Hellraisers: The Life
and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole and
Oliver Reed by Robert Sellers
(Preface Publishing)
Today’s generation of bad boy movie stars are complete wimps
when compared to the likes of Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole, Richard Harris and
– in particular- Oliver Reed. These blokes didn’t need to act like tough guys, they
were the real thing. Ultimately, their incessant boozing, smoking, womanizing
and brawling took years off their lives (though, thankfully, O’Toole is proving
to be the exception), yet according to Cinema Retro contributor Robert Sellers’
fascinating new book, they would not have had it any other way. Sellers traces
the lives of these iconic actors back to their roots but the bulk of Hellraisers is dedicated to the almost
surrealistic exploits of the British version of The Rat Pack. The book is
packed with anecdotes that range from the incredible to the hilarious. Here’s
but a few: when Eddie Fisher called home to check on wife Elizabeth Taylor, he
was astonished to find Richard Burton answering the phone. When he demanded to know what Burton was doing at his house, the Welsh lothario told him simply, “I’m fucking your wife.†Peter O’Toole once wanted a drink so badly that
when he was refused service in a pub, he bought the establishment on the spot
so he could serve himself. Oliver Reed was once clocked in at drinking 126
pints of lager in a 24 hour period in the same pub. The book is a mesmerizing
page-turner and makes you realize how the days of legendary film stars are
truly behind us.-Â Lee Pfeiffer
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