Old Hollywood gossip & stories

[Tilly41]

In my youth I was a cleaner for an elderly woman and she and her husband used to live next to Bob Hope. She told me this and told me he was the most evil terrible man she had ever met. I always tried to get specifics out of her but she would never say any more except she hated him and he was evil. Lol

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

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

 

[Bluenose70💙]

I love Old Hollywood, every Sunday there would be a movie on in the 70s/80s when I was growing up, I used to watch with my grandma then layer at tea time it was The Muppet Show then at 9.00pm Tales of the Unexpected the music always scared me to death then I was frightened going to bed! I used to sit and read my Gran's Picture Review annuals and Picture Show ( I still have them) and I loved looking at the pictures of the beautiful stars, Joan Fontaine to me was very beautiful I loved Bette and Joan I read a book about them when they were making Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and the things they did to outdo each other was crazy, I actually laughed out loud, Bette is one of the greatest actresses IMHO ever, I also have all the Hollywood Babylon books by Kenneth Anger they are a great read.

 

[shellie]

Thank you for the links!
I know people disbelieve Christina and to be fair I haven’t properly looked into their relationships a great deal. But I do sympathise with her - to the outside world her Mother was wonderful but at home she was a terror. It was a similar story with my father. When he died I had so many people tell me he was wonderful, he was humorous, a good friend, etc and I haven’t been able to reconcile their version of my father with my experiences. The man who was a great friend was also the same man who terrified his children? It makes no sense!
As for her younger siblings saying that Christina lied, I’m wondering if it was to do with their age difference (she says they weren’t even born when she was adopted) and their temperament.

Unfortunately, my dad was the same. He physically and mentally abused my mother and me but was good at putting on the charm and being all-loving when people were around. Because I have dealt with mental illness since I was a child, he used that to cover things by claiming I hurt myself to get attention. He was also good at hitting where the bruises wouldn't show. My mum finally got the courage to turf him out and when his friends found out why, they were shocked that they had never seen that side of him but believed my mother as they knew she would never lie over something like that. He eventually remarried and doesn't as much as raise his voice at my half-sister.

That's why I'm not surprised that Joan treated them so differently...they were the 'perfect' children, unlike Christina and Christopher who she seemed embarrassed of. That's why I do tend to believe Christina's story as she does have people to back her up and say they witnessed things, unlike B.D. Hyman who wrote the same kind of book about her Bette Davis. No one came out in support of her and she was often caught in contradictions when interviewed as she never seemed to tell the same story more than once.

 

[shellie]

Yes she and Montgomery Clift looked insanely beautiful together. Like stunning twins.
There is a film they are both in, Raintree County, where half is before his terrible car crash and half after. They had to film him from just one side after due to his facial injuries.

He and Elizabeth were really close and there were rumours she was in love with him and had even tried to seduce him at one point. He was also attracted to her but as he was gay nothing ever came of it and they settled for friendship instead with her becoming one of his biggest supporters although Debbie Reynolds said she believed they did have a thing and claimed she saw them kissing once. Many thought they were soulmates and if they had been able to be properly together, they would have lasted.

The crash happened after a party at Elizabeth's house and he smashed into a telephone pole. The story is, that Elizabeth seemed to hear the smash and went running down to the scene and he was seemingly in bad shape. Someone who was at the scene said his face had been torn off and she saved him from choking by putting her hand down his throat and grabbing teeth that had been dislodged in the crash and stuck in his windpipe. The reason there is only footage of the car and none of him is she also seemingly warned photographers if even one picture was released/leaked, she would make sure they would be sorry and they seemingly believed her as nothing has ever surfaced.

The surgeons tried their best but only so much could be done and as you say, you can tell what was filmed pre-crash and what was done after and unsurprisingly he was never the same again, turning to drink and drugs. If you watch Misfits, the film he was in with Marilyn and Clark Gable, he looks older than Clark even though Clark was nineteen years his senior. When he finally died of a heart attack in 1966 at only 45, it was dubbed the longest suicide in Hollywood.

 

[Flojo89]

I really don't know anything about Marilyn Monroe and assumed she would be a rubbish actress but she had a part in a barbara stanwyck film, her first I think and I really changed my mind. It wasn't a big role but she made it seem like it was, she was really natural and Charismatic.

She was a fab comedic actress, Some like it Hot is one of my favourite films, How to marry a millionaire is great too. She manages to appeal to both men and women which I think is what made her such a star.

 

[Ginnyjo]

i think the point is more that he, like so many americans, believed himself to be irish though. i’ve met plenty who will describe themselves as irish even if it’s from a great great great grandparent william baldwin described himself as an “irishman” in his danny masterson letter recently too. it’s mad.

It's nuts the obsession some Americans have with being Irish, all while thinking we're some cute backwards nation, and acting like they're here to save our economy with their dad jeans when they visit as tourists. If you're born in American you're American, possible with irish ancestors. I did love being told while in America that I couldn't be Irish as my name wasn't an Irish name, whereas their name was....and so they were Irish.

 

[WickedThread]

He looks like the Joker!

Well, nobody’s perfect!

 

[thegirlscout]

Is it true that Marlon Brando was a rotter to women (I mean not merely a cheat, but abusive?)

He treated Maria Schneider terribly during the rape scene in Last Tango in Paris. The director didn’t tell Schneider until right before the scene and she said ‘Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie,' but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take.’
---
Marlon also forced Rita Moreno to get a botched abortion which made her infertile. Afterwards he ran off with someone else and Moreno tried to end her life. His ex wife Tarita Terpia called him a disgusting pervert and claims he sexually abused their daughter. Cheyenne wrote in her diary that her father used to massage her ‘as if he wanted me to pretend we were making love’. Tarita says that they experienced a ‘living hell’ and describes him as ‘a man of violently changing moods, capable of switching in an instant from tenderness to physical or mental cruelty’.

 

[CherryAcid]

When you say malnutrition.... do you mean an eating disorder? Apologies for my ignorance.

It's said Audrey suffered from malnutrition and lifelong weight issues from lgrowing up in near starvation during WW2

 

[Clovis]

My favourite story about Tallulah was during the filming of Hitchcock's Lifeboat. She didn't wear underwear on the set, much to the amusement of the crew. When Hitch was informed and asked to do something about it, Hitch replied, "I don't know if this is a matter for the costume department, make-up, or hairdressing."

 

[Tilly41]

Because I love The Wizard of Oz I researched the actors who played the Munchkins....a harder drinking group of actors you would be hard pressed to meet lol. But it was interesting because it showed how in the 1930s and before then they actually used to dress dwarfs (hope I am using the right term) as children. There is photos of them dressed as children. Its quite difficult to watch it to be honest. But what came out of it was how hard they tried to retain their dignity and their humanity through it all. They often lived together and looked after each other when they were sick. They were incredibly tenacious people.

Looking back I wish I had taken the time to ask more questions regarding Hollywood celebs but because I was so invested in putting them on a pedestal I couldnt bear hearing anything non complimentary about them. That was my fault. Through going to an old school beauty salon I used to hear a lot but you have to take it with a large pinch of salt. So many old Hollywood stars die in very miserable circumstances
Marlon Brando had a lock on his fridge and couldnt face going out because he was nearly 300lbs, however he used to see Heidi Fleiss on the regular.Such a beautiful man in his time
Ava Gardner lived a reclusive life in London struggling with money and alcoholism. But she was beautiful and generous to the end she used to invite the bin man in to have a Brandy with her. Rod Steiger was so paralysed by depression he wouldnt leave the house for months and months at a time. He literally couldnt get out of bed or shower even. Marlene Dietrich.....well a shadow of herself but went on the Caberet circuit for too long.

 

[Jelly Bean]

This photo popped up on FB.
John Wayne and Gary Cooper in Accapulco. JW bought a hotel there for Hollywood types to go and relax.
I love GC's espadrilles tied up his ankles

 

[Reverend]

Same with Monaco.
Oliver Reed stayed in the UK for awhile while the government raised taxes and I believe he painted the Union Flag on his roof (maybe a myth not 100% sure!) but later left for Guernsey.

Oliver Reed! I went to the pub in Malta where Oliver Reed died, and it almost felt like a pilgrimage.

He died of a heart attack in a bar after downing three bottles of Captain Morgan's Jamaica rum, eight bottles of German beer, numerous doubles of Famous Grouse whiskey and Hennessy cognac, and beating five much younger Royal Navy sailors at arm-wrestling. His bar bill for that final lunch time totalled 270 Maltese lira, almost £450. Ridley Scott (the Director of Gladiator, the movie that he was shooting at the time)settled the Bar bill and still has the receipt.

 

[Jelly Bean]

No gossip but wasn't Louise Brooks a stunner.

 

[FrostyChops]

I fucking ADORE Marilyn Monroe. It's so tragic, she was such a beautiful person - inside and out. She just wanted to be loved i think... and she never found it.

MM was taken advantage of by so many people.

 

[mee43]

Looks a bit like Ruby Wax there!

 

[Lalla]

My dad went to see Mae West on stage in London not long after the war, he said that she looked absolutely beautiful and incredibly young from where he was sitting, like a woman in her late teens...he raced round to the stage door after the show and was shocked when he saw her, as she was mid 50s by then and up close looked much more her actual age, not bad as such just much older than he was expecting. He was always impressed by just how good her make up skills were though to have looked so good from afar! (I honestly think this story is where my love of false eyelashes began )

 

[beastofburden]

I fucking ADORE Marilyn Monroe. It's so tragic, she was such a beautiful person - inside and out. She just wanted to be loved i think... and she never found it.

 

[Allflightscancelled]

MGM turned Judy Garland into a drug addict. They wanted her to stay childlike so she had diet drugs and l believe puberty delaying drugs. Those interrupted her sleep so she had sleepy drugs...then they couldn't keep her awake, enter uppers. It's unbelievable they got way with doing that to a child.

They did all sorts of awful things in old Hollywood. To people (even kids, as we’ve seen) but also to animals. Horses in westerns for example, were just shot and injured routinely.