We all know the expression – “it takes a village” to accomplish events. Well, it takes a “Herd” of dedicated and passionate volunteers to put together the Annual Film Festival. And, while there are many behind the scenes characters at work to make your weekend enjoyable – I present below a list of our Lone Pine movie tour guides who have researched frames of films and archival scripts and stories to prepare this years “On Location” tours. A BIG THANK YOU to ALL.
Richard W. Bann- Tour Guide, Author, Film Historian
Richard is a film historian and author of books on Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, W.C. Fields, Hal Roach, and John Wayne. He’s also a regular essayist for Lone Pine at the Movies, and a major source for 16mm prints for the Film Festival the last 20 years. Bann started his career as a CPA, testifying on behalf of William Boyd Enterprises; was vice president of Blackhawk Films, and served as consultant to CMG Worldwide agency, which represents the estates of Marilyn Monroe, Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, James Dean, Jackie Robinson, and others. Bann is a library consultant to European film and TV company Kirch Media GmbH, responsible for restoring and preserving the Hal Roach Studios 35mm nitrate film collection.
John & Mike Del Gaudio – Tour Guides
The Del Gaudio brothers grew up in Huntington, Long Island, New York and enjoyed watching old westerns on TV with their Dad. They have been traveling out to California to attend the Lone Pine Film Festival since 1996 and have been searching for and visiting filming locations ever since. Mike still lives in Huntington and is a computer programmer. John is retired from the NY State Police and now lives in Fredericksburg, VA.
Douglas Grieve – Tour Guide – Location Researcher
Douglas Grieve has been a western film enthusiast for most of his life and has spent the past decade visiting the great western locations, from Monument Valley, Moab, Kanab, and Sedona to the great movie ranches of Old Tucson, Iverson Ranch, and Corriganville. Whenever possible Douglas has enjoyed these magnificent locations on horseback and has found the Alabama Hills and surrounding areas offer the film fan one of the best opportunities to visit the great filming locations of yesteryear.”
Don Kelsen – Tour Guide, Photographer
Don has been attending and learning about Alabama Hills film locations since our first Festival in 1990. Inspiration for pinpointing filming locations comes from Kelsen’s association with Festival co-founder Dave Holland and their work together on Dave’s first video, ON LOCATION IN LONE PINE.
Thomas Kelsey – Tour Guide, Photojournalist
Thomas Kelsey’s connection to the Eastern Sierra runs deep as he has skied, fished, hiked and photographed the area since the 1970’s. During his career, he has worked as a staff photographer at nine different newspapers including 12 years at the Los Angeles Times. He grew up in California’s Central coast and graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA with a degree in Journalism in 1977. In 1981, Kelsey was chosen to attend the Ansel Adams Workshop. It was Adams’ last workshop in his beloved Yosemite Valley. Spending time with Ansel Adams in the Sierra Nevada sparked a passion into Kelsey’s photography that he has to this day. He has published two books, The Spirit of the West, a 30 year project focused on landscape & wildlife photography in the Western United States and 75 Years Later-Warbirds, Airman & Veterans of World War II, a tribute that honors the Greatest Generation in 2020.
Tyler Malone – Tour Guide, Writer
Tyler Malone is a writer, professor, and film location hunter. He lives in Los Angeles and writes film, literature, and art criticism for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Review of Books, Poetry, Cineaste, Literary Hub, RogerEbert.com, Artforum, and elsewhere.
Larry Maurice – Tour Guide, Cowboy Poet, and Festival Host
Larry has spent the last 36 years as a cowboy, horse wrangler and packer in the Eastern Sierra and the high deserts of Nevada. You’re likely to find him on a horse when he is not performing his brand of Cowboy Poetry. He received the Lifetime Achievement in Cowboy Poetry Award from the National Cowboy Symposium, and the Academy of Western Artists’ coveted Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Cowboy Poet of the Year. Maurice has been a Lone Pine regular since the Festival’s beginning in 1990.
Greg Parker- Tour Coordinator, Tour Guide
Greg has been a dedicated Lone Pine movie location hunter since meeting late film festival board member, Ray Powell, in 1999. To date he has found over 2000 scene locations from over 180 movies and television shows in and around Lone Pine that began with finding the chase scenes in High Sierra with Humphrey Bogart on Whitney Portal Rd. The thrill of finding scenes was as exciting as the chase in the movie for him. Greg graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and has lived in Reno, NV since 1978. With an appreciation of pioneering filmmaking he is an avid silent movie buff whose personal film collection includes films dating back to 1903’s THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY featuring “Bronco Billy” Anderson. Greg has recently retired and now has even more time to study films made in Lone Pine and discover many new locations.
Page Williams – Tour Guide, Historian, Photographer
Page Williams has been a California historian for over 40 years. Main interest being The Owens Valley and Lone Pine area. Page says there is always more to learn. Loves talking to locals and hearing their family stories. She has worked in the Hollywood film industry for over 45 years, working at every major studio.