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Spinout 3
Will Hutchins, best known for his lead role as Tom "Surgarfoot"
Brewster on television in the late 1950s, played Lt. Tracy Richards
in "Spinout" and worked again with Elvis in the 1967 film
"Clambake."
He was at one time married to comedian Carol Burnett's younger
sister Chris.
For a while in the 1970s. Hutchins was a professional clown and
circus ringmaster.
Jack Mullaney, often cast as the goofy sidekick, played musician
Curly in "Spinout."
He had played Elvis's buddy in the movie "Tickle Me."
Milton Berle's nephew Warren Berlinger played Phillip Short.
His career as a character actor began in 1956 with the film
"Teenager Rebel" and continues working today.
Cecil Kellaway, who played Bernard Ranley in "Spinout," was known
for his many character roles,
two of which garnered him Academy Award nominations.
One was for his role as a leprechaun in the 1948 film "The Luck of
the Irish" and the other was for his part
as the monsignor in the 1967 film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."
Una Merkel, who played Violet Ranley, was a veteran character actor
who began her career as a stand-in for Lillian Gish in the 1920s.
She was nominated for an Academy Award in 1962 for the film "Summer
and Smoke" and she won a Tony Award in 1956 for the Broadway show
"The Ponder Heart." "Spinout" was her last film.
Dodie Marshall had a role in "Spinout" as Susan and went on to be
Elvis's leading lady in the film "Easy Come, Easy Go."
There were, as usual for an Elvis movie, a number of lovely
actresses who had bit parts in this film.
Among them was a very young Rita Wilson,
who would go on to be a movie star and a film producer. She is
married to actor Tom Hanks.
Principal photography finished on April 8, 1966 and Elvis drove his
new bus home to Memphis. The movie opened on November 23, 1966.
Theaters sponsored "The Perfect American Male Essay Contest" as a
way to promote the movie. It was a play on the character Diana St.
Clair's book and the best essays won Elvis records as prizes. Radio
stations received promos of the "Spinout" single and prerecorded
open-ended interviews with Shelley Fabares, Deborah Walley and Dian
McBain. The film was the 57th highest grossing film for the year.
Elvis was the tenth highest paid actor in
1966. |
