Last year a number of truly remarkable, groundbreaking films turned 50. The most celebrated was the one that made the most money, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. But there were many other significant American films that barely got a mention like the Best Picture Oscar winner, Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (which just received a 4K pressing), Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon, John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust, Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor, Hal Ashby’s Shampoo and Joan Miklin Silver’s Hester Street.
Towering over all these extraordinary features is an epic cinematic achievement, dubbed “an orgy for movie lovers,” by Pauline Kael, that follows 24 characters over a long weekend…
…Robert Altman’s Nashville.
This past summer, I wanted to write a 50th anniversary analysis piece. I’ve seen it countless times and on a rewatch, I was, again, mesmerized. It’s so dizzyingly dense. But there has been so much written about this film ((I did my thesis at NYU on Nashville), I didn’t feel there was anything new to say. It’s timeless. We are a fucked-up country. We always have been. But we are also a country of survivors. Yes, we let fear overtake us sometimes, even in the face of tragedy. “You may say, That I ain’t free, But It Don’t Worry Me,” –was a most frightening yet defining lyric in 1975, and still is today.
So how could I commemorate the making of this cinematic wonder?
I started thinking about the performances, and one stood out as not only exceptional–among the exceptional –but truly unsung–a mesmerizing, nuanced turn by an actor that has never truly been celebrated for his work in the film, and has rarely been interviewed about it–as I could tell, there is no footage of him discussing the film at length. Yet, his work was key to how the entire cinematic mosaic comes together—or, is torn apart, depending on how you look at it.
The actor: David Hayward.
The role: Kenny Frasier, a clean-cut, timid, yet troubled loner who comes to town. A character that not only evoked past assassins, but eerily profiled many future assassins.
As we head into a year where the Oscar nomination record of 14, could be broken by Sinners and/or One Battle After Another, Nashville is the one film that should have shattered that record with at least 15, and David Hayward might have been among the Best Supporting Actor nominees had the Academy fully embraced the film. His subtle, slow-burn turn seethes, then explodes—but remains enigmatic. It’s work that should have catapulted him into leading man roles, or, at the very least, begat a rich and rewarding career.
So, what happened?
Prior to Nashville, Hayward had appeared in numerous one-offs on TV in episodes of Bonanza, Adam 12, The Mary Tyler Moore, Bewitched and Love American Style.
After Nashville, he would continue to pop up on TV in the TV movie, Little Ladies of the Night, the miniseries Lincoln, and episodes of Kojak, The Blue Knight, Charlie’s Angels, Soap, Hart to Hart, The Dukes of Hazzard, Remington Steele, Dynasty, Knots Landing, Matlock, Quantum Leap, Wings, Beverly Hills, 90210, ER, Criminal Minds and JAG, to name a few.
He also had small roles in a number of (mostly) indie films like The Curious Case of the Campus Corpse, Fast Charlie… the Moonbeam Rider, Delusion, The Legend of the Lone Ranger, Slayground, The Big Picture and View from the Top.
He had a significant part in the terrific LGBTQ-themed indie, Raven’s Touch in 2015.
But nothing even came close to the caliber of Nashville.
Perhaps something will in the future.
The Contending was thrilled to VIDEO chat with Hayward and discuss Nashville and his career. The actor was refreshingly candid about why his career never fully took off after the Altman gem. And we finally get his stories from the making of a masterpiece.
