The week after President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Douglas Rill left his New York boarding school and took a Trans World Airlines flight to rejoin his mother in Palm Beach, Florida. Only 9 years old, he wasn't the least bit afraid of flying solo.
Rill has been as synonymous with the Sunshine State as flip flops and barrel tile roofs ever since.
Not counting a fleeting stint as a young high school teacher, representing Palm Beach County home buyers and sellers is the only career Rill ever had. In his 52 years in the business, the broker at Century 21 America's Choice in West Palm Beach figures he has handled close to 10,000 sales.
"And I'm looking forward to the next one," he said in his signature bass voice that helped him land hosting roles for local real estate radio shows in the 1970s and '80s.
More than a decade ago, a friend who was the outgoing chairman of the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film and Theatre recommended that the Hollywood icon consider Rill to take over the job. Reynolds, a longtime Palm Beach County resident, asked Rill for 10 references.
"He told me, 'Usually when I do that, three people love you, three people hate you and the rest are somewhere in between,'" Rill recalled. "But he said: 'With you, everybody loved you. That rarely happens."
Rill landed the gig and the two became pals. When Reynolds regaled Rill with stories of his years-long frustrations in trying to sell his waterfront home in the northern part of the county, Rill agreed to take the listing.
At one point, Reynolds wanted close to $15 million, Rill said, but he had to gently tell the star of "Deliverance" and "Smokey and the Bandit" that the home wasn't worth nearly that much based on comparable sales.
The home finally sold to another Reynolds associate, Chuck Modica, for $3.8 million in 2015. Rill and the buyer's broker negotiated a sale-and-leaseback in which Modica let the aging star stay in the home at reduced rent until Reynolds died three years later at age 82.
"He was such a personality," Rill said. "Everywhere we went, fans would come up and talk to us. But on a personal level, he would sit quietly and read books. He considered himself an introvert. That always surprised me."
Four questions
What are your hobbies? "Music, singing in the choir. I earned a music scholarship to Jacksonville University, but I didn't take it. I love violin concertos."
What is your favorite spot in your home? "I call it my Zen room. No TV. A nice couch and sitting chair to read and relax."
What would you change about your home and why? "The kitchen, like everybody else. It has teak wood cabinets, but my wife would prefer white on white."
What are some of the strangest things that have happened to you on the job? "That I can talk about? I once was showing a house to a sheriff and there were some funny little plants growing in the garage. He smelled it and didn't care. But he didn't buy the house.
"Another time, we had a caravan of Realtors going to see a property we just listed. The owner knew we were coming. I knocked. No answer. So, I had a key and opened the door and heard water in the master bathroom. There was a woman taking a shower. She had shampoo in her hair and couldn't see us. I turned around, put my index finger to my lips and escorted the other 25 Realtors out quietly. We banged on a window and finally she came to the door in a robe. She never knew."