While many fans recognize her as vengeful Helena Cassadine on “General Hospital,” the statuesque blonde originally lassoed in fame with two John Ford Westerns, “The Horse Soldiers” (1959) and “Sergeant Rutledge” (1960). In “The Horse Soldiers,” she starred alongside heavy hitters John Wayne and William Holden, whom she still remembers fondly to this day. Towers, 88, working with Wayne and Holden, how she coped with tragedy on set, as well as transforming into a villain.
News: You worked with both William Holden and John Wayne
What was your initial impression of them? Towers: That was my second movie, “The Horse Soldiers”… And the director was John Ford, the highly respected and famous Irish director. It was pure luck. I could hardly speak when I first met them. And yet they were both wonderful to me. John Wayne was as big as he was on the screen and he treated me like his little princess. William Holden was very private. But he was also a gentleman and very willing to help a newcomer. I was in total awe of working with these two stars, but they were both just wonderful. They both got along very well with each other too.
News: Is it true that John Ford expected all the actors to be gentlemen and they weren’t allowed to swear in front of the women on set?
Towers: True. Women had his total respect. He never used bad language and didn’t expect anyone else to do so either on his set. I don’t think John Wayne would have used it anyway, but he didn’t and neither did William Holden. But John Ford ran a very tight ship. He would stop production at 4 o’clock every day so we could all have tea with cookies. It was so dignified. One day, I asked him, “Why do you stop production? It costs money.” He said, “Ah, I get more work out of everybody because by 4 o’clock everyone is tired. So you get a little sugar and then you’ll get back on that high energy until 6 or 6:30.” There was a method to his madness. But it was a delightful set.
News: There was a tragedy on set involving stuntman Fred Kennedy. What happened?
Towers: I was riding sidesaddle and had to do a lot of my stunt work. But the insurance people from the studio always made sure their actors were safe. And so John Ford assigned two wonderful actors and stuntmen to be my protectors. Whenever I was on a horse, I had Slim Hightower on one side and Freddy Kennedy on the other. They were the two cutest men you’d ever seen. They played tricks on me and they just had fun.
Fred had lost his forefinger [in a previous accident]. So he only had up to the big knuckle on his right hand. He would stand behind the camera and have that knuckle up his nose just to make me laugh. They were silly like that. But I had a wonderful relationship with them because they protected me. On the last shot of the film on location, John Ford and John Wayne came to me and said, “Look, we’re not going to call cut. When Freddy does his last fall… you’re going to give him a big kiss on the cheek.”
He was really shy, so it was their way of having fun with him. So Freddy came over the fence and did this fall into the bonfire. I ran in, picked him up and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. But as I did, I felt as if I had a thousand breaking bones in my hands. He had broken his neck. I turned around and said, “He’s dying.” And this is all on film somewhere by the way. We immediately picked him up, put him in the back of a truck and rushed him to the hospital. But by the time we got there he was gone… It was a very traumatic moment. We were all very devastated.
News: How did you all cope at the time?
Towers: The company gathered all of these toys and silly. things from the set. We went to the grocery stores and bought staples like lard, sugar, flour, milk and water. We took it to the Black family that had been in the film with us. I remembered there was no flooring in the house. They had a horse, a cow and maybe some chickens. We also gathered enough money to buy them a bell for their little Baptist church. There were crowds of people in town who were upset about us doing this. You had to remember the time this took place. You just didn’t do that for people of color in those days. So our company left in a hurry. But it was a beautiful experience for us together as a group during this very sad time.
News: What was the secret behind your lasting marriage with John Gavin?
Towers: We really loved each other. For a long time, I was in New York and he was in California. So we commuted before we got married. He had two children, I had two children and we blended our families. And they just love each other. I always recognized his ex-wife and she was fabulous. His children accepted me with no guilt. Just love.