I recently went to see my FIRST Bruce Lee movie.  Yep, I never saw any of his films growing up. But the 50th anniversary of “Enter the Dragon” was released theatrically, and I made a point of going to see it. WOW!  Bruce Lee was/is transcendental magic.  He has that star quality that stays relevant and mesmerizing, regardless of generation, place, or time.  Just wow. 

John Saxon was the Anglo-American draw in the bi-nationally produced film, and he was the actor that I knew best from my history of TV and film watching.  Watching “Enter the Dragon” in a theater, my first thought about John Saxon (in the social media-soaked culture of 2023) was “damn – that’s a wig – did nobody recognize that John Saxon was wearing a toupee for most of his career”.) During his heyday, I sure didn’t; because he looked like everybody else on TV and in movies without the scrutiny that we have today. 

John Saxon was a stalwart in just about every network series when I was a teenager in the mid-to-late 70’s.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking “Didn’t he appear on Charlie’s Angels?”.  He was all over in the place in Wonder Woman, Bionic Woman, Fantasy Island, etc.  But mostly, I guess I remember him from being the dad in “Nightmare on Elm Street”.  When I became more of a movie buff and started watching classic films, I saw him in “Portrait of Black” with Lana Turner.  Generally speaking, he was the manly man, assured guy that was just regularly popping up in movies and TV during my teens and twenties. 

I met John Saxon in April 2014 at The Hollywood Collector Show in Burbank.  He was kind of sitting there listlessly with no people around his table when I went up to him and his wife.  And I had some incredible photos of him as a very young man when he was a teen-idol magazine cover, pretty boy.  I had brought extra copies for him, which I usually do, since I have long-ago realized that very few celebrities from old-school actually Google themselves, are internet savvy and have saved or printed pictures from their long careers.   

When I walked by his table, he was sitting calmly kind of staring into space with his hands folded in his lap. He perked up when I started talking to him, shook my hand firmly, commented on my fitness and mentioned that he still works out as well.  His wife echoed that he works out every day and he jokingly mentioned something about “let’s do a push up contest”.  It was very endearing, complimentary and touching to see such a well-known face light up because of fitness. 

I asked him about Lana Turner and I felt like he was going through his Rolo-card index to quote just what I wanted to hear and I noticed him kind of going on auto-pilot (Very interesting that Mike Connors and Keir Dullea both also had the same sort of scripted, vague, “she was great” (but no detail) response about working with Lana Turner.)  I changed the topic to talk about the magazine cover photo that I brought him and the great photos that he had taken in the 60’s.  He was really touched that I had made extra copies for him, and he reminisced a bit about the early part of his career.  He didn’t seem to mind that he was marketed for his looks.  Possibly he perceived it as just a part of the Hollywood machine at that time.  

My memory is that he was really kind, generous in character, still masculine and strong and a completely approachable and giving person.  He was more along the lines of the dad character I knew from “Nightmare” and not the alpha-dog character that he had portrayed in “Enter the Dragon” and other 70’s appearances, like “Mitchell”.   

A nice, friendly, and genuine man who was able to bask in fan appreciation, with a wife who loved and looked after him at his booth at a fan convention.  That is what I recall of John Saxon; with great fondness.