"HE SKUN A GUY DOWN IN TEXAS"

    Bruce Dern and Donald Pleasence in "Will Penny"

Have you ever researched the participation of our admired movie stars in the great conflict, WW2? Movies were a big thing on those days as there was not that much entertainment. Among the actors there were quite a few who served and a good number of real heroes, among them Audie Murphy (most decorated soldier of WW2), Eddie Albert, Charles Durning, James Stewart, and on and on.

Today we are looking at an unlikely one---one who has played many hateful and villainous roles in movies. Our subject is English actor Donald Pleasence, who was at his notorious best ( and worst!) in one of Charleton Heston's favorite movies, "Will Penny". In the movie, 49 year old rootless, roving Will Penny (Heston) is hired to go out into the deep boonies and serve as "line shack rider" for a big ranch in the winter. Pleasence, father and prophet-like leader of his raggledy family of rednecks, get it in for Penny and capture him and strip him down to his red long johns. Pleasance in a great line drones (he drones generally instead of talks): "I have a good mind to just have Rafe (grinning, dirty, son) here to just skin you alive right now; YOU KNOW HE SKUN A GUY DOWN IN TEXAS ONCE!"

I have always loved that line. it has inspired many questionable past tenses in our humorous family conversations.Pleasence was an aviator who was shot down and wound up in the famous and notorious four- or- five story mansion prison--Colditz, in eastern Germany. I believe he escaped. He played in a large number of creepy horror films. he played a prisoner of war in "The Great Escape." Never better than in Will Penny--I admired him greatly.  

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