robbif - Posted - 01/25/2014:  17:07:01

Fascinating story...



From Craig Gum Photography via Facebook...



Stranger #4 in the 100 Strangers Project: This is Billy Redden, better

known as Lonnie the Banjo Kid from Deliverance. Let me explain how this

came to pass. I was in Toccoa with my girlfriend, Brandy, we were

standing in line at Quincy's buffet (there are lots of buffets in Toccoa

for some reason) and we started chattin up the guy behind us about

Tallula Falls and The Gorge because I wanted to take some nature shots.

He offhandedly asked us if we were aware that parts of Deliverance was

filmed up there and he believed that the Banjo Kid still lived there. My

eyes bugged and jaw dropped as I immediately thought of adding him to my

strangers project. Brandy immediately knew that the nature pics were out

the window as he would be the best stranger ever! Who hasn't heard of or

seen that unforgettable scene of Lonnie playing 'Dueling Banjos' with

Ronnie Cox or seen tshirts with 'Paddle Faster I hear Banjo's playin'?

Deliverance is an iconic movie and this scene with Billy Redden was a

large part of that, that is why I had to meet this man. The internet

told me that he was likely still an employee of Walmart in Raburn

county. Off and on I tried to call that Walmart and ask about Billy but

no one that answered the phone seemed to know a Billy. On our last day

in Toccoa I was prepared to go to Raburn county and just start looking

and asking around for him when I called Walmart one last time. The lady

asked me if I'd like her to page Billy ! Minutes later I'm talking to

the Banjo Kid.... I briefly explained the project and asked him if he

wouldn't mind if I drove up to meet him and take his picture. He was

very nice and agreed to let me come up. I was ecstatic! I immediately

started calling video stores and thrift stores looking for a copy of the

movie or a poster or anything I could have him sign. No luck and I was

running out of time. Picked up Brandy from her conference and we headed

north. We walked into Walmart and the first two employees we asked about

Billy said that they thought he was gone for the day.. aaagghhhhh! We

went to customer service and they paged him for me at Brandy's

insistence. Waiting patiently and checking and rechecking my camera

settings I saw him come down an aisle toward us.. Billy was about as

sweet as he could be. He has a shy demeanor and not overly talkative but

he did tell me about the 40th anniversary of the movie that he attended

in June and that he was just 13 when he filmed that movie. I took a few

portraits of him as I explained that I tried unsuccessfully to find

something for him to sign that day, he told me to 'cmon'. We walked back

thru walmart together as Brandy took candid shots of us the entire time.

On our stroll he told me that he has actually been in 3 movies now.

Deliverance of course, Big Fish by Tim Burton, and a lesser known movie

called Outrage that went direct to DVD. We arrived at the electronics

section and he asked the lady behind the counter where his movie was. We

found it and it was marked down to $7. He said "that's a good deal" with

a smile on his face. I unwrapped the movie and he signed the disc and

the outer jacket for me. He also told me that he didn't want to get

fired and needed to get back to unloading the truck. We said goodbye and

now I have my pictures and this story for the rest of my life. Next time

someone says "this feels like Deliverance country" while driving through

the mountains I will respond with " Did I ever tell you about the time I

met the Banjo Kid?" This picture is #04 in my 100 strangers project.

Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other

photographers at 100 Strangers Flickr Group page...

flickr.com/groups/100strangers/



 

bornold - Posted - 01/25/2014:  17:20:30

awesome!

roydsjr - Posted - 01/25/2014:  17:52:19

Great! Thanks for sharing!

Paulf - Posted - 01/25/2014:  19:37:03

Just watched the latest Charley Boorman  adventure dvd  'USA'  where Charley gets to meet Billy Redden.  Charleys father was the director of Deliverance so it meant a great deal to Charley to meet Billy and visit the area where the film was made.   Charley got his start in doing adventure series after he and actor Ewan McGregor did the motorcycle adventure trips 'Long Way Round' and 'Long Way Down'.  Funny that Billy Redden was in Big Fish as so was Ewan McGregor (small world).

mruck - Posted - 01/26/2014:  09:53:11

That is cool! Sounds like a nice guy. Is he a banjo player?

mike gregory - Posted - 01/26/2014:  09:57:53

quote:

---

Originally posted by mruck

That is cool! Sounds like a nice guy. Is he a banjo player?

---

No.

It's Show Business, where everything is Make Believe.

Watch the scene, and you see drop-thumb frailing.

Listen to the sound track, you hear Scruggs-style picking.

They needed someone with small hands, to match Billy's small size.

So there was a woman kneeling on the porch floor, with her arms down his sleeves.

Yeah, it surprised the hll out of me when I was given this same info.

Deaf David - Posted - 01/26/2014:  17:02:19

Been in three movies and working at WalMart? Good to know the American dream is still alive and well.

roadstar75 - Posted - 01/26/2014:  17:52:08

Snopes confirms Mike G. recount of what happened on the movie set.  Billy Redden looked the part they wanted to portray and he does not play the banjo.  I looked at that video and still can't figure out how they did it.

Richard

RioStat - Posted - 01/26/2014:  18:13:12

Looks like Billy Redden grew up into Robin Williams!

What a story his is ....10 minutes in a movie...a lifetime of fame !!

corcoran - Posted - 01/27/2014:  13:37:29

The recording of "Dueling Banjos" used in the movie sound track was of course performed by Eric Weissberg on banjo and Steve Mandel on guitar, two studio musicians in NYC.  You can find elsewhere on BHO a discussion of the controversy around Warner Brothers -- and NOT Eric Weissberg, contrary to some ill-informed commentary -- claiming copyright on "Dueling Banjos," and later being sued successfully by Arthur Smith, who in fact wrote the tune as "Feuding Banjos" and recorded it in 1955 (as I recall, perhaps incorrectly) with himself on plectrum banjo and Don Reno on the 5-string.  Warner Brothers later released the music from Deliverance on a CD with a bunch of tracks off Eric Weissberg and Marshall Brickman's "New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass," their seminal album from 1963 that introduced many of us to melodic style.  That album also featured some stellar guitar playing by an 18-year-old Clarence White.  But I digress ...

Michael