When Hollywood historian David Fantle and his friend and writing partner Tom Johnson walked into Vincente Minnelli’s house in 1980, it looked to them like “silent screen siren Norma Desmond’s decaying brick pile from Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard,” Fantle recalled.
The Oscar-winning director told them that his not-yet-wife Judy Garland didn’t want to star for him in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944); she was after “more sophisticated parts” and feared it would “set her career back 20 years.” The film, of course, would become a classic musical and one of Garland’s most beloved movies.
Fantle, who spent a lifetime interviewing Golden Age celebrities to preserve their stories for posterity, died unexpectedly Tuesday at his home in Milwaukee following a cardiovascular emergency. He was 66.
In addition to his role as a Hollywood historian, the St. Paul, Minnesota native had a 40-year career in public relations, serving in top positions at Visit Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism and the United Performing Arts Fund. He also sat on the board of the Holocaust Education Resource Center and taught film and PR classes at Marquette University.
What makes Fantle’s story worth highlighting is his determination and ability to get access to the stars of yesteryear — starting when he was just out of high school.
“What tenacity,” Robert Wagner wrote in the foreword to Fantle and Johnson’s 2018 book, Hollywood Heyday: 75 Candid Interviews With Golden Age Legends. “These are interviews with stars who rarely, if ever, opened up.”
Earlier, Fantle and Johnson teamed on 2009’s Reel to Real: 25 Years of Celebrity Interviews From Vaudeville to Movies to TV.
Starting when he was 18, Fantle used the skills that would build a four-decade PR career by getting these stars to talk about what people wanted to know.
When he and Johnson were in high school in Minneapolis in the ’70s, they would send out 60 or so letters to stars and get maybe 30 in return. They’d also call agents or caretakers, whoever was running the show. They traveled to Los Angeles for three weeks at a time, with three-piece suits and $50 in dimes for pay phones, and did their interviews all over Beverly Hills.
Johnson described Fantle as an “extremely loyal friend, he was like a brother, and he was like a pit bull when it came to seeking out stars to interview. They would try to brush off these kids, and Dave would just give them a reason to see us.”
Lucille Ball nearly kicked them out (but didn’t), James Cagney took them to dinner after they were sized up by his caretaker, Fred Astaire did a dance for them, and Mel Brooks kept them laughing.
They sat down with wife and husband Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, who said about his success in Hollywood, “I feel like I snuck in.” Casablanca co-screenwriter Julius Epstein opined about inaccuracies in film history books. The often-cranky Jerry Lewis opened up to them multiple times. They spoke with Charlton Heston on his tennis court and met Gregory Peck at his Bel-Air estate. Bob Hope refused to be called a “legend,” saying, “if you start believing this legend stuff, you’re in trouble.”
Gene Kelly told them about working with Garland in Summer Stock (1950). “She wasn’t a trained dancer,” he said, “but I never worked with a trained dancer who was so quick to learn steps as Judy was.”
About Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Kelly spoke of his “Moses Supposes” number with Donald O’Connor. “Donald and I rehearsed that dance for days, but most critics dismiss it as a zany Marx Brothers romp.”
The Kelly family sent Christmas cards to Fantle and Johnson every year and even invited them back for another visit.
“Film editors have become the choreographers today,” said Kelly, who bemoaned the lack of ingenuity in contemporary musicals,all shot in medium and close-up. “A whole musical can fail or succeed based on the editing.”
Debbie Reynolds discussed her dedication to preserving MGM history after Kirk Kerkorian started to strip the studio for parts, selling the backlot and props. “The MGM auction absolutely broke my heart,” Reynolds told them in 1994, “that’s why I went to the bank, borrowed money and attended the auction every day. I think it’s our fault that we don’t protect our own culture.”
Said Johnson: “We always showed [the legends] respect, and they would quickly brighten up upon our arrival.”
While working for Visit Milwaukee, Fantle had the idea to immortalize Henry Winkler, who of course played “The Fonz” on ABC’s Happy Days, which took place in the Cream City. Other cities had their unique Hollywood connection, so why couldn’t Milwaukee celebrate one of theirs?
Fantle led a campaign to fund the bronze statue, known warmly as the “Bronze Fonz,” and the mini monument on the riverwalk has become a selfie hotspot for tourists. (After Fantle’s death, Winkler called his family with condolences and a jovial comment that without the Bronze Fonz, he’d have nothing to talk about.)
David Zucker, who co-directed and co-wrote Airplane! (1980) with brother Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, met Fantle through his role at Wisconsin Tourism, and he “got the whole ZAZ gang together for these tourism ads,” he recalled. Fantle was often on the set making suggestions.
Zucker was a big Steve Allen fan and was delighted to hear Fantle share that Allen loved Airplane!
“David Fantle was the guy who thought outside of the box. He had an imagination,” said Zucker. “[He thought], why are we doing these dull vacation ads? Why don’t we shake things up with ZAZ humor! That’s what we did, and they were very successful.”
Regarding Fantle’s work with the Bronze Fonz, Zucker joked that “I think they should pick a bridge [in Milwaukee] and do a ZAZ statue!”
On a personal note, I first met Fantle when I was beginning research for my 2023 book, The Warner Brothers. He told me that he had met Warners house director Mervyn LeRoy [Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang] not long before he died in 1987 and that he “looked like a mob boss.”
With decades of experience and lifetimes worth of wisdom, Fantle encouraged my work, shared sources, taught me to watch for (but never fear) family members protecting legacies, began networking for me as soon as it looked like tenure was about to be destroyed at UW-Milwaukee, connected me with Marquette, spoke to my entertainment journalism class at the school and kept a coffee date for years, always making sure things were going well.
You always left a conversation with him feeling like anything was possible. He was a true friend and a genuine gentleman and will be deeply missed.
Funeral services were held Thursday at Congregation Sinai in Fox Point, Wisconsin. Survivors include his wife, Cathy; his children, Grace, Madeline and Max; his older brother, Phillip; his mother, Betty; his grandchildren, Rena, Romi, Lang and Hannah; and his best friend, Johnson.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center or the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette.
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