Beloved stars who were real nasty you know whats

[Legend City]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Milton Berle, absolutely hated by all.

Then there was the famous Buddy Rich joke, some of his fellow musicians would call his wife every few months after he died to inquire about him really being dead. After several times, his wife got angry and asked why they were doing that, the reply was "we just love to hear that he is finally dead"

Or something like that.

Chevy Chase has a reputation of being a complete %#$#$ to anyone around him, so much so that it really hurt his career.

 

[NeilRattigan]

Morton Downey Jr. had a mean on-air persona, but it was all an act.
I met him in Atlantic City about 20 years ago, and he was truly very nice, especially when he learned he was shaking hands with another Irishman.

Rip Taylor was wild onstage, but mild-mannered and nice offstage. Same thing goes for Marty Allen.

 

[RicoGregg]

I was shocked, for example, when he said that Red Skelton was completely different than his on-air personna. Instead of being the likeable guy we grew up with on TV, Skelton was the complete opposite to his staff: Mean, nasty.

Skelton had an ego the size of Montana, and was loathe to acknowledge his writers, either publicly or privately -- he wanted to be seen as a comic genius who didn't need help from others to be funny. Consequently, he always resented his staff and while he milked them for every gag he could get, he would barely give them the time of day.

Once, an interviewer asked Red where his comedy comes from. Skelton just smiled and shrugged and said it was a "gift from God." His writers got wind of this, and the next week they sent him the "first draft" of that show's script. It was a bunch of blank pages with a note on front that said, "Dear Red, here's your script -- just have God fill in the pages."

Writer James Bacon once told a story about visiting Red Skelton at his Bel Air home, and how they spent much of the evening drinking and pigging out. Later, Red got out his projector and started showing stag films. Then, he looked out the window, and inspiration hit: He tells Bacon "See that house down the hill? The one with the big white garage door?" The house, located on Sunset Blvd. just outside of Bel Air, had a humongous white garage door. Skelton takes the projector and aims it at the garage door! The next thing traffic going west on Sunset sees is a girl going down on a guy. Cars slammed on their brakes, and there were several near-collisions, but fortunately no fender-benders. The cops traced the beam of light to Skelton's house, and let him off with a warning.

James Bacon claims that was how Deadman's Curve got it's name.

 

[LKellerIII]

Walter Brennan was not a nice man - and he made no attempt to hide it - he was probably proud of it. He was also very outspoken about his extreme right-wing politics. I'm not talking John Wayne right-wing, but real segregationist-racist right-wing.

Aside from being a vocal supporter of Alabama Gov. George Wallace, he was an outspoken opponent of civil rights, and made remarks to the effect that African Americans were inferior, but happy being oppressed until liberals convinced them to fight for their rights.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Walter Brennan was not a nice man - and he made no attempt to hide it - he was probably proud of it. He was also very outspoken about his extreme right-wing politics. I'm not talking John Wayne right-wing, but real segregationist-racist right-wing.

Aside from being a vocal supporter of Alabama Gov. George Wallace, he was an outspoken opponent of civil rights, and made remarks to the effect that African Americans were inferior, but happy being oppressed until liberals convinced them to fight for their rights.

So that is why Pepino slept in the barn on the Real McCoys!

It's amazing to read some of the posts here about certain actors and how they were in real life.

 

[bpatrick]

Brennan used to tell people that black people
(and that's not the term he used) smelled bad
because it was naturally in their pores. He also
refused on one occasion to do a scene in which
a Japanese masseuse would walk on his back
simply because she wasn't Caucasian.

Brennan prided himself on subscribing to two
ultra-right-wing publications, "Human Events"
and Liberty Lobby's newspaper, and in a 1968
TV Guide interview he was quite adamant that,
from reading these periodicals, there was a plot
to destroy this country. He never gave any
specifics, however.

 

[Braves2005]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has mentioned The Brady Bunch especially Barry Williams and Christopher Knight, both of whom at times have proven to be total jerks.

But the one person who stands out is Robert Reed. It wasn't learned till years later that he threw tantrums on the set of The Brady Bunch and told Sherwood Schwartz that he didn't belong on a comedy show and wanted to do Shakespeare and add to that by not appearing in a couple of episodes "Goodbye, Alice, Goodbye" and the last episode where Reed basically threw a temper tantrum because rabbits weren't supposed to be a certain color because of the dye they used and he stood in the sidelines and didn't even acknowledge the whole cast while he was there because it was the last episode produced. I thought that Robert Reed was different than that when I was a kid growing up but unfortunately the truth comes out someday.

 

[mleach]

Then there was the famous Buddy Rich joke, some of his fellow musicians would call his wife every few months after he died to inquire about him really being dead. After several times, his wife got angry and asked why they were doing that, the reply was "we just love to hear that he is finally dead"

Or something like that.

Chevy Chase has a reputation of being a complete %#$#$ to anyone around him, so much so that it really hurt his career.

Buddy Rich played in a town not far from here a few years before his death. Sadly only 5 people showed up to hear him. Two weeks later Tina Turner played and sadly her show only attacted some 500 folks. But within a few month Private Dancer was released and radio re-discovered Tina..and the rest was history. Back to Buddy, there are some tapes online that expose who the real Buddy Rich was.

Chevy Chase appeared in my hometown some time ago I don't remember hearing about him other than he was here.
Lucie Arnaz and Wayne Newton were different stories when they appeared here.

Reportly Lucie went in to a local restaurant and DEMANDED everyone leave because she wanted to eat there and eat by herself. Even those who weren't finished with their meals.

Wayne Newton..My wife and I actually saw one his his bodyguards slap the face of a 12 year old girl because she by accident got a little to close to Wayne Newton. The bodyguard screamed ",,,you fu*king bitc* get the fuc* out of here !!"
And back handed the girl across the face. If that wasn't bad enough her parents were right there and refused to do anything about it despite their daughters cries because Wayne was "a big star and he and his bodyguards can do whatever they wanted". Wayne Newton himself just stood there and smiled throughout the whole thing as if he approved.
My wife and I watched the whole thing.

 

[RicoGregg]

Lucie Arnaz and Wayne Newton were different stories when they appeared here.

Reportly Lucie went in to a local restaurant and DEMANDED everyone leave because she wanted to eat there and eat by herself. Even those who weren't finished with their meals.

Wayne Newton..My wife and I actually saw one his his bodyguards slap the face of a 12 year old girl because she by accident got a little to close to Wayne Newton. The bodyguard screamed ",,,you fu*king bitc* get the fuc* out of here !!"
And back handed the girl across the face. If that wasn't bad enough her parents were right there and refused to do anything about it despite their daughters cries because Wayne was "a big star and he and his bodyguards can do whatever they wanted". Wayne Newton himself just stood there and smiled throughout the whole thing as if he approved.
My wife and I watched the whole thing.

I thought this thread was about BELOVED stars!

 

[Ultimajock]

Danny Bonaduce is a first class A##. Met him at a UCP (Cerebral Palsy) Telethon once ask him for his autograph, he blew me off. How low can you be not signing an autograph for a 10 year old handicapped kid? Kind of off topic, but do you know that some of the nicest people are pro wrestlers? Have gone to several matches back in the day, and the ones I have seen outside the ring were as nice as could be. Savage, Hogan, Duggan, Road Warriors, all class acts.

...I was personally acquainted with Danny Bonaduce when he was at WLUP Chicago, and he was a damned nice guy. Maybe you caught him at a bad drug stretch in his life ;-) ...

...and I've also been involved in a couple of pro wrestling promotions over the years, and it's usually the *heels* that are the nicest guys outside of the ring. Once had a half-hour discussion with Mad Dog Vachon about opera (specifically, Enrico Caruso's recording career)! And Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Nick Bockwinkel were always running around giving kids T-shirts if they were in the lobby looking lost and bewildered while the parent(s) were being searched for...catch Hogan on the wrong day, however, and you walked on eggshells around him thereafter...

 

[Ultimajock]

Lucille Ball !!

Its not hard to find stories out there that bring up the other side of Lucy. Nasty, blunt, hateful, foul language, etc.. However her diehard fans always stick up for her saying her divorce from Desi, running a major studio, stress, and so forth are the reasons why she acted the way she did.

Back in the day she was known to come out and talk to the people on the tour buses. She never forgot who her fans were.

...of course, there *is* also the fact that the various governments at RKO during her contract time there had no idea where her true talents were. Bill Paley at CBS recognised what they were and used them on radio and TV, leading to Lucy owning the old RKO lot!...

 

[Ultimajock]

I was shocked, for example, when he said that Red Skelton was completely different than his on-air personna. Instead of being the likeable guy we grew up with on TV, Skelton was the complete opposite to his staff: Mean, nasty.

Skelton had an ego the size of Montana, and was loathe to acknowledge his writers, either publicly or privately -- he wanted to be seen as a comic genius who didn't need help from others to be funny. Consequently, he always resented his staff and while he milked them for every gag he could get, he would barely give them the time of day.

Once, an interviewer asked Red where his comedy comes from. Skelton just smiled and shrugged and said it was a "gift from God." His writers got wind of this, and the next week they sent him the "first draft" of that show's script. It was a bunch of blank pages with a note on front that said, "Dear Red, here's your script -- just have God fill in the pages."

...perhaps it's notable that Johnny Carson only wrote for Red for one season and, after seeing his '55-'56 CBS variety shows (one nighttime, one daytime) tank, didn't go back to Red for his old job back (I think there was a 12-to-18-month gap between the last "Johnny Carson Show" on CBS and his first "Who Do You Trust?" on ABC)...

...one guy who could go either way, nice or nasty, in an instant was Rod Serling. He was usually a nice guy, but the wrong comment at the wrong moment would send him into a tirade on occasion. He also was homophobic; he fought with CBS over the casting of Charles Laughton (a closeted gay actor) in his teleplay "In The Presence Of Mine Enemies" on PLAYHOUSE 90...

 

[Ultimajock]

Then there was the famous Buddy Rich joke, some of his fellow musicians would call his wife every few months after he died to inquire about him really being dead. After several times, his wife got angry and asked why they were doing that, the reply was "we just love to hear that he is finally dead"

Or something like that.

...I have recordings of a couple of Rich's reamings of band members after concerts. The gag is now that his old band bus still gives off a radioactive glow after sunset ;-) ...

...and, of course, can you imagine the knock-down-drag-outs that he had with Frank Sinatra when the two of them were roommates during their stretches in the Tommy Dorsey band?...

...and although he was always nice to me whenever I encountered him, Mel Torme still has a rep for having been prickly when the mood overtook him...

 

[Ultimajock]

Morton Downey Jr. had a mean on-air persona, but it was all an act.
I met him in Atlantic City about 20 years ago, and he was truly very nice, especially when he learned he was shaking hands with another Irishman.

...Mort did a radio show on WTAM Cleveland a few years before he died, and there were several nights when he confessed self-embarrassment for having pulled all that crap on his WWOR TV show...

 

[easyfm]

I hear that Lassie was a bitch ....

 

[Stanislav]

I hear that Lassie was a bitch ....

: Bad pun appreciated. Actually, though, Lassie was almost always portrayed by male dogs (supposedly easier to train), so in reality Lassie was a son of a bitch...

 

[bpatrick]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has mentioned The Brady Bunch especially Barry Williams and Christopher Knight, both of whom at times have proven to be total jerks.

But the one person who stands out is Robert Reed. It wasn't learned till years later that he threw tantrums on the set of The Brady Bunch and told Sherwood Schwartz that he didn't belong on a comedy show and wanted to do Shakespeare and add to that by not appearing in a couple of episodes "Goodbye, Alice, Goodbye" and the last episode where Reed basically threw a temper tantrum because rabbits weren't supposed to be a certain color because of the dye they used and he stood in the sidelines and didn't even acknowledge the whole cast while he was there because it was the last episode produced. I thought that Robert Reed was different than that when I was a kid growing up but unfortunately the truth comes out someday.

Reed was quite vocal about his preference for the semiregular role of Lt.
Adam Tobias on "Mannix," which he did concurrently with "The Brady Bunch."
I remember a day when he was a celebrity guest on "Password" and Allen
Ludden mentioned that Reed could be seen on "The Brady Bunch," Reed cut
in and said, "and Mannix."

 

[bk77]

...one guy who could go either way, nice or nasty, in an instant was Rod Serling. He was usually a nice guy, but the wrong comment at the wrong moment would send him into a tirade on occasion. He also was homophobic; he fought with CBS over the casting of Charles Laughton (a closeted gay actor) in his teleplay "In The Presence Of Mine Enemies" on PLAYHOUSE 90...

Lucy was exactly gay friendly either which is kinda of ironic considering her movie Mame has a rather large gay following.

The story goes that in the late 60s Lucy showed the Sandy Dennis lesbian movie The Fox to her two kids ( Lucy thought it was a family flick thanks to the title ). Within a few minutes after the film started she screamed and had the movie turned it off only to hear either Lucie or Desi Jr. say "..oh mother PLEASE !! We have already seen it several times already !!".

A similar incident happened years later in the Tony Danza household. From what I remember hearing on the radio, one day he rented the film Bearcub to show to his kids thinking the movie was a family flick about bears. Bearcub was about bears all right, more like gay bears LOL.

 

[Stanislav]

Reed was quite vocal about his preference for the semiregular role of Lt.
Adam Tobias on "Mannix," which he did concurrently with "The Brady Bunch."
I remember a day when he was a celebrity guest on "Password" and Allen
Ludden mentioned that Reed could be seen on "The Brady Bunch," Reed cut
in and said, "and Mannix."

And yet, for all his dripping disdain for "The Brady Bunch," he kept coming back for the reunions and specials, didn't he? Including that horrible, campy, singing and dancing "Brady Bunch Hour" that one would think Reed would find even farther beneath his dignity than the sitcom.

BTW, Reed's beefs were with the writers and producers, and not with the cast. From all I've read, he was well-liked by them, and he was very fond of the kids -- some say he viewed them as a sort of "surrogate family" because he knew that as a closeted gay man in that era, he could never really have a family of his own.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

A similar incident happened years later in the Tony Danza household. From what I remember hearing on the radio, one day he rented the film Bearcub to show to his kids thinking the movie was a family flick about bears. Bearcub was about bears all right, more like gay bears LOL.
I've never heard that story, but it has the feel of an urban myth, possibly playing on the "Tony Danza is an idiot" stories where, for example, the characters he plays always have to be named "Tony" because it messes him up to be called by another name.