| William TapScott |
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| My Favorite Links HappyHaunting: Profile: |
| My Info: |
| I was born in Texas but lived in Denver, Colorado from age 12 to 18. I currently live in Corpus Christi, Texas and am the Television Producer for a large education organization. I also do independent video and film productions. In my lifetime I have worked (everything from a coffee getter to assistant cameraman) on around a dozen or so Hollywood movies, starting with "North To Alaska" (1960) with John Wayne, and Cry For Happy" (1961) with Glenn Ford and Donald O'Connor, to the last one I did, "Pearl Harbor" with Ben Affleck in 2002. |
| Professional Film Name: William Tap Scott Real name: William TapScott Email: william_the_scot@yahoo.com |
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| Two years after making "North To Alaska" Ernie Kovacs was killed in a car crash. Late one night in 1962, after leaving a party, he was driving down a narrow winding road in Beverly Hills Canyon. It is suspected he lost control of his car as he was trying to light his ever present cigar. He is buried in Forestlawn Cemetery, Hollywood, Calif.
Another star in that film was a 29 year old French actress named Capucine. She was beautiful and a very classy lady. I was really in love with her. Needless to say, she didn't hang out with the rest of us (the cast and crew). She always stayed by herself and looked preoccupied about something. During her lifetime she starred in over 50 films. On March 17th 1990 she jumped from the balcony of her 8th floor penthouse in Switzerland. I found out later that she had led a very troubled life and had tried to commit suicide several times. Some of the films were shot in Hollywood and some in other countries, like "Noon Sunday" (1971) with Mark Lenard, shot in the Mariannas Islands and "Walkabout" (1970) with Jenny Agutter, shot in Australia. At least 8 were shot here in Corpus Christi, like "Pearl Harbor", "Tilt" (1978) with Brooke Sheilds, "Selena" (1997) with Jennifer Lopez, (I have a lot of video of Selena in the years before she was killed and during the police stand-off with her killer, I visit her grave fairly often), "Over The Line" (1993) with Lesley-Anne Down and John Enos, "Alamo Bay" (1985) with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, "Legend Of Billie Jean" (1985) with Helen Slater (Supergirl) and Christian Slater (no relation to Helen), and one or two other films that I can't even remember the names of. Actually I do remember but only a few scenes of the films were shot here. They were "Raggedy Man"(1981) with Sissy Spacek and Eric Roberts, "Chasers"(1994) with Tom Beringer and Erika Eleniak, and the other was "Girl In The Cadillac" (1995) also with Erika Eleniak. I also worked on the Movie "Pretty Baby" (1978) with Brooke Sheilds and Susan Sarandon, shot in New Orleans, directed by Louis Malle, who later directed "Alamo Bay" (1985) here (then he died). I have also produced more than 100 documentary videos ("Chipita", the first woman "legally" hanged by the state of Texas, "Tattoo", "Faces of India", "Quantum Optics", "Texas Fiddle Fest", "Siege of The Abbey", "Siege of The Abbey II, "Coastal Invasion", "Excalibur", "Defender X", "Renaissance Faire") and dance production videos ("Nutcracker", "Swan Lake", "Copellia", "Giselle", "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", "Dracula, The Ballet", "Holocaust", and "Rainforest"), mostly in South Texas and a few in Mexico ("Espinazo", "Espinazo, 20 Years Later", and "Las Pozas, The Enchanted Garden of Edward James"). I am currently in pre-production on several films including "Thirteen Spirits", true stories of hauntings in the Lone Star State, "Hooray for Bollywood" and "Bollywood Dreams", two satires on the flowery dance and music of the films of India, and "Sound Of Silence, Katie's Story", the true story of a young girl growing up deaf. The last film starring the beautiful and talented Katherine Murch, a 20 year old actress, who also was first and second runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 Miss Deaf Texas/America Pageants. She recently won the 2007/08 Miss Deaf Texas/America Pageant and was first runner-up in the 2008 Miss Deaf/America Pageant. A film that I recently started writing is "Skateboard Girl". The film is based on actual incidents involving the girl who I hope will star in the movie. I have also been planning a film, "Flamenco", for several years that I am ready to start on, but I have to wait until the intended star gets her dental braces removed. It will be a dance/musical theater production. I work on at least 6 films at a time, all in different stages of production. Jan 30, 2009, I will film Giacomo Puccini's opera, "Gianni Schicchi", for the series "A Night at the Opera", at The Performing Arts Center on the Campus of A&M University, Corpus Christi, Texas. On Feb. 14, 2009 I will shoot the theater production of "The Firebird" with Corpus Christi Concert Ballet. The end of Feb. I will finish the on location filming of "Coastal Invasion: Siege of The Castle" with hundreds of 14th century attired knights and fighters. I have worked with Kim Hinkle, the maker of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", 1973. The film has been remade several more times, the last time being 2003. I have also worked on several films with Larry Cashion, who just finished a Hollywood film "Mr. Hell" with Larry in the title role. He has been in about a half dozen films, including "The Alamo", "Selena", "Over The Line", and worked on about a half dozen more, as well as several television series. Larry and I went to college together many, many years ago. |
| During shooting of "North To Alaska", the stars, John Wayne, Ernie Kovacs, Stewart Granger, and I used to sit around playing poker, drinking beer, and smoking cigars (Ernie Kovacs was never seen in public without a cigar in his hand or mouth). I must have thought I was a big shot (but I was only a go-fer). At the time I was only 19 or 20. Quite a few years after that, I had a chance to talk to John Wayne when he came to Texas to see about doing a remake of his original movie, "The Alamo". He made a few more movies after that, but before he could get anything going on the remake of "Alamo", he died. Someone else just finished remaking the movie in 2004. |
| A Little of My History: Celebrateing over 50 years in the Television/Film industry 50 years ago, in January 1959 (when I was 18 years old), I left Denver, Colorado headed for Hollywood. I drove my '32 Ford with a full house '56 Buick engine south from Denver to Albuquerque, NM. to catch Route 66 west. When I reached L.A. I continued straight through arriving at the west-most end of Route 66, the Santa Monica Pier. This was the first time I had ever seen the ocean. I spent my first night in L.A. sitting on my car parked at the Santa Monica Pier looking out over the water. For the next two weeks I saw all of the landmarks that I had always heard of; the Hollywood sign, the Hollywood Bowl, Malibu Beach, Venice Beach, the La Brea Tar Pits, Grohmans Chineese Theater, Sunset Strip, the Coconut Grove at the Ambassadore Hotel, the Brown Derby, Hollywood & Vine. Then I got busy making Hollywood film connections. |