Dwight D. Zanuck

Dday. H-hour. A landing craft touched and stopped off Pointe du Hoc between Utah and Omaha beaches. Out jumped a combat unit, including three grizzly-looking soldiers who crossed 150 yds. of pebble beach through a heavy traffic of westbound bullets, fired a grappling hook to the top of a cliff and began to scale it. "We'll never make it," said one of them. "Three old ladies with brooms could keep us off this cliff."

One old lady with a rolled-up copy of Variety could have done it alone. This particular D-day occurred scarcely a week ago, and the three U.S. soldiers were nothing more than those duck-tailed microphones, Singers Paul Anka, Tommy Sands and Fabian, making a scene in Darryl Zanuck's The Longest Day, the story of the Normandy invasion. Part way up the cliff, Anka was dropped by a speck of sand in his eye and, returning to the fray, was later immobilized by a torn fingernail. "Medic!" someone shouted, and World War II stopped dead in its tracks. Near General Zanuck's yellow camp chair stood a real U.S. Ranger, on hand to give technical advice. "These guys," he said helpfully, "don't have what it takes."

Undaunted, Zanuck continues to press on with his stupefying re-creation of the most dramatic hours of the European war. Operating out of a blue-striped field headquarters tent, the Supremo has gone on the wagon for the duration, strictly limiting himself to an occasional bottle of beer, to set a solid example for his troupers. Cigar set grimly between his teeth, he takes to the air in a little French Alouette helicopter, zipping back and forth between production units, letting his men see their leader taking risks. He frankly admits that his "filmization" will often mow down the facts and change history into legend.

Casting as he goes along, he has recently signed stuffier sterns than Fabian, Sands and Anka. Pentagon Peter Lawford will play a British commando leader,*Richard Todd a British major, and William Holden will be U.S. Lieut. Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort. Henry Fonda will be General James Gavin, now U.S. Ambassador to France (as a private little joke among peers, Zanuck earlier told Gavin that he thought Mickey Rooney would be right for the part). French Actor-Director Jean-Louis Barrault will appear as the abbe of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. Model Irina Demich, known previously only to Zanuck, will play a young Resistance heroine. She already has a proper military attitude: "All I can think of is to make a success in this picture and to do what Mr. Zanuck expects of me."

Surrounding himself with high, authentic brass, Zanuck cocks an Ikelike ear and listens to the advice of such aides as French General Pierre Koenig, German Admiral Friedrich Ruge (Rommel's sometime naval attache), and dozens of American officers. Drawing on his resources, Darryl Zanuck has also called in 22 ships from the U.S. Sixth Fleet, the ist Airborne Battle Group of the U.S. 5DEG5th Infantry, and the ist Battle Group of the U.S. 6th Infantry (authorized by the Department of Defense). A direct telephone line to the Army groups' headquarters in Germany is kept open in case they are needed in Berlin.

-Variety said last week that the White House is concerned over the roles Brother-in-Lawford accepts. Most notably, in Advise and Consent, he will play Lafe Smith, the handsome young Senator who is official Washington's most popular Lothario.

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