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NEW YORK AFTER Robert Parrish submitted the manuscript of his new book, "Hollywood Doesn't Live Here Anymore," to the publisher, he was informed that there was a problem.
"You can't use the Robert Mitchum quote," the company's lawyers declared. "It's libelous."
"I can give you lots of libelous stuff about Mitchum," replied Parrish, who has directed his pal in two films, "Fire Down Below" and "The Wonderful Country." "But what are you talking about?"
The lawyers were talking about the exchange on page 175, during a pre-dawn visit by Mitchum to Parrish's hotel room:
Mitchum - "You got any mescal around here?"
Parrish - "No. But I've got some Scotch. It's not bad in the morning. I tried some yesterday at about this time."
Mitchum - "No, thanks. It's not the same. Mescal keeps me regular. Scotch keeps me drunk."
"You make him sound like a drunk," the lawyers said.
In order for Parrish to retain the dialogue, they ordered, Mitchum would have to sign a release.
The exchange made it into print.
Mitchum not only signed the waiver, but added at the bottom: "Furthermore, I hereby give Bob Parrish the full authority to write anything he wants about me, anytime, as long as he lives and I live."
That's the kind of friends Robert Parrish has.
In an industry where friendship can be as fleeting as one's last box-office success, Parrish's steadfast friends rally around this good-natured, jovial raconteur for the sheer fun of him.
By his own admission, the 19 films he directed are not candidates for the Hollywood Hall of Fame. "From my list of movies, I can only pick out two or three that I like," he conceded during a recent conversation in New York City. "But I'm also not a very good judge of my own work."
His eyes twinkled, a sure sign he was about to begin a story.
"Thirty years ago, I made 'Fire Down Below' with Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth," he began. "We had great fun doing it. After it was made, and I'd supervised the cutting, I thought it was a pretty good picture and true to Irwin Shaw's script.
"Just before it was...