The 98th Academy Awards ceremony were held earlier this month. While some Duke alumni were part of the celebrations, the connection between movies and Duke Health is probably not an expected one. One of our most popular past blog posts is When Hollywood came to Duke: The Filming of Brainstorm at the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine & Environmental Physiology. We encourage you to revisit that post to learn more about the filming of Natalie Wood’s last film and view photographs of her in Duke’s hyperbaric chamber.
After learning about that film’s connection to Duke, we were curious to learn more about other films that might have been filmed at Duke Hospital. A search of digitized newsletters of the Intercom publication revealed a couple fun anecdotes of Duke Health connections to 1970s movies. In the July 12, 1974 issue, there is an article about an employee from the Department of Radiology’s efforts to create a documentary film with Duke students about Portsmouth, North Carolina. David Page, a photographic engineer in the Radiation Physics section, served as narrator, part-time cameraman, and technical director for this 15 minute educational film about the village and island of Portsmouth. The historic village of Portsmouth was once a fishing and shipping village, but today no humans live there permanently.
Another article features a story of a Duke School of Medicine alumnus who appeared in front of the camera in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Dr. James Shore graduated from the Duke School of Medicine in 1965 and went on to serve as chairman of the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine. Cuckoo’s Nest filmed at Oregon State Hospital. Dr. Shore appeared in a scene as a member of the hospital board deciding the fate of the main character played by Jack Nicholson.
In 1977, the film set came directly to Duke Hospital when a Taiwanese film The Eternal Love filmed for a couple of weeks in June. The film tells the story of Fred Chan who was treated for cancer at Duke Hospital while studying engineering at NC State University. After he died on February 8, 1974, his father wrote a book about his son’s illness, his determination to continue his studies, and support of those around him. Scenes of the film were shot in the operating room, radiation therapy, the PDC lobby, Baker House, and entrances to the hospital at the Woodhall Building and Davison Building. Dr. Harvey Cohen also played himself in the film as Fred Chan was his patient.
We encourage you to explore past digitized versions of Intercom and let us know if you find any other fascinating stories.