My piece about Odell Grant over at
The Austin Chronicle begins like this:
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| Photo by Joe M. O'Connell |
Nobody had a face like
Odell Grant. The lines curlicued and dug
deep like an etching of the totality of time. Then he’d break into a
grin and his light eyes would ignite with mischief and reckless youth.
Odell only semi-jokingly called me his agent. I’d written a 2006
Austin Chronicle story
about his life’s improbable last act as a film and television extra
capable of stealing a scene, and he was convinced with my guidance he
could become a story. Two years ago we met for lunch for the last time
and he regaled me with tales from the set. “I was embalmed and buried in
the low-budget film
Elvis and Annabelle,” Odell says of
the film in which he is featured as a dead coach. “I had my funeral.
Nobody I know of has met their pallbearers.”
That was just a test run. Odell died for real Tuesday at age 79
surrounded by family and Jeanne, his wife of more than 50 years. The
couple used to travel the state selling crafts at Sami shows, their
daughter Lisa continuing the family tradition before she turned real
estate agent.
Read the rest
here.
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