Princeton resident Bob Hearne had special relationship with actor
By: David M. Campbell
Princeton resident Bob Hearne had a special relationship with actor Walter Matthau, who died Saturday in Santa Monica, Calif.
For about three months during the filming of the movie "IQ" – shot almost entirely in Princeton, Lawrence and Hopewell in 1994 – the 63-year-old was the stand-in for Mr. Matthau.
Mr. Hearne remembers the late actor as down-to-earth, and "outstanding in several regards."
"When others would be taking breaks, Walter would be out meeting the crowd, shaking hands, truly kissing babies – being a really nice person to people on the periphery of the movie set," said Mr. Hearne, whose Princeton-based company, Inquiry Support, designs and develops software and special products for trade magazines.
The 79-year-old actor, Mr. Hearne recalled, also was a cut-up on the set, often using humor to relieve tension among cast and crew.
"Especially if he blew a line, he would swing into jokes, little ditties, anything to make people laugh, entertain them, to break the tension and the monotony," he said. "Between he and (co-star) Tim Robbins joking around, there were a lot of enjoyable things going on."
When did Mr. Hearne first realize he had physical similarities to Mr. Matthau? His "discovery," he said, was "something of a lark."
One afternoon he happened to drive by Princeton High School when he saw what he said were about 20,000 people lined up outside. The locals were trying out for roles as extras in the "IQ," a romantic comedy featuring Mr. Matthau as a matchmaking Albert Einstein, Meg Ryan as his niece and Tim Robbins as Ms. Ryan’s love interest, a gas station mechanic of questionable genius.
For the heck of it, Mr. Hearne went in.
"They were processing 350 people every 12 minutes, and they physically looked at everybody, row by row," he recalled. "The director of personnel selected about 5,000 out of the 20,000, then they photographed each and asked them to fill out a form."
Later that night, Mr. Hearne received a call from Paramount Pictures. Would he like to come in for an interview? he recalled being asked. Would he like to audition for the job of stand-in for Mr. Matthau?
"I immediately became convinced it was several of my friends pulling a trick on me," Mr. Hearne said.
But it was no joke, and a few days later Mr. Hearne found himself in a room facing a panel of six judges, including Frank Capra III, grandson of the late director, who was assistant director on the film.
"The audition was strange," Mr. Hearne said.
The panel questioned him on his acting resume – the films he had acted in, his commercials. Mr. Hearne said he had no resume, not one iota of acting experience. He designed software for a living, he said.
"My response was, if you’re looking for those qualifications, then you’ve got the wrong guy," he recalled. "I have zero capability in that arena, I said. The only capability I can bring to the table is loyalty, trustworthiness and I promise to show up on time."
That was enough to earn him the job, it seemed.
"Capra turned to me and said, ‘Sounds damn good to me,’" Mr. Hearne recalled.
So for the next three months, Mr. Hearne worked as Mr. Matthau’s stand-in for the film. An ordinary work day on the set lasted 12 to 18 hours. He was present for 58 of the 60 shooting days. One day he was not needed because Mr. Matthau wasn’t scheduled for the shoot that day; the other he missed to see his daughter graduate from medical school.
"I was always the first to arrive and the last to leave," he said.
The job of stand-in consisted of "a lot of wait time, 90-percent wait time, easily," he said. But it also required a degree of alertness, he added, "which I did not realize was going to be necessary."
"You really couldn’t slack off," he said.
As stand-in, Mr. Hearne helped to set up each shot that Mr. Matthau was in. Mr. Hearne, approximately the same height and build as the actor, would be asked to stand on cue for about 45 minutes while the director and crew set up the camera angle and lighting. When the shot was set up, Mr. Hearne would take a seat and Mr. Matthau would do his scene.
Mr. Hearne was also a body double for Mr. Matthau, in scenes where the actor’s face was not seen. Mr. Hearne said he appears in the film about 40 times.
"In general, when you can’t see Matthau’s face, that’s me," he continued. "The back of the head, a lot of hospital scenes, riding a motorcycle."
His last words with Mr. Matthau occurred a few days prior to the end of shooting, at a gas station in Hopewell, where some scenes were shot. Mr. Hearne asked Mr. Matthau to autograph a photograph for him. The picture was one of the actor posing with his stand-in, Mr. Hearne.
"He graciously signed the picture, and then he wrote a little extra," Mr. Hearne said.
What Mr. Matthau wrote was: "AGFY." When he asked Mr. Matthau what it meant, the actor smiled, laid his hand on his stand-in’s shoulder and said, "all good follows you."
Mr. Matthau died Saturday of a heart attack at St. John’s Health Center, in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 79.
His breakthrough role was as Oscar Madison in Neil Simon’s 1965 Broadway comedy and 1968 film "The Odd Couple." His more than 30-year acting career included such films as "Hello, Dolly!" (1969), "Plaza Suite" (1971), "The Sunshine Boys" (1975) and "Grumpy Old Men" (1993).