Entertainment News: Dean Stockwell of Film ’Blue Velvet' & TV’s ‘Quantum Leap’ Dies at 85

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HollywoodChicago.com: Producer Richard Zanuck recently passed away, and the first film he produced, “Compulsion,” featured you in a supporting role. What do remember about him on that set?

Dean Stockwell: I never saw him, because he never came to the set. Producers very rarely came to the set, but for a first production job, I thought it was a pretty good film. He made a great move in hiring me. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: You won an award at the Cannes Film Festival for that performance…

Stockwell: Yes, that was one of two shared Best Actor awards I had won at Cannes. The other was for “Long Days Journey into Night.”

HollywoodChicago.com: How was Orson Welles on that set?

Stockwell: I didn’t like Orson Welles at all. I thought he was an ass…[pause] idiot.

HollywoodChicago.com: When you see one of your child star films again, do you ever remember anything from those films that is weird?

Dean Stockwell of ‘Blue Velvet’ Photo credit: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Stockwell: No, not necessarily. When I worked – and I did many, many, many films as a child – I knew what the business was, intuitively and instinctively, and I acted as a pro. I never ran into weird situations.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since you had a role in it, when did you know that Dennis Hopper’s ‘The Last Movie’ was in trouble?

Stockwell: It wasn’t in trouble, what was the trouble?

HollywoodChicago.com: The legend is that Hopper was out of control on the set.

Stockwell: Well, Dennis was out of control…at the hotel rooms. But he could create the energy to make an entire f**king major movie. In other words, it was personalized by his mad man period, so people can’t really figure it out.

HollywoodChicago.com: Finally what can you tell us about Russ Tamblyn that the rest of the world doesn’t know?

Stockwell: That he’s one of the greatest f**king guys on the planet, I love Russ. We’ve known each other forever.

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com