One of two daughters of successful, Italian-born parents, Carole was born first generation in the San Francisco Bay Area. She wasn’t certain what she wanted to do after she graduated from Catholic schools and eventually earned a dental nursing degree. What she was certain of, in the mid-70s, was that living in her tiny Victorian flat in The Haight (Ashbury) was a vibe she loved.
When she left to explore the West, she became a film unit manager in Park City, Utah sent to work there on what would become a popular film, based on the best-selling, award-winning novel- The Joy Luck Club.
As a hippie in the 70s and 80s, Carole never would have guessed her future would include being a sought-after location manager working in film all over the West. It would become the fullest chapter in her life. She stayed in the business until she retired at age 70.
Being the garbageman’s daughter was something she had always been proud of. Her father looked for ways to make trash into building blocks- after sending some of his team over to Japan- in the 60s- to learn how to re-purpose trash. He eventually re-covered areas of the dump which were then suitable for building upon in Santa Clara County.
Carole remembers her father also cared about the people who worked for him. He made certain they had a living wage and housing and vehicles as needed. He cared for those less fortunate and spent a lifetime finding ways to “show up.”
Carole says she flunked out of the University of Portland so she could be a free spirit in the San Francisco of the 60s. She liked criminology but claims- she lacked focus. When she finally decided she needed a car, Dad bought her a huge Plymouth land yacht, four-door with a plexiglass steering wheel flecked with gold. That wheel wasn’t a circle but rather, a square. The car came complete with glass packs. If you know, you know.
Her father knew she needed independence and a sense of self. He saw to it she finished dental nursing school so she would have a trade and skills to fall back on. She never once made her living as a dental nurse.
When the Haight got too rough, she moved across The Bay to Berkeley for two years. It was the era of the Vietnam war and her cousin had lost his leg fighting in that war. He was in the Navy, and he was sent home to the Oak Knoll Hospital in Oakland. By day, Carole would protest the war on Telegraph Avenue and by night she would smuggle in for her cousin- “dirty” magazines. There was a total of twelve guys in that ward and soon she was bringing them all “treats.” Which eventually led to stuffing five guys in the land yacht and driving over to The Condor, the famed topless club on Broadway in San Francisco. Two of the guys decided to check their prosthetic arms in the coat check.
Protests took lots of forms in those days.
In 1969, Carole decided to explore the West. She hitched east from Berkley, stopping at the I-80 Kimball Junction in Utah. Herb Armstrong (think Park City’s Armstrong farm) put her in his pick-up truck and drove to City Park where she spent the night. She already knew guys in town- Neil Plumber and Kenny Binatena. They helped her get a job at the Alamo, now the No Name bar, drawing beers and burning burgers. She worked with Dave “Alamo” Mueller, who became a life-long friend.
She met all kinds of characters at the Alamo- including Jay and Virginia Meehan. They had a son, Smokey. And all became part of her family of choice.
Long before she worked on set with Robert Redford- she met him- and Paul Newman- when she was a ski hostess at the Park City Mountain Resort by day. By night, she was a waitress the steak house Car 19 (now Flanagan’s) on Main Street. The hostesses wore those scooped out/push ‘em up ski suits of the 70s. The actors had come to ski and while they were all waiting for their lift passes in resort president Warren King’s office, Newman helped himself to some her french fries. It would be almost a decade before she met with Redford again on the set of – A River Runs Thru It.
A few years later, while sharing a drink at Miletti’s on Main Street with Stan Avery-one of the Sunn Classic folks new to town- she tells him she is ready to get out of the restaurant/bar business. He asks if she can drive, and then sends her to the Sunn Classic production office on Main Street where her career in film begins. She was a production assistant. (Sunn Classics existed in Park City from 1974-1987.)
Eventually she meets Patrick Markey, who is the production manager on a mini-series called Dream West. Markey sends her off on wild tasks- buffalo wrangling in Wyoming, putting a film crew on the Colorado River, and ending that job at Aspen Grove, above Sundance Resort, in the middle of winter. Dealing with camera crew, wranglers, and post-holing horses were among her duties.
And when it came time for Markey to pick a crew for A River Runs Through It in Montana, he invites her work on the set. She becomes a problem solver and by the time Redford is ready to film, The Horse Whisperer, he tells Markey-get me that Fontana girl. Patrick becomes her mentor and her lifelong friend.
By 2008 Carole was the location manager for The Maldonado Miracle, filmed in Eureka, Utah. Selma Hayek was the director. The future fashionista wore overalls and no makeup on the set. Carol remembers a twilight when the Mexican migrant workers-playing extras in a scene- were finishing their day with a traditional Mexican song. Selma joined in Spanish. The set was hushed. The song ended, the extras left, and filming resumed. That film would premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 at the Eccles Center. Selma had a reserved seat for every single person who had worked on that film. And then she invited cast and crew on stage.
Carole retired from the business in 2016.
From bar wench to location manager, Carole has lived behind the camera for some of the most memorable movie scenes in recent history.
These days Carole travels between Park City and northern Italy – to a little village hundreds of years old. She stays in a modest stone house with wood-fired heat and water from a mountain spring, about 500 yards from the house. The place is called Suzzi- in the Apennine Mountains, birthplace of her grandfather, and his father, and his father.
Carole still loves her tiny bird’s nest of a house at the end of Sandridge Alley that looks over Old Town, and at Treasure Mountain. Her solid family of choice-with humans of all ages on various places on the planet-keep her company.
She engages in community issues- as needed.
And Carole still loves a good wine, a good film and a good political debate…