Actor Dale Dye
I had the opportunity to interview Actor/Director/Screen Writer/Author - Dale Dye. You all should remember him from his roles in the movies "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers." http://thenighteaglessoared.blogspot.com/
The ariticle is on my personal blog so you'll have to scroll down past the books TV commerical to find it. Hope you enjoy it. Steve |
Dale Dye
:D I met Mr Dye in 1987, when I was the coordinator of an FBI counter sniper Seminar featuring USMC Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock (93 Kills). This was at Fort Ord and the FBI Invited Dye, John Millius and several other "Hollywood types" to attend. m
The seminar was sponsored by Monterey Peninsula College and offered to California Peace Officers through POST (for a $150 fee) and to the military (free of charge). On the 1st night there was a hosted dinner at Carmel Valley's Quail Lodge (5 Star) Hathcock, Millius, Dye, Jim Hill (owner of the El Sur Ranch), Ed Haber (owner of the Quail Lodge), Paul Keene (DA's Investigator), The four FBI Agents and I Attended. During the dinner, Keene asked Hathcock if he wanted to meet Clint Eastwood, whom Keene had taught to shoot for his "Dirty Harry" Movies. Hathcock asked why he would should meet Eastwood and Paul told him that Eastwood had just played a Marine Gunnery Sergeant in a Movie! Gunny Hatcock replied that Eastwood needed to ask to meet him because he was the freal deal! |
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Thanks for the post. I didn't know Dye was a Missouri boy. I thought that accent sounded familiar.
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He had a weekend talk show on KFI, Los Angeles, for several years.
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I like his work, especially in "Platoon" as the CO who orders an air strike on his overrun position. I'm sure that happened for real more than once, it led me to read about Lt. General Bill Carpenter, then a Captain at Dak To.
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Comments!
Thanks for the comments everybody! It was a real honor for me to have this opportunity. Obviously Dale didn't have to grant me an interview but I think in his heart of hearts he is still one of us...a regurlar Joe, somebody who is a huge fan of the military and veterans like him. I'm not sure if he is a member of this site. What do you think should I invite him to join? Sending him the link to this thread in a few minutes. If he decides to sign up we will all be honored I'm sure.
Again thanks for all the comments and thanks for stopping by the blog to see the interview. If you haven't seen it yet...go to the link I posted in the first thread. :D Steve |
I think I lost an opportunity once, thanks to Dale Dye. I mentioned him to the assistant director of a movie that was filming in Boston. They wanted a local New England guy to provide some military advice to actors and extras for one scene, and the guy recommended to them couldn't do it -- he was deployed. He recommended me.
Everything was going well until I mentioned that the master of the kind of thing they wanted to do was Dale Dye. Very sharp question: "Oh, do you know Dale Dye?" I had to confess that I didn't know him face to face, we had exchanged paper letters when I was on active duty and he was writing and I was looking for writing and publication advice. And we exchanged a couple of letters, for which I remain very grateful. He was encouraging, and I'd always followed his work and respected him. I do not know why, but instantly the tenor of the interview changed and it wrapped up very quickly. The assistant director, a very hard-working, personally neurotic guy led me out past the (famous) director, and didn't introduce me. I was surprised that two weeks later he called to tell me I didn't get the job, sorry, and he'd look forward at some other time. (I was surprised because I knew I hadn't gotten the job -- it was glaringly obvious). Thing is, his voice on the phone was the voice of a terrified man. He was very apologetic about not hiring me, and I wound up reassuring him it was perfectly OK, I wasn't desperate for work when I walked in the production office and I wasn't desperate when I walked out, I was doing a favor for another QP, but i knew from not meeting the director that I didn't get the gig. I'm not particularly scary and I'm pretty low-key. I don't "look like an SF guy" as Hollywood people imagine them. All I can think is that the AD had a hard-on for Capt. Dye for some reason and I hosed myself by mentioning him. As far as the neuroticism is concerned, maybe he's used to angry displays from disappointed actors or something. For most of us, a bad day at the office has (or once had) a completely different meaning, and yet they think we're keyed up. I've also been told that the opportunity I blew was a very rare one, because movie industry people far prefer guys with lots of movie industry experience, and there are plenty of them. And that a lot of their advisors, experts, armorers and what have you have thin or fabricated military backgrounds. (There was one guy who was an SGM in 19th Group out there who told a lot of Vietnam tall tales. He'd actually been injured in pre-mission training and never did a combat mission, poor guy; and then he came back to the Winter Soldier thing and was the SF guy with all the stories of torture and barbarism. He was a Hollywood military advisor guy. No wonder there's Rambo movies). I was impressed at how hard the behind the scenes people work. They have some serious work habits -- wasn't expecting that, glad to see it actually. I don't see many movies because I like war movies and for 35 or 40 years all they've done is abuse the troops. I get old movies and foreign war movies on DVD... the foreign ones are starting to pick up the nihilism of Hollywood though. Funny thing is, I never did see the movie, so I have no idea who they hired. I suppose there's some way to look it up. |
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Thanks, I should have thought of that. I looked at IMDB and googled a bit and I'm more puzzled than ever was.
There is a guy online whose resume claims he was "military advisor" on the film in question, but the IMDB credits him only with working in the "ADR loop group" and uncredited at that. As I understand it, that's a sound dub thing. He's based in LA and his military advisor credits include "Men who stare at goats." ("Things I'd leave off my resume for five hundred, Alex!") Of course, he could have done some stuff for post production on the military scenes in the movie. Or IMDB could be in error, or whatever... I'm sure Hollywood is not above admin mistakes. Anyway, that was my brush with Hollywood. Always wanted to be a star, but I had a face for radio and a voice for silent films. |
It can be a tough business, not for the faint of heart. Sort of like a few other businesses we've been involved in. You either keep going until you make it or you quit.
If it is your dream Hognose, you should pursue it. Not all actors or professionals in the entertainment industry are extraordinarily good looking or even talented. They just stuck with it until they got a shot. When I started writing, I recieved some good advice. It was, “pursue your dream but don’t quit your day job just yet.” Best of luck! |
I met Dale Dye after one of our training events for the 31st MEU in 2010. He fought with Hotel 2/5 during Hue, and wanted to come out for our warriors night after a long week of urban training. Needless to say, an entire company of Marines got shitfaced and talked his ear off all night. It was great of him to come out.
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Anybody ever ask him why he sports the RVN Parachutist Badge?
I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but I'm just mildly curious...:confused: Richard :munchin |
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