I've been told that Margi is really lovely

She really is lovely, very open and honest too.

You've worked with Margi?! I'm so jealous! She's a legend.

I'd heard that about Barbara Stanwyck - brings tears to my eyes even now.

William Holden died such a tragic death at a relatively young age. He left behind a whole legacy of incredible work though.

He was brilliant in The Wild Bunch where he gave depth and even dignity to what was on the surface, a pretty ruthless and, not very nice character.

He really should have won an Oscar for that role.

And the award for most bizarrely hostile post goes to...

I don't recall them claiming anything to be a "news flash" in the first place.

Ronnie Baxter (dart player) very very rude he has at the time my fav player but have hated him since

Jason Dolovan very nice he played a little gig in wellingborough and it started to rain which blow the cables up so the gig ended but spoke with him and he was lovely

Friend of mine has met Sir Cliff a couple times and said he was lovely each time

If you look on YouTube you can see Bill and Barbara at the 1978 Oscars. He broke away from the script to pay tribute to her:

"Before Barbara and I present the next award I would like to say something. 39 years ago we were filming Golden Boy, and it wasn't going well. They wanted to replace me, but thanks to this lovely human being, I'm here tonight."

Barbara was totally shocked and tearful as she hugged him and murmured , "Oh Bill, I didn't know!"

It is very touching and well worth looking at.

It was very sad that he died so young but I can't help laughing at Kenneth Williams judgement on his heavy drinking- he said looking at the load of rubbish he had to work on he didn't blame him for being a drunkard.

Said the man whose main contribution to movie culture was the Carry On films!

I can believe that about Keith Harris but Orville????? Nah!

[quote=M@nterik;61773979]Aled Jones has a reputation on a par with cilla, lulu and lineker.

Yes I am no fan of Aled Jones. He was the only person ever to turn down an interview for my radio show! I still have the brusque letter!

Ah well, in that case, he merits eternity in the flames of Hell, of course.

Thanks to a few of you for the stories about William Holden and Barbara Stanwyck. Very touching! I keep meaning to check out some more of his films. Sunset Boulevard is just incredible.

I had a dalliance with a someone closely related to one of Kidds wives. This relative gave quite a horrendous picture of an insecure alcoholic closeted homosexual who beat his sister. Presumeably, on recent evidence, hes on the road to Damascus.

Edit: Just to add Kidd dint beat his sister, but the sister of the person I had the dalliance with.

Didn't she have a massive with LWT due to her reserved parking space being used by a producer when she wasn't at the studio?

Meaning...?

...Meaning, hopefully he desn't beat his current spouse!
As for is sexuality, gawd knows!

The Saturdays - Was a very quick meeting at their 30 Days signing in Glasgow earlier this year. They were very nice and friendly but seemed stuck on "hello how are you?", "awww thank you" and "see you later" mode. Although Rochelle called me cute.

Cover Drive - Outside Braehead Arena on Tuesday. Stood for 15 minutes with them. Amanda and Jamar were very funny and took tons of pictures but T-Ray came across like a knob and Barry just seemed really shy.

B.O.B - At a Meet and Greet at a Glasgow gig. Spent ages talking to fans. Even tried a bottle of Buckfast which he hated, haha. Seemed very genuine and down to earth.

I agree. Also thought he should have won for Sunset Boulevard and Network (he received nominations for both). I was glad he got one for Stalag 17.


I've saved that video (and many others with Bill Holden in), in one of my playlists on YouTube.


I think that's a bit rich coming from Kenneth Williams! As undoubtedly talented as KW was, Holden starred in some amazing films. Sunset Boulevard, Bridge on the River Kwai, Stalag 17, Network, The Wild Bunch....I could go on


Yes, one of my all-time favourite films. You might love Stalag 17 as well (both were made by Billy Wilder, who had a knack for making terrific movies).

Not what I said or insinuated at all. Just a statement of fact! When many so called 'difficult' celebrities all said 'yes' , he said no!

The Carry Ons were his most remembered work but I was surprised when I read his diaries what an intellectual he was. He despised his public persona and always longed to be taken seriously. He was a regular contributor to philosophy and peotry programmes on the radio. Orson Welles wanted him to be part of his theatrical and film company! I think his comment about Holden was meant sympathetically and was referring to some of his later stuff.

I read his diaries too, and thought that he was obviously an extremely intelligent and talented man. But he also came across as mean-spirited and spiteful (I suspect his unhappiness with his own life may have contributed to that).

In his later career, Holden made such films as Network and The Wild Bunch. Both classics He probably made some less successful films too, but who didn't, really?

I think you're spot on with this. As well as the diaries, there have been interviews with long-standing family friends who will speak quite openly of how his father almost despised him, and how he formed an unhealthily close bond with his mother - probably out of self-defence.

He desperately wanted to be recognised as a "serious" actor, but was dominated by an overarching desire for approval. In the end this is what forced him down the comedy and farce route - which he grew to loathe: he was a very good comic actor and couldn't help ad-libbing serious roles with comic asides, if he felt that the audience didn't like his performance. This led to him being passed over for any significant serious roles, because the producers of those plays couldn't risk him turning them into a farce. He knew this to be the case, and wrote about it in his diaries - both his bitterness about being passed over and his anger with himself for always falling back on comedy for approval.

Even Barbara Windsor and Dame Maggie Smith, who were among his closest friends, talk about how towards the end of his life his impish personality became progressively more venomous and even malicious.

I don't know whether his death was an intentional suicide or not; perhaps, like Alan Turing, it was intentional but carefully arranged so that his mother could believe it to be an accident. Whatever the cause, it's clear that in his last few days and months, he had been worn out by self-hatred and by continuous pain from a chronic stomach ulcer.

Poor man.

I remember the TV dramatization of his life. Not sure how close to accuracy it was (it seemed so, being based on his own diaries) but it was incredibly sad and haunting. He had so many ongoing internal conflicts. I also have a feeling that he didn't want to outlive his mum and, along with his physical pain (plus fear of surgery) and depression, he realized that he was slowly losing her to dementia and couldn't face her inevitable decline.