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VH1 Behind the Music
Willie Nelson
by Clint Richmond
Once more the Boy from Abbott, Texas proved that just about anything is possible in America. Willie launched his acting career, without any training whatsoever, at the tender age of forty-six.
Willie had definitely climbed his musical mountains by 1979, but he still had other lofty barriers to scale.
As a youngster he had watched the cowboy movie heroes jump on their horses to chase away the bad guys and gain the everlasting gratitude of downtrodden farmers, threatened townsfolk, and damsels in distress.Â
He admists to fantasizing about himself in the heroe of the romantic yarns of the Old West. Two cowboy stars were his favorites. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were singing cowboys, and when they finished the chases and stopped the villains, they got off their horses to pick and sing. Everyone in the movies seemed to appreciate their singing as much as their derring-do.
In other words, Willie had a secret ambition to act. And like his boyhood heroes, he thought he wouldn’t mind singing in Western movies.
Hollywood had also taken notice, as his songs skyrocketed up the charts. Music was a big part of the movies in the seventies, and Willie’s music took him to California frequently. On one such occasion, Robert Redford asked him if he would like to be in an upcoming film.Â
The movie was Electric Horseman, released in 1979. Oncce more the boy from Abbott, Texas, proved that just about anytihng is possible in America. Willie launched his acting career, without any training whatsoever, at the tender age of forty-six. Again, he found a new beginning at an age when many in that field would have seen their careers ending.
“I was really worried…whether he ws going to be able to handle it or not,” says producer Sidney Pollack. “He had a real odd aptitude immediately, like he has in his singing… a kind of honesty.”
Willie did get a chance to sing in his first Western movie, even though it was a far cry from the romantic oaters that inspired him as a boy. In one drinking scene, he and Redford sing it up off-key in a sleazy motel room.
In another scene, Willie ad-libbed, “I don’t know what you’re gonna do. I’m gonna get me a bottle of tequila and one of those little Keno girls who can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch and kinda kick back.” So naturally did Willie take to acting that the ad-lib stayed in the final cut.
I always felt that acting was like conversation,” Willie admits. “I always felt that acting was like conversation,” Willie admits. ” always felt life and the movies had to be pretty much alike.”
He played the role of a manager to Redford’s rodeo cowboy and believes the role was natural of him. In other words, it was Willie playing Willie.
“Playing Robert Redfrod’s manager, that didn’t require a lot of stretch. Rambo, however, is another deal, or Mozart might have been a little hard for me,” he quips.