THE Life & Career of Actor

                                                                                    (7/4/1931 - 6/2/1977)

Posted 1/7/2002:

Visit to Japan by Etsumi

Post date: 5/21/2002

Etsumi was kind enough to send us a photograph of her personal encounter with Stephen Boyd around 1975/1976 in Japan. He was visiting there with other actors for a Charity golf tournament.

He was kind enough to have his picture taken with Etsumi on the course. She is a very big fan of Stephen Boyd and I would like to thank her for her contribution. It is very nice of her!!!

THANKS ETSUMI!

Karen's story.

In the early 70s when I was in my teens I had the great pleasure of meeting Stephen Boyd.  It's a meeting I will remember with fondness my whole life.
My parents owned a restaurant in Palm Springs.  My two sisters (age 19 & 7) and I (age 14) "worked" there evenings and weekends.  One evening Stephen Boyd came in for dinner.  My mother told us he was there and we all got very excited because we had all recently seen "The Oscar" on television and remembered him from "Fantastic Voyage".

My mother asked him if he wouldn't mind coming to the back when he was finished to meet her daughters who were so excited that he was there.  Being a gracious gentleman, he said he would.  My sisters and I wanted to kill my mother for doing this, we were so embarrassed!

Well, when he finished his meal, we could see from the back of the
restaurant that he was getting up to come to see us.  We all scattered - we went in three different directions because we were so embarrassed.  When he got to the back and we were all gone, he asked my mother where we were.  She told him that we had all run away because of our embarrassment.  He told my mother to go and find us because he wasn't leaving until she did.

Needless to say we were even more embarrassed when my mother hauled us all out to meet him.  He was the sweetest person - so kind and thoughtful - and that voice - I haven't heard one like it since.  He talked to all of us and really made us feel like we were special.

Karen

Posted 1/7/2002:

Hi
It's been a long time since I've checked your site, and I really like what
you are doing.  In fact, I do admire you since I'm not exactly one to make
up any time of site.

My granddaughter makes them all the time and has a couple of popular ones that pertain to the young people on the soap Young & Restless.

She like everyone else that either in my family or close to me, know of my years and years of being a devoted Stephen Boyd fan.  She thought I should tell you of the first encounter with him, right after he made the movie Ben Hur.  He was doing a lot of personal appearances at that time.

I was young, married and had just had my second child.  I was also very
active in a women's national sorority, Beta Sigma Phi.  One of the ways we raised money was to supply audiences for the many, many game shows that were on the air at that time.
I don't remember the name of the TV show, it was at the NBC studios in
Burbank (where Jay Leno now resides) .. I believe it was a Jack Narz or
Arthur Kennedy show.

Anyway.  I had seen Ben Hur and was totally fascinated and in love with
Stephen Boyd.  At that time, I didn't know that he was wearing brown contact lenses, until I actually saw him in person and saw that his eyes were blue.
Yep, I saw him up close and personal.  My grandmother and I went to the TV Show with the rest of the sorority gals and friends.  We were seated in the first part of the second section (that's the section that's called the
overflow and you are not expected to me on the show or TV camera).

During the show, they announced a special guest.  Well, you guessed it, it
was Stephen.... wow!!!! There he was the man of my dreams.  I should stated that I was born in raised in Southern California, surrounded by people in Show Business (or as we call it "the Biz" ... and you are taught to NEVER, NEVER bother or approach a celebrity, unless they are on a promo visit). So, I had seen more than my share of movie stars.  But this was different. It was the most handsome man in the world, Stephen Boyd! 
His job on the show was to not only promote his movies and career but to pick several people from the audience.  These people would state their name and win a prize.  That's easy.
They handed him a microphone with a long chord and he came down the aisle. Suddenly, my grandmother gets all excited.  "Diane, he's coming to you" ... and would you believe it"  That's exactly what happened.  He headed my way, I was like in never, never land.  Then it happened.  Since I was in the "overflow" section, the chord on the mike was not supposed to come back that far and as he approached my, the mike disconnected.
There was a flurry and then they magically had it fixed.  And there he was standing in front of me, asking my name.  Wow what a wonderful day that was.
I won an Encyclopedia, a Spiegel Catalog gift certificate and some other
items (long forgotten) ... but this encounter with Stephen was never, never forgotten.

It was many years before I saw him again... and that was the day I walked
into the lounge at Porter Valley Country Club (PVCC).There he was.  Older and extremely thin ... but to me, he looked just like he did that day, so long along when he picked me out of a large TB audience to win some prizes.

This man was a truly good and gifted man.  I think he just didn't want to
play the "Hollywood Suck face Game" and that's why he never reach the
heights to which we could have...
Then sadly, he died why playing golf at PVCC.  As I told you before, he was always around the golf course and club house, always a gentleman.  We had a lot of celebrities come and go at PVCC, but he was the crown jewel.

Dianne

Posted 2001:

I received an email from Diane C. who used to belong to the Porter Valley Country Club in Northridge, California where Stephen Boyd played golf.

THANKS DIANE!

Here is what she told me:

"He (Stephen) belonged to the Porter Valley Country Club in Northridge, CA.  That's where he also had his heart attack on the golf course.

They have a snack bar situated at the Turn between the 9th and 10th holes, there's a pool, rest rooms and the tennis courts also at this spot.

The golfers usually stop at the snack bar to freshen up.  The club always hired the members teenagers to work at the pool and snack bar.

My daughter was working in the snack bar at this time and he an his usual three some (he played with a man, who was believe to be his manager, and a blond haired women, who we assumed was either his wife of sister).  She told me that Stephen usually purchased an egg salad sandwich and coke.