His father’s reaction.
The Hollywood star revealed that his mother, Betty Sue Palmer, was the abuser. Speaking of his father, he recalled his quiet strength, which he observed:
“When my mother would start teasing my father—and of course, in front of the children, it didn’t matter to her—he, strangely enough, remained stoic and never, even though she treated him to terrible things, would just stand there and watch her while she inflicted pain on him, and he swallowed it. He accepted it.”The actor recalled that his father never once lost his temper, attacked his mother, or even spoke harshly to her. Several times, the situation escalated to the point where his father had tears in his eyes as he watched her silently. The worst thing his father did was punch a wall with his fist—once so hard that his hand shattered on the hard concrete—but he never touched her
