A chillingly fun science fiction horror classic
Though sometimes overlooked, “The Fly” is a supremely fun example of 1950’s science fiction horror films. While it appears on many greatest 1950’s sci-fi movies lists, it can occasionally get pushed aside in favor of more common classics such as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, “The Incredible Shrinking Man”, “The Creature from the Black Lagoon”, or “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. And that’s a crime, because this unfolding mystery and love story remains completely engrossing and still holds the power to send chills up the spine. A movie made purely to entertain, “The Fly” does just that – to the max.
The story centers around the idyllic “Delambre” family: “André”, a scientist/inventor who works in his own basement laboratory and co-owns an electronics shop with his brother “François”; “André’s” beautiful and loving wife “Hélène”; and “Philippe”, their young son who likes to collect insects, particularly flies. They are the epitome of a happy, secure, and loving family. But as the film begins, we find that “Hélène” gruesomely killed “André”. Distraught, she calls “François”, who enlists the help of “Inspector Chara” to sort out what happened. Though she admits to killing “André”, she insists she didn’t murder him and won’t say anything more. Because “The Fly” starts out as an eerie mystery that unfolds over much of the first half, the less I say about the plot the better.
Nearly all great 1950’s science fiction films were rooted in Cold War paranoias, atomic technology anxieties, and/or fears of nuclear war, and “The Fly” is a cautionary tale about playing God, and the threat of technology (frighteningly relevant today with social media and artificial intelligence). Flashbacks reveal that “André” discovered how to instantly move matter from one place to another, which he intended for the good of mankind. As he irons out the kinks of his newly invented disintegrator-integrator, “Hélène” tells him, “I get so scared sometimes. The suddenness of our age, electronics, rockets, Earth satellites, supersonic flight, and now this. Oh, it’s not so much who invents them, it’s the fact they exist”. And indeed, “André’s” experiment goes wrong. Very wrong.
Alongside its science fiction, “The Fly” pushed the horror element of its day, leading New York Times critic Howard Thompson to say in his very favorable review, “It does indeed contain, briefly, two of the most sickening sights one casual swatter-wielder ever beheld on the screen. At one point… this balcony-sitter nearly shot through the roof”. Anyone I’ve ever heard talk of seeing “The Fly” when first released mentions how audiences loudly screamed throughout the film. As we’ve become jaded overtime from seeing so many incredibly realistic special effects, “The Fly” will most likely no longer provoke that response, but it’s still certain leave a haunting imprint.
The lasting strength of “The Fly” is also found with how surprisingly intriguing and believable its story is told. As absurd as the plot can be (don’t overthink it), the film is crafted so well, we buy it. “André” and “Hélène’s” relationship is touchingly strong (including a very moving moment when “André” scribbles “Love You” on a blackboard), which makes it easy to accept the extreme actions of both. And their son “Philippe” has all the innocence of a young child who's not sure exactly what’s going on but excited by the prospect of catching a fly. The film has exactly the right smattering of science – not so much that we get bogged down by it, but enough to make us take serious and not question a farfetched scenario.
The 1950s were the Golden Age of science fiction films, and like nearly all from that period, “The Fly” was a B movie. Though not talked about as much as A movies, B movies were a substantial part of the Hollywood Studio Era, and began as a result of the industry being hit by the Great Depression. The five biggest studios owned or partially owned many of the theaters that screened their films and had control over how their films were shown in independent theaters. To attract audiences during the Depression, smaller independent theaters began showing two films for the price of one. As these houses with double features did better than those showing only one film, studios created B movie production departments to quickly churn out cheaply made films intended as second features. Generally speaking, a night at the movies in the 1930s included trailers, a newsreel, a cartoon, one or more short films, then a low-budget feature film (the B movie), an interlude, and finally the main feature (the A movie).
To be able to show a studio's A films, theaters became obligated to rent a block of movies from a studio (up to a year's worth, sight unseen) in a practice known as block booking. That way, theaters had to accept the good with bad, and rather than take a percentage of the profits (as they did with A movies), theaters rented B films at a flat rate that guaranteed studio profit. Because of guaranteed profitability, the quality of B movies was not a priority. So they were lower-budgeted, less publicized than A films, and almost exclusively featured actors who were not yet stars or former stars who were no longer box-office draws. That’s not to say all B movies were bad. Many, like "The Fly", were excellent and remain classics.
As movies became more expensive to produce (the average cost of a 1950’s Hollywood film was approximately $1.5M), and with a 1948 US government ruling that limited block booking and no longer allowed studios to own their own theaters (a major factor that led to the end of the Hollywood Studio Era), the double feature began to disappear. The term “B movie” now came to refer to low-budgeted feature films, which were ofttimes formulaic, lacked plot, set, and costume details, and the depth of performances you’d expect from A films. Specific genres began to thrive as B movies – film noir, Westerns, horror, and science fiction. “The Fly” fit this mold, as it reportedly cost under $500,000 to make and featured character actor Vincent Price and former leading man Herbert Marshall to elevate it and hopefully add box-office appeal. It worked. A stylish B movie with extra studio gloss, “The Fly” was a massive hit, reportedly earned $34,000 on opening day, $3M by the end of its opening month, and became one of 20th Century Fox studio’s biggest hits of the year.
“The Fly” was based on a 1957 short story in Playboy magazine by George Langelaan which Fox film producer/director Kurt Neumann read, bought the rights to, and hired budding screenwriter James Clavell to adapt it into a screenplay (it's Clavell's first screenplay to be made into a film, and he went on to write such classics as "The Great Escape", “To Sir, with Love", and the Emmy Award-winning TV miniseries "Shōgun", based on his novel). Though originally intended as another run-of the-mill B movie, after reading the script, Fox’s head of production felt "The Fly" had more potential and could even cash in on the recent worldwide success of the 1957 British horror film “Curse of Frankenstein”. So the budget was upped a bit, Price and Marshall were cast, and the addition of stereo sound, a wide Cinemascope format, color by Deluxe, and gorgeous lighting, all elevated it to the upper echelon of B moviedom.
It's evident when a film is made with care, and "The Fly" is no exception, for the firm yet loving hands of director Kurt Neumann are felt throughout. With a quick pace and steady psychological uneasiness dotted with occasional displays of horror, he's provided utterly captivating entertainment. Using many medium or long shots with characters moving within the frame, he establishes a sense that these people are trapped in their own nightmare. And Neumann’s skill is such that he easily transforms a simple search for a fly into nerve-racking suspense.
German-born Kurt Neumann began directing short films in Germany in 1926. A couple years later, Universal studios summoned him to Hollywood to direct German-language versions of Hollywood films. By 1931, he was directing Spanish and English short films and features including the Western "My Pal, the King” and the Pre-Code adventure film "The Big Cage". He directed mostly B movies for Universal, RKO, Paramount, and United Artists, such as "Secret of the Blue Room", "The Affair of Susan", and "Island of Lost Men". In 1945 he began directing and coproducing for producer Sol Lesser, including the “Tarzan" series of films. After directing many additional low-budget features, Neumann emerged as having a recognizable talent for science fiction with the 1950 film "Rocketship X-M" and 1957's "Kronos" and "She Devil”. "The Fly" came next and is considered his major work. He directed just three more films, ending with 1959's "Counterplot". He was married once, until his wife's death in July 1958. About a month later, Kurt Neumann died at the age of 50, just weeks after the release of "The Fly”. He didn’t live to see it turn into such a giant and lasting success.
"The Fly" is beautiful to look at, which is no wonder, for its cinematographer is one of cinema's greatest, Karl Struss. His framing and lighting help create subtext and emotion, particularly how he masterfully lights the basement laboratory with darkness and shadows, creating an anxious tension in contrast to the brightly lit picket fence world above.
At a young age, New York City born Karl Struss had quite a successful career as a photographer, with exhibits, published photos, and commercial photography. After serving in World War I, he moved to Los Angeles to work as a cameraman for silent film director Cecil B. DeMille on 1920's "Something to Think About”. Continuing as a cinematographer, Struss filmed such silent classics as 1925's "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ", "Sparrows", and one of my all-time favorites, "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" (already on this blog), for which he won the very first Best Cinematography Academy Award (alongside Charles Rosher). Struss earned three more Oscar nominations, for 1932's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", 1934's "The Sign of the Cross", and 1942's "Aloma of the South Seas”. Of his 140+ films, others include "Abraham Lincoln", "Island of Lost Souls", "The Story of Temple Drake", "Journey into Fear", several Mae West films and Charlie Chaplin’s "The Great Dictator" and "Limelight".
A true artist and innovator, Struss wrote and published photography articles, invented a soft-focus lens at the age of twenty-two (the first used in movies), perfected a multi-layered platinum printing process, developed a "Lupe Light” and a new bracket system for the Bell & Howell camera, was an early pioneer of 3-D photography (shooting 3-D films mostly in Italy, including 1954's "Two Nights with Cleopatra" starring Sophia Loren), was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was admitted to the American Society of Cinematography. His photographs have appeared in galleries and museums across the world. Karl Struss died in 1981 at the age of 95.
David Hedison (billed as Al Hedison) stars as "André Delambre", the inventor who inadvertently causes havoc. Hedison does a great job to aid that feel of reality, for “André" is enthusiastic and obsessive about his experiments, yet Hedison never lets him turn mad scientist. And his chemistry with "Hélène" feels genuinely warm, loving, and natural. As you watch the film, you'll see that his face is hidden much of the time, and he artfully uses his body and hand to express emotions. Hedison was a Method actor and took the part very seriously and it shows.
Rhode Island born Albert David Hedison Jr. of Armenian descent, began acting while at Brown University, then studied with Sanford Meisner and Martha Graham at the Neighborhood Playhouse, Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, and with Uta Hagen. He began in theater and radio, debuted on Broadway in 1952's "Much Ado About Nothing", and on TV in 1954. His performance in the 1956 Broadway production of "A Month in the Country" led him to a contract with 20th Century Fox, and his film debut was in the classic war film "The Enemy Below". "The Fly" was his second film. When cast as the lead in the 1959 NBC TV series "Five Fingers", NBC insisted he change his first name, so he changed it from Al to David (his middle name), which remained his stage name for the rest of his life. He worked regularly on TV, with just under two dozen films scattered throughout, including "The Lost World", "The Greatest Story Ever Told", and as CIA agent "Felix Leiter" in two "James Bond" films ("Live and Let Die" and "Licence to Kill").
Hedison is perhaps best known for his extensive television work, particularly starring as "Captain Lee Crane" in the classic 1960's TV series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”. Among his 70+ shows, he had recurring guest spots on "The Colbys", "Murder, She Wrote", "Charlie's Angels", and "Fantasy Island", and was a series regular on the daytime soap operas "Another World" and "The Young and the Restless" . He was married once, until his wife's death in 2016, and had two daughters, one of whom is actress Alexandra Hedison (currently married to actress Jodie Foster). David Hedison died in 2019 at the age of 92.
Patricia Owens stars as “Hélène", wife and mother of the "Delambre" family. "Hélène" is a smart and strong woman who holds it all together in the middle of all the horror, though we’re not quite sure if she’s losing her mind. The film largely revolves around her, and Owens’ winningly sensitive portrayal, whether being romantic, evasive, or hysterical with fear, makes us care about her and everything that happens.
Canadian-born Patricia Owens moved to England as a child where she worked on stage and made her film debut in the 1943 British comedy "Miss London Ltd.". After nearly two dozen films (including "Knights of the Round Table", "The Happiest Days of Your Life", and "The Unholy Four"), a 20th Century Fox executive saw her onstage in a production of "Sabrina Fair" and she was given a contract. Owens moved to Los Angeles and appeared in several films before making "The Fly", which is the film for which she is best remembered. After “The Fly’s” success, Owens somehow never escaped B movies, so in 1959, she turned primarily to TV. Acting in 49 films and TV shows through 1968, her other films include "Sayonara", "The Gun Runners", "Hell to Eternity", and "The Thousand Hills", and her TV work includes "Gunsmoke", "Perry Mason", "The Untouchables", "Colonel March of Scotland Yard", and"Alfred Hitchcock Presents". After appearing on a 1968 episode of "Lassie", Owens retired from acting. She was married and divorced three times, including her first marriage to film producer Sy Bartlett. Patricia Owens died in 2000 at the age of 75.
Vincent Price plays “François Delambre”, “André’s” brother, secretly in love with “Hélène”. Price had previously starred in a few hit horror films, and the massive success of “The Fly” firmly cemented him as a horror film star. While he went on to become known for playing gloriously sinister characters, in “The Fly” he is anything but devious. But the warm, melodramatic, believable flair that Price famously showed with such relish is ever-present from the film’s beginning to its chilling end. His unique quality made horror films so much fun (like this one), and earned him countless nicknames such as Master of the Macabre, The Merchant of Menace, and The Dark Prince of Hollywood Horror. “The Fly” stands among his best films.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri to a prominent family, Vincent Price grew up with a love of the arts. He appeared in a neighborhood play at the age of four, attended theater with his parents, developed a fondness for silent horror movie villains (especially John Barrymore in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"), and a love of fine art (buying his first art piece, an original Rembrandt etching, at the age of twelve). At Yale University, he studied English and took classes in art history and religion, and after graduating, continued his studies in London with the intention of becoming an art historian. But while in London, he began going to the theater every night, fell in love with it, and began acting. He landed the male lead in his second play, “Victoria Regina”, which was a major hit, and reprised the role in the 1935 Broadway production, which was also a major success and catapulted him to stardom. He then joined Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre, and soon after moved to Hollywood where he was signed by Universal Studios.
The 1938 screwball comedy “Service de Luxe” marked Price’s film debut, and parts followed in films such as "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex", "The Invisible Man Returns", and “The House of Seven Gables". Unhappy with the roles he was getting, he left Universal and signed with 20th Century Fox and appeared in "Brigham Young” before heading back to Broadway for 1941's "Angel Street", where he played a character so evil, audiences hissed at him. Price loved it and felt he'd found his calling. He did, though it would take some time for his deliciously villainous image to fully form onscreen. Back in Hollywood, he appeared in a slew of major films including "The Song of Bernadette”, "Laura" (which established him as a well-known character actor), "Leave Her to Heaven", and the successful B horror movie “Shock”. In the 1946 Gothic horror melodrama “Dragonwyck”, Price played a wicked character that would foreshadow his soon-to-be legendary screen image.
Price's major breakthrough came starring in the 1953 3D period horror film "House of Wax". A runaway box-office hit, it established the kind of horror film and type of anguished, sightly humorous, maniacal, high class gentleman for which Price would forever be associated. While continuing in supporting roles in A movies and leads in B films, he made another horror film, "The Mad Magician", and soon after, ”The Fly”. He was now a star of horror films. Price repeated his role as “François Delambre” in “The Fly’s” first sequel, 1959's"The Return of the Fly", and starred in two more classic horror films that year (directed by famed B movie director William Castle), "House on Haunted Hill" and "The Tingler".
In 1960, Price began working for American International Pictures where he began his association with prominent B movie director Roger Corman. Setting out to make films inspired by the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Corman found the perfect leading man in Price. The first of these was the very successful "House of Usher", and Price starred in seven more through 1964, including "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Tomb of Ligeia", and "The Raven". Price's other horror films include "The Abominable Dr. Phibes", "Theater of Blood", "The Comedy of Terrors", "The Last Man on Earth", and "Witchfinder General". Price played his delightfully devilish characters with sensitivity, elegance, a fabulous speaking voice, an affected accent, and great theatricality. It’s no wonder he became considered the heir to former horror icons Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
Price appeared in over 200 films and TV shows, many of which were not horror (it’s estimated only ¼ of his roles were villainous), including "The Three Musketeers", "The Ten Commandments", "The Whales of August". His TV appearances include "Get Smart", "Here's Lucy", "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour", "The Love Boat", and as"Egghead" in the classic 1960s TV show "Batman". It's estimated that including commercials, talk shows, and game shows, Price made over 2,000 television appearances. He also provided the voice for the spoken-word sequence in the classic 1982 Michael Jackson music video "Thriller", and as the voice of "Professor Ratigan" in the Walt Disney animated feature "The Great Mouse Detective”. He inspired many film directors including John Waters and Tim Burton, and Burton hired him to narrate his 1982 animated short "Vincent" (about a boy who fantasizes about being Vincent Price). Burton's 1989 film "Edward Scissorhands" features Price's final film appearance. Price also performed on stage, including a five year world tour beginning in 1977 as Oscar Wilde in the one-man-show "Diversions and Delights", which many consider the best performance of his career.
In addition to acting, art was a major part of Price's life – as a patron, advocate, and educator. Known for his vast knowledge of art, in 1957, he lectured at East Los Angeles College where he donated money and 90 works of art to establish the Vincent Price Art Museum as a teaching art collection. Through the 1960s to the early 70s, he teamed with Sears-Roebuck to offer the Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art, which contained over 50,000 fine art pieces for sale to the public. Also a gourmet cook, he authored several cookbooks, including "Cooking Price-Wise", on which he based his own 1971 British TV cooking show. Price also wrote many newspaper articles, books on art, and two autobiographies, 1959's "I Like What I Know – A Visual Autobiography", and 1978's "Vincent Price: His Movies, His Plays, His Life". His awards and honors include an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Life Career Award, a Fantasporto Best Actor award for his contributions to the fantastic film genre, the Bram Stoker Special Trustees Award, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Career Achievement Award. He was married three times, to actress Edith Barrett, costume designer Mary Grant, and actress Coral Browne. He also had relationships with men, confirmed by his daughter. Vincent Price died in 1993 at the age of 82.
Also starring in “The Fly” is Herbert Marshall as “Inspector Charas”. Marshall infuses such authority and concern in his masterful underplaying, he disappears into the role. Without saying anything, we see him trying to piece things together, and he works incredibly well in his many scenes opposite the more flamboyant Price. In a role that's anything but flashy, Marshall unobtrusively grounds the film in reality.
Herbert Marshall was Born in London to two stage actors and originally didn't want an actor’s life. But after unsuccessfully working as an accounting clerk, then taking various non-acting jobs in theaters, he turned to acting. His London stage debut was in "Brewster's Millions" in 1913. While serving in World War I, he was shot in his left knee and after several operations, his leg was amputated. After a bout of self-pity, he decided to return to the stage and created a deliberate type of walk to mask his prosthetic leg (during his career, many never realized he was missing a leg until they read about it in the press). In 1918, he returned to what would become a thriving stage career, which included Broadway starting with "The Voice from the Minaret" in 1922.
Marshall's film debut was in the 1927 silent British film "Mumsie", and his next film was the 1929 American sound film "The Letter". After a handful of both British and American films (including a notable role in Alfred Hitchcock's early sound film "Murder!"), his breakthrough came playing husband to Marlene Dietrich in the 1932 Hollywood classic "Blonde Venus". Next came a lead in Ernst Lubitsch's classic "Trouble in Paradise", which turned him into a romantic lead, and through the 1930s, he played opposite many top actresses (often as a cuckold), including Margaret Sullavan in "The Good Fairy”, Katharine Hepburn in "A Woman Rebels", Barbara Stanwyck in "Breakfast for Two", Jean Arthur in "If You Could Only Cook", Claudette Colbert in "Zaza", and Greta Garbo in "The Painted Veil". As he got older, Marshall took on more character parts in the 1940s, in many classics such as "Foreign Correspondent", "The Razor's Edge", "Duel in the Sun", and perhaps most famously, two opposite Bette Davis – "The Little Foxes" and the 1940 remake of "The Letter". He worked again with Davis in 1955's "The Virgin Queen".
During WWII he actively supported British and US troops, raising funds, making radio appearances, visiting military hospitals using his personal experience to encourage amputees to reach beyond their limitations and realize they could lead normal lives. After the war he continued in movies, though mostly in smaller parts, and began appearing on TV in the 1950s, accruing nearly 100 credits before his death. His other notable films include "Angel Face", "Midnight Lace", and "The List of Adrian Messenger", and his final appearance was in 1965's "The Third Day". He was married five times, widowed once, which includes marriages to actresses Edna Best and Boots Mallory, and to actress Rosalind Russell's sister, Elizabeth Russell. He had two daughters, including actress Sarah Marshall. He also had a highly publicized affair with Gloria Swanson in the 1930s. Marshall was known to suffer from spells of depression, pain from his prosthetics, and phantom pain from his amputation. He was well regarded as talented, professional, and very gentlemanly. Herbert Marshall died in 1966 at the age of 75.
One last actor I must mention is Kathleen Freeman who plays "Emma", the cook (and housekeeper?) who lives with the "Delambres". It's a small role into which the often comedic Freeman injects some of the film's humor. Freeman is most likely a familiar face to just about everyone, for she appeared in just over 300 films and TV shows between 1948 and 2003, including a very memorable bit part as diction coach "Phoebe Dinsmore" in "Singin' in the Rain" (coaching "Lina Lamont" to say "I can't stand him").
Chicago-born Kathleen Freeman began in vaudeville, worked in theater, and then hit the big screen in an uncredited role in the classic 1948 Jules Dassin film "The Naked City". Though her parts are often very small, Freeman appears in so many classic films I’d fill this entire post listing them all. But a sampling contains "A Place in the Sun", "The Bad and the Beautiful", "I'll Cry Tomorrow", "Monkey Business", "The Greatest Show on Earth", "The Seven Year Itch", "Point Blank", "The Sting”, "Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult", as "Sister Mary Stigmatia" in "The Blues Brothers" and "The Blue Brothers 2000”, and 11 films with Jerry Lewis including "The Errand Boy", "The Nutty Professor", and "Ladies Man". She also voiced characters in such animated films as "Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland", "FernGully: The Last Rainforest", Walt Disney's "Hercules", and "Shrek". Her extensive TV work includes recurring appearances on such varied shows as “The Beverly Hillbillies", "Bonanza", "The Lucy Show", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "I Dream of Jeannie", "Hogan's Heroes", "The Facts of Life", "Generations", "Growing Pains", "DuckTales", "Matlock", "Married... with Children", "Roseanne", "Detention", and her final, as the voice of "Mrs. Gordon" in the animated series "As Told by Ginger". She made two Broadway appearances including "The Full Monty" in 2000, which earned her Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations and a Theater World Award. It was her very last performance. She never married and lived with long-time companion Helen Ramsey. Kathleen Freeman died in 2001 at the age of 78.
The success of "The Fly" generated two sequels, 1959's "Return of the Fly" and 1965's "Curse of the Fly". In 1986, horror film director David Cronenberg remade "The Fly" starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. A much more realistic portrayal of the story, it won an Academy Award for Best Makeup. That acclaimed film was a major box-office hit, and some even consider it better than the original.
Get ready for one heck of a thrilling time as tension and dread seep their way into seemingly benign suburban life. This is fun entertainment at its best! Enjoy “The Fly!”.
This blog is a weekly series (currently biweekly) on all types of classic films from the silent era through the 1970s. It is designed to entertain and inform movie novices and lovers through watching one recommended classic film a week. The intent is that a love and deepened knowledge of cinema will evolve, along with a familiarity of important stars, directors, writers, the studio system, and a deeper understanding of cinema. I highly recommend visiting (or revisiting) the HOME page, which explains it all and provides a place where you can subscribe and get email notifications for every new post. Visit THE MOVIES page to see a list of all films currently on this site. Please leave comments, share this blog with family, friends, and on social media, and subscribe so you don’t miss a post. Thanks so much for reading!
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TO READ AFTER VIEWING (contains spoilers):
One of the great scares in “The Fly” (and in all of 1950s sci-fi horror flicks) comes when “Hélène” removes the black cloth covering “André’s” head. One must remember that when the film came out no one knew the story, so to see his head as a fly was an unexpected shock and a scary one at that – thanks to the work of legendary makeup artist Ben Nye who created the mask.
Another of the film’s most famous scenes (and one of the most famous in sci-fi films) is the shot of the fly at the end screaming “Help me! Help me!”. Not only is the visual creepy, but the voice is enough to make your hair stand on end. As “Charas” tells “François”, “I shall never forget that scream as long as I live”. He was absolutely right!