ONE LIFE TO DREAM a documentary film by Philip Dolin & Molly Bernstein
Posted by Philip on Oct 10, 2019, A true to life tale of a special friendship, Hollywood glamour and dreams come true…
In life, we search for our truth and our place in the world. Sometimes far and wide for many years.
Not so for Andy Achsen. He found his truth as a four-year old watching the family’s first black and white TV set in Beechhurst, Queens in the mid-1950′s.
Or at least he found what he wanted his truth to be. For there on the screen was a movie starring Claudette Colbert.
Something about her penetrated into his being and never went away…
And at that moment, he knew what he wanted to be… and whose life he wanted to be part of.
But how would he make his dream come true! Well, that, as they say, is our story.
ONE LIFE TO DREAM is a old-fashioned Hollywood fantasy come true. It’s about seeking your truth, never giving up and finding your place in the world no matter what others think. A story of a boy who became thoroughly enchanted with a movie star on TV. His passion never waned and inside he knew that he would meet her one day. And when he did, the reality turned out to have a greater impact on his life than he could have every imagined. This is a film about making magic in your own life, and passing that spirit onto others. It’s about the power of Hollywood glamour that will introduce a new generation to the incredible screen presence of Claudette Colbert.
ANDY’S STORY
Our film is about a four-year-old boy who fell in love with a movie star while watching television. It was Queens, NY in the early 50s when a young Andy Achsen was in front of his family’s first flickering black and white TV screen. Suddenly the glamorous image of Claudette Colbert appeared and like a bolt of lightning, Andy’s life was changed forever. He fell deeply in love and his devotion never faltered. While other boys were playing baseball, Andy watched Colbert’s movies on TV, and spent his weekly allowance on photos and posters, which he would buy in a subway shop near Times Square. At nine, he began writing letters to a lady named Claudette Colbert whom he found in the Manhattan phone book, then he wrote to Paramount Studios, which he’d see listed in the credits of most her films. At school her wrote all his papers about her. If it was a communications class he’d turn in “Claudette Colbert: Master of Communication.”
At one point, Andy’s parents sent him to a psychiatrist to try and rid him of his all-consuming devotion. But he never wavered in his passion for Colbert through his high school years and then at college. He majored in theater and then moved to Manhattan where he struggled to be an actor in New York.
Several years later, a dancer friend working at a Broadway box office, tipped Andy off that Claudette had tickets for an upcoming show. Andy came to the theater with a large framed portrait of Claudette. He befriended her limo driver who told him where to stand and at the end of the show, with cameras flashing and cheers from adoring bystanders, Andy came face to face with Colbert. She was surprised and delighted at the large portrait and they exchanged some words. As her limo drove off, she turned around in the backseat of her car and pointed to Andy out the window as if to say “So yoou are the same Andy who has been writing to me all these years!”
Several days later, Andy received a note in the mail from Colbert and for the next six months they exchanged letters. Then one day, Andy got a very special invitation to take tea at Claudette’s Park Avenue apartment. On December 18, 1977, he crossed Central Park and then went up to Claudette’s apartment where he entered the world of his cinematic dreams. In short, they hit it off, thus began a deep friendship that spanned the last 20 years of Colbert’s life. They talked on the phone, shared letters, met for drinks, had dinners together and after Claudette’s theater performances she’d drive him home in her limo. From 1986 to 1996, Andy spent almost every vacation at Bellerive, Claudette’s storied estate in Barbados, where she entertained luminaries from the worlds of theater, journalism, government, finance and the arts. Andy would spend weeks preparing his clothes for his visits: something casual for breakfast, a “swimming costume” for the ocean, knit shirts and smart Bermuda shorts for afternoon lunch in the pagoda, long-sleeved dress shirts and light-colored gabardine trousers for evening cocktails and dinner. Once Andy came down for cocktails and Claudette turned to him and said: “You’re not going to wear that are you? It’s a traveling shirt!” Claudette taught him how to dress, how act, how to attend a formal dinner and so much more. At one point she sat him down and suggested he leave the theater and make a success of himself in business, which he did without hesitation to the horror of his theatrical friends.
And this is our story: A tale of Hollywood make-believe come true. A story about following your destiny, your truth and never giving up. Part of the film will be Andy’s story and before, during and after his time with Colbert. Another part will be about Claudette, her life, her films, her career and the incredible power of glamour during the golden age of the silver screen.
Interview subjects include many of Andy’s friends and family who witnessed his journey and adventure firsthand. We also interviewed some of Claudette’s friends including film critic Rex Reed, gossip columnist Liz Smith, playwright Pierre Barillet, and actress Penny Fuller who appeared as Claudette’s daughter in the TV mini-series of The Two Mrs. Grenvilles. Other subjects include cabaret singer Karen Akers who performs La Vie En Rose for our camera and film historian Annette Insdorf. We have also interviewed Academy Award winner Hayley Mills who shared a poignant encounter that she and her parents had with Claudette and Andy at her home in Barbados, just two months before she passed way. This was her final contact with old Hollywood.
CREATIVE TEAM:
PHILIP DOLIN, PRODUCER/DIRECTOR has produced and directed over 100 films about art, architecture, dance, the environment and many other subjects. His clients have included universities, non-profit organizations, art galleries, museums and a variety of businesses. He started out producing hip-hop videos in the early ‘90s for rap artists Salt-N Pepa, MC Lyte, Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor and many others. He was the executive producer and cinematographer of An Art That Nature Makes: The Work of Rosamond Purcell. He was a producer of Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay, which was named one of the top ten films of 2013 by Entertainment Weekly. Most recently, he directed and produced the feature documentary The Show’s The Thing: The Legendary Promoters of Rock, which The Hollywood Reporter called “essential viewing for anyone interested in music industry history.”
MOLLY BERNSTEIN, PRODUCER/DIRECTOR is a producer, director and editor. Her film, Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay, premiered at the New York Film Festival and received a wide theatrical release. The film was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s top 10 films of 2013 and aired on the PBS series American Masters. She also directed An Art That Nature Makes: The Work of Rosamond Purcell, which played in over 20 theaters nationwide and was released on DVD by Kino Lorber. Bernstein has had an extensive career as an editor with credits including the 2009 Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About, also featured on the American Masters series. She has recently produced and directed many short films with Particle Productions on various subjects such as contemporary artists and art collectors around the world for the James Cohan Gallery, VIP Art Fair and Christie’s. Her most recent project was The Show’s The Thing: The Legendary Promoters of Rock, a feature documentary about the creation of the live rock show in the late 60’s and 70’s. This film premiered at DOC NYC and is now screening at film festivals.
EDWARD MARRITZ , ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/CINEMATOGRAPHER is an accomplished documentary cinematographer with three decades for experience. His credits include Oscar-winner Maya Lin: A Clear Strong Vision and Emmy nominee In Memoriam: 9/11 NYC for HBO. Additional cinematography credits include Why Can’t We Be a Family Again? (2005 nominee Oscar Documentary Short), and The Mysterious Human Heart Emmy winner for PBS. Marritz recently filmed Spielberg for Pentimento Productions & HBO. In 2018 he completed photography on a film about legendary photographer Garry Winogrand, All Things Are Photographable for PBS/American Masters. In addition Marritz photographed Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, also for American Masters.
And here is short teaser for the film.