Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind...
Patricia Neal's "Still Here"
Special to the Chicago Tribune
by Richard Knight, Jr.
The legendary actress with Arlene Dahl at a benefit in 2003, with Gort the robot and spaceman Michael Rennie in the fabu-lush sci-fi
classic
The Day the Earth Stood Still and with Breakfast at Tiffany's co-stars George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn in 1961.
Oscar winning movie star Patricia Neal was recently in Chicago to introduce a screening of the film that features her most unique co-
star: the menacing, silent 8’ robot Gort.  This, of course, was in the 1951 sci-fi classic
The Day the Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie
as Klaatu, the sophisticated alien who warns earth to stay peaceful or he’ll sic Gort on the world.  Neal introduced the film and
greeted fans in her distinctive lazy southern drawl at the Music Box Theatre as part of a 14-hour “Sci-Fi Spectacular” movie
marathon.”  Highlights of our conversation:


Rkj:  What comes to mind when you think about shooting “The Day the Earth Stood Still”?

PATRICIA NEAL (PN):  Well I’m so sorry to tell you I thought it was hysterical.  I found it so hard to keep a straight face.  Michael
Rennie would say things like, “Excuse me but do you intend to lawwwfff here?” with that beautiful British accent of his and I would
imitate him and say, “Noooo, I don’t.”  I adore it now and I’m so happy that I kept from laughing.

Rkj:  The phrase “Klaatu barada nikto” has had a great impact on popular culture – not unlike “There’s no place like home.”  Do you
remember Gort picking you up right after you said that?

PN:  Oh boy, it was tough for him baby because he was exceedingly tall and tall people really don’t have a lot of strength.  There’s a
picture that I love of him holding me and two men behind him holding him up!

Rkj:  Have you often been back to Chicago?  I know you went to Northwestern here.

PN:  I love Chicago.  I was at Northwestern two years but then I left because my dad died my first year there and I ended up in New
York on the stage.

Rkj:  You later worked with the very stylish Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

PN (brightens):  Yes!

Rkj:  Did you know there’s a dance record that samples that line of yours from “Tiffany’s” – “I am a very stylish girl”?

PN:  Oh yes – and they stole those lines.  And I know a lawyer – he’s my son-in-law (laughs) and he wouldn’t let it go and he got
money for all of us (lines spoken by Hepburn and co-star George Peppard were also sampled in the recording).

Rkj: You also got an Oscar for “Hud” opposite Paul Newman.

PN:  I love Paul Newman.  I loved everybody in “Hud.”  My daughter Olivia had died about six months before that and I said to
Martin Ritt the director, “I’d love to do it but I really can’t sit around when I’m not in it” and he said, “I’ll let you go home.”  So he
shot me in Texas and then I went home for about six weeks and joined them in Hollywood and finished it.  Isn’t that good?

Rkj:  Yes but you didn’t get to be there to accept your Oscar.

PN:  I had a baby two days later in England.  Ophelia my daughter.

Rkj:  Not long after that you had massive strokes followed by a lot of other personal challenges. What’s been the philosophy that’s
gotten you through such tough times?

PN:  I don’t know.  I think you’re born as you turn out to be.  I’ve had so many tragedies but you know I get through them somehow.

Rkj:  Bette Davis always wanted her epithet to read, “She did it the hard way.”  What would you like?

PN:  I think I’ll have, “I’m still here.”  Because I will be here…looking down on you.

Rkj:  Saying, “Klaatu barada nikto” perhaps?

PN (laughs):  “Klaatu barada nikto.”  Yes – I can still say it.