It took a lot of courage for Bert Lahr to transform into the “King of the Forest.”
The comic actor famously played the Cowardly Lion in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz.” The Technicolor classic, which featured Judy Garland, proved to be risky business for the veteran vaudevillian, the late star’s daughter told Fox News Digital.
The film turned 85 on Aug. 15.
“My dad was really tortured by the costume,” said Jane Lahr. “It weighed almost 100 pounds. It was real lion fur, and it was hot. He couldn’t eat. He had to drink his lunch through a straw. The studios had wonderful dining rooms. He and Jack Haley, who played the Tin Man, had to lay down on boards because their costumes were so heavy, and they couldn’t eat in the dining room. Dad could only drink something through a straw.”
“It wasn’t fun,” said Jane. “They were not happy campers with these costumes, I’ll tell you that. But when the reviews came out, well, that was another story.”
The hot studio lights would make the set feel like a sweltering 100 degrees as Lahr was in costume, according to reports. His tail was reportedly attached to a square block. The costume was paired with a wig made of Italian human hair, and the footwear was constructed out of a lion pelt, Bonhams revealed.
Lahr grumbled, but when cameras began rolling, he made light of the situation. It has been reported that the film required multiple takes because Garland – along with the rest of the cast and crew – burst into laughter.
“There’s a scene where the Lion chases Toto,” said Jane. “Judy grabs Toto, slaps the Lion, and then the Lion starts to cry. Judy always broke up laughing. The director took her aside and slapped her, saying ‘You cannot do this.’ But in the movie, you can still see Judy putting the dog in front of her mouth because she is smiling… But it was a big problem because she would always laugh… I think it’s so fabulous.”
According to Jane, “The Wizard of Oz” cost nearly $3 million to make. While Lahr received positive reviews for his performance, his co-star Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard, issued a warning.
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“He said, ‘Bert, you’re going to get all the reviews and Judy will get all the reviews, but it’s not going to do you any good in Hollywood. There are no other lion parts,’” said Jane.
Morgan was right. Jane said that after the film premiered, MGM dropped her father’s contract.
“It was a huge blow,” said Jane. “My mom and dad had built their dream house, this beautiful house in Coldwater Canyon on an acre and a half. It was built by the first African American architect in the country. It was extraordinary.
“It was their first home after living in apartments. They adored it. My dad loved gardening… He planted lime trees, apple trees, pear trees and avocado trees. But the house had to be sold. And we moved immediately to New York because Broadway was dad’s favorite medium. I was one and my brother John was three.”
“My dad felt [Hollywood] wasn’t trustworthy,” Jane continued. “He assumed after the movie came out, and he got all of these great reviews, that he’d be there forever making movies. But the truth is that his talent was too big for films. It was made for the Broadway stage. He had a huge voice.
“He went on to make a few movies over the rest of his lifetime, but it was nothing like ‘The Wizard of Oz.’… But he loved the stage. It’s where he felt the love from an audience. And it was his favorite form of acting.”
In New York, Jane said she witnessed a new side to her father.
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“At home, my father was very shy, very quiet,” she said. “He played solitaire. He did crossword puzzles. But on TV, he was this lion with a very big voice… He had that lion in him. And it made sense – my father was a Leo.”
Jane saw “The Wizard of Oz” for the first time when she was 6 years old. However, it would not be until she was visiting from college that she sat down and watched it with her father.
“Dad never liked to watch himself,” she said. “He was a perfectionist. Over the years, he wouldn’t watch the movie. But one day, I was alone with him, and it was playing on television, so we watched it together. He looked at me and said, ‘That was pretty good.’”
One role Lahr took great pride in was that of being a father. Jane described how, in college, Lahr would complain about her listening to the Beatles repeatedly, but secretly played them when she was away. When he overheard his daughter “treating a would-be suitor on the phone badly,” he scolded her, warning, “In my neighborhood growing up, if you behaved that way with a guy, you’d end up in the East River with your feet in cement!”
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Jane vividly remembers her father not for being a movie star, but for being “kind and sweet.”
One night in 1967, Jane had returned home from a date. She found her father sitting in a chair looking pensive. She went to her bedroom and opened a book. It opened up to a page about death.
“He was making a movie, ‘The Night They Raided Minsky’s,’” Jane explained. “He got sick on the set. He was always afraid of dying from cancer. And although they said he died of pneumonia, his doctor had tested him, and he had bone cancer. He was having trouble walking around that time too.”
Lahr died on Dec. 4, 1967 in New York City. He was 72.
“I remember I wanted to get a Christmas tree for my mom,” said Jane. “Dad said that year, ‘I don’t want a Christmas tree.’ Dad was Jewish, but we were brought up Catholic. Every year we had Christmas.”
“When he died, I thought it would cheer mom up, so I got a Christmas tree for her,” Jane shared. “A few days later, I came back to the apartment and there was hardly a needle on that tree. Well, dad didn’t want a Christmas tree that year and mom didn’t get one.”
“There were several other things that caused one to wonder about the immortality of the soul, let’s put it that way,” she chuckled.
Jane recalled visiting her father’s gravesite with her brother. The siblings were stunned by what they saw.
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“A child had put a toy lion by the gravestone,” she said. “That touched me and John so much.”
Today, Jane is determined to keep her father’s legacy alive. She’s often a guest at the annual Oz-Stravaganza, a festival that celebrates all things “Oz.”
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“There are so many reasons why the film is still so popular,” Jane explained. “Certainly, the music is extraordinary. The costumes, the sets, the stars – everything is kind of perfection when put together. And it came out just before World War II with a happy ending. It gave people hope. And then children started to play the parts in school… It became part of the fabric of America.”
When asked how she wants her father to be remembered, Jane said, “I just want him to be remembered.”
“The way I remember him is this dear, sweet, thoughtful soul who loved to share his energy with an audience,” she said. “He was someone who gave people pure and utter joy and laughter. That’s how he should be remembered.”
