ANDRE DE TOTH ON RANDOLPH SCOTT

Here's what Andre de Toth says about Randolph Scott in the book DE TOTH ON DE TOTH edited by Anthony Slide......"I believe Randolph Scott could have gone further as an performer. But he did not have the ambition to step up,to be better in anything except golf. Golf was all that counted. He was a handsome man; took showers twice a day, I believe. He was a man whose shoes shined. But he had a tremendous inferiority complex about his acting ability and that made him so stiff. You had the feeling that if Scott picked up a feather from down on the floor, he was going to crumble. He creaked. In cases like his don't try to bend the actors because they will crack And that's a mess. Good actor he wasn't. He was Randy Scott. Which had advantages, but no surprises." Randy appeared in 6 features directed by de Toth...MAN IN THE SADDLE (51), CARSON CITY (52), THE STRANGER WORE A GUN (53), THUNDER OVER THE PLAINS (54), RIDING SHOTGUN (54) and THE BOUNTY HUNTER (54). On Harry Joe Brown Randy's producing partner and Randy...."He (Brown) made a lot of films and drank a lot, even for those times. Scott drank a lot too...sasparilla...and they understood each other because instead of reading scripts they read "The Wall Street journal". They had financial interest together. Neither of them knew much about stories. It was a good combination. They didn't fight about story points. They were both gentlemen, nice people. Oh, they cared about money all right, but unfortunately they didn't care enough about films. Ours was a strange relationship....I cared so much for something they cared so little about at that time. Later they discovered they should have been more concerned about stories." Caption under a pic of ol' Randy hisself...."Randolph Scott, who could beat a man with "The Wall Street Journal" in his back pocket a Cold .45 strapped on his hip...and who knew how to use both. What do you want, acting too?"