Bruce Dern dubbed 'legend' at film fest

Bruce Dern helped launch the inaugural Gold Coast International Film Festival Wednesday night, telling salty stories from his decades-long career working with Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Nicholson and John Wayne before a nearly full house at the Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington.

The evening included a personalized video from Dern's longtime friend Francis Ford Coppola, who congratulated the festival organizers and sent birthday wishes to Dern, who turns 75 on Saturday. Dern also accepted the festival's first-ever Legend Award.

Dern's tales included taking a beating from Wayne while filming "The Cowboys," consoling Marilyn Monroe before she began reluctantly filming "The Misfits" and meeting an out-of-work Bette Davis on the set of the TV series "Gunsmoke."

As a young actor emerging in the 1960s and '70s, he said, "We still had a chance to work with the legends."

Dern also boasted a connection of sorts to the North Shore, which served as the setting for F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," having starred as Tom Buchanan in a 1974 film adaptation of the novel.

Dern's appearance provided a boldface name to the fledgling Gold Coast festival, which runs through Sunday at theaters around the North Shore.With a lineup of more than 40 feature films and at least a dozen actors and filmmakers scheduled to attend, the festival aims to establish itself as a yearly cultural event in a famously wealthy area and to bring tourist dollars to suburban main streets in towns like Roslyn, New Hyde Park and Great Neck.

"Support this festival," Dern told his audience. "Get back into the movies."