Beloved stars who were real nasty you know whats

[LKellerIII]

"My mom however told me one of the nicest of celebs was Robin Williams I think my mother waited on him and she said he was nice and cordial as can be."

I know people who know Robin, and can confirm this is true. In 1974, I was a dishwasher for two months in a hip and trendy Sausalito restaurant...without a doubt the single worst job of my entire life. Robin was the Bartender...just a year pre-fame. The waitresses, the chef, the cooks, and most everybody treated me and the other dishwashers very rudely -like low IQ slaves. Robin was one of two exceptions, and was always polite - not to mention funny and always-on. From his hyper fast-talking behavior, I assumed he was often high...and it was common for the wait staff to get cocaine for "tips" there. But regardless, he was a very nice guy.

He was already doing stand-up, but I had no idea - he first gained notoriety after he came in second in the San Francisco Comedy Competition the following year.

 

[STF]

My mom was a flight attendant and never told me about anyone being a real jerk. She said "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair was friendly and polite.

 

[Ultimajock]

"Vance also had a major falling out with Allan Funt too. Story goes about that, Vance was in a film stunt for Funt's Candid Camera. The stunt had Vance working as a sales clerk in a major department store. A young man comes up to Vnace to buy a nightgown and Vance being the sales clerk tries to start a conversation with the young man. He says the nightgown was for his wife who is in a mental hospital. The young man starts to cry, as does Vance because at the time she was a huge suporter for mental health. Funt and the crew of the show OTOH thought the whole thing was downright funny ( the sight of a grown man crying his eyes out )and wanted to use the bit on Candid Camera. Vance went off at Funt and demanded that Funt destroy the clip. The clip never aired but I don't think Vance was ever invited back on Candid Camera."

Interesting story - I can see both sides, but I certainly see Vance's point of view from her context. As a supporter of mental health, she probably was afraid it would look like her crying was an act, and might be construed as making fun of the mentally ill. Under the circumstances, it seems kind of petty for Funt not to invite her back.

...actually, Funt was a world class jerk in his own right. Perhaps it's telling that CBS placed Arthur Godfrey and Funt together for a season on "Candid Camera" and Funt wound up being desperate to bring Durward Kirby over from "The Garry Moore Show" the very next season ;-) ...as for Godfrey, I do also recall that he was the announcer for Fred Allen's radio show starting in October ?1943 but rubbed Allen the wrong way so badly that he was gone in six or seven weeks...

 

[Ultimajock]

My mother worked in the restaurant business for 20 years and I remember talking to her on the phone one night while getting ready to watch Boston Legal and she told me that William Shattner was a jerk in person. She knew because her friend Marsha and her husband Richard lived in California and she worked at a restaurant out there and waited on him and said he was a complete jerk.

My mom however told me one of the nicest of celebs was Robin Williams I think my mother waited on him and she said he was nice and cordial as can be.

...in the book of his script for the Star Trek:TOS episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," Harlan Ellison (yes, I know, Harlan's no fragrant bouquet himself, but at least he fesses up to his bellicosity) tells of some of the things he had to put up with from both Shatner and Gene Roddenberry while working on the series...as for Robin Williams, he's a nice guy, but don't be surprised if he swipes jokes from you ;-) ...

 

[bpatrick]

"Vance also had a major falling out with Allan Funt too. Story goes about that, Vance was in a film stunt for Funt's Candid Camera. The stunt had Vance working as a sales clerk in a major department store. A young man comes up to Vnace to buy a nightgown and Vance being the sales clerk tries to start a conversation with the young man. He says the nightgown was for his wife who is in a mental hospital. The young man starts to cry, as does Vance because at the time she was a huge suporter for mental health. Funt and the crew of the show OTOH thought the whole thing was downright funny ( the sight of a grown man crying his eyes out )and wanted to use the bit on Candid Camera. Vance went off at Funt and demanded that Funt destroy the clip. The clip never aired but I don't think Vance was ever invited back on Candid Camera."

Interesting story - I can see both sides, but I certainly see Vance's point of view from her context. As a supporter of mental health, she probably was afraid it would look like her crying was an act, and might be construed as making fun of the mentally ill. Under the circumstances, it seems kind of petty for Funt not to invite her back.

...actually, Funt was a world class jerk in his own right. Perhaps it's telling that CBS placed Arthur Godfrey and Funt together for a season on "Candid Camera" and Funt wound up being desperate to bring Durward Kirby over from "The Garry Moore Show" the very next season ;-) ...as for Godfrey, I do also recall that he was the announcer for Fred Allen's radio show starting in October ?1943 but rubbed Allen the wrong way so badly that he was gone in six or seven weeks...

In Robert Metz's book "CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye," Godfrey was quoted as saying that Funt came to his house and "cried like a
baby: 'Make something of me on the air,' and I did it in two weeks. In rehearsal for the third week, I said, 'Here's a joke for you, Allen."
Funt's response: "I'm sick of this! Who the **** are you to tell me what to do?" Metz says that Godfrey walked off the show after
that (I thought he finished out the 1960-61 season), but the next year Durward Kirby was in the co-host's chair.

 

[bpatrick]

My dad traveled the country quite a bit in his career in sales/management,
and he spent a lot of time in California. I mentioned on another posting
that he thought Bert Parks was a loudmouth; he thought the same of
Martin Sheen, whom he saw and heard over everybody else in a Los
Angeles restaurant one time.

Skip Caray proved to be a real jerk when we met him in Atlanta.
I had wanted to see a Braves-Cubs game at Wrigley Field, so one
of my dad's coworkers, whose wife worked for a travel agency in
Chicago, arranged a trip for us. While waiting for the flight to
Chicago, we encountered Caray, told him what we were doing, and
he said, "I can't imagine why anyone would go to Chicago to see us"
(this is when the Braves were perennial doormats and the Cubs were
in a pennant race--1988). Somehow that rubbed my dad the wrong way.
(BTW, I got to see Andre Dawson hit two home runs, and that made
the trip for me.)

One celebrity who did prove to be gracious was Harry Reasoner.
They were both waiting for flights in San Francisco; my dad approached
him and told him I was a big fan and watched Reasoner every night
(he was on ABC at the time). I'm happy to say he gave my dad an
autograph to bring back to me.

 

[STF]

I'm a huge Dawson fan (although I was raised in Atlanta) and the last time I saw him play with the Marlins in 1997 he hit a grand slam and another homer. He was playing in place of the injured Gary Sheffield. That was awesome.

Upon further review it may have been 1996.

 

[STF]

Not that anyone cares, but I finally found the game and I was off by a couple years.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL199508160.shtml

August 16, 1995

 

[bk77]

OK..maybe she is NOT a beloved star but Ginna Carter according to IMDB has done some TV in the past. Her parents are well known Designing Women's Dixie Carter and actor Hal Holbrook ( her step-father actually ).

I have heard of many nasty stores involving celebrities but this really takes the cake.

warning there is some very foul language in this...

http://www.findadeath.com/forum/showthread.php?t=464&page=3

A Virginia radio station actually had this on tape. Too bad they didn't sell it to the National Enquier.

 

[ShawnHill1]

I've read the book; it's great. The only real revelation to me was that he cheated on his first wife - pretty blatantly, too. The book tried to make the case that Shultz had never really gotten over the death of his mother when he was about 18 or 19 and he was always awkward around women. His confidence improved as "Peanuts" took off, and he found a younger woman who gave him more affirmation than his first wife. In other words, he had a midlife crisis and a cute young thang made him feel better about himself. He eventually divorced his first wife, but did not marry the young woman, though he did marry again a few years later. One of his wives, I think it was his second, said she realized Shultz was the kind of man who needed to feel he was the most important person in someone's life and needed a lot of attention. He was an only child whose mom died young and psychologists will tell you this kind of behavior is not unusual for people in that circumstance.

I heard the author on NPR a few weeks ago and he said some of Shultz's family were not happy that the book showed the man with all his faults, but no mention was made of a lawsuit. In fact, the Shultz family gave the author complete access to his papers, allowed many personal interviews with family and friends and even allowed many "Peanuts" strips to be re-printed.

Bottom line: Shultz is not portrayed as a jerk, just a complex man with faults. People wanted to imagine he was just like Charlie Brown, a lovable loser who always did the right thing. But even Shultz did not consider himself to be Charlie Brown's alter-ego. There was a little of Shultz in most of his characters, and a lot of his first wife in Lucy.

Speaking of that very thing...one of the PBS stations locally aired an "American Masters" special last Friday night about Charles Shultz. Everything you said is very much on point (except they didn't mention him cheating on his first wife)...he was a very complex individual and it reflect especially in the early years of the Peanuts strips. Everyone interviewed in the specials spoke very highly of Mr. Shultz, from close friends, his children, his second wife, and the animators who worked on the Peanuts television specials and series.

 

[KML0224]

His name was Charles Monroe SCHULZ, just to nitpick! Ha ha!

 

[BobSacamano]

Just thought I'd chime in with my 2 cents;

The good; Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn
Pam Tillis (talked with her in the airport while waiting for our plane,..very cool lady)
Michael McDonald
Randy "Macho-man" Savage

The Bad : Wolfman Jack (did an on-air interview with him,..total prick)
Larry King (really stand off-ish)
Reba (haven't met her but I've heard horror stories)


The ugly: Richard Simmons (nice, but flirted with every man at the station!)

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Re:William Frawley. His career was on life-support when Desi Arnaz rescued him by offering Frawley the role of Fred Mertz. However Frawley, who had a drinking problem, had to promise Arnaz that he would report to work sober. Frawley in return asked to have certain days off when his favoriate baseball team was playing in town. Ironic that Arnaz required Frawley to be sober considering that Desi was an alcoholic himself.
As for the Vance/Frawley feud, I've read a number of books and articles stating that both actors could not stand each other.
The Lucy/Vivian feud I never heard of, but I remember seeing Lucy on some talk show talking about how she was the only one of the original "I Love Lucy" cast still alive and she started crying; and it wasn't an act. There might have been "differences" between Vance and Ball, but I believe they were very close.
I did meet Steve Allen years ago. He seemed very aloof; nothing like the person who hosted the "Tonight Show." He wasn't rude or anything like that, but I came away feeling that he felt he was wasting his time talking to me.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

It's interesting to read about people like Reba and Garth being jerks, because as a whole, country artists are portrayed as being accessible and friendly to their fans.

 

[jwgreek8606]

Just thought I'd chime in with my 2 cents;

The good; Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn
Pam Tillis (talked with her in the airport while waiting for our plane,..very cool lady)
Michael McDonald
Randy "Macho-man" Savage

Are you talking about Michael Mcdonald as in the lead singer of The Doobie Brothers or are you talking about Michael McDonald the actor?



The Bad : Wolfman Jack (did an on-air interview with him,..total ------)
Larry King (really stand off-ish)
Reba (haven't met her but I've heard horror stories)


The ugly: Richard Simmons (nice, but flirted with every man at the station!)

 

[jh]

It's interesting to read about people like Reba and Garth being jerks, because as a whole, country artists are portrayed as being accessible and friendly to their fans.

On a radio engineering e-mail list a few years ago, there was a similar thread to this. The consensus seemed to be country artists tended to be nice people, not demanding... a couple of exceptions were the Judds and Lorrie Morgan.

But these radio engineers didn't have such high opinions of pop artists, who tended to be more demanding and harder to deal with. Of course there were exceptions, some were very nice and friendly. I wish I had saved that thread, it was just as interesting as this one.

 

[RicoGregg]

Re: Country Stars

In the early and mid-80s, a popular country group was The Kendalls, a father-daughter singing duo that had a string of hits back then. After a performance in San Bernardino, Ca., on a cold night and a long bus trip ahead of them, they stood in the parking lot of the venue for nearly two hours until every autograph was signed, every picture was taken, and every hand was shaken. That was very classy on their part.

Father Royce is gone now, and daughter Jeannie still performs ocassionally, but I'll always remember The Kendalls for being a class act.

 

[Ultimajock]

I did meet Steve Allen years ago. He seemed very aloof; nothing like the person who hosted the "Tonight Show." He wasn't rude or anything like that, but I came away feeling that he felt he was wasting his time talking to me.

...Jack Paar once said, "I am very fond of Steve, but not nearly as fond as Steve is himself" ;-) ...

 

[Ultimajock]

It's interesting to read about people like Reba and Garth being jerks, because as a whole, country artists are portrayed as being accessible and friendly to their fans.

...when they're truly accessible, they're sweet as pie. Had the greatest times meeting Jerry Reed and Ray Stevens (perhaps the key there is that both of them grew up in the same neighborhood in Albany, Georgia). But the opposite is often true. I had to do a remote with Charlie Daniels in '81. He was one ornery cuss all the way through...

 

[bpatrick]

Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee) wasn't too well-liked
by the cast and crew of "The Andy Griffith Show."
Everett Greenbaum, who co-wrote many of the
scripts with the late Jim Fritzell, tells how one year
at the show's Christmas party, she said (where he
could hear) that the show would be good if it had
better writers.

After her retirement, some friends bought her a
house in Siler City, NC (yes, it's a real town and
I ought to know: I live there). Within six months
no one wanted anything to do with her. Her
neighbors weren't welcome in her house, and she
lived a rather reclusive life, mostly watching public
television and tending to sixteen cats. Once, when
she was in the hospital, she ordered her door kept
closed and a "No Visitors" sign posted. She also
liked to tell anyone who would listen that she should
have moved back to her native New York.

Ms. Bavier died in 1989, about a year before I moved
here. I know Ron Howard came to the funeral,
and Andy may have sent flowers but he made no effort
to even attend the visitation at the funeral home, even
though he was filming "Matlock" in Wilmington, about
150 miles away. I don't know of anyone else connected
with "The Andy Griffith Show" (except possibly Jim Nabors)
who came to town to pay their respects.