FROM 2007
ARLENE LUDWIG
talks about some of the well-known people
she has known and worked with

by Scott Wolf

One of the biggest surprises I've had in doing interviews is learning about the wonderful Arlene Ludwig.

Before meeting Arlene, I knew little about her other than she was in Publicity for Disney and her father is a Disney Legend. In doing my research and even contacting people at Disney, I found less about Arlene than any other person I've interviewed. 

Feeling unprepared, I interviewed Arlene, only to learn what a truly fascinating person she is, not to mention warm and kind. I've seen Arlene at events since the interview and continue to learn more about her such as she was a bridesmaid at Annette Funicello's wedding!

I'm tremendously delighted to introduce you to Arlene Ludwig!

Scott Wolf: Someone said you worked with Kurt Russell when he was a child?

Arlene Ludwig: Yes, when Kurt did one of his early movies, so it had to be at time I was in the New York office which was ’62 on. They sent Kurt to New York to do publicity for the movie. Our offices were on Madison and 51st and I grabbed his hand and we raced across Madison Avenue. This was before the horrific traffic and everything else, but I think he was just scared out of his mind. This was a big deal for him to be in the city.

We’ve known each other for a long time so I’ve known his family. I’ve known his mother, I knew his dad. When he came back and he did Miracle (in 2004) it was a real reunion. At the premiere his mother and a lot of his family were there. I remember looking for his mother in the theatre because I heard that she was there, I was handling him so while we were walking the line I couldn’t look for other people, so when I went into the theatre I found her and we had such a warm reunion.

We keep in touch. If I see anything on Kurt that breaks in the newspapers or anything that I can collect I send it to her because more often than not the parents don’t see any of that. So I’ve been doing that for years.

SW: You were good friends with Eva Gabor?

AL: Yes, Eva was a wonderful story. Eva’s publicist was Red Doff, and when Eva did The Rescuers for us when I was doing strictly publicity, broadcast mainly, Red called me and said, “I’d like you to meet Eva so we can talk about what she might want to do for the film.” She loved Disney, so we had lunch at the Polo lounge and we talked about some of the things that we were hoping she would do and I don’t know how the conversation segued over to tennis, because I play and I love tennis and Eva had a court. The moment we hit that bond, we never talked another thing about publicity, the business part was over. That lunch took another turn and I played on her court for awhile.

I was very, very sorry when she passed away. It was such a tragedy.

SW: What other well-known people come to mind that you've enjoyed working with?

AL: Cloris Leachman and I traveled to Australia and New Zealand because she did Herbie Goes Bananas and there was a Banana Republic in one of the small towns outside of Sydney so I got to do that. This was before we had a full-fledged international department because now I wouldn’t do that. As a matter of fact, my international colleagues work right next door to me.

When Yvette Mimieux did The Black Hole she played squash with my dad, so they had their own thing going which was really very nice and then we sent her to Australia and I went along and we went to Hong Kong from there, so we sort of keep in touch and I keep in touch with Cloris, too. She’s one of the most remarkable actresses.

I met Jodie Foster when she did Freaky Friday. Taxi Driver had just come out and I got to go to Warner Bros. to see it. She was here at the studio on the lot for something and I think I almost tripped over myself just saying how impressed I was with her performance in Taxi Driver, so I got to be friends with her and her family. I just saw her and her mother at a friends and family screening of Brave One and we’ve been in touch for a lot of years.

SW: You have an impressive wall (of photos of Arlene and various celebrities.) There’s Pearl Bailey.

AL: I traveled with Pearl Bailey for Fox and the Hound (she was the voice of Big Mama owl), but we hit a snag because the air controllers went on strike so we could no longer fly so we did some of it by car, but we lost what you can do in hours by flight so we had to drop some of the cities. She was quite something.

I also traveled with Helen Hayes.

SW: Talk about a Hollywood legend!

AW: That really may be one of the most awesome experiences because obviously of who she was but also because she was so dedicated to promoting Herbie and when people would almost get down on their knees in reverence to her and say, “What is the first lady of the theatre doing this for?” she said, “I’m entitled at this stage of my life to do what I want.” Jimmy MacArthur, her son, I think had done some television for Disney and she just thought it would be a fun thing to do.

SW: Were people surprised just because it was a silly movie?

AL: Well, not silly, just frivolous… their impression of Helen and her reputation was she considered the First Lady of Theatre, so what was she doing in a Herbie movie? Stephanie Powers also did The Boatniks and she also did a Herbie movie and we’ve become friendly. She plays tennis and we’ve played together before.

Julie Sommars who was in one of the Herbie movies is a good friend of mine and we have lunch frequently so it’s really nice.

See, at that time, the stars toured. They didn’t have weekend junkets and I just happened to be the person who used to go on the road with them.

Adrianna Casselotti was the voice of Snow White. We were very, very dear friends and a very good friend of hers has become a friend of mine because she sort of adopted him almost like a son. So we keep her memory alive.

SW: I’ve got a picture of her on my site from the Disney Legends ceremony.

AL: Really? As a matter of fact, she left me her Legends award so that’s really very special, it’s really nice.

This is a wonderful story… when Tom Hanks did Splash he also had another film and our publicity director then said to me, “If you can get him to go, you can go with him” to do publicity for us, and we went to Paris and Germany and Ireland. We started in New York because he was promoting Bachelor Party, he was doing publicity for them and I was also in New York. When I called British Airways to confirm our flight, the passenger agent I spoke to… that was a time you could talk to people on the phone… apparently she was a great fan of his and admired his work so I asked, “Would you like an autographed picture?” because I knew he would sign one.

She said she’d love it and asked if we wanted to fly the Concord! I asked, “What is this going to cost us?” because we already had tickets on British Air. She came back and said, “We’ll just upgrade you.” I wanted to check because it was Tom, his son Colin who’s now an actor, and his first wife. The three of us were flying so I got a hold of Tom and obviously he said yes, so we flew one way out of JFK and it was such a thrilling experience. I see Tom every now and then and he always says, “Arlene Ludwig!!” He’s a really nice guy.

Michael Caine was another. I went over to The Tonight Show with him and he was such a gentlemen. Normally if I go over to The Tonight Show I’ll introduce myself and I’ll thank them for doing it and then I usually disappear into the green room because they have enough people sitting in their little dressing room, and he insisted I stay, which was rare, and he did not have an entourage. He had his publicist and that was it. I was just so impressed with him, and he’s another one who belongs in that legends category.

SW: Do you still get excited over meeting celebrities you admire?
(pictured right, Irving Ludwig, Arlene, Walt Disney, Ed Wynn)

AL: I think I still feel that way. I don’t mean to stalk them, but I think you should have that enthusiasm and be thrilled to meet them. I went to a party the night before the Academy Awards. They have a lot of the nominees there and Peter O’Toole was there and he was nominated for Venus and I almost couldn’t help myself. I went up to him and told him I was so thrilled he had been nominated and he kissed my hand. You know, it’s a moment. You just take that moment away with you and put it in your pocket and just keep it. I still feel that way. All of these people… I have such respect for their work… what they get out there and what they bring to us.

More from Arlene:
Her early days at Disney
Her Publicity education and her Disney Legend father

See other interviews