Dale
Robertson is one of my all time favorite western stars. I met Dale
several times over the years but the last time was at the pre-Golden
Boots party at The Sportsmen's Lodge in 2006 Dale was always one of
the first celebrities to arrive at the pool-side party (he'd book a room
on the ground floor right next to the pool) and on this particular date
I was one of the first "regular" persons to be there. (I'd arrive
early and hold a table for the rest of the Leone Mafia.) Dale was
scooting around on a scooter (the 3-wheeled kind) as he was having
trouble getting around on foot and suddenly he headed over to me and
said, It's almost like riding a horse." I was kind of surprised that
out of the blue he had talked to me (but he was that kind of person)
and I said..."er, but you don't have to feed it and clean up after it."
He thought that was pretty funny. We did some small talk and then I
pulled out two old TV Guides that I had brought with me that him on the
cover. I showed them to him and he smiled the biggest smile I had seen
in some time and said, "Want me to autograph them for you, son." I then
said, " I would love to have your autograph, Mr. Robertson." "Call me,
Dale, " he said. I gave one of the Guides to him and he humbly thanked
me for it and then autographed the one pictured below. His last words
to me were, "Nice talking to you, son. See you later." ...and with that
he turned the scooter around and went back to his room. Still had
his big head of hair...not black anymore....almost white . What a great
guy.
