Editing Slim Pickens (section)

===''Dr. Strangelove''===
Pickens played [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] pilot Major T.&nbsp;J. "King" Kong in 1964's ''Dr. Strangelove''.<ref name=imdb>{{IMDb title|293282|Inside: 'Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'}}</ref> [[Stanley Kubrick]] cast Pickens after [[Peter Sellers]], who played three other roles in the film, sprained his ankle and was unable to perform in the role due to having to work in the cramped cockpit set. Pickens was chosen because his accent and comic sense were perfect for the role of Kong, a cartoonishly patriotic and [[Gung ho|gung-ho]] B-52 commander. He was not given the script for the entire film, but only those portions in which he played a part. Three memorable scenes featuring Pickens were:

[[File:Slim-pickens riding-the-bomb enh-lores.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|Slim Pickens as Major "King" Kong riding a nuclear bomb to oblivion in ''Dr. Strangelove'']]

* Giving a monologue meant to steel his crew for their duty after he receives the definitive order to bomb a strategic target in the [[Soviet Union|USSR]].
* Reading aloud to his crew the contents of their survival kits: after listing the contents usable for barter with Russian women (including prophylactics - in possibly the first mention of [[condom]]s in a Hollywood film - nylons, lipstick, and a [[M1911 pistol]] with ammunition), Major Kong says "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good time in Big D [Dallas] with all this stuff": this line had to be re-dubbed, with the reference to Dallas being changed to "weekend in Vegas", after the scheduled November 22, 1963 screening for critics was cancelled due to President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s assassination.<ref name=imdb />
* Best known of all - and an enduring historical film image of the American-Soviet Cold War era - Major Kong riding a dropped [[Thermonuclear weapon|H-bomb]] to a certain death while whooping and waving his [[cowboy hat]] like a [[rodeo]] performer riding a bronco or a bull, not knowing that its detonation will trigger a Soviet doomsday device.

Pickens credited ''Dr. Strangelove'' as a turning point in his career. Previously, he had been "Hey you" on sets, and afterwards he was addressed as "Mr. Pickens". He once said, "After ''Dr. Strangelove'', the roles, the dressing rooms, and the checks all started gettin' bigger." Pickens said he was amazed at the difference one movie could make.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} He also said, though, that working with Stanley Kubrick proved too difficult due to Kubrick's perfectionist style of directing with multiple takes for nearly every shot, especially with the climactic H-bomb riding scene, which was done in just over 100 [[take]]s. In the late 1970s, Pickens was offered the part of [[Dick Hallorann]] in Kubrick's adaptation of [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'', but Pickens stipulated that he would appear in the film only if Kubrick was required to shoot Pickens's scenes in fewer than 100 takes.<ref>{{cite book |year=1991 |title=Scatman: An Authorized Biography of Scatman Crothers |publisher=W. Morrow |first1=James |last1=Haskins |first2=Helen |last2=Crothers |page=[https://archive.org/details/scatmanauthorize0000hask/page/178 178] |isbn=0688085210 |url=https://archive.org/details/scatmanauthorize0000hask/page/178}}</ref> Instead, Pickens's agent showed the script to Don Schwartz, the agent of [[Scatman Crothers]], and Crothers accepted the role.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKMZ4_i60LYC&pg=PA315 |page=315 |last=Baxter |first=John |title=Stanley Kubrick: A Biography |publisher=Basic Books |year=1997 |isbn=0786704853 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>