I admire and resent these men at the same time.
Richard Burton, a fantastic actor with an incredible voice, who destroyed his body and robbed us all (including himself) of much joy by dying at age 58.
Oliver Reed, an actor who seemed to glide effortlessly from displaying barely controlled rage to uproarious laughter in the blink of an eye, dead at age 61.
Richard Harris. He lived to 72 and was rediscovered as an actor AFTER age 55 or so, but even he knew his drinking had shortened his life. He was larger than life and loved living. I loved his stories - even those not about drinking. And now he’s dead.
Peter O’Toole, still kicking at age 75. His career has rebounded lately after many spotty years because of the after effects of drinking.
I admired the talents of all of these men, but I also resent them (even though I have no right to) for denying the world their amazing talents for something as foolish and empty as booze. I am not againt drinking. I just see no reason to worship a false god like booze offering up your talents and abilities as a sacrifice to drunkeness.
I wish Richard Harris was still around. I would love to hear his story about he and Peter O’Toole playing tricks on one another because O’Toole got a part that Harris originally wanted. Harris told the story on the Tonight Show sometime after Johnny Carson retired if I remember correctly. One of the funniest damn stories I ever heard.
I think the booze was part of generational image of toughness, e.g., Humphrey Bogart was a hard drinker on the big screen as in real life, and the same could be said about Lee Marvin and numerous other actors. Back then drinking was more fashionable — The Thin Man who was always tipsy or drunk at some Ritzy classy party — or socially acceptable after prohibition — think of all the movies where somebody walks into a room and pours himself a drink or is offered one. But even today actors themselves drink a lot to avoid the boredom of waiting around the set for hours ready to do their part. In the case of Richard Burton, I believe he used drink to escape — and I am perhaps very wrong in believing this — the guilt of leaving his wife. I think John Lennon also had the same problem and used drugs an alcohol to avoid dealing with his feelings about leaving his first wife. Like I said, I could be very wrong on this and Burton could have been a heartless, remorseless, heel to his wife from the very beginning. If so, then maybe excessive drinking is just something the Welsh traditionally suffer from, as did his friend Dylan Thomas — as people who are poetic and creative are in constant need of drink as a stimulant or sedative to their soul. Burton always admired his poetic Welsh heritage and maybe that translates into a fondness for drink and drinkers.
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.