Old Hollywood gossip & stories

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After reading that article I don’t reckon he plotted anything but he probably thought out loud sometimes, and she the same. I’m gutted to find out that he was unhappily married for half of his life, but really he should have divorced her if they disliked each other so much.
 
Why didn’t David Niven divorce Hjordis? She sounds like a right witch!
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Where do you all watch old Hollywood films and TV? It seems like they have more options in America (TCM etc) but I can never find a good site. I want to see Bathing Beauty with Esther Williams but unless I can’t find a streaming service for it. Similarly with Dynasty, I can only watch it if I buy the episodes on Amazon Prime which costs a lot.
 
thegirlscout said:
Why didn’t David Niven divorce Hjordis? She sounds like a right witch!
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Where do you all watch old Hollywood films and TV? It seems like they have more options in America (TCM etc) but I can never find a good site. I want to see Bathing Beauty with Esther Williams but unless I can’t find a streaming service for it. Similarly with Dynasty, I can only watch it if I buy the episodes on Amazon Prime which costs a lot.
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Have you checked these sites?

moviemaker.minitool.com

The Best 6 Services to Enjoy Classic Movies

How to watch free classic movies? Where to watch classic movies online free and on your phone? Don’t worry, this post will provide you with 6 websites and apps.
moviemaker.minitool.com moviemaker.minitool.com
 
Dollylovesshoes said:
Have you checked these sites?

moviemaker.minitool.com

The Best 6 Services to Enjoy Classic Movies

How to watch free classic movies? Where to watch classic movies online free and on your phone? Don’t worry, this post will provide you with 6 websites and apps.
moviemaker.minitool.com moviemaker.minitool.com
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Thank you. Unfortunately a lot of them are American based or don’t work full stop. The Public Domain one and some but the graphics are quite pixelated. The search continues!
 
thegirlscout said:
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.
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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.
 
Reverend said:
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.
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my god 😮 i went to his wikipedia and the write up about it actually made me quite sad:

The actor Omid Djalili, who was also in Malta at the time of Reed's death filming Gladiator, said during an interview in 2016: "He hadn't had a drink for months before filming started...Everyone said he went the way he wanted, but that's not true. It was very tragic. He was in an Irish bar and was pressured into a drinking competition. He should have just left, but he didn't."[65] Having made a number of promises to Ridley Scott prior to filming, including that he would not drink during production, Reed worked around this by only drinking on weekends. Co-star David Hemmings was a long time friend of Reed's (they appeared together in the 1964 film The System), and in 2020 Scott stated, "David Hemmings (Cassius) promised to look after him and said to me [upon his death], I'm really sorry, old boy".[66]

it’s incredible he managed to last as long as he did with his drinking though.
 
Reverend said:
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.
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That sounds horrendous. Anybody drinking that much is severely ill… it’s almost suicidal.
 
LaBlonde said:
my god 😮 i went to his wikipedia and the write up about it actually made me quite sad:

The actor Omid Djalili, who was also in Malta at the time of Reed's death filming Gladiator, said during an interview in 2016: "He hadn't had a drink for months before filming started...Everyone said he went the way he wanted, but that's not true. It was very tragic. He was in an Irish bar and was pressured into a drinking competition. He should have just left, but he didn't."[65] Having made a number of promises to Ridley Scott prior to filming, including that he would not drink during production, Reed worked around this by only drinking on weekends. Co-star David Hemmings was a long time friend of Reed's (they appeared together in the 1964 film The System), and in 2020 Scott stated, "David Hemmings (Cassius) promised to look after him and said to me [upon his death], I'm really sorry, old boy".[66]

it’s incredible he managed to last as long as he did with his drinking though.
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David Hemmings only lasted another year or so when he passed away too.
 
Piff paff puff said:
I adore Joan and I think that there may have been troubles in the family which were maybe exacerbated by alcohol. I wouldn't believe anyone who benefits financially from an exposé as Joans daughter did.
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Totally agree. The other children supported Joan and said Christine was a liar. Plus she was jealous of Joan's career as she was a terrible actress
 
Emerald37 said:
Totally agree. The other children supported Joan and said Christine was a liar. Plus she was jealous of Joan's career as she was a terrible actress
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Joan's secretary said that yes Joan had her faults, but did not abuse her children.

On the other hand, the actress Helen Hayes said "Joan was not quite rational in her raising of children. You might say she was strict or stern. But cruel is probably the right word". Helen Hayes' son, James MacArthur (the original Danno from Hawaii 5-0), recalled finding Christina's brother tied to a bed during one visit.
 
Reverend said:
Joan's secretary said that yes Joan had her faults, but did not abuse her children.

On the other hand, the actress Helen Hayes said "Joan was not quite rational in her raising of children. You might say she was strict or stern. But cruel is probably the right word". Helen Hayes' son, James MacArthur (the original Danno from Hawaii 5-0), recalled finding Christina's brother tied to a bed during one visit.
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Well you could say the secretary probably knew her better than anyone else. Christopher as far am I aware said Christine was lying.
 
Reverend said:
Joan's secretary said that yes Joan had her faults, but did not abuse her children.

On the other hand, the actress Helen Hayes said "Joan was not quite rational in her raising of children. You might say she was strict or stern. But cruel is probably the right word". Helen Hayes' son, James MacArthur (the original Danno from Hawaii 5-0), recalled finding Christina's brother tied to a bed during one visit.
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Not sure if we are talking about the same secretary, but Jeri Binder Smith who was her secretary is on record saying it was true and she witnessed the abuse. She was interviewed in the old E! show Mysteries & Scandals and said the coathanger thing was true.
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Emerald37 said:
Well you could say the secretary probably knew her better than anyone else. Christopher as far am I aware said Christine was lying.
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Christopher was on Christina's side. He didn't really talk much about it but backed her up about the abuse. He ended up being sent to military school and ended up estranged from her. The last time he saw her was when he and his wife took their baby daughter Janet to see her. She held the child and when they introduced them, Joan reportedly said 'I'm nobody's grandmother, I'm Aunt Joan then handed the little one back after saying the girl looked nothing like him.
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Reverend said:
Joan's secretary said that yes Joan had her faults, but did not abuse her children.

On the other hand, the actress Helen Hayes said "Joan was not quite rational in her raising of children. You might say she was strict or stern. But cruel is probably the right word". Helen Hayes' son, James MacArthur (the original Danno from Hawaii 5-0), recalled finding Christina's brother tied to a bed during one visit.
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Helen also wrote that Joan was cruel to them in her biography and that her Hollywood contemporaries were ‘worried to death’ about them.

‘It would have been futile for me or anyone else to protest,’ she wrote. ‘Joan would only get angry and probably vent her rage on the kids.’
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Yeah, it's called On Reflection. This is an extract from the autobiography talking about Joan which I was surprised to see on a Joan site as it didn't exactly paint a great picture of her.

No title

Inserts a blank document layout with no defined style.
www.joancrawfordbest.com

This is where I got the quote from.

https://www.12ft.io/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/may/25/biography.film
 
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shellie said:
Yeah, it's called On Reflection. This is an extract from the autobiography talking about Joan which I was surprised to see on a Joan site as it didn't exactly paint a great picture of her.

No title

Inserts a blank document layout with no defined style.
www.joancrawfordbest.com

This is where I got the quote from.

https://www.12ft.io/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/may/25/biography.film
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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.
 
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