Screen Gems: Las Vegas woman recalls eccentric film director Wood

Kirk Baird

Monday, March 26, 2001 | 8:39 a.m.

Edward D. Wood Jr. wanted to be a big-shot filmmaker, and Dolores Fuller wanted to be a star.

And for the nearly four years the two lived and worked together, they tried to make each other's dreams come true.

It was a match made in Hollywood heaven.

Even now, nearly 50 years later, Fuller can't help but smile when she reflects on that period.

Relaxing on a spacious couch in the east Las Vegas home she shares with Philip Chamberlin, her husband of 12 years, the 78-year-old Fuller, a longtime Las Vegas resident, repeatedly mentions how much she and Wood were in love. And how Wood's "energy and enthusiasm," not to mention his good looks, drew her attention.

Fuller was so fond of him, in fact, that she accepted his now-legendary transvestism.

"I hadn't been around enough to know about transvestites, but I was broadminded enough and liked him enough ..." Fuller said. "He had so many good qualities, you just overlooked the craziness."

At that time it was easy.

It was the early '50s. The United States was settling into post-war life. With the crippling Depression long behind, a can-do spirit had emerged nationwide.

In Hollywood it was no different.

The studio dream factories had yet to close their doors to the aspirations of Hollywood outsiders. And with some tenacity and drive, as well as a little luck, it was possible to get that "big break."

The time was perfect for Wood, and Fuller knew it.

With no real connections or money, Wood's determination to make a mark in the film world mirrored the nation's optimism and belief in itself.

So confident of his abilities was he, in fact, that in early 1952, roughly four years after he arrived in Hollywood and with only two minor films to his credit, Wood placed a classified ad in Daily Variety stating that he was looking for someone with "star potential."

His "star" turned out to be Fuller.

Chance meeting

Fuller still vividly recalls going for the audition with a friend, Mona McKinnon, who would also appear in some of Wood's movies.

"There were a lot of pretty girls there, but I was wearing an angora sweater, which Eddie noticed," Fuller recalled.

As part of his transvestism, Wood had a fondness for angora, and loved to dress in it. The fact that Fuller was wearing it only helped her win his approval.

The striking blonde featured in the montage on Page 1E was exactly who Wood was looking for, and the two teamed up, quickly beginning a personal relationship as well.

It was a wonderful time, Fuller said, with Wood showering her with affection.

He would take her out on the town, for dinner and dancing, and there was a constant stream of guests in and out of their home -- the most notable being Bela Lugosi.

But then reality set in for Fuller.

She worked other jobs to support them, she said, and served as the primary source of income while Wood tried to get noticed in Hollywood.

During that period, Wood made three films: "Glen or Glenda," "Jail Bait" and "Bride of the Monster" -- all low-low-low budget flicks that scarcely played above the drive-in theater circuit, certainly not big enough to draw the attention of studio executives.

Compounding matters was the common knowledge in the movie industry of Wood's transvestism, which led to the major studios blacklisting him, she said.

Fuller realized that Wood, try though he might, was never going to be a big-shot filmmaker.

"I wanted to go on with better things. I wanted to do musicals," she said. "But he couldn't -- he didn't have that kind of budget."

In 1955 Fuller left for New York, ending their onscreen and offscreen relationship. Although an amicable split, Fuller would never speak to Wood again.

But that didn't mean the link the two shared was broken.

Celebrity status

Wood died of a heart attack in 1978 at age 54. Soon after, the filmmaker began to develop a cult following. Repeated late-night TV airings of his films over the years turned a younger audience, previously unaware of Wood, on to his movies, not to mention many others who had missed the films when they were originally released.

A book by Rudolph Grey, "Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr.," published in 1992, followed two years later by a major bio film, "Ed Wood," added to the increasing attention paid to the filmmaker, who some critics dubbed "the worst director of all time."

Soon everything and everyone associated with Wood was in demand, as much of a way of connecting to the deceased director as a means to learn more about him.

Fuller, who was so much a part of Wood's early life, found herself receiving fan mail and invitations to appear at sci-fi- and horror-film conventions -- the movie genres in which Wood specialized.

To her, the newfound attention was amazing.

"When I left Eddie, I never would have dreamed he would have been so popular," she said.

Because of that popularity, however, some misconceptions have developed, Fuller said.

For example, she said she wasn't fully aware of Wood's transvestism until after their first film together, "Glen or Glenda."

Released in 1953 the movie was an almost autobiographical account of Wood's dressing in female clothing, with Wood frequently appearing on camera as a woman.

Even though she starred in the movie along with Wood -- both actors essentially playing themselves -- until viewing the film at its premiere, Fuller said she had known only of Wood's fetish for her angora sweaters.

Fuller had never seen him in drag, and the movie was "his way of confessing to me," she said.

Her turn

Fuller does have problems with the 1994 film biography.

Directed by Tim Burton, a confessed Ed Wood fan, the movie starred Johnny Depp as Wood and Sarah Jessica Parker as Fuller, and was entertaining but not entirely accurate, Fuller said.

The movie portrays Wood as being overly optimistic, she said, when, in fact, he often would get depressed over his stalled Hollywood career, which led to a drinking problem.

But perhaps her biggest complaint with the film is with her character -- more specifically, the woman who played her. Fuller said unlike the other actresses in the film who consulted with their real-life counterparts, Parker never called her.

"She went on the talk shows and they would ask her, 'How did you prepare for the role?' She would say: 'How do you prepare to play the worst actress of all time?' " Fuller said. "That really hurt."

Grey also took issue with Parker's assertion.

"I'd rather watch Dolores Fuller any day over Sarah Jessica Parker," Grey said by phone from his New York home. "She's more pleasing to the eye."

And, he added: "(Fuller), herself, said she was disappointed with her performance" in Wood's movies, Grey said. "But it's not like it was the Lee Strausberg School of Acting. They were interesting parts."

Ultimately, Fuller grew tired of the false accounts she'd read, seen and heard, and wanted to set the record straight on her relationship with Wood.

An accomplished songwriter who's written songs for Nat "King" Cole ("Someone to Tell it To") and Elvis Presley ("Rock-A-Hula Baby," "Do the Clam"), for a time Fuller also managed singers Tanya Tucker and Johnny Rivers.

Fuller began collaborating on a Broadway-style musical about her time with Wood two years ago, as a means to "get the truth out."

Since suffering a stroke in October, her memory, she said, isn't what it used to be. But she knows the story very well.

Fuller said she is pleased with the results so far, and plans to have the musical ready by the fall of 2002.

In the meantime there are the films she and Wood made together, which help to tell their story.

It's the story of an aspiring filmmaker and actress and their time together. A match made in Hollywood heaven ... if not legend.