The opening scene, where Newman is removing & the Gypsy” at St. Basil’s Greek Orthodox Church on March the heads of parking meters, was filmed in Lodi. The Lane. Filming also took him to Sonora. city did not replace the meters, and for many years, The airport was one of many shooting locations for the 1979 one could see a long row of metal posts missing TV film “Friendly Fire.” Scenes with Carol Burnett were also shot meters. Cool Hand scenes were also shot on rural at O.K. Monument. Timothy Hutton also appeared in Stockton. Stockton roads, on the Roberts Island side of the In 1978 Nick Nolte came to rural San Joaquin County – mostly San Joaquin River – where a chapel and some other at a park along the Stanislaus River and the foothills to film structures were built “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” near the old Brandt Mall scenes in the Bridge – and at an movie “Valley Girl” unidentified Lodi site. brought a young Nicholas The bridge and chapel Cage to the Weberstown are gone. Ralph Waite Mall in 1983. (best known as John In 1991 the movie Walton on “The Wal“Shout” was partially shot tons” TV series) also at the Orvis Ranch. The filmed in Stockton. bunkhouse is now being The 1970s brought used for storage on the loads of Hollywood property. activity to Stockton. The Northern California “The Moonshine Women’s Facility on Arch Paul Newman filmed “Cool Hand Luke” in the Stockton area. War” was filmed in the Road southeast of StockFarmington area and ton took Rob Schneider the foothills, which had turned brown for the season, as a prisoner for “Big Stan” in June 2006. Jennifer Morrison also were spray-painted green for the desired effect. filmed at the fictional Oaksburg State Penitentiary. The 1971 “The Name of the Game” TV series was shot at the downtown Holiday Inn pool and at the San STARS AMONG US Joaquin County Hospital in French Camp, where acHonestly, this only scratches the surface of movies shot in the tress Jill St. John visited actor Gene Barry and charmed 209, which has also been the stomping ground for some notable onlookers. actors. Jack Elam once attended Modesto Junior College where Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrell and Candy he met his wife. Cowboy actor Ben Johnson was a cowpoke in Clark were involved in the filming of “Fat City,” a 1972 rural Escalon. Happy Days actress Erin Moran lived in Stevinson boxing movie which filmed at the El Dorado Hotel, in Merced County to raise horses. Clayton Moore, TV’s Lone Red Men’s Hall, Stockton Civic Auditorium and rural Ranger, married Connie Moore, whose parents lived in Turlock. areas including Zuckerman’s Family Farms northwest They visited the Stanislaus County Fair once in the 1980s. of Stockton. An old macaroni factory near Gleason Western actor Slim Pickens lived in Columbia and even Park is in the film for a boxing ring scene. did business in Modesto, even renting a tuxedo at Sears in the Jan Michael Vincent filmed “The World’s Greatest Vintage Faire Mall for his daughter’s wedding. Pickens died in Athlete” in 1973 on the tracks at the University of Modesto at Evergreen Convalescent Hospital on Dec. 8, 1983. the Pacific and the old San Joaquin Delta College. Robert Conrad, known for his 1960s “Wild, Wild West” TV The same year, George C. Scott, John Mills, Jack series, lived in Bear Valley near Arnold and in 1987 filmed the Palance Faye Dunaway and visited the Ospital Ranch football movie, “Glory Days” at UOP. One undesirable role for on Highway 26 near Jenny Lind to film “Oklahoma Conrad was his real life March 31, 2003 drunken driving acCrude.” Director Stanley Kramer created his Oklacident on Highway 4 which sent him Medi-Flight bound for a homa oil fields in the hilly region east of Stockton. Modesto hospital. Conrad moved to Thousand Oaks in 2006. The Stockton Airport played a starring role for Carol Channing lived in Modesto after marrying a second time the 1976 TV movie “Raid on Entebbe.” Charles to Modestan Harry Kullijian in 2003. She left the Rumble Road Bronson, James Wood and Peter Finch were on home for Palm Springs after his death in 2011. location at the airport, which underwent an expenWhile he didn’t film anything in the 209, Stanislaus County sive façade remodel to transform it into an African is the final resting place for actor Dean Jagger, best known as airport. Finch died on Jan. 14, 1977 shortly after General Waverly in the movie classic “White Christmas.” Jagger leaving Stockton. married Modesto native Etta Jagger, who is by his side at LakeWood had been in Stockton previously to film “Alex wood Memorial Park near Hughson. ■ 209MAGAZINE
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