MOVIE TRIVIA – PT 21.

June 11, 2018 Alan Royle 0

                           the incomparable Ava                                    with boyfriend Peter Lawford Ava Gardner’s very physical affair with the bisexual Peter Lawford ended, or so […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT 11.

May 18, 2018 Alan Royle 2

Warren Beatty & Faye Dunaway in Bonnie & Clyde (1967) Before he agreed to play the role of Clyde Barrow in the 1967 hit Bonnie and Clyde, Warren Beatty was chasing the director’s job and had already chosen the two actors he wanted to play the title roles – his sister Shirley […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT6

May 8, 2018 Alan Royle 0

Ava Gardner in 55 Days at Peking (1963) Ava Gardner had a long-running nervous breakdown during the making of 55 Days at Peking (1963). She was drunk on several days, continually demanded rewrites, and was extremely difficult to deal with. Charlton Heston stated that her character, Baroness Natalie Ivanoff, was killed off […]

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1940s & 50s – When singers could sing.

September 8, 2017 Alan Royle 3

THE ANDREWS SISTERS – L to R Maxene (1916 – 95), Patty (1916 – 2013) & LaVerne (1911-67)  Whichever way you look at it the Andrews Sisters were a uniformly unattractive trio, yet they were a phenomenally successful singing group, especially during World War Two. Maxene was the dominant one […]

PETER O’TOOLE – the actor and the man.

August 19, 2017 Alan Royle 4

  PETER O’TOOLE   (1932 – 2013)                                      Peter O’Toole hailed from Leeds in Yorkshire. He always maintained he was born in Ireland, but there are simply no records indicating that. As a teenager he started out as a newspaper copy boy, showed promise as a reporter, but was drawn to the […]

The many loves of Ava Gardner.

August 3, 2017 Alan Royle 29

  AVA GARDNER (1922-90)            Ava was a ‘knockout’, possibly the sexiest woman ever to grace a movie screen. She married Mickey Rooney when he was the number one box-office draw in movies (she refused to sleep with him unless he married her first). Within three weeks or so of the […]

Hollywood & Abortions

April 1, 2017 Alan Royle 2

  Over the past century or more that Hollywood has existed there has been no shortage of abortions performed on many of its aspiring young actresses. Unwanted offspring are not unique to the movie business, but they do tend to interfere with ambitions, not to mention reputations, more often in […]

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Did you know?

January 29, 2017 Alan Royle 5

  Mickey Rooney was at the top of the Hollywood tree in the thirties and lived his life in the fast lane. MGM’s publicity machine had him collecting stamps and coins like any other young American boy. It was even spread about that his favourite author was Eugene O’Neill. Randy […]

‘Hollywood – The Skeletons Are Out’ – a sampling

October 19, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  My latest book is titled Hollywood: The Skeletons Are Out. It contains 1,200 direct quotes by actors and directors about themselves, their colleagues and their films. Here is a random two dozen of them:   Young Joan Collins When Joan Collins was asked if she was ever unfaithful, she […]

Two tragic Hollywood beauties.

September 13, 2016 Alan Royle 10

  Ava Gardner (1922-90) Mickey Rooney took one look at Ava Gardner when she arrived in Hollywood and was hooked. He pursued her, wooed her and did his utmost to bed her, but the 18 year-old virgin made it clear that any man who wanted to alter that status was […]