When my father applied to the Grinnell University Drama School in Iowa, they saw fit to pass on him so he decided to seek his fortune elsewhere and in 1924 went straight to Hollywood. From his cowboy buddies in hometown Helena, Montana he learned that he could get paid $5 by falling off a horse in front of a camera. The more dangerous the fall, the more dollar bills went into your pocket. It sounded like a good deal for a while - more lucrative than trying to sell encyclopedias door to door. He then made his own screen test, paid for himself with $64 which included renting a horse. That must have paid off because he found himself in a real movie – The Winning of Barbara Worth. In it, there was a crowd scene in which his character dies and director Henry King coached him how to fall dead on the floor. Ronald Colman, already a star, caught his falling body before it hit the floor and as my father lay there in his arms, Colman gave him some major advice, “Good scenes make good actors. Actors don’t make scenes. My own feeling is that all you have to do is take a nap and every woman who sees the picture is going to cry their eyes out.” My father admired Colman as an actor and they remained friends for many years.