Remembering That Time I Cooked a Vegetarian Thanksgiving for Beau Bridges

A big surprise awaited me in 1974 when I answered my baby-blue rotary phone a few days before Thanksgiving. It was my friend Joe Baltake, who reviewed movies and plays for the Philadelphia Daily News. Joe had just reviewed the comedic play Who’s Who in Hell, starring Olympia Dukakis, Beau Bridges and the play’s author, Peter Ustinov.

Joe had asked the cast members what they were doing for Thanksgiving. “I’m a vegetarian,” Beau told Joe. “Do you know of any good vegetarian restaurants in Philly?”

Joe was calling to ask whether I, also a vegetarian, would be interested in preparing a turkey-free Thanksgiving dinner for Beau Bridges. Yes, that Beau Bridges—esteemed member of the American acting-royalty family led by his father, Lloyd Bridges. Beau had started performing as a child, as had his younger brother, Jeff Bridges. 

I immediately said yes.

When Joe and Beau appeared at the front door of my rented Merchantville Victorian house on Thanksgiving, I tried hard not to gape at the movie star’s famous face. At that time, I was a supposedly intrepid reporter and weekly columnist for the Courier-Post newspaper—but I was actually a shy 24-year-old and was frankly tongue-tied for most of the afternoon. 

My sister Kathy Kinner, a home-economics teacher, had helped me plan the meatless meal. I made everything from scratch: appetizers, a four-cheese lasagna, baked sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and apple and pumpkin pies—plus the classic green bean casserole, invented in Camden by Haddonfield resident Dorcas Reilly, the Campbell Soup Company’s head recipe developer.

After dinner, Beau, Joe and I gathered on my couch to watch Beau’s 1970 film The Landlord on a white sheet tacked to my living room wall. Joe had brought along a projector and the two reels.

Need I describe how magical it was to sit next to the star of the movie while watching it? As the end credits rolled, Beau smiled and proclaimed, “Damn! That really is a good film!”

That day, I presented him with bird prints created by my artist father, Robert S. Leap—the same two that are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Beau kindly phoned my father to thank him.

Before leaving, Beau carried  a pile of dirty dishes to my dishwasher-less kitchen and proceeded to hand wash them before grabbing a Dobie pad to scour the pots and pans. Come on! Was Beau Bridges the perfect dinner guest or what?

After that Thanksgiving, watching a movie or TV show starring Beau Bridges usually prompted me to wonder how many other famous actors would be gracious enough to join a non-celebrity in her humble home for a meal and a movie. 

Not many, I’d venture to say.