Question of the Day - 08 November 2018

Lee Marvin was a movie and television actor for nearly 40 years. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1965 for his offbeat performance in Cat Ballou with Jane Fonda. He appeared in numerous films, starting with You're in the Navy Now in 1951 and ending with The Delta Force in 1986. He died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 63.

His most memorable films included Eight Iron Men, The Big Heat, The Wild One, The Comancheros, The Killers, The Professionals, The Dirty Dozen, Point Blank, and our favorite, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He also appeared in more than 100 episodes of the TV series "M Squad" (1957-1960).

He was also known for one of the earliest "palimony" suits. In 1971, his long-time girlfriend Michelle Triola (unsuccessfully) sued marvin for financial support, even though they never married.

We have long heard the rumor that Marvin shot at Vegas Vic with a bow and arrow while he filming The Professionals at Valley of Fire State Park in 1965 and were asked about it once before. The story goes that Marvin, staying in a room at the Mint across the street, grew so enraged at the incessant "Howdy, pardner," issuing from Vegas Vic that he took a little target practice at the Neon Cowboy's voicebox.

We think it's apocryphal.

First, we've never come up with any evidence of the alleged incident. Second, Lee Marvin was known to be a little reckless at times. He served as a Marine sniper in World War II and was wounded during the Battle of Saipan, where most of his platoon was killed -- an experience that affected him for the rest of his life. But even he most likely wouldn't have taken the chance of damaging the sign or injuring passersby.

Marvin did, apparently, raise a stink about the noise. He wasn't the first guest at the downtown casino-hotels to complain about the Vegas Vic disturbance. Several reports claim that Marvin's high-profile objection, along with the aggregation of other complaints, prompted Vegas Vic's owners at the Pioneer Club to disconnect the audio. It wasn't connected again for 20 years.