Boat Load of Memories

posted by eric on 6th, 2010

Marine Consultant Robert Stephens Recalls His Boating Yesteryears in Hollywood

Written by Blair Townley; Photos by Anthony Rao

Walking into marine consultant and former movie stuntman Robert Stephens’ workshop is like walking back in time as his office and workshop are adorned with framed photographs of his “good memories.”

“[The pictures in my workshop] are all good memories which are why I put them up in the beginning. When I walk into my workshop, I see good memory, good memory, good memory and I had fun doing all this stuff,” he says.

The memories that Robert is referring to would be his extensive boat and racecar building career that has taken him everywhere from picturesque islands to Hollywood movie sets to even into the personal homes of celebrities.

Boat Ride into Hollywood

One of his most famous projects was being the marine consultant for the construction of the two ships used in the “Mutiny on the Bounty” film (1962 version) starring Marlon Brando.

“We had to be in Tahiti in 1960 so we built the boat around the clock 11 months before [in Nova Scotia] and brought all these guys out of retirement to build the boat,” Robert recalls.

“Then we sailed to Tahiti which took 33 sailing days. We built the boat from scratch to do the movie and you could take the whole side of the boat out so the camera crew could photograph from the side. You could also take the top off the boat and shoot down into the boat. There were a lot of props involved. When we brought it back to California, I started getting the boat ready to take to the World’s Fair in Seattle.”

While on the “Bounty” set, Robert met stars Brando and Trevor Howard and even has a copy of the original script signed by the cast.

Robert’s expertise was also used to create a few mechanical birds for Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” such as those used in the infamous phone booth bird attack scene.

“A lot of my connections I made came from the more people I met [on movie sets]. When you worked with them, especially on a movie, we are all together and I am kind of like the person who likes to work everywhere,” he says.

His ship building skills soon transcended the movie sets to the personal boats of celebrities and friends Rock Hudson, John Wayne and Walter Cronkite, a regular sailing buddy of Robert’s.

Robert’s favorite boat project was the overhaul of singer Neil Young’s 1914 Baltic Screamer ship, redesigning the ship to include a full-service recording studio.

“I was the engineer on the project and it took about a year and a half to put it together. We put about a million dollars into the boat. The engine room is my forte as I can layout an engine room,” he states.

Adventure at Every Turn

Looking at the pictures, Robert has to shake his head sometimes when he thinks of how he has come across such an impressive career in the boating and movie businesses.

A gymnast at an early age in California, Robert became involved in stunt work with MGM, FOX and Universal doing water, motorcycle and car stunts as well as choreographed spars with Brando and other Hollywood heavyweights.

“I have a Screen Actor’s Guild card so I was an actor, though I liked special effects and stunt work. Sometimes I would go to another set and the director might want to have a guy do certain chores on the set and they would give me a call for an interview and I’d end up with another job,” he recalls.

Taking workshop classes in high school also solidified his building skills in creating several types of boats as well as racecars that were used by celebrities like Ricky Nelson or featured in films like “The Big Wheel” with Mickey Rooney.

His move to Mount Dora has allowed Robert to also become involved with the antique boating community, making his home workshop a mixture of ongoing boat and car projects.

Yet what his 85 years of memories have given Robert the most is a sense of accomplishment, a feeling that by no way means he’s ready to hang up his tools.

“It’s fun to come out here in the workshop and do all these things. I don’t do the same thing everyday,” he says with a smile.

“I’ve had a good run in life but I’m not done yet!”