Its nice to hear that “Gilligan” was nice. Brings a small tear the eye.
When Shemp Howard died, Columbia Pictures insisted Moe and Larry take on Joe Besser (who was already under contract to the studio) as the third Stooge. Moe and Larry didn’t get along with Besser (and vice versa) and, as soon as the last series of Stooges shorts was finished, they parted ways. Joe DeRita replaced Besser as the third Stooge in the feature-length movies and live appearances, and was by all accounts a sweetheart to work with.
I Love Lucy must have been an “interesting” show to work on, with Lucy’s temper, Desi’s manic behavior, Vivian Vance and William Frawley’s disdain for each other, and Vance’s reported coolness toward Lucy.
In Portia de Rossi’s book, she indicates via a quote from Courtney Thorne-Smith that the Ally McBeal cast were not too chummy with each other.
Errol Flynn and Bette Davis didn’t like each other when they filmed “Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex”. I think they each had a scene where they slapped each other and really put their weight behind it. Davis thought Flynn was a lightweight as an actor and wanted Laurence Olivier.
On “Combat!” the cast didn’t care for guest stars Rip Torn and Jack Lord, although Dick Peabody (“Littlejohn”) did say since both played unsympathetic characters that might have carried over.
I don’t think Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra liked each other in “Guys and Dolls”.
Going back a ways, the two stars of “Wagon Train,” a very popular 50’s Western, reportedly detested each other. The solution was to alternate episodes featuring either Ward Bond or Robert Horton, with minimal interaction.
By the way, I was amazed to learn that Ward Bond died at age 57 in 1960. I thought he looked 57 in movies he made in the 40’s. Not decrepit, but mature.
The only thing I remember about that movie is Carol Wayne’s tits.
I don’t get it. Going from hazy memory, it seems like the Professor had more lines in most episodes than THIII, and way more than his wife.
I guess Chip had more lines on “My Three Sons” than Fred MacMurray, too. But Natalie Schafer was hardly that big a name.
In Moe Howard’s biography he says that they always wanted Joe de Rita as Shemp’s replacement, because he looked like “Curly” (and they ended up calling him “Curly Joe”), but that de Rita couldn’t get out of his contract. He never says anything bad about Besser, but it’s been pointed out that Besser refused to take the pies to the face, and you never see him with one.
Even the movie critics got into the action. There was that well-known love-fest with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.
(Although, there are conflicting opinions about whether their overt mutual hatred was for-real or just a put-on.)
Also, I’m willing to wager Danson doesn’t want to hold a grudge since it’s been over 20 years and Long’s had some personal problems since leaving the show.
To further clarify, Lewis actually continued to be top box office draw for nearly 10 years after his break-up with Dean Martin. What really derailed his career in the U.S. was when he starred in a heavily-hyped prime time talk/variety show on ABC in 1963 that was quickly canceled and became one of the biggest and most expensive flops in TV history (much like what happened to a certain former SNL performer exactly 30 years later).
OK, I’m curious, what is the one good joke in “The Party”? (I have my own idea, I want to know if you and I are in agreement!)
Birdie num nums
IIRC, there was ambivalence between Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford on set The Jeffersons. No cite.
Lol, the first scene, where Peter Sellers uses the wrong piece of furniture to put his shoe on to tie his laces.
Director Otto Preminger, who was one of the three actors who played Mr. Freeze in the Batman television show (George Sanders and Eli Wallach were the other two) was described by Adam West as rude and arrogant and very dismissive of the regular cast members. And West rarely spoke an unkind word about anybody.
…I was thinking of the scene where he had to visit the rest room and Claudine Longet was singing and singing and singing - but yeah, that one!
Still can’t believe she really drowned with those things.
Just wondering, did Andy Dick get along with anyone in his various shows? He seems completely insufferable from the things I’ve heard about him, but yet I don’t know anything about him backstage. Tom Green is also a guy I’d be surprised that people actually liked to work with
I worked with them once in 1982 (roughly). They spent all day together in a fairly small room and rarely, if ever, spoke to each other.
This makes no sense. An actor cannot be forced on a producer by the union.
What happened was that Garrett, who had no performing experience, had been hired as a writer. Sometime very close to the premier of the show, someone pointed out to Lorne that he had an all-white cast. Lorne decided this was uncool, and promoted the only black writer to writer/performer. Garrett wasn’t a performer and he knew it, and so did everyone else.