Who Were Hollywood’s Biggest “Hellraisers?”

If you want to gift someone a terrific book about Hollywood, this is the one for you!

RICHARD BURTON. OLIVER REED. RICHARD HARRIS. PETER O’ TOOLE. The most legendary English drinkers in movie history are the subject of a great book about their wild ways, mostly in the 70’s!

Here is what Amazon had to say about this hilarious book:

“This highly entertaining biography of four charismatic and much loved actors follows them through five decades of boozing, brawling and braggadocio.”

“I did quite enjoy the days when one went for a beer at one’s local in Paris and woke up in Corsica,” Mr. O’Toole once quipped.

At their career peaks, these four controversial actors had the whole world at their feet and lived through some of the wildest exploits Hollywood has ever seen. But all that fame had a price.

Richard Burton’s liver was shot by the time he was 50, Richard Harris’s film career stalled for over a decade.

Peter O’Toole’s drinking almost put him in the grave before his 43rd birthday, and Oliver Reed ended up dying from a drinking game!

By the way, O’Toole was an Icon for his starring role in “Lawrence Of Arabia”, but he had terrific comic sensibility as well!

He was Oscar nominated for his hilarious work in “My Favorite Year” in 1980 – a really terrific film – one of ten movies I highlighted starting with the letter “M”: see my review here:

The book “Hellriasers” is the story of four of the greatest thespian boozers who ever walked — or staggered — off a film set into a pub. It’s a story of drunken binges of near biblical proportions, parties and orgies, broken marriages, drugs, riots and wanton sexual conquests. And yet these piss-artists were seemingly immune from the law.

Actor Oliver Reed consumed 126 pints of beer in 24 hours, and as you can see, loved to carouse with The Who drummer and legendary mad man Keith Moon.

Richard Harris joked that he formed a support group called “Alcoholics Unanimous” that worked this way:

“If you don’t feel like a drink, you ring another member and he comes over to persuade you.”

Although he had a long career, Harris will be remembered for playing Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” films!

Oliver Reed lived a wild wild life: he had an eagle tattoo on his shoulder, and also had the eagle’s claws tattooed on the part of his body that he most enjoyed exposing without warning. “Would you like to see where it’s perched?” he liked to ask about the bird.

And what about Richard Burton? Remember that he was Mr. Elizabeth Taylor – TWICE!

Here’s a story about Burton during the filming of “The Klansman,” one of his worst films. “If you want to interview a drunk or see a drunk fall in the camellia bushes, come ahead,” that film’s publicist supposedly told the press. And when the film’s makeup artist was complimented on how well he had prepared Mr. Burton for his death scene, the makeup man replied: “I haven’t touched him.”

In the 70’s, Burton took on a number of roles in sleazy European films like this one – but what a cast! See the sordid story of “Bluebeard” here:

This book is filled with hilarious stories about all four of these Actors, who were “larger than life” characters at a time when Hollywood embraced this kind of debauchery!

Now, the shocking story of Oliver Reed:

Reed died from a heart attack during a break from filming “Gladiator” in Malta on May 2, 1999.

Reed had encountered a group of sailors in a bar (pub), and challenged them to a drinking match. The Actor fell ill during the match and collapsed, and died in an ambulance while en route to the hospital. He was just 61 years old.

These four were truly the last of a breed, the last of the movie hell raisers. This is a great great book – but it will make you thirsty!

As I said, Burton was married to Elizabeth Taylor twice – did you know that she had her favorite chili flown from Hollywood to the “Cleopatra” movie set in Rome where she was filming with Burton?

I had to make the chili that Chasen’s sent by plane to the Actress – see the recipe and my review here!

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Categories: 70's Cinema, Action Films, Art, Books / Media, British Cinema, Cult Movies, Film Fight Club, Hollywood, Memoirs, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, True Hollywood Mystery

Tags: acting legends, Actors Best Actors of all time, Best comedies, best Peter O' Toole movies, best Peter O' Toole performances, Britian's greatest drinkers, comedies, entertainment, entertainment news, film, great acting, great Actors, greatest actors, greatest english actors, halloween, Hellraisers, Hellraisers book, horror, Lawrence of Arabia, movies, My Favorite Year, Oliver Reed, passing of a legend, Peter O' Toole, Peter O' Toole retires, Peter O' Toole RIP, Peter O'Toole Dies, reviews, Richard Burton, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, richard burton films, RIP, RIP Peter O'Toole