Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 15, 1994 TAG: 9401150309
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL NOWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
The Queens College professor tutored "Best of Families" stars Kelly McGillis, Harry Hamlin and Keith Carradine, but he also taught Susie Newsom Lynch - whom McGillis portrays in the film - nearly 30 years ago.
Lynch's story has been called one of the South's most shocking family murder tales, detailed in the book "Bitter Blood," which has been made into a miniseries airing Sunday and Tuesday nights on CBS (at 9 on WDBJ-Channel 7).
"I must admit it's very creepy for me to work on this film, because I knew so many of the characters so well," Hadley said in an interview in his office, decorated with movie memorabilia and photographs of himself with actors and actresses he has coached.
"Best of Families" is a bizarre saga that centers on Lynch, who left her husband, Tom, and took her two young sons to move in with her cousin, Fritz Klenner.
The story begins in 1984 with the mysterious slayings of Tom Lynch's mother and sister at their Kentucky home. Then, Susie Newsom Lynch's parents and her grandmother were slain in their Winston-Salem home.
Authorities were closing in on Klenner in June 1985, but couldn't make the arrest. Susie Newsom Lynch and Klenner perished when their Chevrolet Blazer exploded as they were being followed through the North Carolina countryside by a caravan of police cars.
The Lynches' young sons, John and Jim, also were in the truck. Police said they had been poisoned with cyanide and shot in the head before the explosion.
For Hadley, working on the film brought strong emotions. He still has a copy of Susie's college transcripts from 1964-66, which included three of his courses at Queens, a private liberal arts college in Charlotte.
"She was a pretty girl, but a rather unremarkable person," he said. "I think this explains how she allowed herself to become involved with someone like Klenner. She was rather weak."
Hadley can remember her stopping by his office to chat, often at the end of the day. She always sat in the same chair and usually wanted to talk about the British royalty, he said.
"One time, I came back to my office and she had rearranged all of the photographs on the wall of the (British) royal family," he recalled. "When I told her she really should have asked for my permission, she became very angry.
"She shouted: `They were not in the proper order!' I had never seen that look in her eye. She looked like she could have killed."
Less than 30 minutes later, she was back in his office, apologizing and reminding Hadley how much she enjoyed him as a teacher, he said.
When Susie transferred from Queens to Wake Forest University in 1967, she met Tom Lynch, a member of the basketball team. They were married and moved to New Mexico.
The couple later divorced and she moved in with Klenner in North Carolina. She also brought along her two sons, the subjects of a bitter custody battle between her and Tom Lynch.
Police said the battle led Klenner to murder Tom Lynch's mother and sister, as well as her own parents and grandmother. All had tried to help Tom Lynch win custody of the children, authorities said.
Hadley was not aware of the family's troubles until he read about Susie's death in the newspaper.
"You can imagine what a shock it was when I heard about what happened," he said. "I had lost touch with Susie after she and Tom moved to New Mexico. I didn't know she had come back to North Carolina."
Despite the personal connection, Hadley accepted when he was asked to coach the actors in "Best of Families."
He has worked with a number of acting legends; he coached Leigh for a stage production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1949, Charlton Heston for "Chiefs," Faye Dunaway for "Cold Sassy Tree" and Duvall for "Rambling Rose."
He enjoys the challenge of helping an actor acquire the perfect accent for a role, whether it's an Army general from Charleston, S.C., or a working-class mother from Baltimore.
He knows it's a daunting task.
"If I had another lifetime, I wouldn't be able to learn every dialect in just North Carolina and South Carolina," Hadley said. "There are literally hundreds of them."
by CNB