(gentle music) (upbeat music) - (indistinct) said, "Hey guys, guess what?

We've got a transfer."

- He was my fraternity brother... - Sacrifice of the American people... - Prosperous communities of healthy environments.

- (indistinct), she lived in trafficking for four years.

- I really felt, for a lot of reasons I felt, but I didn't have the guts to stand... - Captain Dale Dye brings military reality to Hollywood.

As an actor and the founder of Warriors Inc, he helped some of Tinsel Town's biggest filmmakers legitimize military action scenes.

Dye's Silver Screen credits include Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and Forrest Gump.

You can tack on a list of impressive television credits and a handful of novels, and you can conclude Dye has had a notable career in the entertainment industry.

But there's more, Dye is a decorated United States Marine who served three tours in Vietnam receiving the Bronze Star with V for Valor, and three Purple Hearts.

We welcome Captain Dale Dye to conversations.

Thanks for being with us.

- Sure, Jeff.

It's great to be in Pensacola.

- Well, it's a pleasure to have you, before we get into talking about movies in Hollywood and that kind of stuff, what was it about you, you joined the Marine Corps right outta high school, where did the military interest come from as a kid growing up?

- I'm not sure, I think it was probably movies.

- Okay.

- You know, you see the flag waving in the breeze and hear the bugle call and I was, I guess like any kid in those days from Middle America.

And I wanted to, I went to the Missouri Military Academy, and wanted to go to the Naval Academy after I graduated.

- Right.

- But I had played too much football, and chased too many girls and I couldn't pass the entry exam.

(Jeff laughing) Not only could I not pass the interview exam, I couldn't pass it twice.

- Oh no.

- And so I was at a loss for what to do, and I bummed around and I think I was sitting on a street corner in Cape Gerardo, Missouri, and I saw an A sign, one of these recruiting A sign and it had this lantern-jawed Marine with in dress blue uniform.

And I looked at him, and it just had one word up across the top, it said, "Ready?"

I look at that and I said, "Do you know, by God I think I am."

And I enlisted in on the, I think it was the third day of January, 1964.

- Wow.

And you were in for what, 30 years or?

- No, 21.

- Twenty, oh, okay, for 21 years and ultimately became a captain.

Talk about your route, 'cause you started off as an enlisted man.

- Yeah, I'm what the Marine Corps calls a Mustang.

I was 13 years enlisted, and by the time Vietnam was over with, our new commandant of the Marine Corps decided that, well, we need to broom out some of the deadwood that accumulated during Vietnam.

And the way to do this, thought our commandant is to reach down in the enlisted ranks and get these guys who lots of combat experience and let's make them officers.

Well, I was a master sergeant at the time, pretty near the top of the enlisted structure.

I said, "I'm not gonna be an officer, who needs that?

Why should I go to the dark side, now that I'm up here on the top of the enlisted?"

- Sure, sure.

- And our commandant said, "Look, this is not a question, Dye.

You are going to go be an officer."

And the my saving grace was that I didn't have a college degree, so I couldn't be a full fledged officer.

I could only be a warrant officer.

So that launched me on my career of pursuing my education so that I could get the college degree, and then convert my commission.

But it was a long and torturous ordeal that ended up, I made it to master sergeant and chief warren officer, then lieutenant, and then captain.

- When did you learn about leadership in the Marine Corps?

- Day one, actually, the first time I hit a drill instructor.

And it's a frightening thing for any young man or woman.

And because I had a military school background, I could see through the veneer a bit.

I said, "What's he doing?

Is he just intimidating?

Is he just being a jerk or is there leadership here?

Is there some inspirational thing?

Am I supposed to clone this guy?

What am I supposed to?"

And I began to think that if anybody understands leadership, the Marine Corps does, and they're expert at it.

And so I decided what I have to do, if I'm gonna be one, is start paying attention, because there's so much behind the scenes, there's so much behind the facade of how you lead men and women.

You know, you have to, there's an imagery involved, but there also has to be a tremendous amount of psychology, a tremendous amount of understanding of human nature.

And that's what fascinates me about it.

- Yeah.

I ask you that because you went on in your Hollywood career to be a leader and to train actors, and I want to get into that in a moment, but first, tell us how you made the transition out of the military into the entertainment industry.

- Well, I'd love to say that it was one of the most brilliant concepts the world has ever known.

But I can't say that because that'd be a lie.

- Yeah.

- It was a case really, Jeff, of you can do a lot of things people tell you you can't do if you're ignorant.

And Lord, was I ignorant, particularly about how movies were made.

I had decided through a series of fuzzy headed naval gazing that, maybe I could bring something to the table in a creative endeavor.

So how about motion pictures and television?

Why motion pictures and television?

Well, I was upset, I think I'd seen every military movie there was.

And frankly, they just upset me because they didn't reflect who I was, who all the men I knew and all the women I knew, and the situations I knew, and the way we related to each other.

Those things were absent in the depictions I was seeing on movies and television.

Well, I'll just go out there and unscrew that.

And course you don't quite do that in show business.

- Right, right.

- But I had this concept, and I knew that if I could follow that concept, if I could just influence, and lead, and teach these people who we are, not only how we wear a uniform, and how we handle a weapon, but what goes on in our mind, what goes on in our heart, what goes on in our guts, because that's the American story.

That's the American story of the American military.

And I wanted to assist in getting that done.

I wasn't having much luck, frankly.

People were saying, "Yeah, kid, look, we've made war movies for bazillions of years and made a ton of money.

Get outta here with your radical ideas.

We don't need this."

And frankly, I was about to give it up.

I had been, oh, a year out there, I guess in LA, and trying to figure out how I can, "Will somebody please listen to me, I know I've got a better mousetrap here."

And through a fluke, actually, I found a notice in a little column, a daily variety that said, "A (indistinct) relatively unknown writer director by the name of Oliver Stone was going to do a movie based on his own experience as a combat infantryman in Vietnam."

Here it is.

I mean, if I can find this guy... - Right.

- He'll get it if nobody else gets it.

- Right.

- And through a series of machinations that I can't tell you about, because the statute of limitation may not have run out yet.

(Jeff laughing) I was able to get his phone number.

- Okay.

- And I was able to arrange an interview with him, and I just explained what I thought was wrong with military movies that I had seen, and I cited specific examples.

And he sat there and listened and I said, "I'm striking out here.

He doesn't get it" Well, he did, and he said, "You know, I agree, I agree with most of what you've said.

Now how do you fix it?"

Said "Well, you fix it just like they fixed you when you entered the army.

And like they fixed me when I enter the Marine Corps.

You train, you live in that environment so that you have an inherent understanding of who we are and what we are in the environment that we operate in."

And he said, "Okay, let's give it a shot."

And he said, "I'm gonna send you to the Philippines with 33 actors, including some that were no name at all then.

But there was Willem Defoe, and Forrest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp, and Charlie Sheen, and Tom Berenger.

And I took them through a syllabus, a training syllabus that lasted almost three weeks.

And they lived absolutely cut off from all outside content.

And they lived in the jungle.

You know, they only ate once a day if they didn't piss the captain off that day and then they didn't eat at all.

(Jeff laughing) And I made them understand experimentally how we lived and who we were, and I let those relationships develop, and they developed naturally.

And so we brought the kids down out of, 'the kids', we brought the actors down out of the mountains about three weeks later.

And they were who we were when we were 19, they absolutely had transformed, they had morphed into us at 19.

And that was the start of it, that's where I began to conceptualize what I was doing and how it would work in show business.

And we brought that little $5 million film home and promptly blew everything else off the stage and won best picture and best director for Oliver.

And Oliver was kind enough at the Academy Awards, which I attended, to have me stand and he said, "There's the guy that's responsible for a great deal of the success of this film."

And then it was Hollywood, nothing succeeds like success.

- Right.

- And the phone, all the guys who were throwing me off the set, now they wanted me back on the set working.

- I'm curious, what did those young actors, what was their initial reaction when you took 'em up into the mountains?

- Well, I think they didn't know what to expect.

And once they saw their uncle captain was serious about this and was gonna make them live in a hole that they dug for the next three weeks and, you know, defecate between their combat boots and how this was gonna go.

- Wow.

- You would've thought that I would've gotten great pushback for this sort of thing, no cell phones, no agents, no outside contact whatsoever, but what I found was that these young actors were really into it, they wanted to experience this.

And it's the difference, I learned right there, I learned the difference between a movie star and an actor.

An actor wants to help you tell the story, and he will do, he or she will do whatever is necessary to intimately understand this story and then try to convey it.

A movie star doesn't care about anything, except hows his hair, and how many lines do I have in this scene.

And that was a practical lesson to me.

I said, "The good ones are gonna love this.

The good ones are going to eat this up."

And I found that to be true.

- I've heard you say you built long-term relationships with some of those gentlemen, and they would call you for other things about what was going on in their lives and whatnot.

- Yeah, that's the uncle captain concept.

And it frankly is gratifying.

- I can imagine.

- They imprint on me to such an extent, I've gotta be very careful that they don't adopt my way of using my hands and that sort of thing, and use it on a screen because people say, "Ha, you're doing Dye."

(Jeff laughing) But because of the family nature, of when a when you build a unit like this, it becomes a little family.

And you look to leadership, you look to how can I fix what I've screwed up here?

How can I do this?

And for a long time, and to this day, as a matter of fact, I still get calls from young actors that I've trained, and, you know, "I just broke up with my girlfriend, what am I...?"

You know, "Okay, pal, here..." But that's gratifying to me because it just means that, you know, they've got someone in their life that they trust for advice and that sort of thing.

- So not only did those experiences per se make 'em a better actor, but perhaps a better person?

Huh?

- Well, you know, I guess so, it depends on what you describe as a good person.

But I certainly have seen some changes in behavior that needed to be done.

- Well, I could just imagine that the discipline would carry over in so many other parts of your life.

- Yeah, yeah.

- For sure.

- And very frequently, it works.

You find that they modify their behavior just because, not because they're gonna get arrested or something.

- Right.

- But because of something they've learned out there, somehow that has gotten gravitas, it's impressed them.

- Right.

- And they're a little less of a loose cannon sometimes.

And I think that's a good deal.

- Yeah, how did you make the transition from working kind of behind the cameras or training to being in front of the camera?

- I'm not sure, I think I was drafted, Oliver Stone among others had seen me training.

And I said, "Geez, that's a perfect commanding officer out there, let me go..." And I said, "No, wait a minute, Oliver, you know, these are trained actors, I'm just, you know, Joe the military guy.

What do you want me...?"

"Get in there and do exactly what you do?"

And I did, and the actors were very kind.

I mean, they understood that this was amateur hour here.

But what I discovered was that I was pretty good at it.

I gotta be the most typecast guy in Hollywood, you know.

"Bring in Dye," you know, "or somebody that looks like Dye."

And what I found was that I liked it, it was fun, and it assisted my agenda, Jeff.

It, you know, my agenda in Warriors Incorporated is to shine some long overdue and much deserve light on the American men and women who wear our uniform so that you can understand who we are and what we're about.

And if playing a role helps that, which I discovered it did... - Right.

- And brings a certain credibility there then I'm glad to do it.

And I get a kick out of it, I guess I'm 12 years old at heart, you know so... (Jeff laughing) - What's your favorite role that you've played?

- Oh, it's gotta be, well, I have two, I loved playing Colonel Sink in Band of Brothers.

And I understand, I still hear about that, but I love playing somebody who is really a real person.

- Right.

- Somebody that I can imitate.

And I also loved playing Colonel Leonard Wood in Rough Riders.

- Okay.

- To Tom Berenger's, Teddy Roosevelt.

So when I get a chance to investigate a character and sort of adopt him, I guess I'm a little chameleon like any good actors, but I, in my view, it helps me with my agenda, which is to make, help America understand who we are as military men and women.

- Yeah, as you're out and about in the public.

I know you do a lot with veterans and speak a lot and that kinda stuff.

What kind of response do you get out in the world, so to speak, away from Hollywood?

- It's really kind of embarrassing.

I'm sometimes mobbed and, you know, "Oh, thank you for what you do, thank you for what you're doing."

I said, "No pal, I'm just helping people understand what you do.

So you get the real thanks."

But it's very gratifying and humbling.

I get recognized everywhere and on the airplanes and things, which sometimes helps and sometimes doesn't, but it's all very gratifying and very humbling.

- Do you have an actor that is like someone you just really love to work with?

You just feel like you just really connect with that person?

- It's gotta, well, there's a couple, believe it or not, Tom Cruise is one of my favorites.

- Really.

- Tom and I became friends doing Born on the Fourth of July, and he later hired me in a film called Night and Day to play his dad.

So you, there must be a connection there somewhere.

And Tom Hanks is a dear friend.

He is one of the most perceptive filmmakers I know.

He gets things, he gets the human side of a character and he won't let the character violate that.

Tom has been with me in Forest Gump, and Band of Brothers, and Saving Private Ryan and was as a producer on the Pacific.

And we've developed a real relationship and a friendship.

And sometimes that's hard to find in Hollywood.

- Well, I can imagine, I was gonna ask you, you take a guy like Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise, what is it about them that makes them so special?

I mean, you said with Hanks, he seems to get it.

But talk a little bit about that.

I mean, Cruise has been just so successful across just a wide variety of films, obviously.

- Well, Jeff to a certain extent, you understand this, you're in the business, you have TVQ, and it's personality, and it's magnetism.

It is a certain something, and Lord knows, I wish we could bottle it, you know, and I'll sell it.

- Right.

- But you can't, it's a certain storyteller persona, you understand, I mean, I'm the old Irish storyteller.

I'm the guy that could keep your attention for 45 minutes around a campfire and tell you a shaggy dog story, which has absolutely no point.

But you'll listen to me because I tell it so well, and that's what the Toms have, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, and couple that with a real intimate understanding of how films are made, and how you can use computer-generated imagery, and that sort of thing to help you tell a story.

And what you've got is the story that you want to listen to, he's the guy who tucks you into bed with the nursery rhyme.

- Right.

- You know, and tells you this story and it fascinates you.

- And it appears to me as an outsider looking in that both of those gentlemen have a real strong work ethic.

- They do.

They do.

And it's something in young actors that's often missing.

- Yeah.

- Well, in young people across the world, it's missing.

But both Toms, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, have a real work ethic.

18 hours a day, 16 hours a day on their sets is nothing.

You just better get used to it.

- Get used to it.

- And neither one of 'em will shorthand anything.

If it takes that long, they will do it.

They've got a tremendous heart, and that all interconnects with their abilities as a storyteller.

They want this story told and they want it told properly and they must believe in it.

And so what happens is that they'll do, they'll stretch it as far as it needs to go to get the story told, and I respect that.

I think that's great.

- Do you have a favorite director that you work with?

- Well, Spielberg's gotta be right up at the top of the list.

- Yeah, he knows a thing or two about it, right?

- Yeah, he does.

(Jeff laughing) - But I've really enjoyed Billy Friedkin, and John Frankenheimer when he was alive.

The good directors are the good storytellers, the ones who understand where the emotional buttons are in the story, and Spielberg is very good at that.

It's hard to narrow it down to a few.

But those are certainly at the top of my list.

- Right.

What keeps you going?

I mean, you clearly are at the point in life, you don't have to do this anymore, I would've think.

What keeps you motivated?

- Well, there's a key in my back and you just wind it.

(both laughing) Hell, I don't know, I guess, I haven't finished the mission.

I keep coming up with ideas, "Hey, here's something new."

And, "You're too old.

Slow down."

But I just have the drive.

It tickles me to entertain you.

- Yeah.

- And it tickles me to entertain people, and I think as long as it does that, I'll continue to try to do it.

- Yeah, you're also a writer, you've written novels.

Talk a bit about that.

- Well, it has to do with when there aren't any movies to do, and I'm bored, I still have to tell a story, I have this itch, this incredible itch to tell a story.

And I've been an insane reader all my life.

I mean, if I'm not doing anything else, I'm reading, and I think I have a respect for the written word.

And so I said, "Well, maybe I could do that."

And lo and behold I could.

And so we started a publishing company, I had published a couple of books prior to that.

And it's, again, it's scratching the storyteller itch.

- Yeah, now, do you also go out with your publishing company?

Are you looking for other authors to publish?

- Oh, yeah we've got I think 20 some great authors now, including John Del Vecchio who did the 13th Valley.

So we, no, we've got, not only me, but we've got a class, a bunch of authors.

- Yeah, what do you enjoy most when you go out and talk to veterans?

I happened to be at an event last night that you were speaking with veterans, and it seems to me like there's a huge connection there.

I mean, what do you enjoy the most?

What do you take away from that?

- Jeff, those are my peeps.

I mean, I get it.

And it's like being in family, you know?

I think just, I think I enjoy not having to explain myself as I would with civilians.

You know, I look at 'em and I go... And they go...

They get it.

And when you can get to that point, I mean, you know you're among family.

You know, regardless of where you are.

Race, creed, color doesn't make any difference.

That's your brother.

- Right.

- And if you really believe that, if you really feel that, you know, it's a homecoming every time you go out there.

"I'm home."

"Hey, I'm home."

And it's just fun.

- Yeah.

It's just a special brotherhood, isn't it?

- Yeah.

- It really is.

What are you working on these days?

- I'm trying to unplug.

That's hard to do in Hollywood.

I've got a new book that's coming out in May.

- Okay.

- I'm told that I'm wanted to on a miniseries or movie that they're doing in, I think Showtime or Netflix, in LA, a director friend of mine, but I mean, Billy Friedkin want me to come out and do that.

And then I'm ducking and dodging.

I'm not sure to tell you the truth, what I'm doing.

- Yeah.

- I'm trying to enjoy life.

You know, you reach a point, Jeff, you aren't there yet, but you will be, when you want to look back and, "What did I do?"

You know, and look at all the great things, you want to kind of review 'em... - Yeah.

- And see if there's any screw ups you could fix.

- Right, right.

- But I'm doing some soul searching, I'm looking around and seeing if Captain Dye made any difference.

- Well, I think it's pretty safe to say you did by the reaction that I see as you speak and you know, watch various media sources, and things of that nature, you know, so think you could rest easy, that you certainly made a difference along the way.

I'm just curious too, you know, I don't think you made any secret about your age.

You're closer to 80 than 70.

- Yeah.

- But you seem to be in great shape, and active and energetic.

What's the secret, so to speak?

- Well, I work at it, you know, I can't believe I can still do this, but I get out and I run three times a week.

I run three miles and then the third day I run five miles, and I lift weights and all that sort of thing.

And it's kind of the Marine Corps PT ethic is stuck in my head.

And not only that, but if I take a job and I've gotta outrun these 18 year olds, I better be able to do it.

So I guess the motivation is stay alive as long as you can and stay healthy and stay enjoying life.

- That's great, Captain, thank you my friend.

- Thank you, Jeff.

- It was a real pleasure.

- My pleasure.

It was fun.

- Absolutely.

- Thanks.

- Captain Dale Dye.

What a great conversation we have had with him.

And by the way, you can see this and many more of our conversations on the PBS video app and at wsre.org/conversations.

I'm Jeff Weeks, thank you so very much for watching.

Hope you enjoyed the broadcast or the program because it's more than broadcasting in these days.

Take wonderful care of yourself and we'll see you soon.

(gentle upbeat music)