George “Gabby” Hayes was a true renaissance man. He had played Hamlet on Broadway when he was only 19. He was a superb actor, a minor-league baseball player, he led an all-girl orchestra, he loved opera, he was an omnivorous reader of all types and genre of books. He was suave. He was funny. He would take out his teeth and make incredible faces to get laughs

when there were kids around (No, he did not have his teeth pulled for the “Gabby” character. They were pulled because he had bad teeth.) My parents both said that he was the best teacher they had. He taught them more about acting and making movies than anyone else worked with. He knew everything there was to know about lighting, sound, stage position and everything else to do with the craft of acting. They also said that he was a master when it came to stealing a scene. Just watch his work in one of my favorites, “Don’t Fence Me In.”