In 1940 Robert Montgomery signed up with the American Field Service, a voluntary group serving as ambulance drivers in France. He arrived in Paris on May 30th to begin his tour. By June 14th, the Germans are entering Paris and Bob has managed to hire a private plane to fly him to Lisbon, from where he flies back to the States. So, he was a driver for only a short span of time. But, hey, he tried!
Today, Marlene, Robert Montgomery researcher extraordinaire, forwarded the following link to me. It's an episode of Hollywood and the Stars, a 1963-64 TV series produced by David L. Wolper, quite good as I remember it. The episode is titled Hollywood Goes to War, a quite entertaining watch ... PLUS, it has footage of AFS member Robert Montgomery! There are a few photos of Bob and his ambulance, but this is the first film coverage I've seen of him, even has the sound! He's on the screen all of 27 seconds so don't plan on blinking too much. Starts at about 4:22 into the show. I'd forward to about 4:00 and start concentrating so you don't miss him! My link starts a couple minutes into the show, you'll just have to scroll it back. It starts here I agree with Marlene, the cap looks better on him than does the U.S. Navy officer's hat. Love the jodhpurs. They're so Montgomery!
Marlene inspired me to do a little of my own research, and I ran across this photo I hadn't seen before on the AFS site. The helmet is not a flattering look for Bob.
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5 comments:
Thanks for the link, will check that video out!
Thanks for posting! I will need to watch the entire thing sometime but cool footage of Bob. Another one of those times where I lament him not doing an autobiography.
Yeah ... it would have been great if he had written a totally honest, no holds barred account of his life, or even the book planned too soon before his death with Cagney's biographer. Of course he was too much the gentleman to have written about the women in his life, but ... Just think of all the photographs he took that could've been used. And then Jr. passes before he can write Bob's biography. I wonder how far along he got on the project.
Hi there. Been a long time from traveling out of Alabama
To NY, to now living in DE, and getting to NY much more often. Lately it has been on my mind to continue digging for Bob. I saw someone found the daughter, Martha having been buried in LA. Did we ever figure out where Bob’s ashes wenr?
Hi, Otsj...welcome back. I came on board in 2012, so, yes, you've been on the move for some time. Getting into NY often, but living in DE. Sounds great! Yes, Martha was buried in Forest Lawn. And the only mention of Bob's ashes that I ever found was from a blog entry, that "his ashes were spread at a memorial service attended by immediate friends and family." Unfortunately, the blog was no longer active when I ran across this, so no way to verify it. But it does sound about right. I'm guessing it was at the Canaan farm, the view from the house was just spectacular, great way to go and be remembered. Anyone else know anything about his ashes?
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