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“I was 15 when I came to Portland <\/strong><\/span>Stage<\/strong>\u2026That time of life can be challenging for a young actress; you\u2019re feeling physically awkward and unsure of yourself generally. I was so lucky to be a part of that company, including Cotter Smith<\/strong>, Mary McDonnell<\/strong>, and David Florek<\/strong>, with Barbara Rosoff <\/strong>directing. They watched over me, and it gave me a safe place to learn about the craft. <\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019d love to come back and perform at Portland Stage again, especially if there is a new play to work on. I loved the city then and still do; even though it was cold. It was a very special time, being on my own. The houses, the streets, the restaurants, the muffins.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u2013<\/em>S<\/em><\/strong><\/span>arah Jessica Parker<\/em><\/strong>, telling us about one of the first times she was allowed to go on an acting gig on her own, starring in Paula Cizmar\u2019s <\/em>Death of a Miner <\/strong>at <\/em>Portland Stage Co.<\/em><\/strong> in 1982<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n “We were driving the coast,<\/span> so to speak, I think maybe in a station wagon. [John] fell in love with\u2026Maine. We talked excitedly in the car. We were looking for a house on the water. We did examine the place! We kept driving north along the water until I don\u2019t really remember the name of the town. We went quite a ways up, actually, because it was so\u2026beautiful.<\/em> Exactly. It\u2019s a beautiful, beautiful place, clean water and air.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013<\/em>Yoko Ono<\/em><\/strong>, speaking to us about the time she and <\/em>John Lennon <\/em><\/strong>spent searching for a summer home in Maine, with each oceanfront house more beautiful than the last<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI visited Maine a few times during the years I was with the Eileen Ford Model Agency in New York. Several of us models who became friends would drive to [your] beautiful state to ski. We loved it. My most recent visit was for the opening of the PowerPay<\/strong> building, which is just awesome. Looking around, my first thought was, \u2018The lions from the Shambala Preserve [shambala.org], which I founded in 1983, would have a great time here.\u2019 I kept picturing them racing around, hanging out by the windows and on the stairs. I was there to support my friend Stephen Goodrich<\/strong>, who has done wonderful things for the people of Portland. The weather was perfect. We stayed at Portland Harbor Hotel<\/strong>, which is absolutely charming, and we had dinner at that church [Grace<\/strong>], where I had the most delicious lobster. One morning we were having breakfast outside on the wharf and this gull landed right on our table and proceeded to empty all the sugar packets! I wasn\u2019t bothered at all; he was very friendly and very smart. They learn their tricks well!\u201d <\/span> The Girl <\/em><\/strong>in the wildly popular Dragon Tattoo<\/em><\/strong>,<\/em> whose antisocial behavior drives the movie, shares a backstory with Hedren\u2019s Marnie <\/em><\/strong>(1964). Both title characters kill their mother\u2019s abuser in childhood, and both suffer a painful reunion with their ill parent after a long estrangement. Of course, Tippi would never be caught dead in combat boots.<\/span><\/p>\n “S<\/strong><\/span>he and her sister teased me and called me \u2018Miss Zero\u2019 all that fall weekend\u2026She did tell me, \u2018I\u2019ll be writing a new book,\u2019 so it\u2019s really exciting to think she was here with Paradise<\/em> in her head.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013<\/em>Isabelle Smiles<\/em><\/strong>, former owner of the Pomegranate Inn, on Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist <\/em>Toni Morrison<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s brief stay in the West End<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n “It\u2019s exciting<\/strong><\/span> <\/span>to be back at Hadlock. Unfortunately, not for this particular reason. It\u2019s nice to see familiar faces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013Red Sox slugger <\/em>Jacoby Ellsbury<\/em><\/strong> during a rehab stint with the <\/em>Portland Sea Dogs<\/em><\/strong> this season that conjured memories of his <\/em>Bull Durham<\/strong> days here when he loved to hang out with pals at\u2026<\/em>Bingas Wingas<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n “He is one of the nicest people I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d Inn on Carleton<\/strong> owner Philip Cox<\/strong> says of 30 Rock<\/em><\/strong> star Alec Baldwin<\/strong>. \u201cHe got in very late, sat right down at the bar, and talked with us like we were his family. He asked for some apple pie and a glass a milk, but we didn\u2019t have any, so I offered to go to the market and buy him some. But if it wasn\u2019t homemade, he wasn\u2019t interested.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013On <\/em>Alec Baldwin<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s stay at the West End\u2019s<\/em> Inn on Carleton<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “I love Maine in the winter<\/em>, <\/em><\/span>and I love ice fishing, so it was the perfect marriage.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n –Willem Dafoe<\/strong> on the getaway retreat he owns on Thompson Lake<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n “Our time in Maine is special.<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong><\/span>It\u2019s our retreat in the summers. I arrive and become inspired to bake pies and make jam.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013Kelly Preston<\/em><\/strong>, 47 and newly pregnant, about the retreat she shares with husband<\/em> John Travolta<\/em><\/strong> in Islesboro “One day, I really felt like Maine lobster\u2013hadn\u2019t had it in forever<\/em>. We walked and walked and walked. I can\u2019t remember the name of the caf\u00e9, but it was right on the water, a funny little place. I ate an entire lobster! Jeffrey says he\u2019s never seen me devour anything like that, with melted butter\u2026Even now, just thinking about it, oh, God! I could die.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013<\/em>Eva Marie Saint<\/em><\/strong>, star of Elia Kazan\u2019s <\/em>On The Waterfront<\/strong> and Hitchcock\u2019s <\/em>North By Northwest<\/strong>, on visiting <\/em>Perkins Cove<\/em><\/strong> while performing at <\/em>Ogunquit Playhouse<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Four women walk into a bar with F. Lee Bailey\u2026No, this isn\u2019t a lawyer joke. It\u2019s just another day on the\u00a0coast of Maine.<\/p>\n Interview by Michelle Susan Twomey<\/p>\n I would have trouble testifying to that because I was about six months old or younger. But I can remember being here when I was three\u2013in the summer of 1936. My grandfather owned a modest home on Princess Point in Yarmouth. I learned to swim here in 55-degree water. In fact, I once swam to Cousins Island from Princess Point, a big feat back then. [For a Google Earth graphic of Bailey\u2019s swim, visit portlandmonthly.com\/swim.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n Your 15 minutes of Maine?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n When I was eight, I strapped a bunch of pine logs together and built my first \u2018boat.\u2019 I remember being out on the water <\/em>with a pole. Not long after that, I began building boats. <\/span><\/p>\n How many boats have you worked on?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I used to own a good chunk of Chris-Craft, so that would drive the number way up. But over the years, I\u2019ve built five or six from scratch or rehabilitated to new. <\/span><\/p>\n Do you own a house in Maine right now? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m renting one I hope to buy. I plan<\/em> to buy it. <\/span><\/p>\n Your ideal home here?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n At least two sides would be on the water, with plenty of glass and something that looked like a control tower on the top that I could use as a study and see in all directions. I\u2019d have a heliport adjacent to the house with a hangar so I could slide my helicopter in when I\u2019m not using it so it wouldn\u2019t be far away.<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, people associate you with helicopters almost as readily as they do clients such as Patty Hearst, O.J. Simpson, Lt. William Calley, and the Boston Strangler. How did the whole flying thing get started?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The first time I ever flew in my life was in Maine, when I was 16. I got a ride for seven dollars in York on the fourth of July. My next flight was on Eastern Airlines to go to Naval flight training in Pensacola. I was 18 then. The draft board was not pleased with my record at Harvard and threatened to induct me into the Army. To escape that, I joined the Navy and got into flight school.<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding helicopters, I fly them and have built 500 of them. They\u2019re more fun than airplanes, which are sometimes fun but business tools to me. <\/span><\/p>\n Which brings us to your recent proposal for a business venture at the\u00a0 soon-to-close Brunswick Naval Air Station complex\u2013an aircraft refurbishment concern which has apparently stalled.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Two things. We were trying to enlarge upon an existing operation in Oxford, Maine, which did refurbishment for smaller airplanes. Oxford Aviation made an application and got a memorandum of understanding. We began to crank up. We got both senators to try to get the Navy to let us come into Brunswick Naval Air Station early\u2013no dice.<\/span><\/p>\n When it turned out Oxford Aviation didn\u2019t have the financial wherewithal to meet the demands of the authority that controls [such matters], I went out and raised the money. <\/span><\/p>\n Then two things happened. First, the Navy moved the date again. You can\u2019t take on work or hire people unless you know when you can begin\u00a0 to pay them. <\/span><\/p>\n In our view, the Navy was saying it might be September or it might be next March (which is troubling). But I did bring an investor in to put up the bulk of the money to open a Brunswick operation, which would be associated with, but not owned by, Oxford. And the day he was here<\/em>, being shown around, a couple of town councilors in Brunswick gave quite uninformed interviews expressing the doubts they had about Oxford Aviation. He took one look at that and said, \u201cIf you think I\u2019m here to fight the locals, you\u2019re wrong\u2026\u201d He left the next day. So I pulled out. <\/span><\/p>\n At least for the time being, that deal is closed. And it\u2019s too bad. There was potential there for a lot of jobs. <\/span><\/p>\n That said, what keeps you up here? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve done a fair amount of writing in Maine, on other people\u2019s boats. I\u2019d fly to Bar Harbor or Wiscasset and board somebody else\u2019s boat and co-captain it with them. When I wasn\u2019t at the helm, it was a very productive place to write: no telephones, no people breaking in, looking for this or that. I wrote a very lengthy piece on the cross-examination of Mark Fuhrman after the trial was over, and I wrote most of it on the coast of Maine. I think it\u2019s a very good place to write. I know Stephen King would agree. It\u2019s a rough, sometimes brutal, but ultimately charming environment. I\u2019m not a fan of the interior. If there\u2019s not some salt water within distance, that\u2019s not really Maine to me. I insist on the coast. <\/span><\/p>\n Surely people must ask you to discuss similarities you may or may not share with William Shatner\u2019s character in Boston Legal<\/em>. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t find that to be flattering\u2013a womanizing, overweight drunk. And a clown. The real star of the show is very bright and one of the most articulate people to ever play a lawyer: James Spader.<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s your connection with Cold River Vodka? We\u2019ve seen pictures of you in there. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m not a big drinker of vodka, but I have two connections with them. When I organized an 85th birthday party for one of my dear friends, a very famous pilot named Bob Hoover, I got Cold River to bottle up a couple of cases (more like six) of vodka, and I had the bottles engraved with his likeness for a commemorative gift. And for my 75th birthday, Jim Horowitz of Oxford Aviation did the same for me. So, I have a very nice box made of teak and other woods that had in it a dozen bottles of Cold River with my likeness on it.<\/span><\/p>\n Do you enjoy many favorite watering holes\/restaurants in the area? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Yes, thanks to Debbie [Elliott, former owner of Debbie Elliott Salon & Day Spa] and my circle of friends in the last year and a half. There are a number of favorites. I like Back Bay Grill, both the Old Port and Falmouth Sea Grills, DiMillo\u2019s, J\u2019s. Harbor Fish is a wonderful place to be. <\/span><\/p>\n How about Freeport?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The Broad Arrow at the Harraseeket. I have friends who live nearby, so they help me haunt the place. We meet there a lot. We deplete their wine supply.<\/span><\/p>\n Have you ever considered applying for a license to practice law in Maine?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve thought about it. I\u2019m not really terribly motivated. What I want to do doesn\u2019t involve a license. What I want to do is to make litigation services available to people who can\u2019t afford it, which is about 95 percent of the people in Maine. And I\u2019m talking civil cases, strictly. <\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve spent the last ten years in mediation, consulting, and dispute resolution, and I think I\u2019ve found ways to structure a contract\u00a0 so that the resolution is built right in. It\u2019s simple. It\u2019s inexpensive. It\u2019s immediate. So the contract doesn\u2019t get interrupted while a bunch of lawyers try to figure out what to do to interrupt it further. <\/span><\/p>\n A lot of people could use this. Maine is certainly on its backside with unemployment, having trouble being pictured as being industry-friendly. It\u2019s often compared to New Hampshire next door, which seems paradise by comparison in terms of tax structure. There are reasons the two shouldn\u2019t be compared. But when people do<\/em> come to Maine, if they could be assured of getting their jobs done without being interrupted or bogged down with totally destructive legal costs, I think they\u2019d find the state more palatable.<\/span><\/p>\n How could you pull this off? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t take any action by anybody. It just takes a bunch of good retired judges to act as mediators, and people willing to agree that whatever the judge says is final\u2013that\u2019s it, no appeals. <\/span><\/p>\n In Russia, I found\u2013to my surprise\u2013that if one of the parties breaches the contract, [that party] has to finish the contract and then sue. You cannot interrupt a work in progress. We\u2019d walked off a job in protest that the guy who hired us was changing the rules. Even though it cost us heavily, I think that\u2019s a good idea. Don\u2019t interrupt the project; get your dispute on the table and have somebody decide [the legal issue concurrently] before it grows any bigger. That is the result of fifty-odd years of watching people litigate with one another. Nobody\u2019s ever happy. <\/span><\/p>\n Which brings us to your guardrail swipe in Freeport.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>
\n\u2013<\/em>Tippi Hedren<\/em><\/strong>, star of Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s <\/em>The Birds<\/strong>, about her recent visit <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nDoing Lunch with F. Lee Bailey<\/h3>\n
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You seem pretty comfortable here [at Royal River Grillhouse in Yarmouth, with views of the Royal River]. When was <\/em>your first trip to Maine? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n