Producer Don Simpson gets to speak a single line of dialogue in Days of Thunder (1990) as one of the racing car drivers named Aldo. His part was initially much larger, but he was such a dreadful actor that even he agreed his performance would have done serious […]
Clark Gable befriended people he thought could benefit his career. He even married a couple of them. When he arrived in Hollywood in the mid 1920’s he brought with him his much older wife, his acting tutor Josephine Dillon. He quickly ditched her for the equally older (but […]
Thirty year-old Michael Caine went to London to audition for the role of Private Henry Hook in Zulu (1964), but was informed on his arrival that it had already gone to Cockney actor James Booth. As an afterthought the producer asked him if he could do an aristocratic accent […]
Even though he earned an architectural degree at Princeton and was very intelligent, Jimmy Stewart’s favourite method of relaxation on the set was to read Flash Gordon comic books. Away from the set he was, according to legend, considerably more active. His name has been linked, in fact, […]
Barbara La Marr died from tuberculosis on 30 January 1926, the day before her last picture, The Girl from Montmartre was released. MGM chose to make an announcement about the cause of death, saying it was brought about through ‘vigorous dieting’. Everyone knew that her addiction to morphine and […]
Dominique Dunne played Dana Freeling, the eldest daughter in Poltergeist (1982). On 30 October 1982, just a few months after Poltergeist was released, she was strangled to death in her driveway by her ex-boyfriend, a chef named John Sweeney. Evidently, he had become enraged when she tried to end their […]
The small role of Mrs. Vargas, the wife of the school teacher in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), was filled by newcomer Lana Clarkson. She would go on to star in a few B-movies, among them Barbarian Queen in 1985, and guest star on several TV sit-coms. From […]
Brad Renfro in The Client ( 1994 ) Author John Grisham did not want a professional Hollywood child actor, complete with phoney southern accent, to play the pivotal role of Mark Sway in The Client (1994). Enter the 11 year-old unknown Brad Renfro from Memphis, Tennessee. His only acting […]
Abbott & Costello in Buck Privates ( 1941 ) Bud Abbott ( 1895 – 1974 ) Lou Costello ( 1906 – 1959 ) Before running off to try his luck in Hollywood, Lou Costello was an amateur boxer in his home town of Paterson, New Jersey, fighting under a […]
Richard Harris’s violent temper and manic drinking bouts were legendary in Hollywood. In fact, it was generally accepted by most producers that the signing of the wild Irishman for any picture meant adding a further week onto the shooting schedule, simply to allow for days lost through his […]
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