1 post tagged “funny.”
I have strange interests in actors/actresses past. Especially the kooky ones. Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner and Mary Astor are just some. My man now of many years has been Oliver Reed.
"The thing women will never forgive, is that men fuck them" -- Oliver Reed.
I hate to say it, but damn if that doesn't sum it up. Though it is sad he
died from basically being an alcoholic, chain smoker, and probably had
a number of STDs, he sure had fun doing it. To go on an intellectual TV show with feminist writers and say things like:
"No Bullshit, its
all down to whether she wants to get shafted"
"I'll put my plonker on
the table if you don't give me my mushy peas" and
"I've had more
fights in pubs than you've had hot dinners girl!"
I mean, that's just awesome on so many levels! Oliver Reed is in the same cannon of fucked up-alcoholic-messy-spitting-piss-off-where's-my-scotch-come-here-girl-give-us-a-squeeze actors such as Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole. He went from being a beautiful boy, to a complete mess over the course of his career. There were no rules for Mr. Reed; I'm always in awe of those people who are such a mess yet manage to get by and maintain a fabulous lifestyle, all while keeping a career going with comebacks.
My first intro to Oliver Reed was Zero Population Growth, a film that pretty much planted the seed of my population control stance as a youngster. That same year I saw him as Zeus in The Adventures of Baron Muchausen. Later in college I happened upon his first film in Beat Girl, he basically just dances and wears a flannel shirt that looks very out of place in the whole movie. I rented The Assasination Bureau, in which he stars, but it was a movie with promise that went to utter crap within 15 minutes. And then, I loved him in The Brood, the only movie to give me nightmares as an adult. I don't know what it is about Mr. Reed, but I love him so. Here are some clips that show him at his most gorgeous and then trailing down into drunken humiliation. There was a famous bit that's no longer on YouTube where Oliver Reed, dressed in biker threads and bare chested, sings "Wild Thing" to the audience. I think it may have been a Phil Donahue episode. One of his last films, was Gladiator.
