Your Incredible Neighbors: Versatile OLLI class leader dissects movies

Phil Gray is a professor who is as comfortable stirring a steaming stew pot as he is discussing a steamy movie.

He’s also as competent leading a hike through the Santa Rita Mountains as he is tracking down obscure wineries.

Beginning Oct. 8, Gray will lead a class on “Deconstructing Film” for the Green Valley program of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at The University of Arizona.

He and other OLLI study group leaders will preview their fall courses at a “Meet the Leaders” program from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 20, at the Joyner-Green Valley Library, 601 N. La Canada.

OLLI information/registration packets are available now at the library.

Gray’s class will examine the decisions and choices a writer makes in developing a film script, explained the retired professor of communication at Northern Illinois University.

“Body Heat” starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner is one of the films to be dissected.

“Critics have named it one of the top five ‘steamy’ movies of all time,” Gray said. “Most good stories are based on classical mythology, and ‘Body Heat’ clearly illustrates how the writers went about creating characters that exemplify the power of myth, such as the protagonist, antagonist, love interest and the ‘Greek Chorus,’ which warns the protagonist of pending ‘doom’.”

Conversely, the scenario of Gray’s own life is devoid of tempestuous classic myth. It’s rooted instead in the wholesome hometown of Holgate, Ohio, where his family of five lived and worked close to the land.

“I had the kind of rural Americana childhood you would read about in the 1930s and ‘40s,” he said.

His father was an agricultural teacher and advisor to Future Farmers of America. His mother was a stay-at-home mom, who taught her youngest son how to cook.

When left unbridled in the kitchen at age 10, he baked his first cake. Undeterred by his older brother’s critique - “It bounces” - Gray continued to hone his culinary skills. Later he worked as a grill cook, a job that helped finance his college education. Today in Green Valley an invitation to a dinner prepared by Gray and his wife Kaye is a not-to-be-missed occasion.

As a youngster, Gray was active in 4-H and raised chickens. He frugally saved what he earned from this avocation and banked income from his part-time job during high school. By graduation, he had accumulated enough money to help his family financially during an emergency.

Small town life was not all work, and a simple childhood pleasure nurtured a passion that would lead to his creative career.

“My folks would give me a dime, and I’d walk down to the movie theater,” Gray recalled. “I became fascinated with movies.”

The Dairy Bar, which he managed during high school, was housed in a movie theater owned by the family of the attractive young girl working at the popcorn stand. That girl, Kaye, later became his wife, mother of their four children and partner in sharing an active life here.

The creative spark ignited by dime movies inspired Gray’s pursuit of a double major in theater and English at Ohio Northern University.

“I was the technical director for ONU’s theater department, and also did a lot of directing and acting,” he said.

During his first teaching job in Geneva, Ohio, he directed student plays. Later he taught drama at Crestview Junior High School in Columbus, Ohio, while also pursuing a master’s degree at Ohio State University. Upon completion of his master’s program, he accepted a teaching assistantship at OSU while working on his doctoral degree in communication.

Gray’s teaching and theater career came to fruition at Northern Illinois University, where screen and media writing were among the subjects the professor taught while serving as assistant chair of the Department of Communication and coordinator of the academic television studios.

For more than 30 years, he directed, acted and designed sets for Stagecoach Players, an Illinois theater group that has performed continuously since 1947.

“Because of the university, there was some very good work,” he said. “I would compare it to Live Theatre Workshop or Beowulf Alley Theatre in Tucson.”

After their permanent move to Green Valley in 1999, the Grays discovered the energizing milieu of the area, a community dedicated to keeping retirees’ minds and bodies active.

“We went to the Hiking Club one time and enjoyed it so much,” he recalled. “You see such diversity in Arizona. It’s like going from the desert to the top of the Colorado Rockies.”

He’s now a hike leader for the club, helps keep its records and assists with orientation.

Scanning the Grays’ vibrant living room, you see evidence of another layer of his multi-level talent. Colorful designs flow rhythmically above the patio doors.

“They’re Hispanic motifs largely from New Mexico,” he explained. “I have a modest bit of talent.”

That talent also is exhibited in vases, luminaries and tiles throughout the home, originality that emerged after the Grays took classes at the Clay Studio.

In addition to “Body Heat,” Gray’s class will view “Being There” with Peter Sellers because it illustrates how a film editor takes photos and splices them together so the viewer sees a series of interwoven scenes rather than watching each scene in its totality before the next scene.

“This strategy significantly increases the pacing of the film, as well as sustaining viewer interest,” he explained.

“Phil has wide experience with drama. He sees things I’d never thought about,” said Jim Robbins, study group leader for “Shakespeare: From Page to Stage,” another OLLI/GV class.

“And when his tongue is working, his brain is engaged.”