Old article on Jack Lord (date/source unknown)

[Mr. Mike]

JACK LORD

Whether he's shooting bad guys on "Hawaii Five O" or discussing art,
money, his wife, or WHATEVER, Jack always shoots from the hip!

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CHILDHOOD ...

Q. The world knows you very well today Jack Lord, the star
of the TV series Hawaii Five-O. But what about Jack Lord,
the person and his background?

A. I was one of five children. I grew up in the rough and
rowdy streets of Brooklyn, New York. It's not the most
gentile [sic] environment for a kid.

Q. You do seem to have a tough-headed quality in your acting
as McGarrett on Five-O. But how did you manage to make the
transition from street ruffian to television star?

A. Fine art, painting, had a greater attraction for me than
street gangs I guess. I went to New York University and
studied art. That was my ticket out of Brooklyn.

PAINTING ...

Q. You say you studied art? Tell us how you got into that
kind of work . . .

A. I had always like to paint. After I graduated from New
York University, my brother Bill and I opened a small art
studio. It was my first business venture. Bill and I were
very close brothers.

Q. How successful was your art studio?

A. Well, the muses must have smiled on me.

Q. What do you mean?

A. I was fortunate enough to have my talent and artistic
ability discovered by no less than the Metropolitan Museum
of Art. They bought two linoleum cuts that I had done when I
was eighteen.

RESTLESSNESS ...

Q. But you certainly aren't making your living from the art
studio now. You must have shifted gears along the way.

A. Yes, I was restless. I wanted to wander and explore. I
changed from artist to seaman. I joined the Merchant Marines
and sailed to parts all over the globe.

Q. Why did you pick the Merchant Marines?

A. In high school, I spent the summers working on
freighters. But even then I spent my spare time painting and
sketching.

Q. Were you dissatisfied with your painting or had you just
lost interest in art?

A. No. I'll never lose interest in art. I had just kept
looking at the French impressionists and couldn't achieve
the quality they had, so 1 decided it was time to change.

Q. Did anything especially exciting happen on your sea
voyages?

A. Yes, I met my first wife. That was 1942. My life had
already changed drastically by my joining the Merchant
Marines.

FIRST WIFE ...

Q. How did you meet your first wife?

A. I was on duty in the Mediterranean. I met and married a
young woman there. And very soon after we learned that she
was pregnant with our first child. I was at sea during her
pregnancy, but when I heard she was about to deliver, I took
leave and rushed to her in Marseille, France, where we had
been living.

Q. What was your reaction to your first child?

A. Well, it wasn't fair to the baby but, I remember what
happened to me more than my first impression of the baby.

Q. What happened?

A. I rushed home to welcome my new family and she informed
me she had decided to divorce me.

Q. You were no doubt heartbroken by the shock of her
announcement of a divorce. But what did you do during the
aftermath of your broken marriage.

A. Not long afterward I met the woman who was to later
become my second and present wife.

SECOND WIFE ...

Q. How did you happen to meet her?

A. I had returned from the sea for a year. I was in New York
and I met a fashion designer, Marie deNarde. She owned a
house in Woodstock, New York that I was interested in
buying.

Q. Did you buy her house or move in with her?

A. Not either. She had no intention of selling her house to
me. But I guess I just came on strong and she agreed to at
least discuss the house with me.

Q. How did you finally win her?

A. It's hard to say. Psychologically, I probably won her
that first day. Our business meeting concerning the house
lasted well into the night. We began dating and continued
during the following months. Of course I had gone back to
sea too, so there were some long absences in there. Then I
left the Merchant Marines and went to Washington, D.C.
That's where I got the acting bug, when I did a military
training film.

AMBITION ...

Q. What was it that made you switch from artist to seaman to
actor?

A. Well, as I said before, I liked or needed acting as a new
mode of expressing myself, outside of the art. When I left
the armed services I decided to give up this art career and
enter the rat race of show business.

Q. Is that when you married Marie?

A. No, not for a while yet.

Q. How did your other friends react to your sudden decision
to take up an acting career?

A. Marie was the only one who encouraged me. She told me
that a man should do what makes him happy and if action was
what I wanted, then hard work and dedication would make me a
success. And it was at that same time that I realized
without a doubt that I wanted to spend the rest of my life
with Marie.

Q. Why didn't you marry her then?

A. Maybe it was that ornery bullheaded attitude I picked up
during my summers at sea, but Marie was a successful
designer and I wasn't about to live off her money. More than
a year passed before I ever earned a dollar as an actor.
Then I was paid only 50 dollars for one week's work in
summer stock. This, naturally wasn't enough money to even
support one person.

FAILURE ...

Q. So you went through those harrowing years that a lot of
actors go through. How did you feel while you were
struggling?

A. We already know I wasn't worth much money then but I was
determined not to tie the knot until 1 could support a wife.
Months passed and I didn't receive any more offers. Finally
Marie suggested I try something different for a change of
scenery. So I became a car salesman.

Q. We understand Gary Cooper was a strong influence on you.
Is that true?

A. Absolutely. I was encouraged by Marie and my old friend
Gary Cooper.

Q. Did you have a difficult time trying to adjust to all the
rejection?

A. Marie did more than just encourage me. She taught me in
her own quiet discrete way how to get along with people. She
taught me to be fearless.

Q. How soon did you get your break?

A. Almost immediately, almost overnight. My career
snowballed. A couple of television roles led the way to a
Broadway play which later took me to Hollywood and motion
pictures and finally my own television series, Stoney Burke.

(To be continued)