'Kid Gallahad' and 'Star Trek' actor Michael Dante turns pioneering film character into 'Winterhawk's Land'

Bruce Fessier
Palm Springs Desert Sun
Actor and author Michael Dante, shown at his Rancho Mirage home, is trying to get his novella, "Winterhawk's Land," made into the sequel of his 1975 film, "Winterhawk."

Michael Dante is one of the last celebrity athletes from an era when stars played charity golf and tennis tournaments nearly every week of the desert season.

Dante, 86 of Rancho Mirage, was a leading man and character actor who broke into film following a minor league baseball career. He fought Elvis Presley in “Kid Gallahad” in 1962 and bloodied the rock idol’s quivering lip. He broke a Hollywood taboo by playing a pedophile in “The Naked Kiss” in 1964. On TV, he appeared in shows such as “Star Trek,” “Get Smart” and “The Six Million Dollar Man,” which are still touted at fan conventions.

After making two films in 1989, he moved to the desert and used his athletic skills to become an in-demand player at charity golf and tennis events.

“I had my own golf tournament in this valley for eight years,” he said in his ranch-style house filled with TV and movie memorabilia. “I’ve probably contributed more to charity through golf and tennis than anybody in show business today in this whole valley.”

DANTE THE ACTOR: A look back at his career

But, with the number of celebrity golf and tennis events in this desert diminishing, Dante has returned to a 40-year-old passion project. He's working to inspire a sequel to the 1975 film, “Winterhawk,” in which he starred as a fictional Blackhawk chief.

Dante, who doesn’t have any Indian blood, played several Native American characters back when dark-haired white guys often were cast as Indians. He portrayed Crazy Horse in the 1967 TV series, “Custer,” Red Hawk in the 1964 film, “Apache Rifles,” and a Shawnee in a 1969 episode of “Daniel Boone.”

Actor and author Michael Dante at his home in Rancho Mirage.

“Winterhawk” was his most significant film. Directed, co-written and produced by the late Charles B. Pierce, it had an $850,000 budget (by IMDb.com figures) and grossed more than $5.4 million in the United States (by a 1977 production report). The late Chicago Sun-Times critic, Roger Ebert, compared it to “the classic Westerns of John Ford.

“This could, indeed, almost be a Western from 20 or 30 years ago,” Ebert wrote, “if it weren't for its sympathetic and even-handed treatment of Indians.”

Dante learned to speak some of the tribal language for the film, and Ebert said, “It’s interesting for once to find a movie Indian who speaks in an Indian language that has to be translated for the other characters.”

Blackfoot tribal members appreciated that, too, said Dante’s wife, MaryJane Dante.

“They were proud that Michael spoke in Blackfoot,” she said, “speaking every word perfectly, thanks to Mrs. Grant, a Blackfoot language advisor and technical advisor.”

Dante saw a sequel in "Winterhawk” even before filming was completed. But Pierce told him, “I don’t do sequels.” So Dante bought the rights two years later and wrote the rough draft of a screenplay. He couldn’t get a development deal with a studio, but his athletic skills led to an opportunity to make an indie film.

Actor and author Michael Dante about to pick up his 2003 Golden Boot award at his home in Rancho Mirage on Friday, September 1, 2017.

He was playing in the Doug Sanders Celebrity golf tournament in Houston with an oil man named Bill Hargis, who had seen and liked “Winterhawk.” He offered to finance the sequel.

“We were ready to go with good faith money,” Dante said. “We had a development deal and he loved my treatment and first draft of the screenplay. A few months later we were ready for pre-production. You’d go into production a month later. And he died of a heart attack.”

Dante put the project aside for more than 35 years. Then, a little more than a year ago, he wrote a novella continuing the narrative, titled “Winterhawk’s Land.”

“I thought, I’m going to write this because I have the passion for it,” he said. “I love the character and I’ve always been concerned with the Native Americans. They haven’t gotten their share of exposure in the film business and other commercial entities. I think they deserve a great deal more and maybe (by developing the book) we can keep the Native-American genre and Western-American filmmaking alive. I hope to help as much as I can.”

Michael Dante has authored an autobiography in addition to his novella, "Winterhawk's Land."

The 97-page book, published by BearManor Media, moves the follow-up story 20 years forward to 1860. Winterhawk’s love interest, a missionary girl played in the original film by Dawn Wells of “Gilligan’s Island” fame, has become Winterhawk’s wife and taught him English and the ways of the white man. Her younger brother, Cotton, comes to visit their home in Montana, and shows an appreciation for the Blackhawk ways. But a new conflict arises when a railroad company decides to build tracks through the Blackfoot hunting grounds.

Wells, who is still active in film and television in Los Angeles, acknowledges there were only a few Native American actors in “Winterhawk.” One was Sacheen Littlefeather, who represented Marlon Brando at the 1973 Academy Awards when he refused to accept his Best Actor Oscar. But Wells said “Winterhawk” was a notable film, “beautifully cast and beautifully photographed.

NATIVE AMERICAN FILMMAKERS: Fighting for inclusiveness

Dawn Wells, who played Michael Dante's love interest in "Winterhawk," thinks Dante's new novella, "Winterhawk's Land," could be made into a sequel for their 1975 film.

“I think it handled the Native American characters in a realistic way, finally showing that the Native American and white American can cohabitate together,” she said. “It was the beginning of the new America.

“I believe it could be made into quite an interesting sequel. The reason I think that is because you can follow the love interest between the Native American and missionary girl. That story could begin the melding of an Indian nation and the white American.”

Inclusiveness is one of Hollywood's biggest issues today, with trade publications regularly reporting on the lack of women directors and actors of color appearing on screen, and questioning why white actors are often portraying people of color. Still, Dante says he can see himself playing Winterhawk in the sequel.

“As an old codger, yes," he said. "Definitely as an older man. I would not be physically active, like he was all those years ago.”

But, with the action in “Winterhawk’s Land” depicting Winterhawk as a warrior and capable dancer, Dante said the screenplay would have to be reworked. He sees the chief as a man who lends wisdom more than athleticism to his people.

“I don’t have an ego where I must be the star of the film,” he said. “I would do a much smaller active part.”

Dante doesn’t have an agent to pitch a film adaptation, but he recently returned from a trip of personal appearances across country, including a “Star Trek” convention, and said the book was well-received.

“They want the Western genre to live,” he said. “Every once in a while, one would come to the table in tears. ‘Oh, Mr. Dante, why don’t they make more Westerns? We love Westerns.’

“I think now, with the advent of Netflix, Hulu and all these ancillaries, they’re financing pictures. You could do a pilot and one show and, if it’s well-received, you do a season. A screenplay could be adapted from this novella. It’s written like a screenplay. But I didn’t forget my story, as well.”

 

To order the book

What: "Winterhawk's Land," written by Michael Dante with characters created by Charles B. Pierce and original art by David Powell.

Where: BearManor Media, P.O. Box 71426, Albany, GA 31708

Information: bearmanormedia.com