Well, Wallace Beery regularly beat the crap out of his first wife, Gloria Swanson. And when I was researching my Jean Harlow bio, I spoke to people who said he was one nasty SOB on the set.
There is Judy Garland, too, but with extenuating circumstances. Later in life (well, after the 1940s), she was impossible to work with, because of her drug and emotional problems. Dirk Bogarde said that on the set of I Could Go On Singing, the crew was referring to her as “it” after a few weeks.
Same with Marilyn Monroe. She could be a lovely gal as a friend, but the pills and booze and emotional problems often made her hell to work with.
Since there is nothing more agonizing than looking like an idiot in public when a joke falls flat, comedians have an enormous collective reputation for being neurotic, perfectionistic, maniac assholes.
It’s probably easier to name comedians who were known to be nice people (Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns) than the reverse, but almost all the pioneers in television comedy - Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Lucille Ball (sampiro, check out Stefan Kanfer’s biography oh her), Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Lewis - were hated and feared by their co-workers as much as they were loved by the public. And their radio predecessors were just as bad.
Both Groucho Marx and W. C. Fields were so overtaken by their public personas that they turned mean, bitter, and sour by the end of their lives.
But the worst sons-of-bitches of all time are reputed to be two men from vaudeville days almost forgotten by anyone this side of Eve: Eddie Cantor and Frank Fay.
I was going to chime in with her, but you beat me to it.
The only one I can think of for a male star is Frank Sinatra, who, IIRC, served his wife Mia Farrow divorce papers while she was on the set of Rosemary’s Baby. Talk about cold…
Unfortunately, I’m unable to provide any cites, but I remember hearing that Louise Brooks was a somewhat unpleasant person. An incredible beauty and a talented actress, who got more than her share of tough breaks, but apparently just not very nice.
That’s not so cold. Lots of people get served while at work. Now, if she were in the hospital after having just given birth to his child and was served… that would be cold.
The problem with naming Sinatra in this thread is that for every story about what a jerk he was, there’s a story about what a great guy he was. He just seemed to live large no matter what he was doing.
Harry Cohn does seem like a good candidate. As I recall, after his death a Hollywood rabbi who was famous for seeing the good in everybody was asked to think of something good to say about Cohn. After reflection, the rabbi said “He’s dead.”
RET may be right. The only time I’ve ever seen anything said in a nice way about Cohn was in Capra’s autobiography (and even then Cohn comes off as an asshole).
Another Cohn funeral quote came from Red Skelton who acknowledged the huge crowd by noting if you gave the public what they wanted they’d flock to it.
Was Wally Beery really a meaner man than W.C. Fields?
Alfred Hitchcock had a reputation of being a royal bastard. Two stories about him in particular:
He propositioned Tippie Hedren on the set of “Marnie”, basically asking her to be his mistress. She refused, and he set out on a stalker vendetta. Meg Ryan, Hedren’s real-life daughter, says that for her birthday that year, she received a gift from Hitch - a barbie doll, outfitted with a dress like the one Hedren wore in “the Birds”, and encased in a small coffin.
While filming in England (I think for the movie “Frenzy”), he was using a location that was reputed to be haunted. A stagehand scoffed at the rumor, and Hitch bet him a large sum of cash that he wouldn’t have the guts to spend the night alone in the house. The man agreed to the bet. To prove he would be there all night, the stagehand was required (by Hitch) to handcuff himself to a heavy piece of lighting equipment. As everyone left for the evening, Hitch left the already cuffed man a snifter of brandy to get his courage up. What he didn’t say was that he had dissolved several laxatives in the brandy. So the man drank up, while handcuffed to a heavy immobile object, all alone…you can figure out the rest.
I’ve heard that Val Kilmer spoils other actor’s scenes by making faces, looking bored, and generally stealing the scene. Also, I’m not sure of the details, but his former wife Joanne Whalley-Kilmer was pregnant with his child when she was confronted by discovering Val was messing around with other women. As a result, Val doesn’t work too often and has to settle for 2nd rate film roles.
Not sure if one’s the direct result of the other - that would mean Joanne Walley carried some clout. I think he gets second-rate roles because he’s not a very good actor and his pretty boy days are largely behind him.
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about MASH* that didn’t take the time to say what a total asshole Gary Burghoff was IRL.
I have also heard that Liz Taylor was a legendary bitch. IIRC she demanded that films in which she starred had to be shot in the Todd-AO format, since as Mike Todd’s widow she owned the rights to the system and would get more money from it being used.
I remember hearing about what a sweet guy he really was. I read a book of his published letters that showed he was a doting father too. Toward the end of his life he gave a concert/lecture at Carnegie Hall where he came across as humble, wise, and nostalgic about his family.
Eh, don’t be too surprised, Machie. Some of the suggestions in this thread are probably based off of one or two isolated incidents, rather than a consistent stream of assholery. Seagal, Kilmer, and Costner consistently produce stories about dicky behavior, f’rinstance.
Not only is it Melanie Griffith, as pepperlandgirl pointed out, but according to the IMDB, Tippi Hedren has recently stated that Hitchcock never intended his gift to be taken that way, and that Melanie’s impression was merely a child’s mistake.
I have a wonderful copy of an HBO special on Groucho done years ago that I borrowed off of someone and cough never returned.
I think later in his Life Groucho did become bitter, but not scathing bitter. He had his moments , in the tape, of when he discovered Gilbert & Sullivan that suddenly it was All Gilbert and Sullivan all The Time and that would drive even the most ardent classical lover crazy. I think he was more eccentric/obsessive with a heavy dose of nostolgic towards the end. He did adore his daughters.
He was forever bailing Chico out of gambling scrapes and dealing with their domineering mother, Minnie, who was the classical backstage night mare mother. And apparently, the most normal house for the Marx family was Harpo.
Also, in the Crash of 29, he lost everything. Imagine working your entire life scraping by in Vaudeville skipping meals, sharing crappy rooms saving money for your future, and it all goes down the toilet in one day. And you are 39, and you are going to have to start from scratch. If that didn’t turn you bitter on the spot, I don’t know what would, and I’ve never heard nasty things about him. Scathing, yes, but never down right nasty.
It must have given him and his brothers the drive to make some of the most brilliant comedy to ever been made to date.
