Port Stephens is renowned the world over for its game fishing exploits, often luring the rich and famous to its deep sea waters for a century or more.
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And while there is plenty of published information about the regular visits to our shores of former Australian television personality Bob Dyer, there seems to be little documentation on another famous visitor from the 1970s, the distinguished US film actor Lee Marvin.
Marvin was also a keen gamefish angler who, it is believed, loved to tackle the big marlin off Port Stephens.
Annette Girotto (nee Hill) was 10 years old when she had a brief encounter with the famed movie star in Nelson Bay in 1974.
"My family lived in Bobs Farm at the time and we had travelled into Nelson Bay to go swimming this day when Lee Marvin got off a marlin fishing boat and came ashore," Annette, who now lives in the Wollongong area, wrote in her letter to the Examiner.
"He put his hand down towards me and rustled my hair. The experience was brief and informal and I am reviving the memory for a family bio. I was wondering if you or anyone form the Bay had any footage or information on Lee Marvin's visit to Nelson Bay in 1974."
Ms Girotto said that her family rented Joe Upton's Bobs Farm property between 1974-75, but had left the area due to the separation of her parents around March '75.
"Dad ran pigs on the property, mum was a housewife. We attended Bobs Farm Public School in Marsh Road which had one class room and Mr Spurway was our teacher."
A mother of three, Ms Girotto said that she had changed her childhood name from Hill when she tied the knot.
Anyone with information on the visit by Mr Marvin to Nelson Bay can contact the Examiner via Facebook messenger or email portstephens@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
