| RE: Der Rote Elvis (The Red Elvis, 2007; dir: Leopold Grün) Dear Ron,
Two days ago, I saw in Paris the "Red Elvis" documentary, and now I'm
reading your notices about Dean Reed on your Internet blog.
I remember that in the Soviet Union, nobody talked about the suicide
hypothesis. It was "ideologically impossible." Russian media said
something about an accident during the shooting. But we knew (maybe we heard it on BBC - Seva Novgorodtsev) that Dean Reed wanted to go back to the States, so we were persuaded that Dean Reed had been killed.
The idea of the film, that Dean Reed was very sensitive about his
popularity - and this because he stayed in East Germany even if he was
disappointed with the Honecker politics - do you agree with it?
(At the beginning of the movie, there is a sequence at the official
tribune, and I recognized all people: Erich Honecker, Angela Davis,
Valentina Tereshkova. A very black thought: This is not a documentary;
this is also my own life. It's a strange feeling.)
Sincerely,
Elena Duffort
(via email, Sat, Oct 13 10:03 AM)
(Editor's note: Blog essay "My Side of the Dean Reed Story," in 4 parts, archived in Ron Holloway's blog, August 2007.) Hello Elena, Nice to hear from you again - and that you have read my blog online at
Moving Pictures magazine. Also, I enjoyed reading your comments on my blog about Dean Reed, the Red Elvis. Like you and other Russian friends, I tend to agree that Dean Reed did not commit suicide - particularly as I was with him in a West Berlin restaurant a week or so before his death. We talked at some length about his new film project about AIM (American Indian Movement). He just didn't give the impression of being depressed or suicide-prone. Recently, I returned, exhausted, from the Eurasia International Film Festival in Almaty Kazakhstan. All the best, and please stay in contact. Ron |
