JOSH CHASE / PVT Former Hollywood lighting gaffer Larry Keys stands with the shotgun John Wayne used in "True Grit" and a collection of keys he took home from the various real-life prisons at which he filmed. Advertisement

It could almost be said that Larry Keys spent his entire life under the bright lights of Hollywood stardom.

But that wouldn't really be true, since the Pahrump resident actually spent his career behind those lights.

Keys' first work in Hollywood came when he was moving one of Liberace's pianos onto a movie set while working for his father's moving company. A studio employee announced he needed 20 men to help work the set later that day, giving Keys his first big break in the industry.

Keys, now 68, parlayed that opportunity into freelance gigs with all the main movie studios, including MGM, Warner Bros., Universal, 20th Century Fox, Disney and Sony.

By the time he called "Cut!" on his career, the lighting gaffer had worked on such movies as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Hook," "Urban Cowboy," "Patton," "Deliverance" and "Airplane!"

"What's so great is I've probably been all over the United States about three times and I've probably been to six foreign countries," Keys says from the kitchen of his nostaligia-filled home near the Pahrump Winery.

"I've done it and I've seen it," he adds, "and it was all at [the studio's] expense."

But travel isn't the only thing Keys remembers with a smile on his face.

Chuckling, the retiree remembers the tremendous effort and preparation that went into a famous "Godfather" scene in which a movie producer wakes up to find the head of his prized race horse in bed with him: "It was a fallen race horse and what they did was they severed his head, rushed him to the set in an ambulance, brushed his mane and put him in bed."

While shooting "All the President's Men" at the White House, Keys accidentally stumbled into a room where real-life First Lady Betty Ford was drinking coffee.

"She was sitting there in the morning and she was having a cup of coffee, so I said, 'Oh, excuse me ma'am,'" Keys recalls. "But she goes, 'No, come on in and have a cup of coffee with me.'"

Keys has almost as much movie memorabilia in his home as he has fond memories in is head.

After working on "True Grit," he took home the shotgun John Wayne used on the set. "That was the only movie John Wayne ever won an Oscar for," Keys says. "He told us if he knew that was what it took, he'd have worn that eye patch his whole career."

He also has a ring full of keys he collected from the various prisons he filmed at, including Alcatraz and Fort Leavenworth.

Later in his career, while working on a film with Richard Pryor, the comedian heard Keys sing. The next time the two were on set, Pryor gave the gaffer a guitar for a present.

"He said, 'Next time I want you to play me a tune and I want you to sing,'" Keys says of the late actor. "So I made sure I never did another movie with him because I never learned to play the damn thing."

Although Keys retired years ago, he often misses being behind the scenes.

"Sometimes I really wish I could do it again," he says.

But while Keys doesn't personally experience movie magic much anymore, he still gets to hear all about it.

His sons all work in Hollywood now and occasionally he'll hear a story about the crew on the set of "The Shawshank Redemption" or how a "Pirates of the Caribbean" producer re-floored his home with wood from Captain Jack Sparrow's ship.

Keys hears those stories and he laughs, remembering all the good friends he made and the great times he had.

"I had a lot of fun in that business," Keys says, smiling. "A lot of fun."

Donations for Quilts for Cancer

Quilts for Cancer volunteers have worked all year to make Christmas stockings for home bound seniors in Pahrump. Two hundred plus stockings need to be filled with nutritious snacks.

Volunteers are also working to have a hand-made gift to accompany the stocking which will be distributed in December.

A $10 donation will fill one stocking and donations can be sent to: P.O. Box 4702, Pahrump, NV 89041.

Call 751-5356 or e-mail barbquilts@yahoo.com for more information.

Community choir meeting

The Pahrump Community Choir meets from 7-9 p.m. each Wednesday at the Rosemary Clarke Middle School music room.

Anyone who likes to sing is welcome. Call 751-6957 for more information.