Posted on 05/09/2008 9:10:06 PM PDT by zeestephen
"Oliver Reed, Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole were men inextricably linked in the public mind - by their outrageous talent and their pure, unbridled excess...Bound together by mutual rivalry and interlocking friendships, their story encompasses drunken binges of epic proportions, broken marriages, riotous brawls and wanton sexual conquests."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
"My God," she cried out to her husband. "It's Humphrey Bogart!"
"What about him?" her husband shouted back.
"He's in our front yard." "Well, invite him in." Bogart sat down for breakfast with the couple and their children, wolfing down bacon and eggs while mesmerising them with tales of Hollywood.
When he'd finished he stood up, said thank you politely and then walked out the way he'd come in.
Near the end of his days, Bogart reflected upon his life and declared that things had gone downhill after a single bad decision. "I should never have switched," he said, "from Scotch to Martinis."
Classic!
A friend of mine was an associate producer on "The Clansman" which starred Burton. He was drunk on the set every day but they dealt with that.
The problem arose in post-production. All of Burton's lines were slurred. They had to force him to a two week drying out in Mexico then get him into the studio to loop his lines. The total process resulted in a six week delay in distribution.
In those days the studios were the distributors, they controlled the theaters. "The Clansman" was scheduled for a wide release and a multi-week run. It was reduced to one week before it was replaced by an expected block buster (it might have been Jaws). The movie lost money, the studio lost money and the production company went belly up.
I used to have SUCH a crush on Errol Flynn!
and Cesar Romero
and Burt Landcaster
LOL!
Reed WAS a huge star in Britain and Europe.
But he actually turned down the chance in the early 70’s to move to the US and it seems that he turned down not only ‘The Big Mick’ role in The Sting,but also Quint in Jaws after Sterling Hayden turned it down(for tax reasons, as he lived in France, and making Jaws would have meant huge back taxes because he would have had to return to the US).
He was alson in 1969, right at the top of the list to replace Sean Connery as Bond, but Broccoli disliked his hellraising, although he liked Reed and thought him perfect.
Cesar Romero, as you probably know, had no interest in girls. He was also a Leftist.
Burt Lancaster was a far left activist and may have secretly been a Commie. He certainly contributed to many left-wing causes.
While Flynn's politics are debatable, he was taken in by the Spanish "Republicans" and the Cuban revolutionaries of the 1950's. Of course, so were many others. Fidel, Raul and Che initially claimed to be anti-communists and "small d" democrats. In any event, Flynn's reputation as a womanizer was outrageous, even for Hollywood. Besides, a man adored by Olivia de Havilland who decided to play the field instead couldn't have had very good judgment, could he?
Ah, youth. It's wasted on the wrong people in so many ways.
Oh, good grief.
Why do some FReepers insist on throwing out the political/sexual preference bull whenever an actor's name is mentioned?
'may have secretly been a Commie', indeed! You sound like a gossipy old neighbor.
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I had a crush on some actors in my youth...big whoop. It's not like I was taking them home to Mama.
As to the actor's politics and/or sexual preferences?
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
I used a calendar.
Sinatra was born in 1915, and his greatest work and greatest fame were from the late 1930’s to about 1950. Yes, the Rat Pack and a couple number one songs and a couple of movies came after 1950, but he was inarguably past his prime and part of my parent's generation.
Burton was born in 1925, and he was unknown outside the UK until the early 1950’s. Burton's greatest success and greatest fame came in the 1960’s, at the same time as Jagger and the Beatles.
And to say that Burton had more name recognition than Sinatra among the younger people is laughable.
I cannot imagine Audrey Hepburn “raising hell.” And if she did, I don’t want to know. Unless there are pictures.
No. We did see Butch Cassidy, Bullit, etc.
And these are the Frank Sinatra movies in the sixties. But, like Burton, he was not interesting to us. Maybe to our parents.
Lady in Cement (1968) .... Tony Rome The Detective (1968) .... Det. Sgt. Joe Leland Tony Rome (1967) Von Ryan's Express (1965) None But the Brave (1965) Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) .... Robbo "Burke's Law" (1 episode, 1963) A New Kind of Love (1963) The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Ocean's Eleven (1960) .... Danny Ocean Can-Can
I remember Burton reading from the telephone book, and that sounded wonderful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9TVDcctkY
What a moment in Oscar history when Rex Harrison announced the winner of the Best Actress by saying the award goes to, "All my Fair Ladies." (Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, and Audry Hepburn for My Fair Lady)
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