Flagler’s Hugh Marlowe pays tribute to movie star father at St. Augustine Film Festival

By Ashley Goodman | gargoyle@flagler.edu

The St. Augustine Film Festival will pay special tribute to actor Hugh Marlowe on Jan. 18. And who better to to do it than his son, Hugh Marlowe II, who is also an associate professor of philosophy at Flagler College. Marlowe will share stories of his father, and there will be a showing of one of Marlowe’s most recognized films, “The Day The Earth Stood Still.”

During the presentation, Marlowe will show clips from “Twelve O’ Clock High,” “All About Eve,” and “Rawhide.” Marlowe will also discuss the film’s content in relation to his father’s career and the significant role each movie played in his own life.

Marlowe will speak Jan. 18 at 7:15 p.m. in the Flagler College Ringhaver Student Center’s Virginia Room, on the corner of Sevilla and King streets.

Film became an essential tool in orienting Marlowe’s life. Some of his father’s films even became guideposts for Marlowe during his development.

For example, in the film “Twelve O’ Clock High,” Marlowe plays the character, Lt. Col. Ben  Gately who finds himself seen as a coward. This is similar to how the Flagler professor felt his freshman year of college. He didn’t know why he was going to school. All he cared about was making the bare minimum to pass his classes. The first semester of his freshman year at Franklin and Marshall College, his GPA was a 1.51. The cutoff line was a 1.6.

Marlowe was asked to take a year of absence. During that year, Marlowe studied political theory at NYU under Mart Roelofs, where he first encountered philosophy and his passion was awakened. Marlowe returned to Franklin and Marshall the following year with a burning desire to redeem himself. By his senior year, his GPA was a 3.93 and he graduated with departmental honors in philosophy.

The summer before his senior year, Marlowe attempted to follow his father’s footsteps and pursue acting. Marlowe studied with a well known acting teacher from NYC, Bill Hickey, at the Herbert-Bergoff Studio. He got an agent and auditioned for commercials, plays and TV shows. “I hated it,” said Marlowe. “It was the family business, so I gave it a try.” The only things he ever felt passion for was martial arts and philosophy. “Both are fundamentally about self-cultivation and overcoming fear,” he said.

How his father got into acting is quite a different story. When he was around 13, he suffered a freak accident that activated a saphacocous infection in his leg.  At that time, all they could do was cut and sterilize (before the time of antibiotics.) Consequently he was in and out of the hospital through his late teens. His twin brother, Worthington, was a national wrestler and captain of the football team. “As my father couldn’t participate in sports, he was alienated from his peers in that period of his life. A teacher that he had encouraged him to act and it went from there,” said Marlowe.

Marlowe and his father were extremely close. As his half-brother Chris would describe their father, “he wasn’t nice, but he was always interesting.” On an early spring afternoon in New York City, Marlowe died suddenly of a massive heart attack. “He was literally my best friend,” said the younger Marlowe.

From trying to follow his father’s footsteps and pursue acting, he did take away one thing. A strong performance element to classroom undergraduate teaching.

“It’s there that I feel my talents and skills as a performer are most apropos in helping 20 years olds figure out where their passion lies,” said Marlowe.

More info on the St. Augustine Film Festival can be found at staugfilmfestival.wix.com/saff