. In fact, I can tell you
exactly where I was on every Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m., from the fall of 1962 to the
summer of 1967. I was glued to the television set, watching "Combat!" with my
dad. Rick starred as Lt. Hanley opposite Vic Morrows Sergeant Saunders. Jason was
the carbine-carrying, world-weary
infantry line officer who battled his way across France and destroyed the MGM backlot in
152 episodes. I first met him in 1996, shortly after I purchased remake rights to the
original series, with the intention of making "Combat!" the movie. Paramount had
bought the project and Bruce Willis was hovering around it because Bruce was one of those
7:30 guys in the 60s. Everyone was excited about the possibility of a big Hollywood
movie and the fans had organized a cruise through the Caribbean with the original cast,
minus Morrow, who had died in the "Twilight Zone" helicopter crash in 1982.
Jason was there with Dick Peabody ("Littlejohn" who died last December), Jack
Hogan ("Kirby"), Pierre Jalbert ("Caje"), Conlan Carter
("Doc") and Tom Lowell ("Billy").
One
of the amazing things about Hollywood is that, given the opportunity, you can actually
spend personal time with one of your heroes. And on a cruise ship, you had the ultimate
opportunity, a captive audience. Rick Jason was the kind of actor you dreamed of listening
to the actor with the endless stories, who remembered the smallest details. You
didnt need a time machine to go back to Metro in 53, you had Rick as your very
capable tour guide. But more importantly for me, he encouraged my efforts to get the movie
made, to fight the fight and get people to pay attention. I even joked with him about
getting him a little French beret and having him play a character sipping Calvados while
the new movie Hanley entered the town with the new "Combat!" squad. He winked at
me.
He loved his fans, even as he was surprised at how much they loved him. He
reveled in the attention, the adulation, the memories and it was fun to see him
interacting with the "squad." One of my favorite images of Rick is seeing him
walk from table to table on the cruise ship, making sure everyone was having a good time,
and then pouring a glass of his favorite wine for me to sample. He did the same thing in
1998, when he invited 50 fans over to his and his wife Cindys home in Moorpark for a
buffet lunch. That never happens. It happened with Rick. He was the ultimate host. And
just a few weeks ago, he attended another "Combat!" conclave in Las Vegas. He
was there for his fans, staying after hours to sign autographs on everything they
presented.
For we boomers, Rick Jason helped illuminate the legacy of World War II to
those of us too young to experience or remember it. He brought dignity to the image of the
fighting man at a time when Vietnam was moving us in the other direction. Over those five
years of episodes, he brought home every week the sense of fear, sacrifice and the great
love soldiers have for each other. Jason and the squad were our touchstones to the dynamic
era of the 1940s when America won the war. Now Steven Spielberg, Tom Brokaw, Tom Hanks and
Stephen Ambrose have brought World War II to life for a new generation. But we must
remember that Rick and the "Combat!" squad were there first. We really
havent lost him, well always have what he gave us. Whether on camera in your
living room or in person telling his stories, he was truly an officer and a gentleman.
Steve Rubin is a producer currently affiliated with Showtime. He is
the co-producer on "Combat!," a motion picture adaptation of the ABC series that
is in development at Paramount.
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