Later, Red and a different hobo jump out of a moving train car. Wealth Nugget:Her father, Dan Duncan, was once the richest person in Houston. He was still Glenn McCarthy. In 1939 he took everything he had and plunged into a risky play around the town of Palacios, on the Gulf Coast southwest of Houston. This movie is a goo prequel to The Ultimate Legacy therefore I recommend seeing it for that reason alone. But lately John P. Stevens has been making news as an incubator for blue-chip business leaders. "[9] Christianity Today felt the film warranted 3.5 out of 4 stars and called it "lovingly crafted but never manages to build up much mystery, suspense, tension, or narrative steam. Alexia wants to believe things are moving toward marriage. A billionaire with questionable priorities re-examines his life after discovering his grandfather's journal.A billionaire with questionable priorities re-examines his life after discovering his grandfather's journal.A billionaire with questionable priorities re-examines his life after discovering his grandfather's journal. It's a rough road to get to that point, and I'm not sure it was executed as well as it could have been, but the point still gets across. When tragedy jolts Red into seeing hes spent too many years investing in the wrong legacy, it proves to be a lesson Jason needs to hear too if hes hopes to win Alexias heart back once more. An oilman going bankrupt in Texas? He tells Red, Every day, rain or shine, I make a list of 10 things Im thankful to God for. When Red balks that he doesnt have much for which to be grateful, the man responds, You got to be grateful for the little things, otherwise youll never be grateful for nothin. Jason later begins telling Alexia the 10 things hes most grateful to God for. McCarthy laughed off the questions, but signs of distress were evident. Red Stevens Net Worth is $1.6 Million Red Stevens Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018 Structural Info Filmography Known for movies High Desert Pirates (2004) as Miscellaneous Crew Up'r Class (2004) as Miscellaneous Crew The Trial (2003) as Miscellaneous Crew The Wetter the Better (2004) as Miscellaneous Crew Source IMDB Wikipedia After World War II he finds his calling as an oilman but ignores his wife and children; after hitting it big, he sees how spoiled and smug his kids have become. At Christmas, as Red is in a hotel room alone working on a big oil deal, we hear part of the song Angels We Have Heard on High., Several times, Red offers variations on this vow: Someday, I swear to heaven Im going to be a billionaire. Someone else says, Theres more oil in Texas than God knows what to do with.. By January 1949, with the hotels opening only three months away, construction on the Shamrock was almost finished; it had cost $21 million. Drew Waters as Red Stevens; James Garner as Old Red Stevens; Austin James as Young Red Stevens; Bill Cobbs as Ted Hamilton; Bechir Sylvain as Young Ted Hamilton; Logan Bartholomew as Jason Stevens; Ali Hillis as Alexia Drummond; Elizabeth Ann Bennett as Hanna Roberts; Abigail Mavity as Young Hanna; Peter Fonda as Jacob Early; Jack DePew as Gus Caldwell; Brett Rice as Bill Stevens. In Aspen, Colorado, Red Mountain, nicknamed "Billionaire Mountain," is home to the rich and famous. The sex symbol confessed that "girls thought I was a jokea happy buffoon," before he met his wife. During World War II, Red is knocked down and wounded by a mortar. Alexia and Jason share a couple of intense lip-locks, one of which is shared at the altar. He was a tough man, and the drinking and fight stories are true enough, but he wasnt anything like that character in Giant, one old friend told a reporter. A second analysis of his reserves was already under way, and when completed in May 1947, it valued McCarthys oil and gas at $61.9 million. It was the worst mob scene I ever witnessed, he fumed afterward. During one of her several visits to Texas the two were introduced. How neighborly. All during the 1940s, however, Texas called to her. Night approached. McCarthy spent millions replacing machinery before finally giving up. In those last few months, in fact, there had been just one eastern writer snooping around the hotel. McCarthy insisted he couldnt pay unless allowed to develop New Ulm. Finally I was able to piece together what had taken place, an incident he kept referring to as a miracle. Only moments before, a platform some fifty feet above the ground had collapsed as Glenn, his brother Bill and another worker were standing on it. I dont think theres ever been anyone like him, before or since.. Business was strong those first few weeks. Every few months the papers carried a new item about a fistfight or car accident. She had been famous since the mid-1920s, when one of her early novels, So Big, won the Pulitzer Prize. As the self-absorbed grandson of billionaire oil baron Red Stevens, Jason Stevens lacks nothingexcept purpose. All through the war years, with little fanfare, he opened new fields, extended old ones, and fattened his accounts. At precisely 8:30 radio listeners around the country heard Lamour welcome them to the gala opening of the Shamrock Hotel. [1], Mark McKenzie wrote the film's incidental music. Undeterred, McCarthy had pried $15 million from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in return for a lien on all his chemical-related assets and a written guarantee that the plant would be up and running in a year. Source of wealth: Computer services, real estate. ABC began broadcasting a weekly radio show from the Emerald Room, Saturday at the Shamrock. In their cumulative 231 years of life, despite Hunts historic purchase of the heart of the great East Texas oil field, Cullens groundbreaking philanthropy, and Richardsons private dinners with the Roosevelts, the so-called Big Four had earned precisely three references in the nations newspaper of record, The New York Times. Many Texans earned their fortune through pipelines and oil. Lou Costello waddled in. Doctors wheeled him out of surgery at St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital, and Faustine placed him in a nursing home. Wealth Nugget:When he was just 38, he announced he would no longer manage other peoples money. He would be King of Texas. Gifts of work, money, friends and learning are among the dozen that Jason must perform before he is eligible for the mysterious "Ultimate Gift" his grandfather's will has for him. Kent threw McCarthy to the floor and was sitting on his chest when four burly Shamrock waiters attacked him and then, along with McCarthy, began chasing him around the club, overturning tables in little explosions of expensive stemware. Trying to find guidance dealing with his family and a strained relationship, Jason starts reading his grandfather's journal. That day at 4:30, 3,000 people crowded the 15-acre building site to watch McCarthy, OBrien, and a host of Texas dignitaries, including two former governors, give speeches from a flag-decked platform. Columns were rose and pink. Wealth Nugget:He was one of the first people to pledge $1 million in aid after Hurricane Harvey.Texans owner Bob McNair is getting his own giant statue. An older woman cried in the lobby. Overall, America's rich just keep getting richer -- thanks. but energys definitely the Lone Star State lifeblood. After seven minutes NBC took the show off the air, citing technical difficulties. For the bulk of his wealth, Mr. Stephens can credit his 34% stake in Endeavor Energy Resources LP, an oil and gas exploration and production company that Forbes values at more than $3 billion. The movie centers on Red Stevens, a billionaire who has passed away and has Given all his family and relatives their inheritance, each of them receives a huge Amount of money but no one was grateful instead they were disappointed and Feels that it wasn't fair. McCarthy would still run things, but under the watchful eye of a comptroller Equitable brought in to oversee his finances. By 1945 he was a very wealthy man, his oil reserves worth $50 million, about $535 million today. ). Geologic charts suggested it was one of the most promising formations to be discovered in years. He mailed gold-filigreed invitations to every movie star and C.E.O. Im a little bit choked up, McCarthy said after several speakers praised his vision. McCarthy dreamed of making the Shamrocks Saint Patricks Day opening a national event, with coverage in Time and Life and newspapers around the world. Inspired by an article about philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, Red vows to become a billionaire. And what was he up to? Wealth Nugget:This year, he gave $160 million to Yale to refurbish the Peabody Museum. In February 1953, after countless scouting expeditions to Nicaragua, Argentina, and Guatemala, McCarthy announced he would finally launch a South American drilling program, on a million acres he had leased in Bolivia. Hunt gave only a single interview, to The Dallas Morning News, in April 1948, then scrambled for cover. Sid Richardson ambled in with his niece; only Howard Hughes failed to appear. It needed immediate and total control. Then OBrien couldnt be found. Cameron, however, was a serial philanderer, and Miller left him several months later upon finding him engaged in an impromptu pool party with 17 young ladies in bikinis. A ceremony featuring Pat OBrien and Texas governor Beauford Jester finally began around midnight, three hours behind schedule. His results were impressive; even when McCarthy found no oil, he drilled fast, worked hard, and came in under budget. It looked as though McCarthy would turn Hollywood topsy-turvy with his ambitious production plans. McCarthy then embarked on a manic tour of Hollywood parties and nightspots, befriending a slew of stars, from Errol Flynn to John Wayne. It would be the Lone Star Taj Mahal, its Eiffel Tower, its London Bridge. It was a sound bet. He tells them that from now on, he and Hanna are going to live differently, that theyre going to stop living for themselves and do some good.. Overall, The Ultimate Life is a pretty bold title for a pretty bold . The website's critical consensus reads, "Though The Ultimate Gift avoids religious speechifying like other Fox Faith films, it's dramatically inert with flat direction. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. On January 18, an updated analysis of McCarthys overall reserves reached Equitables board. Houston shrugged. In fact, the photographer belonged to a team sent by Life magazine, whose Dallas-bureau chief had been mulling a story on Hunt for months. On his return after completing the first task, everything he values is suddenly taken away from him his luxury apartment, his restored muscle car, and all his money and he is left homeless. Ill never stop trying to be the man that you deserve and need.. Trevor Rees-Jones The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. For Warner Mendel, it was the job from hell. And while he does succumb to the temptations of greed, he shows us that hes not a bit prejudiced (as are so many of his peers), hiring Hamilton (a black man) as his lawyer in the midst of the racial divided 1950s. Kissing, mainly, and most of it linked to matrimony. A billionaire with questionable priorities re-examines his life after discovering his grandfather's journal. By 1964 the Cork Club was in decline. Forbesmagazines new rankings of the 400 richest billionaires in America shows just how much money there is the Lone Star State. Making matters worse, his greedy extended family sues him. Its the greatest hotel the world has ever known, he told a reporter. By 1935 he had enough money to try, and his father-in-law introduced him to the talented Halbouty, who had proved to have an uncanny nose for finding oil. If he was to be King of Texas, he needed to assume the role. The walls and carpets were shades of coral and lime. Its executives had opened their first oil lending office in Dallas just weeks before, in May 1945. Over howls of protest from McCarthy, Mendel cut back the July 4 fireworks display. Wealth Nugget:He grossed $7 billion in seven years on seven deals. My wife thinks Im lost. Hamilton replies, You see, money has been your dream, but your legacy is your family. Theyre fucking it up, the Chicago technician mutteredlive, on the air. Lender and borrower arrived at a face-off: Equitable insisted it wouldnt lend McCarthy another dime until he paid what he owed; he was already giving Equitable half his income. Her father was not happy. 2023 Cond Nast. He is also author of The Ultimate Life and The Ultimate Journey, which have inspired another major motion picture to be released September 2013. There he emerged as a nightclub impresario, hosting glittering floor shows packed with dancing girls and Las Vegasstyle entertainers such as Soupy Sales and Mel Torm. [Spoiler Warning] Reds big turning point comes when Hamilton is involved in a car accident. With everything he loves hanging in the balance, Jason Stevens hopes the past will prepare him well for the future. shamrock puts eyes of nation on houston, read the Chronicle headline. According to Forbes, her net worth clocks in at $44.9 billion a. McCarthy withdrew to his mansion, beaten. When every major grass supplier in Texas refused to hand over the 10 acres of Saint Augustine he needed to sod the Shamrocks lawnthey insisted it was needed for other customersMcCarthy simply bought one of the suppliers, trucked in a bulldozer, and laid down the grass himself. When his rich granddad, Howard "Red" Stevens (portrayed by James Garner) died, Jason (Drew Fuller) thought he was going to inherit a piece of the old man's multi-billion dollar estate, but it came with a condition. Though 50 planes entered, McCarthys promotional skills secured him the advance headlines; he held a series of star-studded Hollywood launch parties, then prevailed upon the actress Joan Crawford to christen The Flying Shamrock, smashing a champagne bottle across its nose as flashbulbs burst. It should have been welcome news. Source of wealth: Information technology,CEO of SHI Technology. The news vendors shifted uncomfortably in rented tuxedos. But by 8:20 the P.A. After a day or two of local headlines, Houston yawned. McCarthy was thinking of buying it. Cheers erupted as other stars followed: Robert Ryan, Andy Devine, Alan Hale, Ward Bond, Kirk Douglas, Stan Laurel, Buddy Rogers, Ruth Warrick, Robert Stack. As a gas-station manager, McCarthy was by every account a force of nature. His life changed one night that spring when a girl he knew stopped for gas and brought along a pretty 16-year-old named Faustine Lee, daughter of the wealthy oilman Thomas Lee. Somehow McCarthy managed to wheedle a rig on credit, but the following week it rained so hard it took 11 days just to drag it to the site. By the final day, they had the rig in place but couldnt get the motor running. The security guards had actually been given elocution lessons, shown how to holster their Texas accents, and instructed to address guests with Good evening, sir instead of Howdy. Buxom girls stood ready to hand out little packets of the Irish shamrocks as the guests arrived. No surprise there. The Joe Millionaire season finale is finally here, and as bachelor Steven McBee tries to choose between Annie and Calah, he admits the latter is still a wild card. At seven, shrieks rose from the crowd as limousines began to arrive and disgorge the celebrities. L. Hunt, Hugh Roy Cullen, Sid Richardson, and Clint Murchisonhad emerged as a handful of the richest individuals in America, and no one knew it. At that point, Mendel wrote the board that McCarthy had outlived his usefulness. The pair recently purchased the 66,000 acre N Bar Ranch. Undaunted, McCarthy invested his last thousand dollars in a friends well. Equitables board met and decided gradual control would no longer do. Why Drew Waters can so relate to his role as Red Stevens. Bert Tito Beveridge McCarthy would retain only redemption rights, that is, the rights to regain ownership in the unlikely event that his debt was ever repaid, which at the Shamrocks then rate of profitability, Warner Mendel estimated, might occur as early as 1977. he could think of, then invited dignitaries from 24 foreign countries. The big fields had all been found. Inside the New York offices of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, however, his lenders werent so pleased. When the deadline arrived that August, however, the plant was still comatose. Pat OBrien! Nothing worked. The Ultimate Life is the unsought follow-up to The Ultimate Gift, the 2007 film adaptation of Jim Stovalls sermon as novel. Three thousand had gotten inside. He started five wells simultaneously, but the formation was laden with unstable natural gas. Source of wealth: Restaurant, entertainment and casino empire, second-year owner of Houston Rockets. Wealth Nugget:He offered disco lessons to help pay his way through college. Strawberry Park Ranch was put on the market in 2020 with a listing price of $18.5 million. Jason isnt as naturally driven by ambition as his grandfather was. Wealth Nugget:He launched Titos Vodka 1997 with $90,000 using 19 different credit cards. City: Houston. In 1947, McCarthy purchased a P-38 fighter for $4,000, spent $50,000 upgrading it, then entered it in the cross-country Bendix Trophy Race, from Los Angeles to Cleveland. A spectacular entrance, one columnist termed it. As the war drew to a close, in the summer of 1945, a broker put him in touch with an officer at the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. I cant hear you!. Youre my fortune, Alexia. September brought the strangest fracas to date. In May 1950, McCarthy hammered out a deal in which Metropolitan ponied up an additional $6 million in cash in exchange for liens on his New Ulm field. Four dozen more arrived on an American Airlines charter that afternoon. Though Ferber was always vague about details, her decision to actually tackle a Texas novel coincided with the 194849 boom in stories about its new millionaires. His first three wells found natural gas, but McCarthy was soon obliged to shut down production. So frenetic were McCarthys preparations that year, and so effective Nahas at publicizing them, it sometimes seemed McCarthy was the only oilman in Houston in 1946. In May 2011 they sold their nearly 70% combined interest in Frac-Tech to a partnership lead by Singapore's Temasek Holdings for $3.5 billion. Leslie Alexander In 2017 and 2018, he bet $11,000 on each of the 32 games in the first round of the NCAA Men's March Madness. Red Stevens : [chuckling] Yeah, well, you don't begin to live until you've lost everything. Still, to the chagrin of those in the state who prized discretion and taste, many writers found exactly the kind of Texan they were looking for. Thirteen Houston billionaires made it with one actually living in The Woodlands. Bryan Burrough is a Vanity Fair special correspondent. It was a fateful choice. A thousand people attended his memorial service, where a bar singer from the Shamrocks glory days led renditions of Youll Never Walk Alone and Londonderry Air. They buried him in Houstons Glenwood Cemetery, steps from the grave of Howard Hughes. He had a notary standing by to prove it. By dusk a crowd of 3,000 had surrounded the hotel. Between appearances he purchased a steel factory in Detroit, Houstons largest radio station, and a string of newspapers. Rachel Stevens shuts down 'lies' from ex-fianc Jeremy Edwards after he said he . He worked 20 hours a day, and kept the store open the other 4 by hiring his father. Wealth Nugget:Hes the son of legendary wildcatter H.L. The first billionaire ever is thought to be Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller back in 1916, or perhaps Henry Ford in 1925.. Fast forward some 100 years to 2021: As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage, a record-breaking 660 people became billionaires globally, growing the previous year's number by 30%.. McCarthys legend, in fact, continued to grow. Up and down Fifth Avenue, scores of New York lenders, keenly aware of the massive loans Sid Richardson and Clint Murchison had taken, were flocking to find oilmen of their own to fund. From that point, he tries his best to help Emily have a great life while it lasts, and Emily encourages a romance between Jason and her mother. The Rink/McCarthy protagonist brings all the main characters together in the books early scenes for the massive opening of his Conquistador Hotel in the sprawling city of Hermoso. Serialized in Ladies Home Journal beginning in the spring of 1952, Giant was released that fall to immense sales, quickly leaping onto the New York Times best-seller list. The inspiration for the James Dean character in, Melania Trump Apparently RSVPd F--k Off to Her Husbands Post-Arraignment Speech. Gus repeatedly compares Red to toe fungus, complaining, Every time I get rid of you, you show up again.. It sold his oil fields and pipelines piece by piece over the next few years. In the coming years the clubs reputation grew increasingly sordid. He envisioned a Hollywood-style gala, complete with spotlights and movie stars. Hustling back to his land on the LaPorte highway, he began another well, only to have it ruined when rains caused an adjacent creek to overflow, flooding the site. But not in Texas. In those frantic final weeks, no detail seemed too small for McCarthys notice. Following an accident, Red has a Christmastime epiphany and rethinks his values. Reserves were down a third. The aging lawyer suggests that perhaps a clue about how to respond could be found in his grandfathers journal. McCarthy eventually hit oil for Anderson at Conroe, and he soon had a car, a larger apartment, and a reputation. City: Houston, Source of wealth: Real estate, former NBA franchise owner. He was ashen-faced, visibly shaken and sputtering disjointed sentences, from which I gathered he had just witnessed some horrifying spectacle. Then they kiss, as a butterfly, representing Emily, flies around them. As the Equitable report concludes, Violence did not ensue, and Mendel told McCarthy that there were to be no further illusions as to where the final control lay on matters relating to hotel operations.. Little remembered today, it was McCarthy with his quixotic dreams who, more than H. L. Hunt or Hugh Roy Cullen or his other, wealthier peers, introduced Americans to the changes oil had brought to Texas. It turned out to be a small producer. The Ultimate Gift is a 2006 American drama film directed by Michael O. Sajbel from a screenplay written by Cheryl McKay, which is based on the best selling novel by Jim Stovall, who cameos in the film. Dinah Shore and Mel Torm sang in the Cork Club; Frank Sinatra was booked. Team Hehaka'a Adriano Rama, left, of Red Cloud, dribbles to the basket as Team Tatanka's Lincoln Archambault defends during the Lakota All Star game on Saturday at The Monument. Working in Texas, he gains an early mentor in a ranch. For days he counted the cars passing a busy corner, at Main and McGowen Streets, and armed with his calculations he began paying daily visits to the Sinclair Oil office in suburban Angleton, where he pestered the man in charge, practically begging him to let him open a station. We've updated our Privacy Policy to support new EU data protection law. He returns to America and discovers that Emily's condition has deteriorated, so he arranges for Gus to host a belated Christmas celebration at his home for them. When the network returned live five minutes later, however, the Emerald Rooms microphones failed. Wealth Nugget:He made money during the Great Recession by buying struggling assets. The story of Glenn McCarthy, once Houstons greatest wildcatter, had one final chapter. James Dean as Jett Rink, a character based on McCarthy, in the 1956 film Giant. Glenn not only held himself and the two others securely, Mr. Anderson said, sputtering, he then maneuvered the lowering of all three to the ground. McCarthy had suffered friction burns on both hands, sliding down the derrick to safety. There was no mistaking that McCarthy, however, was the model for the tempestuous wildcatter Jett Rink, who sprang from the pages of the book Ferber decided to call Giant. Here's the full list of all American billionaires, who are worth a collective $2.4 trillion: 1. The young man, William Kent, was in the club on McCarthys invitation and was thus surprised when McCarthy accused him of insulting behavior and punched him in the head. With that kind of collateral, Equitables board felt secure pushing mounds of cash at McCarthy, loan after loan after loan, eventually reaching a total of $51.8 million. The Life and Fortune articles sent dozens of eastern writers scurrying into Texas for the first time, many eager to advance the stereotype of eccentric, nouveau riche Texas zillionaires tossing hundred-dollar bills like confetti. At the film's climax, "Something Changed" is highlighted, a song composed by Contemporary Christian Music-singer Sara Groves. When McCarthy proposed spending $14,000 to fly in a planeload of Hollywood stars for the Shamrocks third-anniversary celebration, Mendel said no. At the last minute McCarthy delayed his appearance and told the network to cancel the first part of the broadcast. When he reached Ervay Street, he stopped for a red light. "[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Making a movie, he discovered, wasnt nearly as difficult as finding oil. He sold the gas stations, bought up several adjoining parcels, and hired a contractor. Describe Red Stevens. Behind closed doors, executives at Equitable and Metropolitan Life pondered whether to foreclose. She said she was writing a book. McCarthy dragged himself back from Bolivia in 1957, bruised, battered, and, if not exactly penniless, no longer a rich man; unable to build a pipeline to transport the natural gas he had discovered, he sold his Bolivian interests to a group of American companies for $1.5 million, much of which he used to repay debts. Had McCarthy stopped there, he might have been recognized as a fifth member of the Big Four, lazing away his days playing cards like Sid Richardson, or sniping at politicians like Hugh Roy Cullen. The train engine and boxcars shown when Red is beginning his journey were not in use in 1941. So Jason plunges into the dramatic backstory of Red Stevens, starting when he was just a poor 15-year-old in Baton Rouge, La., in 1941. He was counting on the Equitables eagerness to produce it. Figuring, navely, that it wouldnt be too difficult to get bank loans on his oil reserves, he announced the project in November 1944. [1], DVD sales were $9.55 million in the first two months following its release. He had a family now, four girls with a little boy on the way, and while never exactly faithful to Faustine, he was a good father, staging impromptu plays for the kids and wrestling with them. By the 1980s it was rarely full, and the grand soires that had once showcased Frank Sinatra and Milton Berle had long since given way to pimply bands playing the proms of teenagers from Pearland and Cypress and Houstons gritty south side. Finally, the day arrived. At that point, McCarthy, in the words of an internal Equitable report, threatened to use physical violence upon Mendel, a man of slight stature. Mendel stood his ground. He looked a little like Barrymores Hamlet. At a swing dance in the 40s, we briefly see two smooching teens. In the postwar years many of the stories fueling this caricature emanated from Hollywood, where McCarthy and other wealthy Texans, like the nouveau riche of every American generation, were drawn by the glamour and glitz and welcomed by money-hungry movie producers and a bevy of young actresses all too happy to take up with Texas sugar daddies. When his rich grandfather, Howard "Red" Stevens, dies, Jason does not expect to inherit anything from his multi-billion-dollar estate. Probably the best-known female novelist of midcentury America, Ferber was a creature of effete New York literary salons, a witty, headstrong member of the Algonquin Round Table, and a lesbian, all of which made her an improbable chronicler of muscular, nouveau riche Texas.