Susan Wood Tells Tales of Going on Location

Traveling the world and hobnobbing with famous actors, actresses and directors sounds like the most glamorous of jobs. And for Susan Wood, it truly was.

But it was also serious work, and it often fell to Wood to use all her charm and skills of persuasion to get what she was there for — the perfect shot.

Beginning in the 1960s, Wood, an established magazine photographer, was under contract with Paramount Pictures, United Artists and 20th Century Fox as a special projects photographer. That meant it was her job to photograph the filmmaking process as well as the stars in unguarded, candid moments.

The ultimate goal was to get the biggest magazines of the day, including Look and Life, to run her “picture stories” in their publications and thereby help the studios publicize their soon to be released feature films.

On view now on the Sag Harbor Cinema’s third floor is “Susan Wood: On Location,” an exhibition featuring the photographer’s film-related imagery, including photos shot on the sets of films such as “Easy Rider” (1969), “Hatari!” (1962) and Mirage (1965). The show includes Wood’s photographs of Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, John Wayne, Jim Brown, Gregory Peck, Marcello Mastroianni, Monica Vitti and many others.

On Thursday, August 10, Wood will be at the cinema for a conversation with artistic director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan following the 6 p.m. screening of “Easy Rider.”

“I find doing shows so exciting — looking back in time and putting them together,” said Wood, who is now 91, during an interview at her Amagansett home. “I’m enjoying and it I hope others will too.”

Wood did, indeed have a unique view on the film world, spending time on film locations in the 1960s and 1970s. Working on assignments from the studios, it was her job to capture the ambiance on set — not the plot of the film itself, but the behind the scenes images that showed how the actors, directors and producers were working to get the job done. The ultimate goal was to come away with a compelling picture story, of sorts, that could grace the pages of national magazines.

It wasn’t always easy work, especially because the cast and crew was not always particularly happy to have her around.

“I was a special photographer, though I was still using a still camera for publicity shots,” Wood explained. “I needed the cooperation. If the scenes were not what they wanted, we needed time with these artists that magazine editors will find interesting. They were always interested in stars like Gregory Peck.”

She recalls that a particularly interesting challenge came when she set out to photograph Jim Brown, the football player turned movie star in the late 1960s.

“I was assigned to work on one of his first films, ‘Dark of the Sun’ in Jamaica,” she recalled. “He was such a star, he didn’t think he needed to work with a photographer from a magazine, which isn’t the case, because a boring shot is a boring shot. We were looking for a story and a cover — you have to create photographs that will get the photo editor’s attention, and then maybe they’ll take the story. It was hard to get to him. I had to work with someone to help me.”

Wood ultimately decided that photographing Brown as a hunk was the way to go, in a pose that showed off his muscles, six-pack abs and broad shoulders.

“Just to get to him to tell him how it works took me two weeks,” said Wood, who added that it took even longer to get his shirt off. “You’re always looking to create a picture story and catchy photos of any sorts.

“The reason they hired me and paid me well is that we had access to the editors and gave it some push,” Wood added. “On the film set, they tried to do advance press work about the photographer, introduced me as someone special who could get them the publicity they want. But you’re on your own after that.”

“Fortunately,” Wood said, “I was young and ambitious.”

One of her film set jobs came about more by happenstance than intent when her friend, screenwriter Terry Southern, contacted her while she happened to be in California photographing Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty for a story in Look magazine.

“Terry said, ‘Dennis Hopper has the most fantastic collection of Pop Art, you really must see it. Here’s his number, call him and you’ll get to see it,’” recalled Wood. “So I did that. I arrived as he was walking out the door, and he said ‘I was just thrown out.’”

Wood asked what the problem was and soon learned that Hopper and Peter Fonda, his filmmaking partner on their upcoming film “Easy Rider,” were out of money and worried. Hopper explained that they couldn’t get a check from the film’s backer unless they first handed over a story board outlining the film.

Feeling overwhelmed by the task, Wood took the lead, and explained a story board doesn’t have to include every detail.

“It just has to show where you are and what you might have going on,” said Wood. “I said, maybe I can help you. Speak it to me and I’ll try to keep you on track. Do you have a tape recorder? I’d say, ‘I don’t need that detail,’ or ‘Carry on, what’s the next scene?’

“It took an hour maybe two. I said you don’t need to even type it, just take the tape recording, it’s simple, play it for them and I think you’ll come back with a check,” she continued. “They sent Dennis while Peter and I waited. He came back with a check and said, ‘We’ll put you on payroll, $300 a week.’ But I was the only one who already had a job. I went to a meeting with them. I said, ‘Call me if you think you need me.’”

Wood did get the call again, and spent time shooting on the set of “Easy Rider” when the crew was working in New Orleans and California.

“They had a tight script, meaning it was just the location and what the scene would mean,” she said. “It was a road movie, it went to the monuments of Monument Valley, it goes to small towns, a farm which is run by hippies. There’s a little touch of romance, incredible scenes with Jack Nicolson, who was the most sympathetic character. It wasn’t a fancy movie, but it was a contemporary movie about life at the time. I got wonderful pictures of Dennis and Peter not just from the movie, but the relationships.

“It will be interesting to see it again,” she said, referring to the August 10 screening at Sag Harbor Cinema.

Wood didn’t just work in the U.S. and Caribbean locations, she also spent six months in Africa with director Howard Hawkes and John Wayne on the set of “Hatari!”

“Mostly, things worked out, because you have to establish a working relationship,” she said, noting that the stars, for the most part, understood the need to be cooperative with her. “The one undiminished reason to do it — and the obstacle is fame — they understand once they consent to you, that they have to give something to you. It’s not the paparazzi catching them somewhere. The big professionals understand that. It was easy to work with Gregory Peck, he was giving.

“The directors, if I interviewed them with an intelligent question, they’d help,” she said. “Mostly, they didn’t want inference with their shoot.”

Wood estimates she worked on 20 or 30 films over her career, including on the set of John Boorman’s 1970 film “Leo the Last,” starring Marcello Mastroianni.

“I was at a party and heard about this nude scene supposedly happening in his psychiatrist’s swimming pool,” recalled Wood. “It was a send up of EST [Erhard Seminars Training], to get back to your feelings. At this point, I know people in the film business. I asked the producer if I could come and shoot and see if could get it in Look magazine. They were shooting in England and I was working at British Vogue.”

Wood noted that she was granted permission and photographed a nude Mastroianni as he frolicked in the pool alongside his costar, Billie Whitelaw, and other actors. Meanwhile, he was flirting with Wood as she shot from the sidelines, urging her to join them in the water.

“I told him, ‘No, I have to work,’” recalled Wood, with a sly grin.

Ever the consummate professional.

“Susan Wood: On Location” remains on view through September 10, at Sag Harbor Cinema,. 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor. The show was organized with curation by Anthony Catania. To purchase tickets for the August 10, 6 p.m. screening of “Easy Rider” with discussion with Susan Wood, visit sagharborcinema.org.