Monday, May 4, 2020

Lance Victor RIP



Lance Victor was born Lee Arden Marlatt January 1, 1935 in Newcomerstown, Ohio to Arden and Ellen Marlatt.  Lance passed away April 28, 2020 in Rogue River, Oregon.

Lance's parents divorced when he was very young and along with his mother he moved to California.  They lived in various California towns before they settled down in Vallejo where Lance went to Vallejo High School and Vallejo Junior College.  Lance was not fond of his first name, Lee, because he was named after a paternal uncle that he just did not like.  He changed his first name to Lawrence and was known as Larry to his schoolmates.

While in junior college he joined the drama department and enjoyed acting in a number of plays during his first year.

Vallejo Junior College 1955 "Believe It Or Not"



Vallejo Junior College 1955 "Best Years"

Vallejo Jr, College 1955 "Mr. Roberts"


Around that time he and a buddy from school took a vacation down to Hollywood and Lance was hooked.  He wanted to finish up his classes and go back to Hollywood to see if he could make his way into the movies.

Lance appeared in about 30 different movies and television shows, mostly westerns, as a stuntman and an extra.  He, like Shorty Shea, never really made it to speaking roles and the big time but he had a great time trying to achieve his goal.



Lance met Shorty when both were working at Corriganville for the shows put on for the tourists that flocked to see some real live shoot 'em up action that was popular at the time.  He and Shorty were pals who not only worked together but played together, too.  They went drinking together, pulled pranks on each other and traded leads on upcoming film opportunities.  They were friends until the end of Shorty's life.

When Lance wasn't working on films he kept busy doing various jobs.  He was a driver for Loomis armored trucks mostly working nights to keep his options open during the day.  Another job  was with Johny Carpenter at Carpenter's Heaven on Earth Ranch.   Carpenter opened up a ranch near Griffith Park in the 40's and before long he found himself teaching blind and disabled persons how to ride horses, it became Carpenter's lasting legacy and it was a job that Lance found very satisfying.

Lance had some stories to tell, too, one is that he dated Barbara Lugosi, Bela Lugosi's daughter, for a few years.  He recalled the time when they first started dating, he went to pick her up at the home where she lived with her father, as he arrived she asked him to put his jacket in the hall closet.  When he opened the closet door, Bela was in the closet in a full Dracula costume and greeted Lance with "Gooood Evening!" in his best Dracula voice.  Lance said, "He scared the shit out of me!"

Barbara Lugosi, Lance, Crash's mom and Crash Corrigan on the Silvertown set at Corriganville



Lance had a son, his only child, born in 1960.  He and the mother apparently were not married.  When she gave birth she told Lance that the child died during or shortly after childbirth.  Naturally Lance was devastated.  What he didn't know was the his son did not die.  He found out about his son in 2007 when a friend showed Lance an obituary for the son that named him as the father.  His son had died after "a very long illness".  Again, Lance was devastated to learn this news.

Lance also had a half-sister, his father remarried and his sister was quite a bit younger than him.  They did not have a close relationship but did keep in touch over the years.

Lance was on the advisory board for the Hollywood Stuntman's Hall of Fame.



While I never personally met Lance I became acquainted with him through Edwin Colin who I helped research for the book "Charles Manson and the Killing of Shorty Shea."  Ed had written a book before the "Shorty" book about his time growing up at Corriganville where he first met Shorty.  A friend of Ed's told him of a guy he knew, who lived locally, that was a stuntman back in the same era as Shorty and he thought the guy knew Shorty.  An introduction was made and it turned out that guy was Lance.  The meeting couldn't have happened at a better time as we were just starting on the book.

Ed and Lance became fast friends, visiting often.  Lance was very generous with his stories about Shorty and made our book that much more interesting.  Without that introduction we probably would never known how to contact Lance because his true name has never been known.

Here are a few pictures of Lance in action on various film sets.  One of his later en devours was appearing on a couple of episodes of Star Trek!









If Lance had any regrets it would be that he never realized he lived a scant 15 minute drive from Ruby Pearl for about 10 years until her death in 2010.  While Lance never officially worked at Spahn Ranch he spent time there visiting with Ruby, George Spahn, Shorty and other ranch hands.


Lance leaves his long time companion Lynn as well as many friends and admirers.  He was a friend to all.  He was 85 years old, sharp in mind but his body just gave out, he had been ill for a few months before his passing.

Lance and Lynn

33 comments:

orwhut said...

Is that a red away team shirt Lance is wearing?

DebS said...

I don't know what a "red away" team shirt is.

Patty is Dead said...

What an interesting life. RIP Lance

Gorodish said...

The only red I see is on the girlfriend.

Matt said...

Nice memorial piece, Deb. Thank you.


Fayez Abedaziz said...

What happened to the America we used to know
with all the Western Heroes at the Saturday's matinee's and on the TV shows
Marshal Dillon, John Wayne were did you go
and don't forget Zorro ridin' round up there and...
look there's another Ranch across the way
well look again you city slickers
it's Spahn Ranch get your dollar ready
then you can ride the dusty trails and dream away

'I wish I was...o-oo-o-oh...a Wild West Hero
ridin' into the sunset, I wish I could be'
the song: Wild West Hero-by the great Jeff Lynne-ELO

Ride 'em cowboys and now rest in peace Lance and Shea, in the big ole range up in the sky

Matthew said...

Orwhut Said:
Is that a red away team shirt Lance is wearing?

Still ready curious what this sentence means.

Spahn must have been a great place to rent a horse. Would be easy to play Lone Ranger.

Patty is Dead said...

I think he is referring to the star trek tunic?

Mr. Humphrat said...

haha apparently there is a thing about if you wore a red shirt on Star Trek you were considered expendable.

Doug said...

Typically, in the original Star Trek, the person(s) in the "red shirts" didn't last long in the episode...often dying before the 1st commercial. Most always, they were rivals of the Enterprise crew or, just unnamed and, expendable crew members.

DebS said...

I'm glad we got that figured out! I can't say I'm ashamed I didn't know that.....

orwhut said...

Deb,
You were the last person I'd have thought not to know about the away team members with the red shirts. Mr. Humphrat cleared it up and Doug nailed it.

goomba said...

When I see"away team" I think of Heaven's Gate. They even had a patch:

https://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/heavensgatepatch.jpg

Mr. Humphrat said...

I actually didn't know about it until I googled it, and there was an article saying a study found people in the gold shirts actually had a higher mortality rate hee hee

orwhut said...

Most of my information came from some jokes about the red shirts not lasting long. When I thought back to episodes I've seen, it seemed to fit and looking at all the bit parts Lance played, he looked like a prime candidate for a red shirt.

orwhut said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
orwhut said...

Deb,
I wasn't accusing you of being a Trekkie, I simply thought you knew everything.

DebS said...

LOL orwhut, I don't know everything, far from it. But I did wonder if you seriously thought I was a Trekkie. I did watch the show when it first aired but it was due to the fact that I have an older brother who liked it. I liked Lost in Space though. What was the chimp's name on that show? No Googling.......

Gorodish said...

I didn't google......Debbie. Had the big fake ears, went baloop baloop. I loved that goofy show !

orwhut said...

Deb,
I think the best trick was getting the chimp to wear that silly head extension. Sorry, I don't know it's name.

orwhut said...

Deb,
I doubt your brother really liked the show. He probably liked what I liked, the Robinson sisters.

orwhut said...

Woops, wrong show! It's late and my tired brain has finally figured out that Deb's older brother liked Star Trek and the Chimp in Lost in Space was named Debbie.

orwhut said...

Lance seems to have shriveled up in his old age. I just get fatter.

Mario George Nitrini 111 said...

A few items:
1. DebS.
I played music off & on with a stunt man by the name of Don Peterson throughout the 1970's and 1980's, and conducted "business" with him also. At times, he did talk to me somewhat about SPAHN RANCH when the Charles Manson Family lived there, and also what he'd heard about Donald "Shorty" Shea.
My question is,
was Don Peterson's name ever mentioned in your investigations pertaining to Donald "Shorty" Shea?

2. Fayez,
in the previous blog-post, you say:
"They were groovin' but then we had the petty thugs, some of Charlie's not really friends that he welcomed to the ranch, like some ex con, some of the bikers....."
My interest is in "the bikers"
Any revelations?

3. On my Twitter account, I was blocked by Kenny "Kenji" Gallo and former Hells Angels President George Christie. Christie knows a lot about certain "HAPPENINGS" when The Charles Manson Family lived there.
My tweet
👇
https://mobile.twitter.com/nitrini1950/status/1258710938078769152
I got a lot more....... I'll decide what I want to make public.

Mario George Nitrini 111
------
The OJ Simpson Case

DebS said...

MGN III I have never heard the name Don Peterson in relation to the Manson Family, any stuntmen or Spahn Ranch. I don't recall the name in any documents I've read. Perhaps someone else here has heard of him.

Lot's of people, including the Hells Angels, have claimed to have "certain" knowledge about Manson or members of the Family. Nine times out of ten they do not. Unless a person can come up with some sort of proof, they are not likely to be believed.

Mario George Nitrini 111 said...

DebS,
I do believe "something" will develop pertaining to certain "groups" that frequented SPAHN RANCH when the Charles Manson Family lived there. MANY of the Manson girls know.
One of George Christie's replies back to me was very telling.
We'll see what the future brings.

Pertaining to Don Peterson. One of Don Peterson's "acquaintances" was actor Lee Majors. Go to YouTube and veiw Majors in the 6 Million Dollar Man. Look at the dark circles under his eyes. You can take it from there.

Mario George Nitrini 111
-----
The OJ Simpson Case

Mr. Humphrat said...

Speaking of stuntmen again I was trying to find any credits for Lance as stuntman or actor on Star Trek-I didn't-but another funny thing came up-a running joke about how poorly the stuntmen were matched to the looks of the actors on the show :)

Also thinking Charlie would've made a good Klingon.

Fayez Abedaziz said...

Mario 111,

The bikers I was referring to were the ones that Danny DeCarlo was with, the Straight Satans, the bums hanging around Venice and guzzling beer all over the L.A. area.
Which is what Danny, (ha ha, what a ridiculous mustache DeCarlo wore) mostly did at Spahn Ranch, besides working on things like a motorbike Charlie had and, of course numerous guns he and Charlie played with.
Some 'Hippies' huh?
Beer, guns, knives, drugs, general laziness and horseshit on their shoes and pants.
It is said that lazy Danny was the treasurer of the Straight Satans. Give me a break:
look at the name again. Ha
Treasurer? What, keeping tabs on gross to net income from the stocks, mutual funds and treasuries (notes U.S.) and other income streams. What jokers.
Oh, from peddling pot, hash, maybe speed?
Anyhoo, lemme say that Charlie wanted some 'muscle' so to speak, at the Ranch (which he was lucky as hell to have stumbled on, to live without working there) in case of irate types that might be 'comin' 'round the old pass' as cowpokes would put it, to attack any of the gang there.
The problem with depending on punks and thugs is that, one or more would turn against you in one second on any pea brained perception they would suddenly get.
DeCarlo later told and testified against them all. 1971 trials.
If Charlie had not said to four residents of Spahn, go ahead to Melcher's old house, sooner or later, there would, I'm sure, be some attacks by some bikers, the Straight Satans,or others on Charlie and Tex: because of their drug burns and theft and so on. That is, if no murders took place, Charlie would not have said, lets go to Barker/Meyer. The murders and Beausoleil being in jail and the Aug 16 raid had Charlie wanna move from danger as I said above and from the eyes of the law.
As to the bikers, every club I've seen close up (used to be a regular at a Denny's and would often sit with a couple of Harley riding bike members) they acted like any guys you would joke around with after a work shift) and read about is different from others. In California once, on the highway north out of L.A. I saw a family standing next to their broken down car. Guess who stopped to fix their car? It was three guys and they were Hell's Angels.
You never know in this weird society. Or knew..?

Mario George Nitrini 111 said...

Fayez,
I read this blog everyday. I have read every comment you post. I am absolutely 100% positive you were "there." You have corroborated "things" I know, that very few people know. Kudos to you sir👍👍

This is George Christie's blog
👇
http://www.georgechristie.com/blog/this-link-will-take-you-to-exile-on-front-street-untold-stories
Hi-lite MANSON.
A quote from this post
👇
"And in Southern California we had maybe the best kept secret of all: Danny DeCarlo from the Straight Satans Motorcycle Club fingered Charlie Manson in the cult murders perpetrated in Los Angeles.
It didn’t take long for the local small 1% community to ride into Venice and shut down the Straight Satans."

The Denny's restaurant. Is that the Denny's on Balboa & Devonshire in The San Fernando Valley?

Mario George Nitrini 111
-------
The OJ Simpson Case

G. Greene-Whyte said...

Nice write-up and photos. Thank you. RIP Lance.

Fayez Abedaziz said...

-I meant, as to DeCarlo testifying, it was '71 during the trial. He spilled the beans in '70 when he was arrested and so they, the law and the bum, were making a deal on gun charges.-

Mario 111,

Yeah thanks. People all over on the various sites, writing and giving their opinion, usually stupid, ignorant ones, don't even know half of what this culture was really like, as it transformed from the 50's to now.
Oh, how come I seem to be the only one that uses his real name.
But I digress. No I don't.
By the way, this is a really different place, culture and a different people than what it was say, in 1967. Actually, this was a better society then.
Of course we had the nasty head phony 'hippies' which most people with long hair and wearing colorful, 'cool' hip clothes were seen as. What a joke.
All you hadda do was look at dirty, shitheads like Clem Grogan or stupid ass Beausoleil and his knife on a belt. I saw a lot of these bumming, no good for nothing guys in California, New Mexico and Colorado.
In the topic of bikers and all, I was not referring to a Denny's in the L.A. area, that was in Denver, though I have been to some Denny's in L.A. One of 'em I remember the street, which was Harbor, I think in Garden Grove. And I was at a couple of Denny's that were north of downtown L.A. I usually go to a Denny's when I'm there. I like Denny's.
Aside from my taste in fine cuisine...and coffee.
Lemme say that the bikers DeCarlo and Springer both knew that not only was there crimes of theft and violence at Spahn Raunch-ha-
but so did the cops from Malibu, for example. (not specifically the violent crimes till later though)
And what about Charlie's parole officer/s.
And what about every other of Spahns unwashed? They knew about the August murders.
There's no way that Paul Watkins didn't hear about them from at least one of the girls by September, or at least soon after they were mostly at Barker and we know creepy Grogan actually did commit murder-Shea's
The bikers knew of the theft of vehicles and so on by Charlie and his petty band of thieves, but so what? That's what groups like bikers and others did, including some of the phonies up in the Haight. But, after Shea was ambushed-a cowardly attack-
DeCarlo was outta there and who did he talk to when he was back in the L.A. area
before he was arrested and sang like a bird to the cops? Another biker or two?
The thing is, just as some of those in Charlie's gang, a lot of people knew but did not tell the law. And, if DeCarlo, Linda and others had decency and more than a small, narrow brain, they would have prevented Shea's murder cause Charlie and Tex woulda been in jail mopping floors and being yelled at by their fellow criminal lowlifes. Again, I'm thinking, why haven't I been convinced as why Charlie's parole was not revoked and then been arrested?
And so on.

Dan S said...

I think little paul was gone by the time of the murders. He's sure lucky his pretty face wasn't burnt off after he came back.
Charlie's brazen parole violations are almost a smoking gun to official complicity in the murders. Probably just the slow moving bureaucracy of precomputer agencies getting information together. I believe his paroled was about to be revoked when the s. hit the f. for him

Mario George Nitrini 111 said...

Fayez,
I believe you'll find this interesting. This is "jockey journal" referencing a Satan Slave M/C member by the name of DROOPY.
👇
https://www.jockeyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148953&showall=1#/topics/148953?page=2
HIGH-LITE MANSON.

Mario George Nitrini 111
------
The OJ Simpson Case