Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life

23. Roses

283 23 Roses Timmy: What was it that drew you to Pop? Nettie: I think it was his energy . . . a certain wildness. He was not like my father at all. . . . I was attracted . . . and I was afraid. I’ve always been a little afraid of him. . . . And then he was clearly a young man who was going places . . . and his prospects were unlimited. . . . Strangers thought he was magnificent. And he was . . . as long as the situation was impersonal. . . . At his best in an impersonal situation. . . . But that doesn’t include the home, the family. . . .” —Frank D. Gilroy, The Subject Was Roses (1968) When filming began on The Subject Was Roses in February 1968, Roald was in England writing the screenplay of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which, like his previous screenplay, was based on an Ian Fleming book. The film, starring Dick Van Dyke, was scheduled to start shooting at Pinewood Studios in England later that year. For Roses, there would be a full week of read-through and rehearsals before the cameras rolled. The first day of rehearsals was unbearable. The second day, Patricia was still questioning whether she could even do the part. On the third day something clicked, and she began to relax and enjoy the work. Jack Albertson and Martin Sheen were very fond of Patricia and extremely patient with her. She sensed they were willing to work with her in ensemble. Albertson, who had starred in the Broadway production, had quite a wit and was forever telling jokes throughout the filming. When they toured with the play in the Mormon regions, where drinking was frowned upon, he told Patricia, his character was changed from “an alcoholic” to a “root-beer fiend.”1 This was the second film for twenty-seven-year-old Martin Sheen, who had starred in the Broadway production of Roses with Albertson. Facing page: Patricia Neal in The Subject Was Roses, 1968. From the author’s collection. Shearer฀book.indb฀฀฀283 3/16/2006฀฀฀12:17:25฀PM 284 Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life Interior scenes were filmed at the CBS Studios. Location shooting was done in Greenwich Village, on the New Jersey shoreline, and in Queens. The rushes were stunning, and talk was beginning to spread even before the film was completed that all three of the actors were turning in Oscar-worthy performances. On March 3, Patricia wrote friends, “I am so happy to be able to tell you that the film I’m doing is going well indeed. I love all the people that I’m working with: the director Ulu Grosbard is wonderful, and I love Jack Albertson and Martin Sheen and the producer, all of them in fact. And I’m so happy to be working again. But I do have to work very hard. Up at 6 a.m., back from the studio at 6:30 p.m.—it’s a long day.”2 In England, Dahl told an interviewer, “I kicked Pat into doing this film because I wanted her back to 100 per cent health. It was a challenge. Now she is acting better than ever. . . . Pat’s not ambitious. But I am ambitious for her contentment. If she didn’t act she would be 80 per cent happy. But for her I want that 100 per cent. Acting for Pat makes up the measure. I really did bully her into making another film. She didn’t want to do it.”3 Because this was Patricia’s first movie role since her illness, the film project attracted a good deal of media attention. Director Ulu Grosbard, making his directorial debut in Roses, spoke about Patricia in an interview with Joan Crosby, “We were all jumping into the unknown. But at the first reading of the script, I knew it was right. . . . We found her with a full range of emotions and access to memory. She’s fantastic and you can quote me without reservations . She is an extraordinary actress with such a marvelous range of emotions from humor to the depth of sorrow. She is so subtle she can play from a subdued note to a wild and open anger. . . . I would rather do six extra takes with her and get what she gives than use someone else who couldn’t approach her range in 72 takes.”4 For her part, Patricia told Crosby, “I don’t memorize lines as well as I did but I think I act as well as I did...