Picking up where I previously left off, one of the highlights of the trip to Comic Con 2008 was the news of Benicio Del Toro wishing to meet with Forry in his hotel room.
This announcement came to us very unexpectedly, the very morning before Del Toro was due to fly out of San Diego. The private visit with FJA would be squeezed in as his final act before leaving for the airport. All of us in the room attached to Forry’s eagerly prepared for this historic event. Forry himself sat quietly on his side of the wall, with Dolly in attendance until word came that Del Toro was ready to come up. Dolly then joined us, as it was understood that the meeting between Benicio and Forry would be private.
Forry signs autographs at the 2008 Comic Con with Verne Langdon and James Warren.
At this point I still hadn’t seen the soon-to-be-successor to Lon Chaney Jr., as the doors to the adjoining room were closed and Del Toro had entered from Forry’s side. The pair seemed to talk for about ten minutes. At last Joe Moe had a word with either Del Toro or one of his associates, requesting that the actor come to our room so as to meet some of FJA’s friends and caretakers. This the actor kindly agreed to do.
A few minutes later, I was confronted with the tall, compelling figure of Benicio Del Toro himself, standing not five feet from me. He seemed very mild and gracious, greeting each of us in turn. After sharing a few words with a sheepish Dolly and receiving a commemorative Forry button courtesy of Dave Marchant, I was privileged to shake hands with Del Toro myself.
In the dazzling suddenness of all this, I didn’t even know what to say to him. From memory, I blurted out what an honor it was to meet him, that I aspired to be an actor myself and that I would always treasure this moment. The exchange couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds but the fact that he looked me right in the eye and allowed me to say this was all I needed.
After this, Benicio’s staff indicated that the plane they were due to board would be leaving soon and his little group disappeared as suddenly as they’d arrived. Our Forry circle sat back and marveled at what just transpired.
As I was later told, Forry shared his memories of Lon Chaney Jr. with Del Toro and wished him all the best with the remake. I like to think of this little episode as a kind of touchstone, with the world of classic horror Forry represented passing a kind of benediction upon the current generation of artists and filmmakers.
An historic event, if only for me. And I don’t even have a picture of it.
[...] More on that to follow. [...]