Jessica Lange

When the movie BLUE SKY was being filmed in Montgomery Alabama, I "Lei-ed" Jessica Lange, just saying that line is usually good for a beer. At the time my sister and I owned a florist and we did a lot of work with for the film.

One scene, that was supposed portray Ms. Lange leaving an airliner that had just landed in Hawaii and receiving a lei from a greeter. Well we had made up several of them out of artificial flowers (as called for by the director) since it was quite hot and who new how many shots they would want of the scene. We also created a real lei, just in case, since we had heard that Ms. Lange can be a stickler for realism.

Well our hunch panned out since Ms. Lange demanded that for her close-up she must be wearing a real lei. So I took the lei, put it in a cooler and tooled off to Maxwell AFB, where the scene was being shot. When I got to the gate and was asked by the guard what business I had on base, I told the Guard that I was there to Lei Jessica Lange. He replied with a strait face that "you and half the airmen on this base buddy". I then showed him the Lei in the cooler and explained what was up and we both had a laugh, and he waived me through. When I got to the airfield where the scene was being shot, the Air Policeman there saw me and said, "You must be the guy who came to Lei Jessica Lange", and sent me through to the set. There told the set security guy that I had a delivery for Ms. Lange and the guy tried to take my cooler from me. Well there was no way I going to: A. loose my personal cooler, or B. miss an opportunity to see a Movie Star, so as I was arguing with the security guy, one of the director's assistants was walking by and overheard our rapidly heating discussion. The Assistant said come on over, since they were waiting to shoot the scene. I was sent over where Ms. Lange was standing under an awning with several other folks in the scene and presented her with the lei. She loved it, since it was made from orchids. After I put it on her I said, "Ms. Lange, you have to be the hardest lady to Lei in town, I hope you enjoyed it, because I sure did." She looked at me for half a second and then cracked up along with everybody else within earshot.