Robert Osborne
Robert Osborne … Unique. Nope, his like won’t soon again pass
this way. First time we met, Bob an on-camera participant in a doc. One of
those blistering only-in-NYC days. Wicked. Heat from the overhead lights
doubling down on the temp. No AC, mic picked up the whir. Bob drenched, I mean drenched. Never a word, a complaint,
wiping his face with cool damp towels. Bob refusing breaks. A pro. Never losing
his warm delivery, wonderful smile. His comments integral to the doc. Watch that footage, you'd think Bob was lounging in an A-C stateroom. A pro.
That smile … Kennedy’s, bar on 57th, between 8th
and 9th. Of a sunny Spring day. I come out of Kennedy’s rich,
delicious mid-day darkness, blind-sided by the bright sun. Eyes adjusting.
“John! So this is how you spend your days.”
That voice, only one like it. Turn around, and Mr. Osborn
standing there. Bob’s warm and welcoming smile, deeply welcoming.
“Hey, Bob. How about we go back in, get out of this brutal
light.”
Course, we didn’t. But I know, I just know, one of these
days, and soon, as I’m ambling around the west side of Manhattan, Bob will be
there. Bob and his warmth and his grace. I know it.
For Bob Osborne, like Paris, is a moveable feast.
- John Mulholland
Interview with John Mulholland by Robert Osborne: http://cooperhemingway.com/_academy_motion_pictures.html
