Old Hollywood gossip & stories

[Piff paff puff]

They were bearding for each other essentially.Spencer had way more than one or even a few homosexual experiences.He was at least Bi,probably gay(google Scotty Bowers and what he has to say about Tracy) but he struggled a lot with it,hence the heavy drinking.I do think they genuinely loved each other,platonically, and she cared for him right up until his death.Kate was definitely gay.

Thank you that makes perfect sense, why he was so troubled and religion and drinking and guilt no doubt.

 

[thegirlscout]

Why does everyone think Kate was gay?

 

[L3moning]

Why does everyone think Kate was gay?

There were a few from that era who were, iirc, so maybe it's just that.

 

[Piff paff puff]

Isn't there a new Charlie Chaplin documentary film being /is released? Anyone saw /seeing it?

 

[CherryAcid]

They were bearding for each other essentially.Spencer had way more than one or even a few homosexual experiences.He was at least Bi,probably gay(google Scotty Bowers and what he has to say about Tracy) but he struggled a lot with it,hence the heavy drinking.I do think they genuinely loved each other,platonically, and she cared for him right up until his death.Kate was definitely gay.

I think you can take everything Scotty said with a grain of salt as according to him everyone was gay and selling themselves for sex.

 

[Mollywobbles]

Dirk Bogarde did not become big in Hollywood probably because he was gay but his memoirs are very well written and worth reading. There was a lot more to him than being a matinee idol. He was part of the advance party to relieve Belsen concentration camp and wrote about it very movingly.

He was at school with my father who said he was an obnoxious little tit.
His memoirs about Belsen are accurate, apart from the fact that he used other people’s experience as his own. My father was one of the first people to drive into Belsen and was not impressed that Bogarde’s behaviour but would not elaborate on that

 

[Dotty Merton]

Sorry just found this thread, fantastic stuff, just had to catch up with it all!

As an addition to the below you maybe interested to know that the film 'Apocalypse Now' is based on what could of happened to Sean. The photographer character played by Dennis Hopper, is meant to be Sean. Tim Page war photographer and close friend of Sean back in the day still visits Cambodia where Sean went 'missing' to this day trying to find his remains. Met Tim in the pub a few times, he is infamous for always having a cam in one hand and a joint in the other.

Something I rarely see mentioned these days:

Errol Flynn first wife was the very beautiful French actress Lili Damita, and they had a son, named Sean Flynn, after which they immediately divorced and Sean grew up not really knowing his father. Sean resembled his father physically and became an actor, but wanted more from life than dress up and pretend stuff. So he started working as a freelance photojournalist in the 1960s. He did several tours covering the war in Vietnam for various media outlets. On his last tour in 1970, he and another photojournalist named Dana Stone took off on motorbikes with the aim of interviewing some Viet Cong guerillas at a checkpoint where other foriegn journalists had already been disappeared. This was a bad idea, as they were immediately taken at gunpoint and marched into the woods, and from that point until this day, neither were seen or heard from ever again. Both are believed to have been murdered, with reports that they were held as prisoners by the Viet Cong then turned over to the Cambodian Khmer Rouge who killed them.

Last photo of Flynn (left) and Stone on the day they were taken by the Viet Cong:


View attachment 537310


There's a really great write-up about Sean Flynn's life and death here:

THE SEAN FLYNN I KNEW (pythiapress.com)

Lily Damita apparently spent endless money trying to find her son after his disappearance and had him declared legally dead 14 years later in 1984. Occasionally someone in Cambodia turfs up a body of a westerner and stories go around that it's Sean Flynn or Dana Stone. Genetic testing has ruled this out every time.

According to Francis Coppola, in his film Apocalypse Now, Dennis Hopper's photojournalist character was based on Sean Flynn.

 

[Mollywobbles]

In The Godfather, the book not the film, some of the characters are based on real people. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ava Gardiner, Vincente Minnelli

 

[Chita]

In The Godfather, the book not the film, some of the characters are based on real people. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ava Gardiner, Vincente Minnelli

I love that book.
AND the films.
I even like Godfather 3.
I wish they'd make a fourth.

 

[Misbehaving]

The death of Carole Landis has always stayed with me. She took an overdose, but there is some speculation of foul play as well, by Rex Harrison of all people. Shocking if there is any truth in it but, apparently he had form for being very cruel to his wives and girlfriends.

Poor Carole such a beautiful and vivacious and talented lady, she nearly became a big star and seems to have been mainly forgotten about these days.

Google Image Result for https://www.timelesstheater.com/uploads/8/7/8/4/87845814/published/458774412.jpg?1623077601

THE MURDER OF CAROLE LANDIS

Here is a very interesting article written by Carole Landis' niece Tammy Powell. It poses an interesting alternate idea that Carole did no...

greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com

.

He watched a lover die rather than call for help, he drove two women to suicide, meet Rex 'the rotter' Harrison

He watched a lover die rather than call for help. He drove two women to suicide. He was so rude his own butler threatened him with a shotgun. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, the poisonous truth about Rex Harrison

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Piff paff puff]

any other Phillips Holmes fans? God he was so good looking
Have to keep rewinding whilst watching him as I just can't concentrate
Died in ww2 what a waste of talent

 

[CallMeHollywood]

I love this thread! Not that old but the whole story around ronni chasen’s murder is so odd. Also, if we’re discussing Thelma, Aggie Underwood needs a mention. She was incredible and so intertwined in old Hollywood gossip and legend.

 

[thegirlscout]

Merle Oberon believed that Charlotte Selby was her mother and Constance was her half sister. In fact Constance was Merle’s mother, having given birth to her at the age of 12. Charlotte herself gave birth to Constance after a rape at the age of just 14.

 

[LaraQ]

Merle Oberon believed that Charlotte Selby was her mother and Constance was her half sister. In fact Constance was Merle’s mother, having given birth to her at the age of 12. Charlotte herself gave birth to Constance after a rape at the age of just 14.

God,I didn't know anything about this.Awful.

 

[thegirlscout]

God,I didn't know anything about this.Awful.

Really shocked me when I read it. I was curious about her heritage because I know she tried to hide a lot of it due to having a mixed race heritage. Looking online her father is was the partner of her grandmother. When Merle was born, her grandmother was only 26.

 

[roarke]

In The Godfather, the book not the film, some of the characters are based on real people. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ava Gardiner, Vincente Minnelli

The series they’re making about The Godfather looks excellent

 

[Jelly Bean]

The series they’re making about The Godfather looks excellent

Ooh I hadn't heard about that. Is about the making of the films? I heard a programme on Radio 4 recently about the making of The Godfather and it was very interesting. How Coppola had to fight hard for some of his choices eg the casting of Brando.

 

[roarke]

It includes a lot of the Hollywood players

 

[Honeytheonions]

Another film idol that intrigued me was Jayne Mansfield,I read years ago that she had very high IQ very intelligent but she hid it and played the dumb blonde.
Mansfield is often revered as the "smartest dumb blonde in Hollywood." She had an I.Q. of 149, could speak five languages, and played the violin and piano. However she was aware the public didn't care. "They're more interested in 40-21-35," she said.30 Jan 2019

I watched a very interesting program on her supposed missing millions. Fascinating stuff.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

It includes a lot of the Hollywood players

I had no idea about this!! I am now very excited. It also has Matthew Goode in it so that can't be a bad thing.