French Connection’s Sonny Grosso Recalled Famous Birthdays in “Harlem to Hollywood” Book
Let’s face it, most of us are lucky if we meet one famous person in our lives, let alone have dinner with them. Well, TV/Movie producer Sonny Grosso, The French Connection detective, was often surrounded by the celebrities he worked with on movies such as the Oscar-winning The French Connection and The Godfather, and also other films like The Seven-Ups, and Contract on Cherry Street. Consequently, he spent many of his birthdays on July 21 with these stars. This led to some unbelievable stories about Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra and even US Presidents, among others.
Excerpted from my Harlem to Hollywood — My Real-to-Reel Life book about my pal Sonny Grosso’s extraordinary life, these stories focus on his birthday celebrations, along with some other famous birthday events that the late great man was involved in.
— Can you tell us about meeting your boyhood sporting hero Joe DiMaggio at a surprise birthday party for you?
— Fuggedaboudit! It took place at Vincenzo and Ida’s restaurant, Manducatis Rustica in Long Island City. One thing I was always told is that if you met DiMaggio, you couldn’t mention Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe or JFK to him. He’d just get up, excuse himself to go to the bathroom, and he’d never come back. But I had a once-in-a-lifetime, four-hour plus dinner conversation with my boyhood sporting hero. It was set up as a special birthday gift by my pal, Dr. Rock Positano and my casting director Christina Krauss. As I was walking in, I was looking at this handsome, impeccably dressed man and thinking, “Jeez, I recognize this guy.” And I look over at owner Vincent and he’s suggesting, “Yeah, okay, go ahead.” I look back and DiMaggio is crooking his finger telling me come on over here. I go over and say, “Mr. DiMaggio, I’m glad to meet you, I’m Sonny, I met you as a kid at Grand Central.” He says, “I know who you are.” They started to bring the food over and I say, “Well you guys eat and maybe I’ll stop by later on.” But, he says, “Sit down, I came here to meet you.” Wow, I couldn’t believe it, but then I see my wonderful friends, who had set it up, smiling in the back. For three hours, Joe and I talked about The French Connection, he loved the movie. We talked about some cowboy movies because he was big on them. I told him about meeting John Wayne. Then, we talked a lot about baseball exploits. About another Yankee legend, Mickey Mantle. I told Joe, I remembered his 41-game hitting streak, and how everyone was talking about it in school and on the street: “Did you hear? What happened last night?” I told him I remember how he was injured one season and how he came back at the end of the season. He smiles, “We went to Boston, and I hit three homers up at Fenway.” I told him, he was something else.
— How did the topic of you producing his biopic come up?
— I was excited about wanting to produce his movie biography and he listened. Then, when Joe was leaving after dinner, I said to him, “Joe, I’ve waited my whole life for this. So, how about a little hug and kiss?’” He shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “Well, if you have to.” So, me being me, I joked, “On the lips?” He replied, “Hey, c’mon, take it easy!” We laughed, we hugged and then Joe says, “Me and my lawyer are writing a book and I’m telling him that if anybody films this book it’s going to be Sonny Grosso.” Joe left and I’m floating on air. I rushed back in and told my friends he’s writing a book and he wants me to produce his movie.” I was over the moon.
— Can you tell us about that famous chair he sat on?
— As a token of remembrance for that unforgettable evening, I had the chair the legend had sat on engraved with his “#5” — my lucky number — and with the names “Sonny Grosso and Joe DiMaggio.” When I sent Joe a photo of the chair, he wrote back thanking me but then asked, “Hey, Sonny, who says you get top billing?” Not long after, the Yankee Clipper took ill and passed away. But that famous chair still floats around Manducati’s today and the story behind it helps keep Joe DiMaggio’s memory alive.
— Speaking of Sinatra, what happened at the surprise party in Little Italy that he threw for you?
— We were still filming Contract on Cherry Street in New York, starring Frank — by the way, some other time, I’ll tell you about the time he got the lights turned on at the Empire State Building during a citywide blackout. Anyway, one evening during the film shoot, he got me to go to Puglia’s restaurant, and I walked into a surprise birthday party for me — everyone was there, the whole crew and all. And then Frank sang “Happy Birthday” to me — can you imagine, the Chairman of the Board singing. It was a command performance. So, me being me, I pulled out a buck for a tip. And, him being him, he grabbed the buck. I loved that guy!”
— What other birthday stories are in the book, “Harlem to Hollywood — My Real-to-Reel Life”?
— There’s the story of Marilyn Monroe singing to President JFK on his birthday at that surprise event at Madison Square Garden, where I was her detective escort into the venue. And, then there’s our great TV series Secret Service, for which we produced 44 episodes. Former President Gerald Ford’s son, Steven, hosted the show which featured re-enactments of real Secret Service cases. Steven invited me out to Vail for his father’s big birthday party, and I got to I meet Gerald and his wife, Betty. Because I had so much respect for Mr. Ford, the first thing when I pulled him aside, and said, “Mr. President, I just want to tell you something that as far as politics are concerned or anything else, I’m not even talking about that. I just want to shake your hand and tell you how much courage it took to not disgrace this whole country by having a President Nixon go to trial, and embarrass not only our Government but the whole country and our allies. And what it took for you to do that. So, I’d like to thank you.”
— What’s the story that Jack Nicholson told you at Rao’s about one of his own birthdays?
— Jack shared pasta with me, and we were both big Yankees fans. In fact, he went to see them the day after he saw me. And, growing up. he was a bleacher bum just like I was, watching our own heroes from the cheap seats. So, Jack tells me, “I could have bought into the Yankees for $41 million, and the Lakers for less, with a friend. I’ve been a Yankees fan since my days as a bleacher-seat kid in the 1950s. Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels and I often went to Yankees games, and Lorne wanted me to throw out the first ball at Yankee Stadium for my 70th birthday this year. That sounded fun until I started getting nervous and then got completely crazy, thinking, ‘Should I try to throw a slider? What if I blow it?’ So, I just backed off that one. Hey, I’ve got my shy side, too.” That’s Jack Nicholson, the shy version. One more story about Jack, he actually presented the Best Picture Oscar for The French Connection to one of my film mentors Phil D’Antoni. PS I got a birthday joke for you: ‘A guy’s wife asked him to take her somewhere expensive for her birthday, so he took her to a gas station. And then the fight started.’
As a reminder, click on the highlighted links for The French Connection movie trailer, that amazing “car chase,” and an eye-opening Documentary. Also, check out Det. Sonny Grosso’s story “Harlem to Hollywood — My Real-to-Reel Life” on Amazon, in the United States, Canada, and UK.
