Movie Star

"Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg"

Set for release in 2013 for Jean's 75th birthday!

Film Beauty Jean Seberg Mistaken for Doris Day

International film actress Jean Seberg was misidentified in this photograph by "Globe Magazine" as
actress/singer Doris Day.  (Getty Images/Silver Screen Collection)

The Globe Magazine recently published an entire issue this month devoted to the life and career of Doris Day.  Unfortunately, one of the photos of "Doris" in the piece is really film star Jean Seberg.  The photograph of Jean on the beach wearing a large hat was taken while she was filming Moment to Moment in 1965.

Doris Day was known for the many hats she wore in most of her 1960s films.  To make matters worse, The Huffington Post reprinted the photo with accoladesto "Doris's look" and "smokey eyes".

Jean had stood in for Doris doing a promotional tour on the east coast of Day's 1959 film It Happened to Jane.  Jean was signed to Columbia, the studio that released the film, and Day fell ill unable to make the trip.  Later in the year, Jean made Breathless, which changed the course of her life and career--and film in general.  The same year, Doris made Pillow Talk which brought back sophisticated adult comedies, the beginning of her five year reign as the top box office movie performer, and her sole Academy Award® nomination.

Author Garry McGee (Doris Day: Sentimental Journey, Jean Seberg: Breathless) was surprised to see Seberg misidentified as Doris Day while leafing through the magazine.

McGee (Emmy® nominated writer of the documentary The Last Wright) has joined Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle (Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2 &3; Country School: One Room - One Nation; Villisca: Living with a Mystery) to produce the documentary feature on Jean Seberg's life entitled Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg.  The film is slated for release later this year.

Jean Seberg's Life-long Friend Aki-Lehman Passes Away

Aki Lehman - Photographed by Fred Jagueneu.

Jean Seberg's life-long friend and supporter Aki Lehman has passed away.  Aki met Jean while making Saint Joan.  She was friends with director Otto Preminger who gave her a job on the film, which was Jean’s debut.  

But Aki was quite perceptive:  “It was not Jean, but Otto who played St. Joan.”  After Jean’s separation from her first husband, she moved in with Aki.  Much to Jean’s delight, the rue de Bellechasse apartment was filled with pets.  It was not uncommon to find a cat curled up in a pan on the stove.  The front room of the apartment was turned into an antique shop, which Aki managed.  The Living Room was turned into a voice studio.  Aki’s ambition was to become an opera singer, and she’d practice up to four hours a day.

Jean’s grandmother, Frances Benson, was Jean’s guest when she returned to Paris in the summer of 1960 after a visit to Marshalltown.  She recalled Aki as having a “heart of gold, patient and understanding, and a comfort to her many friends—but is a miserable housekeeper.”   Frances found her “very kind.  On several occasions [Jean and I] ate there and she always cooked food for me the American way.”  Aki was Japanese, fluent in her native language as well as French and English, and lived with her then-12 year old daughter, Suzy, at 55 rue de Bellechasse at the time of Frances’ visit.  

Shortly after, Jean became involved with Romain Gary, and Aki with Robert Lehman, whose family founded Lehman Brothers investment banking.  Aki married Lehman and had children, but the couple separated and eventually divorced.  But she and Jean Seberg remained lifelong friends—perhaps Jean’s closest female friend in France—and  Aki always doubted Jean’s death was a suicide.

"Jean Seberg" Filmmakers Premiere New Documentaries on Ioway Indians Feb. 23

Delegations from the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska will return to their ancestral homeland of Iowa to attend the world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, 17 N. Clinton St., Macbride Hall Auditorium in Iowa City on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.  Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, producers of the Emmy® nominated documentary Country School: One Room-One Nation and the award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway 1will join the Ioway and other film participants for Q&A following the screenings.

When the Ioway were forcibly removed from their ancestral homeland of Iowa in 1837 to a reservation on the border of Nebraska and Northeast Kansas, Ioway leader White Cloud (The Younger) believed his people must relocate to survive. But intermarriage, broken treaties and the end of communal living led to a split in 1878 and the establishment of a second Ioway tribe in Oklahoma. Both tribes endured hardship and challenges to their traditions and culture to achieve successful land claims and self-determination in the 1970s. Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 brings the dramatic Ioway story full circle.

“I believe all the tribes had their trail of tears, said Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Tribal Elder Joyce Big Soldier-Miller. “They all suffered--all those Indians who made those treks away from their former homelands.”

“It’s always good to look at the past and remember that it does affect the future,” said Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska tribal member Reuben Ironhorse-Kent. “The ancestors did the best they could with what they had.”

Ioway Elders and tribal members join other Native scholars, historians, archaeologists and anthropologists to tell the dramatic and true story of the small tribe that once claimed the territory between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from Pipestone, Minnesota to St. Louis. The state of Iowa takes its name from the Ioway Tribe.

In addition to the premiere, the public is welcome to visit the new Ioway exhibit at the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center in Toddville, Iowa (40 minutes north of Iowa City), a special Ioway display and premiere reception in the Iowa Hall at the Museum of Natural History from 5:30pm until 6:30pm.

The world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 is hosted by the Museum of Natural History, University of Iowa, 17 N. Clinton, Macbride Hall Auditorium, Iowa City, Iowa and will take place on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The films contain mature themes and historical images that may be disturbing to young children.  A premiere reception will take place from 5:30pm-6:30pm in the Museum's Iowa Hall.

The documentaries will continue screening throughout the U.S. and will be released on a single full-featured DVD in April 2013. An alternative soundtrack in the nearly extinct Ioway language will be offered on the DVD. Broadcasts on Midwestern PBS stations are slated for 2013.

Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 was partially funded by grants from Humanities Iowa and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, as well as humanities councils in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Rundles are currently in post-production on the documentary Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg with producer/writer Garry McGee.  The documentary will be released this summer.

Jean Seberg International Film Festival Offers Glimpse at New Seberg Documentary

Writer-Director Garry McGee to Receive Special Jean Seberg Award at Festival

The new documentary feature film Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg by Emmy®-nominated documentary filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, and Emmy®-nominated writer/filmmaker Garry McGee of McMarr, Ltd. will be the topic of discussion during a special symposium at the 2nd Annual Jean Seberg International Film Festival on Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.  In addition, McGee will be recognized and receive a special Jean Seberg Service Award during the film festival on Friday evening, November 9 at 7:00 p.m.

Born in Marshalltown, Iowa in 1938, Jean Seberg declared at an early age her intention to become a movie star.  Director Otto Preminger plucked Seberg from obscurity ina nation-wide search and cast her as Joan of Arch in Saint Joan.  While her ealry American films were poorly received, Seberg created a successful European film career where she is best known as the star of Jean-Luc Goddard's ground-breaking French New Wave film Breathless (À Bout de soufflé).

The documentary will examine Seberg's beginnings in small-town Iowa, her career ups and downs, marriages, and her ongoing humanitarian and social justic efforts.  Jean died an untimely death in 1979 in Paris at the age of 40.

"Movie Star will contain the first interview with Jean's sister Mary Ann, her high school drama coach Carol Hollingsworth, paternal aunt Velma Odegaard, former Marshalltown Times-Republican editor Warren Robeson, and childhood best friend Lynda Haupert," said producer-director-writer Garry McGee or McMarr Ltd.  

"Additional interviews from France include co-star Mylène Demongeot (Bonjour Tristesse), Producer Marc Simenon, Director Nicolas Gesser, and Jean's first husband Francois Moreuil."

McGee, who worked for United Artists Communications and for New World Entertainment in Los Angeles, authored the biography Jean Seberg: Breathless, and co-authored with Jean Larson Neutralized: The F.B.I vs Jean Seberg; and the newly released The Films of Jean Seberg with Michael Coates-Smith.  He co-produced The Last Wright, a documentary about the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright hotel in Mason City, Iowa and received an Emmy®-nomination for writing.

"Other documentaries have told a portion of Jean's story, but our film will focus on the person behind the celebrity," said director-writer Kelly Rundle.

Rundle, who worked in the International Theatrical Division of Sony Pictures Entertainment® and in advertising gor Deutsch LA in Los Angeles, and wife Tammy (producer-writer) recently received an Emmy®-nomination for their historical documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation.  They produced the award-winning and critically-acclaimed documentary films Lost Nation: The Ioway and Villisca: Living with a Mystery.

The symposium will feature new clips from the documentary and a panel discussion with the Rundles and McGee.  This special program will take place on Saturday, November 10, 2012 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre Center, 200 East Main Street, Marshalltown, Iowa.  Tickets are $15 at the door.

More information about the Jean Seberg International Film Festival is available at www.orpheumtheatercenter.com/new.

Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg has received grants from Humanities Iowa, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Iowa Arts Council.  It will be released nationally in the summer of 2013.

Jean Shines Again at 2nd Annual Jean Seberg International Film Festival

The Jean Seberg International Film Festival billboard in Marshalltown, Iowa--Jean Seberg's hometown.

The red carpet is ready to roll out for the 2nd Annual Jean Seberg International Film Festival at the Orpheum Theater Center in Marshalltown, Iowa November 8-12, 2012.  The festival will feature several of Jean's films, symposiums, celebrations and festivities.

The opening ceremony takes place on Thursday evening, November 8, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.  Current mayor Tommy Thompson will join Leonard Grimes in doing the honors of presenting the key to the city to Jean’s older sister, Mary Ann Seberg Shuey.  The key was originally awarded to Jean on Nov. 8, 1956, making it 56 years to the day.  Special music by Mark and Amy Adams-Westin (Amy and Adams) will be presented at the event.

Two special symposiums will be held in the Orpheum Movie House. Symposium I: "Jean Seberg: International Icon" on Saturday, November 11, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. will feature critically-acclaimed London journalist Cedric Pulford who will share his knowledge and first-hand experience from working with Jean Seberg in the late 1950s.

The Orpheum Theater Center website states that "This month, Pulford went to Paris to interview Aki Lehman, Jean’s former roommate. Ms. Lehman was happy to record a tribute to Jean, which will be played during the Symposium. Festival guests will also hear a tribute Pulford recorded in his interview with Mylene Demongeot, Jean’s co-star in Bonjour Tristesse who went on to become a revered French film star. Pulford will be bringing back his interviews with these women to share with everyone at this year’s festival."

“It is extraordinary that this year we will hear the voices from Paris in Marshalltown, Iowa,” states Festival organizer, Pip Gordon. “Mr. Pulford is bringing with him interviews never published or heard before so this will be a premiere event and a wonderful opportunity for us to hear from those who worked with and knew Jean for all those years in Paris as an artist, a humanitarian and at heart, a Marshalltown girl. We can also never underestimate what this will mean to Jean’s family who will also hear those voices for the first time.”

Symposium 2: Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg Emmy-nominated documentary filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, and Emmy-nominated filmmaker/author Garry McGee (Breathless: Jean Seberg) of McMarr, Ltd. will present clips from their upcoming documentary Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg and take part in a panel discussion about the film which is slated for release in May 2013.  McGee will be receiving a special award at the film festival this year.

Among Jean's films showcased at the festival are Breathless, A Fine Madness, The Mouse That Roared, Moment to Moment and audience favorites Airport and Paint Your Wagon.

A full JSIFF schedule and ticket information can be found by clicking here.

Movie Star Jean Seberg Featured in "Iowa History Journal" Cover Story

Iowa History Journal shines a light on actress Jean Seberg in its current September/October 2012 issue.

"One of the most fascinating moments in Iowa entertainment history took place in 1956 when a young woman from Marshalltown was selected in a nationwide search to play the title role in the movie Saint Joan," wrote Michael Swanger in the current issue of Iowa History Journal featuring a cover story on international movie star, fashion icon and activist Jean Seberg.

"While the legacies of legendary entertainment figures with Iowa roots such as John Wayne, Donna Reed and Johnny Carson are safely ensconced in our collective consciousness, history proves that there is room for Jean Seberg, too."

Garry McGee's biography Jean Seberg--Breathless was used as a source for the story.  The new documentary Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg produced by Emmy-nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle (Fourth Wall Films), and Emmy-nominated writer Garry McGee (McMarr, Ltd.) is also mentioned in the article, as is the upcoming 2nd Annual Jean Seberg International Film Festival, which will be held in Marshalltown, Iowa at the Orpheum Theater Center November 8-11, 2012.

The September/October 2012 is available at Iowa History Journal or can be purchased at Casey's General Stores in Iowa.

Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg received grants from Humanities Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council, and is slated for release in May/June of 2013.

"Seberg" Filmmakers' Emmy-nominated Documentary on IPTV August 24

Taylor #4 one-room school in Jean Seberg's hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa.

Iowa Public Television (IPTV-PBS) will broadcast the award-winning documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation by Tammy and Kelly Rundle (Villisca: Living with a Mystery, Lost Nation: The Ioway, Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg) on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 9:00 p.m.  The film recently received a regional Emmy-nomination in the Historical Documentary category and has won numerous film festival awards and recognition.

Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation.  Whether personally, or through a parent or grandparent, the country school as an American architectural icon, is as imprinted on our perception of the nation’s early history as the log cabin and the general store.  Stories told by former teachers and students are often nostalgic, but they are also dramatic, humorous, and heart-wrenching.

In addition to Country School, the Rundles produced the award-winning documentaries Villisca: Living with a Mystery, about the 1912 unsolved Villisca, Iowa axe murders of 8, and Lost Nation: The Ioway, a film about the Ioway Indians.  Currently they are in production on the documentary River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6, and a docudrama entitled Sons & Daughters of Thunder, based on the play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter. 

They are in post-production on Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3, to be released in November; and Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg, a co-production with Emmy-nominated filmmaker Garry McGee, slated for release in May/June 2013.

Country School was shot in Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois and received grant awards from Humanities Iowa, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Kansas Humanities and the Wisconsin Humanities.

"Jean Seberg" Filmmakers Receive Regional Emmy® Nomination for New Documentary

Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have received a Regional (Mid-America) Emmy® nomination in the Historical Documentary category for their award-winning documentary film Country School: One Room – One Nation.  This is the first time the Rundles have entered a film in the Emmy® competition following a March 2012 qualifying broadcast on WQPT-PBS.

“We are deeply honored by this nomination,” said Tammy. “And, we gratefully share this wonderful distinction with everyone who helped us make the film,” added Kelly.

Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation. Country School: One Room - One Nation provides a never-before-seen perspective on one-room schools in the Upper Midwest. From the first schools in new states to the demise of their widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, the visually stunning film takes viewers "back to school" for a dramatic new look at the lasting impact of America's one-room schools.

Country School premiered in 2010 at the State Historical Building in Des Moines and has since screened more than 60 times in cities throughout the United States. The critically-acclaimed film was released nationally on DVD in 2011. Iowa Public Television (IPTV) will feature broadcasts in late August and September, and broadcasts on other PBS stations will continue through the balance of 2012.

The 2012 Mid-America Emmy® Awards will be held Saturday, September 22, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Midland Theatre in Kansas City.

The Rundles are currently in post-production on Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg, produced with Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker Garry McGee (The Last Wright). The documentary about international film star Jean Seberg will be released in May of 2013.

Fourth Wall Films is a film and video production and distribution company formerly based in Los Angeles, California and now located in Moline, Illinois. In addition to Country School, the Rundles have produced the award-winning films Villisca: Living with a Mystery and Lost Nation: The Ioway.  Visit www.FourthWallFilms.com for more information.

The Mid-America chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) includes television markets primarily in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois and surrounding DMAs.

NATAS is dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy® Award. For more information visit www.emmymid-america.org.

Publisher Names "Breathless" and "Neutralized" Books of the Week

Jean Seberg is the subject of choice this week at Bear Manor Media.  The book publisher selected Garry McGee's Jean Seberg--Breathless, as well as the collaborative work of McGee and Jean Russell Larson's Neutralized: The FBI vs Jean Seberg as its "Books of the Week"

Jean Seberg was from a large town in Iowa and became the darling of Paris. She alternated between small European films and big Hollywood movies, on the way helping Jean-Luc Godard to shape contemporary cinema. She moved between the worlds of show business and politics, from private and state dinners with leaders to clandestine activities supporting groups and individuals on both sides of the Atlantic. She was a unique person ahead of her time. Breathless tells the story of the woman who, after a disastrous film debut in Otto Preminger's Saint Joan, became both acclaimed international actress (Lilith, Dead of Summer) and popular star (Paint Your Wagon, Airport). It also explores the FBI's campaign to "neutralize" Seberg, and delves into the still unsolved mystery of her death in 1979 at the age of 40.

Featuring exclusive interviews with family, friends and acquaintances, Jean Seberg - Breathless includes personal letters and obscure quotes from the subject, and more than sixty rare photographs.

Neutralized: the FBI vs. Jean Seberg, a story of the 60s Civil Rights Movement is written by Jean Russell Larson and Garry MGee, and is the first detailed compilation of the FBI's campaign against international actress and champion of civil rights, Jean Seberg.  Neutralized: the FBI vs. Jean Seberg includes Seberg's released FBI file, interviews with family, friends, former FBI agents, those who played a part in the FBI's program, and the bureau's role in using the mass media to destroy Seberg's standing in the public's eyes.

Iowa-born Garry McGee is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and writer.  He is currently co-producing with Tammy and Kelly Rundle of Fourth Wall Films the documentary feature film Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg, set for release in the summer of 2013.  In addition to Jean Seberg--Breathless and Neutralized: the FBI vs. Jean Seberg, McGee collaborated with author Michael Coates-Smith on the newly released book The Films of Jean Seberg.

All three Seberg books are available at Amazon.com.

Seberg's "Saint Joan" Armor Outsells Day, Streisand, Garland & Gable

Part Two of Debbie Reynolds' Hollywood memorabilia auction took place on December 4, 2011.  The first one held earlier in the year netted millions for the legendary actress who had the foresight to purchase costumes, props and equipment at bargain prices when movie studios cleaned out their warehouses in the early 1970s.

Reynolds planned to display her collection in a museum, but that ultimately was not to be.  Recently she decided to sell off her more than 1,000 piece collection.

There were 415 lots filled with memorabilia at the auction, including a suit of armor worn by Jean Seberg in Otto Preminger's Saint Joan.  Most items had a low reserve of a few hundred dollars, but the reserve for the Seberg piece was $15,000-$20,000.

The highest bids went to costumes worn by Marilyn Monroe, including a strapless gown she wore in Let's Make Love, which sold for $295,200.  Two others worn by Monroe in Joshua Logan's Bus Stop and  Preminger's Niagra went for six figures.  A camera used to film Citizen Kane sold for $92,500, and another for 2001: A Space Odyssey sold for $86,100.

But perhaps the biggest surprise was Seberg's suit of armor.  To many, the estimated selling price was high, but it ultimately sold for $46,125 and was one of the highest selling items at the auction.

In comparison, Judy Garland's wedding dress from The Pirate went for $22,500; Clark Gable's uniform from Homecoming sold at over $23,000; a few Doris Day costumes from Jumbo and Glass Bottom Boat went for four figures each; and Barbra Streisand's Funny Girl sailor outfit brought in $30,750.  An ostrich outfit Streisand wore in the same film also sold for less.  Streisand was among the 18,000 hopefuls who auditioned for Saint Joan, but seventeen-year-old Jean Seberg from Marshalltown, Iowa was ultimately chosen for the title role.

Apparently Jean still has a significant following and her fans drove the Saint Joan suit of armor to sell for more than double the expected price.  It is not known who purchased the costume, but it is hoped they will consider donating the piece to the Orpheum Theater Center in Seberg's hometown of Marshalltown to be displayed alongside other Seberg memorabilia.  GM

Description from Auction site:
UA, 1957) Elaborate and exceedingly authentic full suit of Medieval-period French armor. Designed in 1910 by the Keeper of the King’s Armory, Sir Guy Laking, and fashioned by Felix Jaubert. It was worn on the British stage in various Joan of Arc productions until 1916, including Ellaline Terriss and Lady Martin Harvey, then became part of the collection of noted antiquarian Jensen, and upon his death was acquired by the renowned theatrical costumer Nathan’s. It was sourced from them by John McCorry for the teenage-frame of Jean Seberg as “Joan of Arc” in Otto Preminger and Graham Greene’s film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play. Constructed of hand-formed steel with leather strap fasteners and heavy steel chain-mail coif, sleeves, and skirt; this is the complete head-to-toe armor created for the film, though in the final print she appears on screen only after removing the helmet, coif, and hand and foot shields. The sword included is authentic style for the period, and has a genuine maker’s mark. Though not the exact one she carries on screen, it is attributed to the production. Most if not all leather fasteners have been replaced post-production, and the hand-guards, which do not appear in the film, vary from the film’s publicity photos. The shoulder guards were photographed for catalog illustration in reversed positions from that as screen-worn. Casting for this lead role is one of the great anecdotes of Hollywood history, with director Preminger so determined to present a fresh unexploited and innocent face, he cattle-called some 18,000 teenage girls at theaters across America to find her, yielding a highly tempestuous life and 20-year career for Seberg, the victim of a suspicious death at age 40.