“I don’t ask questions. I answer them.”

March 25, 2024 10:44 PM

Who was Jack Lord. "When Jack Lord died, he left 40 million dollars to charities in Hawaii. There is Jack Lord's Special Memory of Elvis.' 'Stoney Burke' fan? Jack Lord has a collection of selected works. "This is a critical lesson for any young writer. We want our characters to be “real.” We want our heroes to be “relatable.” But characters are not real and heroes are not normal. They can’t be. If they were, they wouldn’t be heroes." 'The Jack Lord Rule'
posted by clavdivs (16 comments total)

Were you there when they crucified Jack Lord?
posted by flabdablet at 1:16 AM on March 26 [4 favorites]

I love that he got his writing advice from Ray Bradbury. Whenever I notice that Hawaii 5-0 is on, he's very mesmerizing because of his self-confidence.
posted by dragonplayer at 4:28 AM on March 26 [3 favorites]

Jack Lord stars in the orientation film “The Story of a Patriot” which has been shown at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center in Williamsburg, Virginia continuously since its production in 1957. As of 2014 it was the longest-running film in history; in 2002 it was seen by its 30,000,000th viewer.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:55 AM on March 26 [7 favorites]

Book 'em, Danno. Murder One.
posted by briank at 5:46 AM on March 26 [5 favorites]

Tarantino takes a shot (?) at Jack Lord

In Chapter One (“Call Me Marvin”), actor Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie) chats with agent Marvin Schwarz.

“Stewart Granger was the single biggest prick I ever worked with,” Dalton says. “And I’ve worked with Jack Lord!”

On the other hand, the one person I've known who actually met him (a teenage friend's mom), said he was quite the gentleman, although quite a bit shorter than she would have imagined.

And no, he wasn't born Jack Lord. He chose that surname.
posted by philip-random at 7:05 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]

Steve is the prototypical cool American male. Y'know, I'm talking about Steve McGarrett, alright? Steve Austin, Steve McQueen. Y'know, he's the man on his horse, the guy alone. He has his own code of honor, his own code of ethics, his own rules of living, man. He never, ever tries to impress the women but he always gets the girl.

So...who's Steve McGarrett?

posted by kirkaracha at 7:33 AM on March 26 [3 favorites]

He was also the very first Felix Leiter.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:50 AM on March 26 [3 favorites]

And no, he wasn't born Jack Lord. He chose that surname

John Joseph Patrick Ryan
posted by kirkaracha at 7:58 AM on March 26

Jack Lord ran an art-school in Greenwich Village before focusing on acting, according to the Ephraim Katz Film Encyclopedia.
posted by ovvl at 7:59 AM on March 26 [2 favorites]

The Jack Lord School of Art sounds like an SNL sketch from back in the Ackroyd/Belushi/Radner days.
posted by MrVisible at 9:24 AM on March 26 [7 favorites]

And no, he wasn't born Jack Lord. He chose that surname

John Joseph Patrick Ryan

So he could have been Jack Ryan?
posted by TedW at 9:48 AM on March 26 [3 favorites]

Back in the 80s, I used to love hate-watching afternoon reruns of the original Hawaii 5-0 because it was so hilariously problematic and dated even then. Summarily execute fleeing suspects by shooting them in the back! Promote your young white hothead protégé above senior detectives with decades of experience and fluency in multiple local languages! Damn the rules of evidence and break in wherever one of your infallible hunches leads us! Don’t take no for an answer, swoop in and grab your reluctant love interest on horseback with your dashing scarf and pimp hat!

The series would have been rightfully long forgotten without Jack Lord, whatever else you might think.
posted by mubba at 10:22 AM on March 26 [3 favorites]

one of those guys who looked in the mirror and liked what he saw and had the gumption and smarts and NEED to share it with the world whether we wanted it or not, in prime time no less, for twelve seasons. A genuine Lebowski level achiever.
posted by philip-random at 11:09 AM on March 26 [2 favorites]

I wonder if the Jack Lord rule is a variant of the rule that even anti-war movies ultimately glorify war. It's as if the human psychology of storytelling requires an extraordinary protagonist for a story to be widely compelling.
posted by SnowRottie at 7:10 PM on March 26 [2 favorites]

He was also the very first Felix Leiter.

In an alternate timeline, they made a whole series of Jack Lord as Felix Leiter CIA films, with occasional guest star Sean Connery.

They have cool American sounding names like “Felix Leiter in: Operation Cold Comfort”
posted by device55 at 9:36 PM on March 26 [5 favorites]

He was also the very first Felix Leiter.

In an alternate timeline, they made a whole series of Jack Lord as Felix Leiter CIA films, with occasional guest star Sean Connery.

Jack Ryan, starring as Felix lighter in…..
I like it!
posted by TedW at 10:16 AM on March 27 [1 favorite]