Difficult Stars to Work For or With

[Mark Giardina]

Of course I can only rely on comments made in blogs or news articles but from what I’ve read the following celebrities who had their own shows were really (hate to use the word) monsters to work for or with.

Lucille Ball was such a perfectionist that she reportedly ticked off both Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor when the couple made their 1970 appearance on ‘Here’s Lucy.’ She also insisted that Vivian Vance put on a few extra pounds during her appearance on ‘I Love Lucy.’ Vance wasn’t pleased with that, and also hated working with co-star William Frawley.

Milton Berle was reportedly very tough on his writers. There is a story (how true it is I have no idea) that after Berle died some of these same writers would call his widow and asked if it’s true that Milton was really dead then laugh and hang up. (Sounds bogus to me).

I read where Red Skelton was not the lovable kind character that he portrayed on his TV show. Red not only had a temper but would use a great deal of profanity, even around women.

If you know of any other stories, please feel free to post them

 

[ShawnHill1]

If you asked the late Sherwood Schwartz, he would tell you Tina Louise on Gilligan's Island and Robert Reed on The Brady Bunch were difficult to work with, albeit for different reasons. I think many of us here heard the stories about Louise and what we would call a "diva" attitude on the show, and although we all knew that Bob Denver was the star of the show (and from all accounts, according to interviews and stories, he was very humble in comparsion), she had the notion that this was her show, at least it was what her agent told her in order to take the role.

As far as Reed, I believe it was recently discussed here about and his time on The Brady Bunch...although he got along very well with his castmates, he always thought that much of the material was beneath his acting talents. It came to a boiling point at the end of the original series, when he didn't appear in the series finale. I always wonder why if he hated the show so much, why come back for the reunions and revivals series. I guess he had that much affection for his castmates or money talk$ (or both). At least Tina Louise stuck to her principles for several years, refusing to appear in any of the reunion movies.

 

[michael hagerty]

Mary Tyler Moore is (according to someone who wrote for her) a terror.

 

[vjm]

If you asked the late Sherwood Schwartz, he would tell you Tina Louise on Gilligan's Island and Robert Reed on The Brady Bunch were difficult to work with, albeit for different reasons. I think many of us here heard the stories about Louise and what we would call a "diva" attitude on the show, and although we all knew that Bob Denver was the star of the show (and from all accounts, according to interviews and stories, he was very humble in comparsion), she had the notion that this was her show, at least it was what her agent told her in order to take the role.

As far as Reed, I believe it was recently discussed here about and his time on The Brady Bunch...although he got along very well with his castmates, he always thought that much of the material was beneath his acting talents. It came to a boiling point at the end of the original series, when he didn't appear in the series finale. I always wonder why if he hated the show so much, why come back for the reunions and revivals series. I guess he had that much affection for his castmates or money talk$ (or both). At least Tina Louise stuck to her principles for several years, refusing to appear in any of the reunion movies.

Reed wanted the show to take somewhat of a more realistic/serious feel, while Schwartz preferred to play it more for laughs.

That's what the beef was always about.

It wasn't more apparent then in the series finale, where Bobby was selling hair tonic, making Greg's hair turn orange.

Reed felt it was so stupid he refused to appear. Schwartz was so pi$$ed off at Reed for "going on strike", that if the show had been renewed for season 6, Mike Brady would have been killed off.

 

[landtuna]

I detect a theme here. People who are talented and are striving to show it off are usually "Type A" personalities who tend to know what they want and get their nose out of joint if efforts come up short (according to them). We've all heard the stories of temperamental artists, musicians and the like. People in show biz are apparently not very different but unlike the others we tend to think of them as the characters they play instead of the people they are. The difference can be surprising.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Supposedly.....the original choice for the role of Lawyer-turned-Farmer "Oliver Douglas" on "Green Acres" was veteran film actor Don Ameche.

The Powers That Be took Ameche to lunch one afternoon to familiarize him with what they had planned for the series. They quickly learned during that lunch that Ameche would be much more than a "hand-full" to work with.

They immediately started looking to cast someone else for the part. The rest.....as they say....is history .

 

[KeithE4]

Vance wasn’t pleased with that, and also hated working with co-star William Frawley.

Fixed. ;D

She and Frawley hated each other with a passion. Of course, outside of Lucy & Desi & Fred MacMurray, Frawley didn't get along with much of anybody, in our out of show biz.

 

[landtuna]

Of course, outside of Lucy & Desi & Fred MacMurray, Frawley didn't get along with much of anybody, in our out of show biz.

Bill Frawley was a known alcoholic with an abrasive temper and Desi took a huge chance on casting him with the caveat that should Bill be caught drinking on the job he would be fired on the spot. Frawley hadn't worked regularly in quite some time and needed the money so he agreed and reportedly kept his word although outside the studio he still enjoyed his liquor.

Even though I was a kid when I first saw "I Love Lucy" I always thought Frawley and Vance were too far apart in age to be realistic.

 

[Ultimajock]

...Pernell Roberts (Bonanza), Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed), Kim Richards (Hello, Larry), Danny Kaye (The Danny Kaye Show). All noted terrors on the indicated sets. I've heard claims that Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman (the latter of which also worked on The Danny Kaye Show) also had fairly prickly personalities, contributing to Lyle Waggoner's early resignation from the Carol Burnett Show cast, but also some reports to the contrary, too. And there were times that Richard Mulligan ruined takes on Empty Nest by barking at Dinah Manoff and/or Kristy McNichol if he sensed one of their lines were flubbed...

 

[johnbasalla]

Based on what I'm reading here, Tina Louise ("Ginger") was also a ditz. The show was entitled "GILLIGAN'S ISLAND", where in the world would she get the idea that it was her show? Did it take her 3 years to figure that out? Was she such a ditz that her manager(s) could pull the wool over her eyes even with the show title telling everyone who the lead was?

 

[landtuna]

Based on what I'm reading here, Tina Louise ("Ginger") was also a ditz. The show was entitled "GILLIGAN'S ISLAND", where in the world would she get the idea that it was her show? Did it take her 3 years to figure that out? Was she such a ditz that her manager(s) could pull the wool over her eyes even with the show title telling everyone who the lead was?

The story is, she signed her contract under the misassumption that she would be a lead character. Schwartz would not let her out of it when she found out the truth.

 

[brian4]

...Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed)

Doherty had so much heat with Aaron Spelling that during one of the 90210 recap shows they digitally removed her face from a group scene.

 

[onairb]

Supposedly, Louise was told the show was going to be about Ginger and some of her Hollywood 'entourage' chartering the Minnow, with Gilligan and the Skipper as supporting characters.

 

[Ultimajock]

...Jim Beaver, whom I'm acquainted with, worked in a bit part for a day on the set of Dallas when Tina Louise was part of that show's recurring cast in 1979. Jim reports that he couldn't wait to get out of her presence after that single encounter with her...

 

[BD Sullivan]

No doubt Robert Reed's mentality about The Brady Bunch stemmed from the fact that he had earlier co-starred on "The Defenders," which was one of the most honored and revered shows of its era. "Bunch" may have been popular with kids, but it certainly wasn't in line for Emmy consideration.

On the set of "Make Room for Daddy," Rusty Hamer was allowed to get away with murder since he was "just a little kid," which infuriated some of his co-stars. It's presumably that attitude that helped make his career nosedive after the show ended, culminating in his suicide in 1990.

 

[McCorryKL]

To add to the list:

Tom Baker - Doctor Who
Martin Landau - Space: 1999
Linda Lavin - Alice

 

[jwk1979]

I'm surprised that Andy Griffith's name has yet to been brought up. From what I've always heard, the Andy Griffith on camera was a far cry from Andy Griffith off camera, especially when he was playing Sheriff Andy Taylor. I had always heard that the true Andy Griffith was much closer to Lonesome Rhodes, the character he played in Elia Kazan's "A Face In The Crowd", so much so that a lot of Hollywood Insiders have often stated that the reason he was so convincing as Lomesome Rhodes was because he was just being himself in front of the camera. Also heard that was the reason he went through so many cast memebers on "Matlock", he was so difficult to get along with.

 

[KeithE4]

Supposedly, Louise was told the show was going to be about Ginger and some of her Hollywood 'entourage' chartering the Minnow, with Gilligan and the Skipper as supporting characters.

And they were going to call the show Ginger's Island? ;D

 

[BobSacamano]

On M*A*S*H, Gary Burghoff had a reputation for being difficult,..and according to Jamie Farr, Alan Alda could be a real pain in the ass in the later seasons..(big surprise)

 

[LKellerIII]

Supposedly.....the original choice for the role of Lawyer-turned-Farmer "Oliver Douglas" on "Green Acres" was veteran film actor Don Ameche.

The Powers That Be took Ameche to lunch one afternoon to familiarize him with what they had planned for the series. They quickly learned during that lunch that Ameche would be much more than a "hand-full" to work with.

They immediately started looking to cast someone else for the part. The rest.....as they say....is history .

I know somebody who was a cameraman in Hollywood in the 70s and 80s. He worked with Eddie Albert on a couple of film project (not TV), and said Albert was a pleasure to work with because he loved acting. He told a story about Albert playing a Colonel (or similar) marching his men up a hill and into battle. The Director yelled "cut," but Albert was so into it, he kept marching over the top of the hill.