I recently stumbled upon a book entitled, " People Will Talk " by John Kobal(Alfred A. Knopf, N.Y. 1985). It seems John Kobal, a writer, interviewer and leading Hollywood film archivist, also at one time, hadn't seen any of her movies, but had fallen in love with her just the same. One day John was standing in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan, when he spotted her. I'll let Mr. Kobal tell you in his own words from his book, how this encounter with Nancy was indirectly responsible for leading him to Hollywood.
"Excuse me, you're Nancy Carroll, aren't you?" I was standing in front of St. Pat's Cathedral, thinking of going in, when she walked past with the rush-hour mob. " Why, yes, how did you know?" " Because you haven't changed. I'd recognize you anywhere. I've got hundreds of portraits of you and I adore you. Can we do an interview?" Both of us were swept along by surprise. I had never seen her in a movie, just knew that she'd been in them. Later at her apartment she brought out scrapbooks. I did, to my eternal regret, a totally terrible, stupid interview, all generalities which even she, with all her goodwill, couldn't salvage and tie into a sensible bundle. I wanted to know about everything, all of it, her films, all the items, all at once. Nancy sat there across from me, waiting her turn. She had worked with her daughter in summer stock and on TV. Her daughter now worked with an agency. The agency handled Tallulah Bankhead. That's how I got the number, and Nancy said, " Call her, you'd like her." You wonder sometimes. For instance, if I hadn't agreed to do an interview with nightclub comics Martin and Rossi to put Hy Smith in the mood to let me go through the drawer of yet one more filing cabinet outside his office, which is the one that contained the pictures of Nancy Carroll that turned me on to photography because I found myself fascinated by a woman I'd not yet even seen in a film, and if I hadn't met her, would I have ever gotten to meet Tallulah Bankhead? And it was Tallulah who unlocked Hollywood for me." -- John Kobal
So there you have it -- how photographs of Nancy shaped Kobal's interest in Hollywood photography, and furthermore, how a chance meeting with Ms. Carroll was ultimately responsible for helping him land an interview with Tallulah Bankhead -- a life changing interview!
"I am a movie buff and am fan of many old movie stats. I first came across Nancy via the book "the films of ". At that stage I had not seen any off her films. They are not shown on British TV. In the early 90s I saw her in Hot Saturday and was very impressed. Since then I have tried to see as many of her films as possible. I particularly liked her performance in Child Star of Manhattan. " -- 7/31/02 jeffrey neave