7 Days of Underhill - DAY 6 "THE BLACK CLOUD"

EPISODE 20 - 7 Days of Underhill - Day 6

On Day 6, we break down the true & tragic life story of the Man BEHIND THE MAN, William Traylor. Join us for this uncomfortable walk down Underhill Lane as we recall the life shattering events that befell the actor behind this 7 day tribute.

Join us every day this week for a new Underhill episode! Never before has an extravaganza dedicated to the character brought to life by William Traylor encompassed 168 consecutive hours.

So head out for your urinalysis and we'll be back again tomorrow!

NOTE: This week of episodes are inspired by the amazing "Blast Points Podcast." Blast Points is a Star Wars podcast that deep dives into the weird, wacky, and  "outside the box" topics of a Galaxy Far Far away. They did "7 Days of Dengar" that was out of this world. Jason & Gabe, thank you for being our muse!
https://blastpointspodcast.com/

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FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Bob West


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P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. 
All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible 
publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters created by both Gregory McDonald and Universal. 

FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

... making sure Fletch Lives forever!

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Robert "Big Bob" West


Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imfletchcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imfletchcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imfletchcast


P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. Confess, Fletch is Copyright of Miramax with Paramount distribution. All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters or intellectual property created by Gregory McDonald, Universal or Miramax and is used for educational purposes only. 

Transcript

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:00

There's a need to fear. The underhills are here.

FletchCast Intro 0:12

Broadcasting live live and around the world. Around the world. From Cabana One, the only podcast that's all ball bearings. Your ultimate source for everything Fletch. Thank you, Doc. You ever serve time? Laker Jim and his beat reporters will stop at nothing to make sure Fletch lives forever. They don't shower much. This is Fletchcast.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:53

Thank you, Sammy, and welcome to day six. Okay. This is the episode all about the man behind Ted Underhill. That's right. Actor William Trailer. A life filled with so many ups and downs, the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. I feel like a black cloud shadowed Trailer's entire life. I also feel like that same black cloud shadowed this episode. Because just as we were set to record day six, a wicked stomach virus hit me so hard, I can't remember a 48-hour period where I was so sick. It rocked me. Was that art imitating life? Maybe. Because also, just as I was feeling better, we find out that we don't have enough episode credits to upload another episode to our podcast host. Ah, for god, don't. Because we had uploaded so many Underhill episodes and episodes before that, we had reached our maximum upload amount. So they wanted more money to upgrade our accounts. You know what I told them.

FletchCast Intro 2:08

Maybe next time.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 2:10

You know? It's like this episode mirrored William Trailer's life. Right. Like two strangers passing in the night. Strangers in the night. Exchanging clothing. Strange in my pants. Surprise. It's a life that played out like Wiley Coyote's greatest hits.

"Big Bob" West 2:39

Things are gonna take a real dark turn today.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 2:42

Alright, Jake, Bob, you ready? Because there's no turning back.

Jake Parrish 2:46

Uh well, we've gone this far. We have to go all the way.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 2:49

Okay, let's get this started. Alright, on October 8th, 1929. The Antichrist gift to gratuity, William Hurley Trailer Jr., was born. That's right, the man who would later breathe theatrical life to the character of Ted Underhill. Okay. Now, if that date, October 8th, sounds familiar, it's because he shares a birthday with Chevy Chase. Happy birthday, I guess. Yeah. Happy birthday. Thanks. So if that's not destiny, I don't know what is. That is so funny. Raised in a very small town from Missouri, only about 400 people in the town. Small town, but big dreams. Now in his twenties, Bill decides he wants to be an actor. And I think we can call him Bill, right? It's day six. We've earned it. Makes sense. Sure. He heads to New York City. Where if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, right? Broadway. He instantly becomes a member of the famed actor studio, led by legendary director Lee Strasper. Where there they focus on method acting. Which is like where you become a character like you. Which is what uh Jim Carrey did with Andy Kaufman, what Daniel Day Lewis did with Lincoln, and William Trailer did with Ted Underhill. Now Trailer instantly became a star. And he landed two roles in two plays at the same time. Two of writer Noelle Coward, a famed writer, two of his plays at the same time. So he acted in one play one day, another play the day after, and then back to that first play, second play, and did that on alternate days, two different plays on alternate days. That's pretty incredible, to be honest. But it came with a price.

Jake Parrish 4:50

Oh boy.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 4:54

Okay, so here's where the Black Cloud rears its ugly head for the first time. Just when things seem to be looking up, William Trailer finds himself in a sexual relationship with his playwright, Noelle Coward. Now Trailer is embarrassed. He's ashamed. Because number one, Bill's a heterosexual. He's not a homosexual. And number two, he's a devout Catholic. So at that time it went against everything he believed. Yeah, we're talking the 1950s, so but from what I read and different accounts of the situation, uh the playwright pursued him ruthlessly and forced him to drink what they called like a stinger cocktail. I guess it it drugged him. And he forced trailer to do sexual acts that trailer found to be repugnant.

"Big Bob" West 6:00

Wow, so this was actually a case of uh forced uh sexual assault. This wasn't a case of uh willingness. Wow. That takes it even deeper.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:10

This was a time where you couldn't out somebody like that. You couldn't tell people what was happening, sure. And the only way out Bill Trailer felt was to kill himself.

"Big Bob" West 6:21

You know, the 1950s were a very different time. As you said earlier, homosexuality was almost considered illegal, it was definitely considered mental illness. Um that coupled then with the fact that he was suicidal, uh, another thing that's often associated with mental illness. These things weren't taken seriously back, and in fact, it was it was it was frowned upon and it was had a negative connotation, and you couldn't live a life like that and not be judged.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:50

So he tried to overdose on drugs. The story made the news, and Noel Coward, who absolutely was a coward and a monster, uh backed off because I guess he knew that although William Trailer didn't mention him, he could have. And uh that ended the relationship that he had with uh with William Trailer and he backed off.

Jake Parrish 7:16

That's awful. So bad. But then he rebounded, right? Eventually.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:22

Well, yes, that's true. William Trailer's life, the roller coaster that it was, now begins to take an upswing. Okay? He meets Peggy Fury, who is a fellow actor at the studio, falls in love with her, they get married, they have two children, they move to Los Angeles. So in Los Angeles, they begin teaching at different schools, begin to start like a West Coast version of the Straussburg.

Jake Parrish 7:50

Didn't his wife and himself open an acting studio? And they actually taught some pretty famous actors.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:56

Called Loft Studios. And what it was, uh I'm sure was a a culmination of what they learned in New York, but with a personal touch. You know, Lee Straussburg was very direct and very serious and very dictator-like, and you know, he was very by the book and by the method, and and I think what William and Peggy added was a personal touch to the teaching. And their list of students is incredible. Nicholas Cage, Johnny Depp, Lord Dern, Crispin Glover.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

How's Crispin Glover?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 8:35

Never talk to him. Jeff Goldblum, Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Charlie Sheen, Lily Tomlin, this one's for Jake, Richard Dean Anderson.

Jake Parrish 8:47

And a legend that continues to live to this day.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 8:51

The list goes on and on and on and on. All these actors, and if you if you really like dive deep into their beginnings, they all credit the Loft Studios for teaching them acting and really how to develop characters. And that was attributed to William Trailer and his wife. So you can say that Underhill had a hand in all these people's careers. Without Underhill, a lot of these actors wouldn't be any. I think they'd all tell you that, too.

"Big Bob" West 9:30

Might be easier to say the list of actors that haven't trained under him.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:33

So I think we all know what happens next. William Trailer is plucked by the Hollywood gods to portray the role of a lifetime of Ted Underhill in the movie Fletch. His his role is the buzz of Hollywood. Here's one of his actors, Jeff Goldblum, on seeing his teacher, William Trailer, in the movie Fletch. Let's listen.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

So for the first time, I want to see it right away again, several more times. It's so overwhelming and rich, and I want to be able to stop it and look at it and all of that. And then seeing it with the this particular audience, their last night was festive. They are enthusiastic and you know, big, big crowd. That was fun.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 10:22

Wow. The reviews from his students continue. Nicholas Cage chimes in on William Trailer's performance as Ted Underhill. Let's listen to that.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Yeah, well, what I liked about it was I really saw his dramatic abilities and his potential. I see a lot of pain in his eyes, and he has a lot of uh gravitas in that movie. God, that made me cry that monologue. That's great.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 10:49

If you've ever been at a restaurant and received the bill with the wrong amount, you you know what that feels like. So, yeah, that monologue at the table is touching. It is heartfelt. You can you can you can you can understand what he's going through.$400 for lunch. You can understand the anguish. Speaking of anguish, now the roller coaster of William Trailer takes a nosedive because just a few months after Fletch comes out in 1985, the love of his life, Peggy Fury, dies in a horrific head-on car accident. Leaving Bill, a widow, picking up the pieces of his life, his heart, his everything, and now raising two daughters by himself. You get to play iconic characters if you're lucky once in a lifetime. He got to play an iconic character twice. Because just three years later, he got the call he was waiting for. It was time to put on the white tennis shoes one more time. He needed to reprise his role as Ted Underhill in Fletch Lives. And if you see him strumming that guitar and dancing with the biggest smile on his face, you would never know the pain. You can't feel it. All you can feel is joy. Because that's who William Trailer was. And that's that's that's the way Underhill needs to go out, too. You know? And if you thought this story would have a happy ending, you're wrong. There's one more tragedy left to tell. Just six months after the release of Fletch Lives, William Trailer died of a heart attack. He was 59. He had nothing more to give. His work was finished. But his legacy is more than just stiffing waiters. Susan Trailer and Stephanie Fury. I don't have to tell you which one's his favorite daughter. Trailer or Fury? It's Susan Trailer. They're both actresses. Stephanie has an acting studio. And she's passing on the teachings of her parents. All the things that they taught her, all the things that they taught the legends of Hollywood are now being taught to the next generation of actors. And that's the legacy of William Trailer. That's how he'll be remembered. Not by us, but by everybody else.

"Big Bob" West 13:48

Jake Bob final words. As time went on, you know, he like you said before, he persevered and became an absolute legend in the Fletch universe. Like him or hate him. Like him or hate him.

Jake Parrish 14:00

It's so funny for a for a guy who maybe worked on a movie a couple of days, maybe. Still remembered.

"Big Bob" West 14:10

It's great. If we're gonna honor Ted Under him, we'd do it. We'd do it the right way. We need to do it the right way. And we need to go out, we need to have a very nice, big meal, maybe with family, with our loved ones. Finish every single bite and then not search our waiter.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:26

Amen, brothers. Beautifully put. For Jake and Bob, I'm Laker Gym. This has been day six. We'll see you tomorrow for day seven of seven of Underhills. Breaking down the bill. See ya.

Jake Parrish 14:43

Jesus H Christ!