Hollywood's most legendary alcoholics

William Holden

Spencer Tracy, not dashing but very much a drunk.

Errol Flynn and John Barrymore were great friends and drinking buddies, during the thirties. Barrymore used to come over to Flynn's house, which had an expansive view if LA, and piss out the windows "In the hopes of hitting the Warner Brothers below".

I believe some drunken pranksters stole Barrymore's corpse out of the funeral home, and put it in Flynn's living room with a drink in its hand. Flynn practically shit himself.

In the spirit of fairness, any ladies? :-D

Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth, Frances Farmer, Barbara Payton, Veronica Lake, Grace Kelly, Gail Russell

William Holden. Alcohol killed him. He was drunk, fell over, hit his head on a table in his apartment and bled to death. He was found 4 days later.

Anyone know any stories about Richard Burton's legendary drunkenness while he was in Camelot?

[quote] In the spirit of fairness, any ladies? :-D

Tallulah Bankhead, of course

Barbara Payton

Lucille Ball

Gail Russell

Mercedes McCambridge

I don't think I like your tone OP.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

One of Hollywood's most legendary supposed drunks was Dean Martin, but he actually didn't drink nearly as much as people thought. The tumbler of "gin" he carried with him on his show was usually only filled with water. He just thought people found him more charming when they thought he was drunk.

Wasn't Ava Gardner a hard drinker? Micky Rooney too but where he found space for it all in that little munchkin body I don't know. George C. Scott could put it away with the best of them.

In fact nearly all of the old timers could pound them back.

Lon Chaney, Jr. He kept a hip flask while filming all of his movies. His drunken antics delayed many a production. A leading lady on one of his Mummy movies said he could barely stand straight while trying to pick her up. Another time they found him passed out naked in his trailer, covered in feces. He was only 67 when he died, but the looked like a very old man.

Ann Sheridan

Oona O'Neill Chaplin and Simone Signoret - both died of pancreatic cancer, a give away

Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp

R14, is pancreatic cancer really related to drinking? I know people say it, but is it true?

I remember reading a book about how almost all of the big female stars of old Hollywood were dysfunctional/addicts of some sort. Each chapter went through an individual history and detailed behavior that was somehow glossed over at the time but which illustrated the theory. If anyone else remembers this book please tell me the title. I read it in the 80s and can't recall the title and internet searching hasn't rendered it.

r14 My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer and never touched a drop in her life. No r16 don't listen to that idiot r14

R2, I was just listening to a podcast about Spencer. He was a freaking crazy alcoholic.

R5: Grace Kelly? As in THE Grace Kelly? Princess Grace of Monaco?

I bet Ann Miller wasn't a drunk. I liked Ann Miller.

Tallulah's last words were "Codeine.... Bourbon."

Miss Blanche Hudson, three sheets to the wind and still in that chair:

"Mother warned me about men and whiskey but she never said a word about women and cocaine."

Mrs Norman Maine's husband.

False story about Barrymore's body being sneaked into Flynn's house to frighten him. This never happened.

Barrymore's daughter, Diana, also died from the drink and the cocaines.

Lovely Gail Russell couldn't satisfy Guy Madison like Rory Calhoun could, so she hit the bottle until she died too.

John Barrymore's siblings both had substance abuse problems, Ethel was a big drinker until fairly late in life, when she built a second career as a character actress in films. Lionel used morphine because of his chronic arthritis pain, lots and lots of it. John Barrymore jr. has had a lifelong struggle with mental illness and alcohol, and of course his daughter Drew Barrymore first went to rehab at 13 or 14.

The Barrymores are an argument for addiction having a genetic component.

Peter O'Toole reportedly passed out and pissed himself, in the "Tonight Show" guest chair.

Then, all his generation of Brit actors seemed to be massive drunks, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Richard Burton, etc.

Didn't Richard Burton throw up on himself sitting in a restaurant booth while talking with the press?

Brian Donlevy was a drinker.

R27 Except Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Peter Ustinov, Michael Caine, Richard Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde, James Mason, Stewart Grainger, Albert Finney, John Gielgud, Lawrence Olivier, Alec Guiness, Christopher Lee, David Niven.... All close enough in generation but not problem drinkers. You only hear about the excesses, the ones who have a cup of tea and an early night don't make headlines.

You are a bit naive R29. Many on your list were functional alcoholics.

R22: I really hope a movie is made about Tallulah Bankhead. Some brilliant homosexual men surely must be working to make that happen.

[quote] Grace Kelly? As in THE Grace Kelly? Princess Grace of Monaco?

No, Rose. Just a run-of-the-mill Grace Kelly from Paducah, KY. That's why we're talking about her on a thread called "Hollywood's most legendary alcoholics."

R23: Miss Crawford looked so chic and lovely as always with her colour-coordinated outfit. Everything matched!

R32: Excuse me, missy but no one has really discussed her! There was merely a mention and it certainly is understandable that some people would be surprised.

At least, I don't look like Paul Bunyan in drag when I wear high heels and shoulder pads!

W.C. Fields. And his rosacea aggravated by his chronic drinking turned his nose into something quite nasty later on (likewise J. P. Morgan).

Not a big name, but Oscar winner Gig Young, who was once engaged to that other boozehound Elaine Stritch. His third wife, Elizabeth Montgomery divorced him because of his alcoholism. His fifth wife wasn't so lucky.

[quote]He was only 67 when he died, but the looked like a very old man.

Even worse. Lon Chaney died at 47.

About Lon Chaney's death - nothing to do with booze: "During the filming of Thunder in the winter of 1929, Chaney developed pneumonia. In late 1929 he was diagnosed with bronchial lung cancer. This was exacerbated when artificial snow, made out of cornflakes, lodged in his throat during filming and quickly created a serious infection.[13] Despite aggressive treatment, his condition gradually worsened, and seven weeks after the release of the remake of The Unholy Three, he died of a throat hemorrhage on Tuesday, August 26, 1930 "

Errol Flynn and Richard Burton lasted longer than you'd think given the amount they drank and smoked. Gore Vidal had wet rain and he was quite old when he died. Peter O'Toole, too. Then again, Gloria Vanderbilt's father died in his 40s from drinking as well as Trump's brother. It seems some livers are stronger than others by a wide margin.

Jason Robards Paul Newman (yeah...he hid that one well but pretty sure he was drinking every day) Montgomery Clift

Paul Newman drank cases of beer every day. I know this from people who worked with him. Oddly, it didn't show on his face but apparently it did hurt his ability to remember lines.

r35, Morgan's rhinoplyma was not aggravted by drinking--it was just a genetic condition he inherited.

Field's rhinoplyma was aggravated by his drinking, though again it was not caused by it.

Leave Liza alone !!!

Elisabeth Taylor

r42, they both had rosacea as the underlying cause of their rhinoplyma and heavy drinking is prime cause of rosacea flare-ups. I did not say Fields' drinking caused his rhinoplyma. I said it aggravated his roscacea. Fields' alcoholism and his roscacea are both well documented.

Judy Garland

But Morgan was not an alcoholic.

You most certainly do have to be a drunk to get rhinoplyma.

Talking about Lon Chaney JUNIOR, R37 and R38. The guy who played Lenny in Of Mice and Men and the Wolf Man in several horror films in the 1940's. A lot of people around here are seriously lacking in knowledge about Classic Hollywood.

Holden was also apparently the "actor who had died while he was drinking" that Suzanne Vega referred to in "Tom's Diner"...

Don't forget about Jack Cassidy. He got drunk one night, passed out on his couch with a lit cigarette in his hand, the couch caught fire, and he burned to death.

Please don't remind me, r51. Tears.

R49, you sound like a master of old Hollywood. Tell us what it was like when you first went to a talkie.

Don't even remind me of it.

[quote] You most certainly do have to be a drunk to get rhinoplyma.

Nope. That's a myth:

[quote] There’s no known cause for rhinophyma. In the past, it was thought to be due to alcohol use, but recent research has disproven that connection. The condition occurs in people who drink alcohol and those who don’t drink alcohol.

Richard Harris was not a drunk, quite the opposite.

R53, I learned from watching old movies on DVD, reading scholarly books, and paying attention to detail. I know it's tough for a guy who saw Lily Langtry in her debut to accept moving pictures, but it's time for you to accept reality.

Lillie Langtry was no goddamn drunk! 30 days for you!

What does the link to Lon Chaney SENIOR's Wikipedia article prove, R53? No even mentioned him until you showed up and started your priss pot "I know more than you do" by mistaking Lon Chaney, Sr. for his son. Besides being ancient, does your family tree mention any ancestors or relatives by the name of Drump?

Gordon MacRae, but not at the time of his death.

The Dean Martin show was on for ten years yet no one seems to remember it.

Dana Andrews

MTM meow

Judy Garland, high on booze and pills. She had just turned 47 when she died, and didn't look at day under 70.

One person who knew W.C. Fields said his nose looked like it had been severely frostbitten at some point. As Fields had spent some time living rough in his youth, it was possible that's why his nose looked like one of the wartier sort of melons.

Plus he was a big drunk, of course. Never liked his films myself. Give me the Marx Bros any day.

About 7 out of 10 cases of chronic pancreatitis are due to long term heavy drinking. Chronic pancreatitis is a known risk factor for cancer of the pancreas.

Wendell Corey and Robert Newton drank themselves to death.

Both were excellent character actors.

[quote]No even mentioned him until you showed up and started your priss pot "I know more than you do" by mistaking Lon Chaney, Sr. for his son.

It's "prisspot." One word, a portmanteu of "priss" and "pisspot."

[quote]Besides being ancient, does your family tree mention any ancestors or relatives by the name of Drump?

You mean "Drumpf."

For being a smartass, you're not very smart at all, are you?

Bette Davis drank like a fish in her private life, the bios are full of stories of Bette's obnoxious drunken behavior at dinner parties and other gatherings. She did have enough self-control to never drink while working or making public appearances, however.

[quote]John Barrymore jr. has had a lifelong struggle with mental illness and alcohol, and of course his daughter Drew Barrymore first went to rehab at 13 or 14.

John Barrymore Jr. died some years ago.

Tony Curtis was a drunk in the 70s and 80s.

Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Drew Barrymore, Mary J. Blige, Amanda Bynes, James Caan, Bradley Cooper, Kristin Davis, Gerard Depardieu, Andy Dick, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Downey Jr., Patty Duke, Eminem, Carrie Fisher, Michael J. Fox, Melanie Griffith, Larry Hagman, Tom Hanks, David Hasselhoff, Anthony Hopkins, Samuel L. Jackson, Billy Joel, Elton John, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Lindsay Lohan, Rob Lowe, Ewan McGregor, Mary Tyler Moore, Tracy Morgan, Leonard Nimoy, Nick Nolte, Ozzie Osbourne, Mackenzie Phillips, Daniel Radcliffe, Diana Ross, Peter Sellers, Jada Pickett Smith, Patrick Swayze, Steven Tyler, Charlie Watts, Hank Williams, Robin Williams, Amy Winehouse, Robert Young

R11, both Ava Gardner and Sinatra were reckless lushes (someone tell the gun story). She dated George C Scott in the 1960s, and he would beat her in drunken rages - it was very well known. Lena Horne told of nightly martini fests with Ava in the late 1940s.

More than half of the names on R72's list are wrong, btw.

Paul Lynde was known to get nasty when drunk.

I think Johnny Carson was a drunk too.

It's interesting to note that a lot of drinking happened back in those days. 50's thru 70's. People for the most part were functional alcoholics. I wonder if alcoholism today is worse because of the limit of drinking allowed in public and on t.v.? Is this why people binge drink?

Imagine Ellen coming out on her show with a martini in hand. Or, jimmy Fallon sitting at his desk with a scotch and cigarette in hand...

B.t.w., both above are drunks too?!?! I still find it weird that Ellen is such a lush. Just can't picture it..

Marlene Dietrich was a total lush, and she fell several times while onstage during the 60s and 70s. She made one final film appearance in Just A Gigolo in 1978, and was bombed while filming her scenes. Immediately after that, she became a total recluse in her Paris apartment, drinking all day and all night and never leaving the apartment until her death 14 years later.

Ida Lupino. While she was directing "The Trouble with Angels" in 1966 her drinking became so bad Roz Russell called the producer, William Frye, and said, "Ida and those drinks. She's got to go." Frye had a long talk with Lupino, and she didn't drink while she was on the set for the duration of the shoot anyway.

Oh dear, R68, spell check split prisspot into two words, and I forgot to put the "f" on Drumpf. You're either the bitch who intimately knew Lily Langtry, or you're someone else who believes there were no Technicolor films until 1962, and that Star Wars inaugurated the first era of great filmmaking.

"I think Johnny Carson was a drunk too."

That's because he talked about it on the air, R74.

The big revelation about Paul Newman after his death, was that he was a functioning alcoholic. In addition to all of the beer he drank during the day, there was scotch in the evening. I think Newman's directing career suffered tremendously after 1968.

R30 Like Michael Caine, who admitted to once having a two bottles of vodka a day habit.

Leo decaprio

There's lot of actors who were alcoholics, but there's only a small group of "legendary" alcoholics (Burton, O'Toole, Reed etc) No one will ever recount tales about Ben Affleck.

Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp.

Richard Burton raped Eddie Fisher during one of his drunken rages. Eddie's humiliation was quite clear to many people. Richard took Eddie's woman - and manhood. Supposedly Roddy McDowall found out and told a few intimates.

Am I the only one who feels that golden Hollywood actors were so much more glamorous and classy? They had a mystique

No r84. They just didn't have the Internet. Makes it so much easier to find out dirt on someone with secrets.

Wasn't there some story that Roddy had diaries or something about scandalous Hollywood stories that he said would never be released after he died?

R85 Or it makes it easier to make spread false rumours.

I was molested.

R85 Cell phone cameras also make it possible for anyone to pap stars without makeup doing boring shit. Takes away the glamor.

Buster Keaton crawled into a bottle for about a decade. He was institutionalized for it.

Johnny Carson was apparently one of those drunks who get mean and nasty. After a few drinks all he wanted to do was verbally insult you until he got a fight started.

And a hangover, R84.

r90 My great-great aunt, a vaudevillian, would hold Buster Keaton offstage when he was a baby while his parents were onstage during their vaudeville show. His father abused him psychically as a child. I wonder if that had anything to do with his drinking problems later in life.

As far as classic actresses go, I think Joan Crawford was the all-time drunken champion. She was visibly intoxicated on-camera in her later career.

R93, then it's entirely appropriate that Jessica Lange will be playing her in that forthcoming Ryan Murphy TV series.

r72, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Billy Joel, Elton John, Janis Joplin, Ozzie Osbourne, Steven Tyler, Charlie Watts, Hank Williams, and Amy Winehouse are not part of "Hollywood."

My favorite Drunk...Spencer Tracy. The story was he drank because his son was born Deaf and he blamed himself. The "REAL STORY" was that Spencer was a DRUNK because he was trying to "Drink the GAY AWAY" As w all know, his relationship with Hepburn was a "cover for her eating PUSSY and HIM "SUCKING COCK-GETTING FUCKED" He lived on Cukor's estate on and off for years(one of the biggest FAGS In Hollyweird) with all his "hanger-ons gays and lesbians" George was probably blowing his drunken ass.

It seems as if you become a Hollywood star it's more likely than not you will become an alcoholic, though I agree many of the ones people are listing are not what I would call "legendary."

r96 Why would anyone want to blow Tracy's drunken ass? Yuck!

Was not June Allyson a drunky?

Montgomery Clift.

r72 at least four people on your list were/are mentally ill. They may have had/have a problem with alcohol but the underlying cause was mental illness.

And Kelsey Grammer, expecting baby nummer 7

[quote][R90] My great-great aunt, a vaudevillian, would hold Buster Keaton offstage when he was a baby while his parents were onstage during their vaudeville show. His father abused him psychically as a child. I wonder if that had anything to do with his drinking problems later in life.

Yrs, the act actually involved the father throwing Buster across the stage, dropping him, kicking him, etc.. The police investigated the act in several cities, and Buster was forced to submit to a physical exam looking for bruises and broken bones--that's how violent the act was.is Father was (Surprise!) also an alcoholic. Buster also injured himself countless times doing movie stunts (including a broken neck). You don't do all that and not have some pain, so maybe he was self-medicating a bit.

Buster's drinking went off the deep end when he went through a bad divorce. That, along with losing his money in The Crash and being terribly unhappy at MGM.

R84 Thank you, Ann Miller

Kathleen Turner's alcoholism was a way to self-medicate the pain of her arthritis.

Jack Lemmon was an alcoholic, until he wasn't.

Is there a good book about Bankhead?

Stinky LaBrea, he would get so tarred up, he'd suck on the roots of the Agave plants that covered modern day Hollywood. This goes back to Hollywood's jurassic period. He died when he fell in the Old Tar Pit which was later renamed in his honor.

Stinky LaBrea, he'd suck the roots of agave plants. This goes back to Hollywood Jurassic period and Stinky died in the tar pits, which were later renamed in his honor.

R108, r109. Fail.

They don't exactly qualify as "legends," but Gale Storm, Barbara Hutton, Linda Darnell, and Barbara Payton were all alcoholics. The first two did eventually stop drinking, but sadly, the second two did not. Darnell died in a house fire when she was only 41.

Payton's life is one of the most fascinating and sordid Hollywood stories I know. Kim Morgan wrote a great piece about her, linked below.

Dick Van Dyke

W.C Fields. On day, he met a journalist (? author ? can someone confirm and provide the name ?) for an interview. Talked with him, drank with him. Then a rather drunk Fields took the young man to theater, they both sat and watched the first scene. When the first scene was over, Fields leant and whispered to the young journalist (?) : " Now something very interesting is going to happen. " " What ?" " I am supposed to be playing in scene 2.".

When someone asked W.C. Fields why he didn't drink water, he answered, "Fish fuck in it".

R111, Barbara Hutton was not an actress. Perhaps you mean Betty Hutton who was also mentally ill.

R112 beat me to it with Dick Van Dyke.

Bea Arthur was also a huge lush for a good part of her career.

I'm pretty sure I would've been a lush in Hollywood

Anna May Wong. Pat Morita.

OP - your list is a good start but so many to chose from (and lots of women!!)

Hope Lange

Donald Pleasence

I looked inside Richard Burton's changing room, actually an RV.

He had a sack of ice thrown in the sink. Stuck in the ive was a huge bottle of vodka.

This was while he was on set making a movie at the Warner Bros lot in Burbank.

That was quite a surprize for me.

Robert Young (Father Knows Best, Marcus Welby.)

[quote]Despite his trademark portrayal of happy, well-adjusted characters, Young's bitterness toward Hollywood casting practices never diminished, and he suffered from depression and alcoholism, culminating in a suicide attempt in January 1991. Later, he spoke candidly about his personal problems in an effort to encourage others to seek help. The Robert Young Community Mental Health Center is named after Young in honor of his work toward passage of the 708 Illinois Tax Referendum, which established a property tax to support mental health programs in his home state. The Center started in Rock Island, Illinois and now has sites in both Iowa and Illinois, as part of the Quad-City Metro Area.

Who was it who said "Anyone who doesn't love Hollywood is either crazy or sober." Maybe Raymond Chandler?

I'm working on it.

One of my favorite actors Robert Mitchum was a heavy hitter as they say.

Laurette Taylor, not a Hollywood legend but one of Broadway. Her performance in the original production of THE GLASS MENAGERIE is one still talked about to this day but it has been written that she would be tremendously hungover when coming to do the show, go onstage and do a scene, come offstage, vomit in a bucket, then go back for the next scene as if nothing happened.

I saw Peter O'Toole on Broadway in a revival of PYGMALION. He was quite drunk. In one scene, he was sitting in a chair while the actors onstage with him were going on and he would start to doze off. Then at one point he stood up and stumbled forward so badly that the actors all reached forward as if to catch him. I was shocked and lost any admiration I had for him.

Lee Marvin - An entertainment reporter recounted interviewing him at his home. Marvin had a big tumbler of water that he sipped from. The reporter was having trouble with the interview until he realized Marvin wasn't answering the current question; he was answering the previous question. And the reporter realized the tumbler was full of vodka.

Nick Nolte - Supposedly after the bars closed, he and a friend would go to the airport and get on a flight, because you could still get drinks in the air. When he did a movie with Katharine Hepburn, she greeted him with some comment about how he'd been spotted drunk in Hollywood gutters.

Maureen Stapleton - I don't know if she was legendary. She mentioned her drinking in some interview and that at some point Bogart, a fellow drunk, had looked out for her. Carol Matthau mentioned Stapleton's terrible housekeeping in one of her books, but I don't know if she related it to alcoholism.

Sadly, Graham Chapman bogged down all the Monty Python film sets with his drinking.

Keifer Sutherland - he has been locked up for being a drunk.

David Hasselhoff.

After she left Fox in 1946, Carmen Miranda became a big drunk and coke addict.

Oprah and Gayle