The next thing I knew, I was out of the service and making movies again. My first picture was called, GI Blues. I thought I was still in the army.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
After the war, in which I served as a pilot in the Air Force, I took up films.
I had seen the films out of World War II, the great 82nd Airborne, the 101st, and all of those of you in the greatest generation and the service that you had provided.
It's always been my dream to be in a war film.
The Army's always had a special place in my heart.
I grew up in Hollywood during WWII, and my mother was afraid that my father was going to be drafted because she didn't think we were going to be able to live on army pay. She didn't want to have to get a job, so she decided to put me to work, and that's how I got started in the movies.
I'm pretty upfront about my love and admiration for the military. One of the perks of making movies is that you get to sort of follow your own passions, and I believe quite passionately that we don't pay enough attention and respect to our veterans. Not just our wounded veterans, but all veterans.
I'm an entertainer in the military-entertainment complex.
It was very clear to me I wanted to be an actor when I got out into civilian life.
I sort of became infatuated with soldiers. I got to know some of them and got a little perturbed with Hollywood making a spectacle out of them and making them look like they have screwed up somehow.
Toy Soldiers was my introduction to film. I certainly didn't think I was doing art by any stretch of the imagination.