Buck Loner
John Huston as Buck Loner in the 1970
film
Role: Owner of Buck Loner Academy, a
third-rate acting school built on land he and Gertrude Breckinridge
inherited from their father in Westwood, Calif.; a traditional dirty old
man
Background: Former western radio
("The Singin' Shootin' Radio Cowboy") and B-movie star on the
order of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry
Relationships: Uncle to Myron
Breckinridge; Myra is his nemesis
Physical characteristics: "Fat --
no, gross! -- with breasts even larger than mine. He is huge and
disgusting and old" (per Myra, p. 12)
Notable: Has frequent sessions with
masseuse; tape records thoughts during the sessions; horse's name was
Sporko
In the end: With Myra's proving
that she is entitled to half the value of the property on which the acting
school is built, he has to pay her off; he also make her co-director of
the acting school.
Why Myra has it in for him: He cheated
Myron out of his inheritance and represents all that she desires of the
post Forties culture -- a permissive slovenliness of mind and art
Quotes:
"Never knew that boy of Gertrude's had such an eye for feminine
pulchritude." (p. 13)
"These boys and girls are a cross-section of the youth of this
country, no better, no worse. What they have got that is unusual
and which may disqualify them from attending your Business School at
Harvard is the overwhelming desire to be in show business, to have their
names and faces known to all the world, to see themselves beloved by
strangers, and that, believe me, is the only truly gratifying life any
human can have, once they get the bug, that is, like I did, and like they
have." (p.48)
"I genuinely want to see these boys and girls happy because -- you
may laugh and probably will -- I believe in love and I try to create that
sort of atmosphere here where they are as much as possible screened from
the harshness of the world, which they get quite enough of working as
waitresses in drive-ins and so on, not to mention the unhappy often broken
homes they come from." (p.50)
"What matters is making people happy and while the kids are here
they are happy. Now there is, I am willing to admit, a real letdown come
June when our kids realize that the outside world of show biz is a big
cruel place with maybe no place for them." (p. 116)
"I accept the fact that this is my nephew Myron with his balls cut
off like a year old steer God help us all." (p. 224)
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