{"id":4069,"date":"2018-02-11T11:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixtiescinema.com\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2018-02-11T11:00:45","modified_gmt":"2018-02-11T11:00:45","slug":"nova-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/11\/nova-speaks\/","title":{"rendered":"NOVA SPEAKS! LINDA HARRISON REMEMBERS PLANET OF THE APES"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the original\u00a0Planet of the Apes<\/em>, I am re-sharing a revised interview with the original Nova Linda Harrison that ran in Filmfax<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

Linda Harrison will always be remembered as the beauty among the beasts. She left an indelible impression on 1960s moviegoers as the mute Nova, opposite Charlton Heston\u2019s lost astronaut, Taylor, in the classic sci-fi films, Planet of the Apes<\/em> (1968) and Beneath the Planet of the Apes<\/em> (1970). With her long, dark hair and big, brown eyes, Linda had the perfect qualities to bring Nova to life on the big screen. \u201cNova means new,\u201d reminded Linda Harrison. \u201cI felt very comfortable playing her. I didn\u2019t even have to audition. Dick told me I had the look they wanted.\u201d Dick was Richard Zanuck, then head of 20th<\/sup> Century-Fox. It was on the studio lot that Linda met Zanuck, whom she married in 1969.<\/p>\n

Beauty pageants led to an introduction to a young agent named Mike Medavoy who helped Linda get signed by 20th<\/sup> Century-Fox. The studio was restarting its acting school program for its contract players. At the time, the acting roster included Jacqueline Bisset, Tom Selleck, Christina Ferrare, Lara Lindsay, and Corinna Tsopei. After playing small roles in the unfunny Jerry Lewis comedy Way\u2026Way Out<\/em> (1966) and the better received comedy The Guide for the Married Man<\/em> (1967) with Walter Matthau and Robert Morse, Zanuck then handed the brunette beauty the role she would become world famous for that of Nova in Planet of the Apes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Before she was given Nova, Linda was part of the make-up creations by John Chambers who would go on to win a special Academy Award for his ingenious work. \u201cI was used as a model for the make-up. That is what contract players did back then. You were being paid a weekly salary so sometimes you had to do things like this. The studio heads wanted to see if the makeup was doable. At that point they hadn\u2019t green lighted Planet of the Apes<\/em> yet. I had to lay back and be perfectly still as they put this plaster mold on my face. You had to know how to control your body. The whole process took about three hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucky for Linda and Charlton Heston, they didn\u2019t have to go through this process daily unlike co-stars Hunter and McDowall. Recalling the cast, Harrison remembered, \u201cHe [Heston] had a quiet quality about him. Charlton was gentle and was always looking after me. He taught me how to favor the camera. As an actor, I was someone he kind of took under his wing, which was good for the film. Sometimes, simple things like that transfer to the screen, and are very dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cRoddy and Kim were great people and fabulous troopers. I\u2019m not just saying that; they were pros. They had a difficult time with all that makeup. And they had to report to the set at 3:00 am!\u201d<\/p>\n

Director Franklin J. Schaffner (who would go on to win a Best Director Academy Award for Patton<\/em>) was chosen to direct and per Linda had his own vision for the movie. \u201cHe was a very interesting man\u2014very quiet. I remember Dick and I would have dinner with the assistant director on the movie. He and Dick were best friends. He would tell us nobody knows what the next shot will be, because Schaffner keeps it in his back pocket. He would only tell his cameraman, Leon Shamroy. But that lent itself to this kind of picture. It gave the actors a very interesting edge, not knowing what to expect next. I think his directly style worked very effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the film\u2019s many standout scenes and one that remained vivid in Linda\u2019s mind was when the audience first sees the marauding gorillas on horseback hunting the humans in the forest backed by Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s haunting Oscar-nominated score. It was a very complicated action piece per Linda. \u201cWe had the humans running one way, some apes beating the bushes, and some others on horseback. I\u2019m sure this scene was dangerous, but I wasn\u2019t aware of it. I had total trust in the people in charge. This was shot in Malibu on the 20th<\/sup> Century-Fox ranch. They also built Ape City there. I remember it was always extremely hot. Even though I was scantily clad, my costume was made from real bark, with a rubber backing. I still felt the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n