European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 05, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Books a a wolves author tells of Long slow dance to Success by Paula Span the Washington Post 1 Ichael  to be inspiring. A. He asked that his author s tour a include meetings with schoolchild Dren such As an auditorium ses 1 a Sion with journalism students from three Tough City High schools so they could hear his heartening Hollywood tale How he lived in a garage for a year. How he washed dishes and it drove buses. J the historical novel was Little noticed when it was published in 1988. Maybe it was that Odd title dances with wolves or maybe the bar chested Brave cover Art a Cohan the barbarian visits an Indian Village a  mortified aug Thor a but it now has More than 1.5 million pay a cracks in print now now that the film based on a the Book has swept the Academy awards. _ a i m a dreamer a he told the children in new. A York who were dutifully taking notes. A a in a Here today to show you that dreams can come True. A and in a Here to Tell you if you have a dream of doing something Fine with your life hold onto  Blakes Long delayed Success owes much to flukes and Friendship As Well As to dreams and dedication. A what made you choose Kevin Costner for this role a asked one of the student Quot journalists understandably mis perceiving the. Power relationships Between bankable stars and a a produced screenwriters _ r j if his pal Costner whose famous face now stares out from that Best Selling paperback _ _ a. Hadnot acquired dances with wolves and hired a him to write the screen version Blake might still be scraping paint in Bisbee Ariz whatever the quirks of ii cd a personal Saga he is indisputably a testament to the Power of perseverance. A one of my techniques is never give up never quit a he told his Young  Haven to yet a r ,. I True enough. After dances with wolves in. K shed filming in South Dakota Blake a noun 1 to Rcd an entirely new predicament he was diagnosed with Hodgkin a disease a form of cancer. He a fought Back with both modern medical techniques and Indian Healing ceremonies and both kinds of Medicine men Tell him he a doing Well. _ but the threat of recurrence hangs Over him a even As he was Tux shopping for the oscars. A a it a Quot a wild ride a Blake said of  life and a times Blake himself reclining in an office chair after his High schoo appearance finds it hard to in _ de stand where these Sam mystical feel rigs for -1. V i Ains and Mustangs and a l i pc americans origin Nat. He a a native of North Carolina but not a country boy. He grew up hearing about a great 7 Quot Grandfather who was a cavalry officer in the /. Apache wars and traded with Geronimo but he never knew much about indians or their history quo until he was in his 20s and read dec Browne a poignant buy my heart it wounded knee. A just something about the Way they lived struck me As making a lot of sense a Blake mused. A it was the first Lime i Ever read about people who were proud to live in partnership with nature. And what a the european response to nature to crush. To  Kevin Costner pictured Here with Mary Mcdonnell in a dances with wolves suggested Michael it Biake write the Book being tamed is a notion that a never had much _ Appeal. Uke a million other children who came of age denouncing Nixon and protesting Viet Nam Blake had a horror of sliding into some Corpora to straitjacket unlike most lies never lost it. It Wasny to economic necessity that led him to Quot drive a bus live in a garage or sponge off friends Blake acknowledged. He was perfectly capable of being a self supporting Toyota Salesman Bank vice president or English teacher. 1 a throughout my life in be been faced with _. Choices a he explained  a Job 1 done to care about and ilm miserable All the time or get a Job 1 do care about and will immerse myself in a and that precludes writing.�?�. 1 Blake got Lucky Early on shortly after moving to los Angeles the garage belonged to the porsche of a lawyer he knew fledgling producer named Jim Wilson bought his script for a Low Bud get gambling movie and cast a fledgling actor named Costner in the Lead. But after the quite in remarked upon Stacy a knights which still shows up on Cable to occasionally Blake got unlucky for years. Nothing else he wrote found a buyer. Quot finally As he was describing still another film idea to his by then movie Star Friend Costner urged him to take a different approach. A the knew i had suffered a lot in Hollywood, said a at that Point i had probably written 15_ 7 a screenplays one of which id had produced. I was living in Complete obscurity and utter poverty a _ forget the screenplay Costner urged. Write it As a novel. For nine months in 1986, Blake did just that. A i Badu Central vision of a Man who brings a Wagon to a Distant outpost and there s no one there a he said of dances with wolves a and he a rights in the Middle of the indians summer Hunting ground but that was All there  a from years of Reading about the Frontier and a a a a a Indian life Blake Felt Well supplied wite background knowledge. But he had no plot and few major characters. And he had Orick again no place to live. He stayed at Kevin and Cindy Cost cry a or w Ith pro Ducor Wilson by then head of Costner a product tin company he House sat. He spent a number of nights in his vast 1970 Chrysler nicknamed a Adas  _. _ a a simple Hollywood tale would have Blakes 1 Book published in paperback by Ballantine turning to Gold. Instead the novel for which he was paid $6,500, was a distinctly modest seller.,. Depressed and still broke Blake borrowed a a b bus and Bucks and left los Ange i est just trav. Cling around looking for a place to land. I was a dispossessed person,-1 dispossessed  he alighted in Bis acc drawn by its diverse population and an impressive Bookstore where he wound up working a couple of afternoons a week. He was also a Handyman and then a $3.35-an-hour dishwasher in a chinese restaurant. The Costner sent him care packages a Salami and nuts. A Down jacket. One of those weird. Camping knives with everything on it a he said. It was very  Ltd Blake was still living in Bisbee working As a dishwasher at a chinese restaurant when he got a Cal from Costner asking him to return and _ write the screenplay.��?. Now Blake has other projects in the works. -1 hey Mcdude two screenplays an adaptation of n �nn8s� novel by Raymond Chandler and Robert Parker and an original work called. Mustang based on a True Story about a . Park Ranger. He is working on a Book called a helmet a which deals with Hollywood ?,l f second novel airman Mortensen is to l a i 5 year it ills about an 18-year-old in he air Force who while awaiting court mar my rills a love with the base com fund cars 17-year-old daughter. Will it become a movie a Quot tiling Sinai eds who knows a he said. Quot any -. Thing can  Quot