THE LIFE OF REILLY (2006)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
The foppish, bespectacled Charles Nelson Reilly is mostly known for being an active game show panelist on 1970's "Match Game." But, lo and behold, his game shown stint is minuscule when compared to his creative output as an actor in on/off-Broadway plays and small roles in everything from "The Love Boat" to "The X-Files." "The Life of Reilly" is a bold attempt, creatively and visually, to understand the man whose life couldn't possibly be adapted by Eugene O'Neill.
The filmed one-man show, "Save it for the Stage," has Charles Nelson Reilly waxing on about his upbringing in the Bronx in New York. His mother wouldn't hear of any complaints of any kind - she would tell her son, "Save it for the stage!" Charles had problems with his eyesight in school, was teased relentlessly by bullies, yet he had a passion for acting on the stage. Problems still emerged in the Reilly household. Charles's father did watercolor ads and was offered a job by Walt Disney to come to California. Charles's mother insisted on staying in the East Coast, and Papa Charles became depressed and was eventually institutionalized. But it is the young and eager Charles, who despite having to move with his mother to Connecticut to stay with Swedish relatives ("Imagine being the odd one in an Ingmar Bergman household"), got the urge to go to NYC and study acting with Uta Hagen at HB Studio. He made it, studied with other future actor luminaries such as Hal Holbrook, Harvey Korman, Jason Robards and Steve McQueen to name a few, and got the enviable position of being an understudy for Paul Lynde and Dick Van Dyke. If my younger readers don't know they are, now is the time to look them up.
Interestingly, no mention is made of the "Match Game" years (originally, Charles's play ran for three hours). Charles Nelson Reilly is more interested in divulging the hard times, especially his childhood years. One riveting moment out of many is when a 13-year-old Charles decides to sneak away to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in town, is caught leaving by his mother who wishes for the circus to burn to the ground and, in a moment that will make your jaw-drop, he tells the story of how the circus tent did in fact burn to the ground. A child runs away with her face burnt. It is a momentous tragedy (168 people were killed), gravely told by Reilly as the observer and survivor. In less grave episodes of his life, Reilly also details the Florida years where he was given a beach house to live in by his friend of 50 years, Burt Reynolds, so that he could teach acting. He also humorously points out that actors like Hume Cronyn and Shirley Booth personified his parents. And his first movie screening were he is taken by his mother is a moment that can stop time. Reilly has that special gift in hooking his audience in.
"The Life of Reilly" is from a filmed performance in late 2004 when Reilly apparently fell ill from lifelong asthma (he passed away in 2007). This film by Frank Anderson and Barry Poltermann is rich with detail and sharp wit, thanks to Reilly who is a skilled raconteur and brilliant actor. The stage itself has a podium, a desk with mementos and ruffled papers, and a few movie theater seats. It all makes for a very intimate show with a very intimate man who tells his stories as if you are his friend. Many will probably not notice the resemblance to the "Match Show" panelist (Reilly was in fact bald most of his life) as he wrings laughs, humanity and tears in equal doses. He shakes us with his affecting look at his life, his love and passion for acting, his camaraderie with his fellow actors, and the tumultuous life of his parents and his unfortunate aunt (let us say that her lifelong body pain was resolved in a most unnatural manner). Anyone who loves acting and theater should not pass up on this most miraculous, bittersweet, delectable stage.
