The producer who became Robert Redford’s arch-nemesis: “I made this noose for myself”
There are few more treacherous villains in the landscape of Hollywood than producers. Usually hired by the studio to make sure directors and actors are following the most commercially savvy way forward on set, for most people, they seemingly operate, for big money, without any real notion of contributing to the movie they’re in charge of making. For Robert Redford, one particular producer would prove too much to bear.
Ray Stark isn’t a name that most people on the street would recognise. His position as movie producer and talent agent means he was a huge deal in Tinseltown before his death in 2004. Still, for the general public, his largest contribution to cinema was declining the services of Anne Bancroft and picking out Barbra Streisand for the lead role in Funny Girl. He also worked with Albert Finney, Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor throughout his career. But his time with Redford would prove to be a troublesome time.
Redford has long been considered a genial man. At a time when brutish men were allowed to do what they pleased in Hollywood, Redford stood out as a nice guy. It means his dislike for Stark is all the more surprising. In fact, it was his general demeanour that had him locked into working with the producer in the first place.
Redford was on vacation when his friend and director, Sydney Pollack, got in contact to talk about a new picture. Redford explained: “Suddenly Sydney was waylaying me with a new script called The Way We Were.” Redford was interested in working with the director, but the producer he had on board was not the name the actor wanted to read when picking up the script: “Ray Stark was the man behind it, and I told him it sounded to me like another Ray Stark ego trip. I didn’t even want to read it.”
But something else was at play. Pollack needed his acting pal, and one of the biggest names in the business at the time, and he felt like he was being brushed aside from the project. “The truth is, Stark had no affection for This Property Is Condemned [Pollack and Redford’s 1966 collaboration with Natalie Wood], which he sold to Warners as part of his portfolio, and really dumped.”
For a money-maker like Stark, this was enough to put Pollack in director’s jail. Why should he give over the chance to direct Streisand, still reeling off the success of Funny Girl a few years prior, to someone who had tanked a project like This Property Is Condemned? There was only one reason: Robert Redford.
The actor stepped in, as he explained: “To him, Sydney did not smell good. I pushed. I said, ‘If you want to even consider me for The Way We Were, it has to be Sydney developing it.’ So I made this noose for myself because Stark gave in, and suddenly I had an outline written up for me that I hated.”
Redford would eventually end up taking the role, despite issues with the script, as Streisand told Vanity Fair: “Bob is that rare combination…an intellectual cowboy…a charismatic star who is also one of the finest actors of his generation. But like my husband, he’s almost apologetic about his looks, and I liked that about him.”
It was a winning combo she wanted for the movie: “So I wanted Redford for Hubbell. But he turned it down. Since Sydney and Bob were so close, my best hope was that Sydney could somehow persuade him. I have to give Sydney credit. He was as persistent as I was, because we both felt that only Redford would make the picture work.”
The duo fought for Redford but also against Stark, who was determined to turn down the actor for the lead role. “Ray Stark seemed to think that any blonde actor would do, but I wouldn’t give up on Redford,” explained Streisand. Eventually, both would succumb to the prospect of a project almost guaranteed to succeed. And succeed it did, but the tensions on set between Redford and Stark grew too distracting for the actor. While they completed the picture, any hopes of a sequel were squashed by their fractious energy, and the only thing to be made with an enemy for life.
