In 2004, after nearly 400 performances of his acclaimed one-man stage show, 'Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly,' Charles Nelson Reilly stopped touring, but nearly two years later he was convinced by indie director Barry Poltermann to remount it one last time so that Poltermann ( along with co-director Frank Anderson ) could record it for a movie. That movie, The Life of Reilly, captures the irascible, bitingly funny, heartfelt Reilly at the peak of his powers. It also instantly reveals that there was much more to the openly gay Reilly than just regular appearances on TV's The Match Game would presume. Touching, bittersweet, hilarious and eye-opening, the movie is an unforgettable portrait of a great theatrical artist and his straight-out-of-Tennessee-Williams family members. The movie will play an exclusive one-week engagement at Facets Multimedia, 1517 W. Fullerton, beginning Fri., March 7, and continuing through the Thurs., March 13. Poltermann will conduct a Q&A with audience members following both the 7 and 9 p.m. performances Sat., March 8, and again following matinees Sun., March 9.
Windy City Times spoke with Poltermann about the film and his close friendship with Reilly.
Windy City Times: How did you decide what to keep and what to toss from the stage performance, which ran over three and a half hours?
Barry Poltermann: Prior to shooting we decided which pieces we wanted to keep. Charles would talk for instance, about how he loved Mae West and would tell great stories about her but they weren't about his life so that narrowed it down and then we started honing in on his family and a few friends. The backstage making-of stories started to seem like DVD extras.
WCT: Everybody knows him from Match Game but there's literally only one tiny thing where he mentions game shows and that's it. Wasn't it hard to take that out?
BP: Well, actually that was an easy choice because he didn't do anything about 'Match Game'. [ Laughs ] Everything he said about television—everything—is in the film. It's like 25 seconds until the story about being on Johnny Carson.
WCT: That's very surprising.
BP: To him, the television career that we know so well and we grew up with is something he did for some extra money for a brief period of his life and it didn't make a big impact on him. It was fun; he didn't seem embarrassed by it but he didn't really feel like talking about it. He told a few stories about Gene Rayburn but it was mostly about when they were on Broadway together.
WCT: He was, by all accounts, an amazingly gifted theatre director. Did he talk at all about working with Julie Harris and directing her in the many famous 'Belle of Amherst' productions?
BP: He talked a lot about Julie Harris and that was one of the most difficult things for us to cut and that's something that I think especially theatre fans are going to love on the DVD. That was one of his closest relationships and one of the things that he was most proud of.
WCT: That's wonderful to hear that it will be on the DVD. So when is the DVD coming out with all these extra goodies?
BP: That's a good question. We're in the process of shopping it around for DVD release and talking to distributors. We're hoping to get it out in the spring.
WCT: Did he talk more about his partner Patrick and was there more gay content? Maybe discrimination he felt at some point?
BP: Everything he talked about as far as being gay is in the film. I asked him about it a couple of times. He was open; he always said, 'Everyone knows that I'm gay and I'm not ashamed of that and I've lived an open life and I love Patrick.' But it wasn't something that he felt he wanted to be defined by anymore than somebody who is heterosexual should be defined in that manner.
WCT: That's right! [ Laughs ] We homos look forward to being defined for our professions or accomplishments, too—just like the straight world.
BP: In a way I got to see him as a step ahead—that he'd already dealt with that. It just didn't matter. He really felt strongly about that and he didn't like it when people would say that he was a gay icon or he was a trailblazer or anything like that. He felt it was irrelevant; he felt, 'This isn't something that any of us should have to be discussing in this day and age.'
WCT: Yes, we shouldn't have to but unfortunately …
BP: I think in Charles' case he had an amazing ability to not care what anyone thought.
WCT: That's pretty obvious. Did he see the finished movie?
BP: He did and he loved it. I think he probably wished it was a bit longer. [ Laughs ] He saw an early rough cut. He came over to my house and watched it which was one of the most nerve wracking nights of my life. His epic narrative had been condensed down to 90 minutes. He said he loved it and the next day he called up with some notes and he had a lot of really good ideas which we used.
WCT: What did he die from, Barry?
BP: He was sick for about a year and a half off an on before he died. He had pneumonia and then he had a brain infection—it was several things. In a strange way, I think this was his last testament. The night we finished the show and the film he walked off the stage and down into the dressing room and said, 'Well, that's it. I'm done. I'm not going to perform anymore. That's all I wanted to do' and he thanked us for recording it. The next morning his agent called and said, 'I just want to let you guys know that he's cancelled all his upcoming performances, all his directing gigs and he's retiring.'
WCT: He wasn't kidding.
BP: No he wasn't. He definitely felt a sense of completion after doing the show and especially after seeing that he liked what we did. I think he was happy that we'd gotten it right and he was sort of ready to go.
