European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 25, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Remembering Bob this can do Friend flew through life Andy Rooney Tribune Media if its True Wco re All born equal we certainly done to die equal. My Friend Bob Freihofer died Rocc Niy. He had done so Many Good things with his life that by the time he left us at age 71, it was hard for his friends to think of anyone who was his equal. Bob and Terry were a close couple. You just knew it seeing them together even if they were arguing. The other week 1 phoned and asked Terry if she thought i should come to see Bob. You never know for sure whether to bother a sick Friend or the family with a visit. Bob had terminal cancer and Terry was being inundated by Well wishers. She had been living on the Edge of tears for three months As she watched her Guy slip away. A there a she said. A a in la put him lures Bates again this time As depressed woman by Steve Murray Cox news service she Isnit smashing Ankles with a sledgehammer this time around but with her newest screen character Kathy Bates is coping with another kind of misery. Now filming Fried Green tomatoes at the whistle Stop cafe a her first film since winning this years Best actress Oscar for her psycho turn in misery a the actress plays Evelyn Couch a depressed Southern woman whose midlife doldrums hold special relevance for her. A a in a approaching Middle age and one comes to grips with All sorts of things regardless of your sex a Bates 43, said in a recent interview at a peach tree City ga., hotel. A you begin to realize that half your life is gone a if not most of it. And you begin to think about life and death questions. Once a woman reaches the Point where she is no longer capable of bearing children or even a Little before that she a not considered attractive anymore. Those Are issues in a certainly dealing in Fried Green tomatoes Evelyn recovers from depression through her Friendship with nursing Home resident Ninny thru Algoode played by Jessica Tandy who won the Best actress Oscar for driving miss Daisy in 1989. Based on the novel by Fannie Flagg the film appealed to Bates a a native of Memphis Tenn. A because of its Southern perspective. A most if not All of the characters were very individual and did no to fit a lot of Southern stereotypes a she says. A being a southerner in a often so embarrassed by the Way in which southerners Are still the actress new role fits a familiar Southern profile. Quot Don t come Over Quot Bob said. A i m just trying to curl up and find a comfortable place. You re on vacation. Make something out of he knew my Hobby and it was the kind of funny offhand remark he d make. 1 could t get Bob off my mind that Day. But 1did no to go to see him. Then i decided to do it whether he wanted to see me or not. 1 wanted to see him. As 1 pulled into the driveway about 9 of clock that morning a1 came out. A should i go in and Sec him i asked. A dad passed away last night at 11 o a1 said. I have always been surprised at How Little we can anticipate our emotional reaction to any situation. Tears come unbidden and unexpectedly some times. Our hearts often know something our brain Hasni to told us. Bob Freihofer was the kind of american that All american men like to think they Are. He was Bright handsome masculine Quick with humor and successful in business. He became president of one of the most successful regional baking companies in the United states. Bob was one of a vanishing kind of american businessmen. His first concern was the Quality of his product. He was proud of telling you How Good his chocolate Chip cookies were. Bob and i went to Colgate together and at reunions he d have a truck sent to the Campus loaded with enough cakes cookies doughnuts and bread to feed several thousand returning alumni of All classes. Bob worked to keep it a successful family business. He did no to want to do it with the kind of and a Cotta Dock entertain Mont Morrick Morion Kathy Bates will next appear in Fried Green tomatoes at the whistle Stop cafe. Quot Evelyn is a woman in stasis who a incredibly depressed a Bates said. A a she a like a lot of women in be seen in the South a women who Are just Adit la bit older than me who were told All their lives that if they were Good Little girls no one would Ever get mad at them and they would be rewarded. Then she wakes up one Day and realizes that this Isnit True anti she does no to know where she leaving Memphis in the mid-�?T6 a Bates found out where she belonged on stage. Her new York credits include night Mother come Back to the five and dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean she also was in Robert Altman a film version starring Che fifth of july and Athol Fugardo a the Road to Mecca. Off Broadway she appeared in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de lunch vanities and the Art of dining. Bates has earned a reputation As one of the ver Tising that than it delivers. It broke his heart several years ago when his Board of directors decided Over his vote to sell the company to one of the Industry giants. Bob and 1 lost track of each other after College but i found him again in 1943. He was a b-17 Pilot bombing Germany from a base in England. That a what a lot of our most capable americans were those Days bomber pilots. 1 was a reporter for the stats and stripes. One Day i went out to his base to talk with him and get a Story after he returned from a raid. Bob and his Crew never came Back. They had been shot Down Over Germany and he was a pow. Bob told great stories of two years in prison Camp. His Waist gunner had always refused to Wear a Parachute. Bob argued with him but like the person who does t Wear a seat Belt he put it on. When the others jumped from their burning plane the Waist gunner was last seen struggling to get into his Parachute. He did t show up in Camp and his friends sadly concluded he had gone Down with the ship. Three Days later the Waist gunner showed up in the stalag Black and Blue and battered around the head and shoulders. A we All thought those bastards beat him when they caught him a Bob said. Their Friend had not been beaten. In haste he had hooked the Parachute straps behind his legs at the Knees and floated to Earth that Way. He landed on his head and shoulders. Bob would Rock with laughter telling the Story. Maybe the Best thing Bob Freihofer was was a human being. There Haven to been Many As Good. Stages finest actresses. But in film All she got were Small parts including James Spader a Boss in White Castle and a Pushy shopkeeper in men Don t leave. Her big break a so to speak a came last year As Annie Wilkes the deranged a no. 1 fan Quot and self appointed caretaker of a marooned novelist played by James Caan. A a in a glad in a Way that i was never trapped into playing a Basic ingenue a she says. A i done to think i would have known what to do with those roles. That a what Julia Roberts is so Stellar at. People think a of she a just Julia its so Well that is not easy what she against All Odds Bates award winning performance Hasni to led to a flood of Plain Janc psycho scripts. A there has been a Little More imagination in the roles in be been offered Quot she says. But Central casting Hollywood style still Isnit that imaginative. When Frankie and Johnny was recast for the screen Bates saw the role she originated onstage a that of a Middle aged frumpy waitress a go to Michelle Pfeiffer. Yes Plain old frumpy Michelle Pfeiffer. And night Mother wound up onscreen in 198b with Sissy Spacek in the part Bates created a an epileptic country woman who tells her Mother she plans to kill herself before the night ends. Bates shrugs it off. A what can i do take an and out in the paper a she says. A a there a a paucity of roles for women in Hollywood and 1 imagine that once a Good role comes along everybody a going to kill to do plus there a the Issue of a physical types and the film Industry a emphasis on Blue eyed blondes. A i wish we could be More comfortable with ourselves physically a Bates says. A women go and have plastic surgery done countless operations to have their faces changed. It boggles my mind. This is hurtful to the female she adds a i was naturally plump and matronly even As a Young woman. And i was warned that. I would never work unless i lost 20 pounds. So i knocked myself out to lose then bounced Back up higher and Back and Forth a the Yoyo elect you be heard about. That plagued me Lor years and years and years. Then finally you reach a Point where you say a i done to want to do this a August 25. 1991 sunday a Page
