This is the eleventh in a new series of “Getting to Know” Pages from Ultimate Movie Rankings.com. Our interview this time around is with UMR Hall of Famer bob cox. bob cox has been visiting UMR since 2016. He is a Top 10 Commentor and a member of the UMR Hall of Fame Class of 2017. So we figured it was time to learn a little more about bob cox.
Cogerson – It has always interested me in knowing which thespian made the first impact on a person. Who was the first actor or actress that you knew by their actual name?
bob cox – Jerome Lester Horwitz is the first actor I knew by his stage name. He made a huge impact on my loving to laugh. My parents made me stop watching him at 8 years old because I was talking like him at school. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. bwoob, bwoob, bwoob, bwoob, mi ,mi, mi, mi, mi. soytainly, hey Moe, hey Larry. I give you Curly Howard of the Three Stooges.
Cogerson – As a kid, I was a huge Three Stooges fan. There was a pizza place that had a room that played old shorts. The adults would sit in the main room talking, while the kids would sit in the movie room watching Three Stooges and Laurel & Hardy shorts. I would bet the first movie book I checked out from my local library was one that talked about the behind the scenes history of the Three Stooges.
Cogerson – Is there a person in your life that pushed you down the path of liking movies? For me, it was my parents and my grandmother.
bob cox – No one really impacted me directly. Indirectly my mother. She was so busy that she used movies as a babysitter. We had the Dallas Federal Savings and Loan Saturday at the movies. 100’s of unsupervised kids each loaded with soda, popcorn, candy, cartoons, and a double feature for $1.35. Six hours of cheap babysitting. Heaven for children ages 5 to 9. My mom is now 88 and is a nightly moviegoer with her latest boyfriend.
Cogerson – Based on some of your previous comments, it sounds like you have traveled around most of the world. In your experiences which country seems the most movie crazed and the least movie crazed?
bob cox – Nothing compares to the U.S.A. and its love for Hollywood. My only personal experience was in Thailand 50 years ago. The people loved anything from America. They often wanted to touch me or ask for an autograph. I was blonde, blue-eyed and over six feet tall. If they asked where I was from and I answered accurately “Dallas” then they went nuts because of the television show Dallas.
I have not traveled as much in the last 25 years. I have been to Canada, Mexico, Japan and Thailand as a missionary. My guess is that India is now number 2 to the U.S.A. in movie fanaticism. I would give Japan third and France a very different fourth being very artistic and cultured. Oops, I looked it up and I left out Germany and Indonesia from my Top 6. Of the countries I have been to, Greece and Malaysia are the least interested in movies.
Cogerson – I think my assumption that you had traveled a lot was 100% correct!
Cogerson – Buying my first ticket to an R-rated movie was a big deal back in the day. Do you remember the first R-Rated movie you got a ticket for?
bob cox – I had a fake I.D. at 14 years old that helped me pass for 21. In 1969 I bought a ticket to see a midnight double feature. The two movies? Easy Rider and Reefer Madness. My first legally bought R rated movie ticket was to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975.
Cogerson – What are your Top 3 movies of all-time? Or share as many as you are willing to share.
bob cox – Forest Gump is my all-time favorite. I love Tom Hanks, Sally Field and Robin Penn Wright. It has comedy and history (must be nearly 40 historical asides in this movie). The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Die Hard and The Quiet Man round out my Final Four. The greatest movie of my life at age 4 or 5, was Old Yeller. I saw it repeatedly on Saturday at the movies as an old re-run.
I have reviewed over 3,000 movies at Letterboxd.com. Cogerson turned me on to Letterboxd. It was perfect timing, as my love for movies became my hobby guided by UMR. Cogerson also guided me to the local library where I can reserve online from my choice of tens of thousands of movies in all the branches of the San Antonio library system and they send the movies to my nearest pick-up branch.
Cogerson – That is 4 awesome movies on your favorites list. I love Letterboxd as well, glad to see you have enjoyed my suggestion. You can find bob’s Letterboxd reviews by clicking the following link bob cox Letterboxd reviews.
Cogerson – Do you have any favorite actors or actresses?
bob cox– All-time favorites for actors: Tom Hanks, James Stewart, and Paul Newman. When looking at actresses Katharine Hepburn is my favorite.
Cogerson – I know it has been a while, but do you remember how you discovered UMR?
bob cox – I found UMR looking for better movie rankings than Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. I was searching online and found the one for me, UMR. I only had 50 movies I wanted to watch at that time. With UMR’s help, I now have 2000 on my watchlist. Yeah UMR. That was back in 2016/2017. I had 7 surgeries which created 13 months of disability. Needing a sedentary hobby lead me to UMR. In 2017 I became a regular commenter. The surgeries worked and I have pain free artificial hips and pain free back. praise God for the pain and for the pain-free.
Cogerson – I am glad some of our suggestions helped you get through your 13 months. Even gladder that you are pain-free these days.
Cogerson – Do you have any memorable movie experiences? I remember seeing Porky’s in theaters. People were laughing so hard, I thought the walls might crumble.
bob cox- My memorable movie experiences involved going to the movies with my grandfather. In 1962 we saw How The West Was Won at the Majestic which was in downtown Dallas. We saw the movie after a perfect steak dinner. Coat and tie were required in the theater. Ditto the second memory…. It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World in 1963. I vaguely recall there was applause after both movies. My grandfather, “Daddy Doc” Carr was stricken with cancer in 1967 and died in 1968 when I was 12. I was his favorite and he was mine.
Cogerson – This one might be hard to answer….but going to give it a shot…..which movie character do you think best represents bob cox? I would say my answer is Griffin Dunne’s character in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. The way he acts and reacts to things is exactly the way I think I do.
bob cox – A combination of two: Roger Ebert as portrayed in the documentary Life Itself. His drinking , his drugging, his passion, his intensity, his intellect, his opinionated self, his obesity and appearance pre-cancer and with cancer. One girlfriend’s sister nicknamed me Mr.Smiles. The second would be John Candy. I impersonated John at a concert where the performer Matthew Ward (2nd chapter of acts Christian music) was a friend of Candy’s. The band had a friend of mine playing guitar and they realized that Ward had mistaken me for his friend Candy. I visited the dressing room at intermission and shined Ward on for 10 or 15 minutes before we explained why the entire band was falling down laughing.
Cogerson – And finally…..ever had the chance to meet any movie stars in person?
bob cox – I have met 2 famous celebrities personally. At about age 10, I met Lee Majors. He came to my grandfather’s boat. Majors played college football at Eastern Kentucky State University in Richmond, Kentucky. That is where my grandfather, “Daddy Doc” Carr, had been the football team doctor. While playing football Majors suffered a severe back injury which left him paralyzed for two weeks and ended his college athletic career. The hospital Majors stayed was where I was born. The hospital’s first room was built by Daniel Boone. My grandfather had helped Lee pay for voice lessons to lower his vocal range for television: The Big Valley and The Six Million Dollar Man. We had a lovely day on the river near Boonesborough. I had a picture of myself in cowboy boots holding a rifle with Lee (sadly the picture was lost in a fire involving my mother’s condo).
I also met Greer Garson at a party my mother threw in the Dallas debutante scene in 1976. I was 20 and not yet a movie fan. Ms. Garson married a wealthy Dallas oilman. She met my mother when my mother was 20 because they wore the same gown to a Dallas debutante ball in 1951. They became friendly and the reclusive Ms. Garson graced us with her presence at my parent’s party.
Cogerson – Great stories about Lee Majors and Greer Garson.
Cogerson – Thank you bob cox for taking the time to answer these questions. Thank you for all the support, kind words and suggestions you have provided over the years. I have always enjoyed your comments. You are truly deserving of your UMR Hall of Fame status.
- –UMR HoF Interviews–
- Bern1960 Class of 2014
- bob cox Class of 2017
- BryRog57 Class of 2014
- Flora Class of 2014
- GeorgeV Class of 2018
- Helakoski Class of 2015
- Laurent Class of 2015
- PhilHoF17 Class of 2017
- Søren Class of 2014
- SteinHoF16 Class of 2016
- WoC Class of 2020
A fascinating interview with the ‘other’ bob.
ooh Die Hard and The Good The Bad and the Ugly are big favorites of mine too.
Like Bob Roy slapstick comedy has never been my thing either but I do enjoy the occasional screwball comedy and Groucho Marx always makes me laugh.
Good stuff.
STEVE:
Admittedly there were slapstick scenes in Marx Bros films and I found them for the most part boring though some like the overcrowded cabin scene in 1935’s Night at the Opera were very clever; and of course we got a lot of verbal wit too as the cabin kept filling up However what makes the Brothers’ movies a big fave with me is the verbal humor and in particular Groucho’s wisecracks and one-liners.
Harpo and his harp I found a big turn-off; but Chico could be funny at times in his own right-
GROUCHO: Why are you standing over there?
CHICO: I gotta be SOMEWHERE boss.
The Great Mumbler loved slapstick comedies of the silent era like those of Chaplin and The Keystone Kops.
Lots of great comments about bob cox’s interview….good stuff about a very interesting man. 11 down. Pierre is next…..and people like Bob, KTCat94, Dan and Steve need to start warming up….lol.
Congratulations on making the Getting to Know page, Bob! I also found your anecdotes and movie memories very interesting. Now I understand your particular fondness for Greer Garson, among other things. Must have been something to see How the West Was Won on the big screen. Can’t argue with your choice of favorite actors – all great. Finally, sorry to hear about all the surgeries but glad the hip replacement was successful in the end!
PhilHOF17. thanks for your comments now and as always.
HI BOB COX: Thanks for your further comments.Yes – you seem to have hit the nail on the head: I think the likes of especially The Stooges and Jerry Lewis are easier to take when one is very young as we all tend to be more light-hearted then and are often more easily amused.
Speaking for myself -and I never claim to do more than that – as I grew older I preferred the more verbal form of humor as practiced by the likes of Bob Hope and Kelsey Grammer of the Frasier TV series [1993-2004] rather than the slapstick of Lewis and The Stooges.
I must confess though that I never at any aged liked Chaplin or the American screwball comedies. Chaplin’s stuff was clever to watch but I found all that chasing about and slinging of custard pies repetitive and not at all funny; and I saw no humor of any sort in those screwball comedy movies.
Another type of humor which has always irritated is that which involves obnoxious smart-a** children being rude to adults or even to other children for that matter which Americans in particular seem to go into stitches of mirth over.
Another type of humor that is foreign to -and completely irritates – me is “bullying” activities. For example I liked all the cast of the sitcom Cheers [1982-1993] except Rhea Perlman [Danny DeVito’s wife in real life] because the humor in her character is derived from the fact that she bullies people often physically.
I absolutely hated the movie Some Like it Hot which to me was completely unfunny. However as the saying goes “One man’s meat is another man’s poison!”
The Bob, in complete agreement on Kelsey grammer from Cheers and Frazier, i also agree about Chaplain(despite his groundbreaking genius as director/producer) but strangely i enjoy Buster Keaton immensely. Buster got his nickname from his pratfalls in his vaudevillian family act starting as a 3 year old.
another anomaly that i enjoyed is that i love ” I Love Lucy” and “the dick van dyke show” though neither has aged particularly well.
one bully i did not get was ralph cramden played by jackie gleason in the honeymooners (skits previously created for the jackie gleason show) 1955-56 when i was born. but strangely i enjoyed the bullying racist archie bunker played by carroll o’connor though i have not revisited that show in 40 years. one bully i enjoyed with a smart mouthed kid was charley sheen from “2 and a half men” despite my attempting to outgrow male chauvinism it was just too funny for the first few seasons. i am currently enjoying “Mom” despite the brilliant allison janney’s bullying.
HI BOB
Thanks for your further thoughts.
“Me and my shadow,
Strolling down the avenue,
Me and my shadow,
Not a soul to tell our troubles to . .
Just me and my shadow,
All alone and feeling blue. [Sung by Perry Como]
Good interview Bob Cox packed with surprising things. Most surprising revelation: how well-travelled and experienced you are. I had you down for an independent-minded and unusual guy in the positive sense [whereas I found Joel Hirschhorn unusual in a negative way]; but I didn’t appreciate before reading your interview just how refreshingly unique a person you are.
Flies in the ointment – just one: mention of The 3 Stooges. Next to Woody Allen and Jerry Lewis -and ANY ONE of those Al Leach screwball comedies – The Stooges are the most unfunny act ever within the context of my own sense of humour; though to be fair Woody is a fantastically clever chap.
However for those who do like The Stooges there is a fine little miniature on Gable’s Cogerson page of the King clowning around with the three of them. That photo was taken around about the time in 1933 that Clark made the first of his seven films with Myrna Loy.
I suppose that AFTER he had made more films with Miss Loy he wouldn’t have wanted to be photographed with The Stooges as he might have felt that he had been associated enough with other thespians who were not in his own league of stardom.
Anyway lovely reading about you Bob. Keep safe.
The Bob, soytainly, while their unique blend of brotherly violence, sarcasm and slapstick were perfect for my 8 year old self, i have rarely been able to tolerate them in the last 3 decades(sans ethanol).
in fairness to Clark, he co-starred in dancing lady with joan crawford, franchot tone, fred astaire, larry, curly and moe in 1933. spencer tracy co starred with them and a 100 others in its a mad, mad, mad, mad world. and frank sinatra, dean martin, ursula andress, anita ekberg, charles bronson appeared with the stooges in 4 for texas.
thanks for commenting. to the substance casting my comfortable shadow.
i enjoyed jerry lewis age 8 to 13. i enjoyed woody allen age 14 to 24. now i do not enjoy them much if at all. al leach for my 2 pence has greatly improved with age even his screwball comedies. to quote maurice chaevalier “viva la difference”,
HI BOB:
I think you are wrong about Alexander Archibald Leech improving with age as he didn’t get the opportunity to: it would seem that he was a unique individual who got younger as was supposed to age.
Why else would they have kept pairing the 60 year old Archie with all those young 30-something women like Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron whilst Archie’s former screen lovers/wives like Myrna Loy eased into mother-type roles? I think that in a lot of those egotistic Hollywood actors there has always been a Dorian Gray striving to be let loose!
Actually film historians opine that the Grant-type persona was killed off by the Vietnam War. When audiences saw night after night on their TV screens the real-life violence of the war the hitherto soothing Cary Grant-figure lost credibility as a movie icon those historians say.
Anyway keep safe Mr Bob Cox – great exchanging posts with you as always-and this time on top of the treat of reading your interview.
The Bob, spot on about al leach. pure escapism for me. from my viet nam impacted adolescence (no service, tried but 4F due to asthma) to my aging, to my just being another every man see Grant in north by northwest and arsenic and old lace, the bachelor and the bobbysoxer, mr blandings builds his dream house , monkey business LOL. oops 2 with
Myrna.
Hey Bob. Good thoughts on Cary Grant. I think Grant had something to do with his screen persona no longer making movies.. As he got older, he started to get uncomfortable with his leading ladies being so young. When he got closer to 70 than he was to 60 he tried the Charles Coburn older man role in Walk Don’t Run. As average as that movie is, it made a decent amount of money (31st biggest hit of 1966)….but the female audience wanted Grant to get the girl versus Timothy’s dad Jim Hutton. Grant decided he was done with movies…and despite many opportunities he never appeared on screen again.
I find it interesting that the year we got Maurice’s Alfie is the last year we saw Archie’s Cary on movie screens.