"Difficult" actors

Golly, I sure don't know.

Mandy Patinkin

Neely O'Hara

HELLen Lawson

Tom Hardy

After the Revenant, he seems to have faded into obscurity, last seen in some straight-to-streaming movie doing an imitation of (late life) Marlon Brando

La Buckley

I just read an article yesterday, Matthew McConaughey tested for the role of Jack in Titanic. They made it sound like he was the frontrunner, but when Cameron asked him to do another take opposite Kate Winslet (without his southern accent) he said, 'No. That was pretty good. Thanks.'

The old stand-bys:

Chevy Chase (mean to everyone, sometimes gets violent)

Dustin Hoffman (egomaniacal and needs to waste tons of time for his Method shit)

Edward Norton (fights with directors over their vision of the movie)

Mike Myers (moody and a control freak, once fired someone on set for looking at him directly in the eye)

Steven Seagal (ridiculous liar and throws violent temper tantrums)

Russell Crowe (violent temper tantrums)

Christian Bale (bad temper)

Lindsay Lohan (always late, throws tantrums, always high drama)

Shia LeBeouf (erratic behavior onset).

Julia Roberts (has difficulty working with women)

Roseanne (screams at people, moody, will humiliate and even fire people at whim)

R9, are you speaking from personal experience? Those descriptions are pretty detailed!

Julianna Margulies

Stupid cow Marcia Cross

Donald J. Trump

Sean Young

Kiefer Sutherland

Sarah Jessica Parker

There was a thread here on DL about Gilmore Girls being a set of hell because of both lead actresses.

Lauren Graham: One person who worked as an extra claims she had a "horrible personality" and would call extras "background roaches." Another poster said that she once said, "Get the background out of here, someone stinks!"

Alexis Bledel: An old Facebook post from an extra is mentioned, which claimed Bledel was "quite nasty." A PA who worked on the show also said they didn't like her or Lauren Graham due to their "awful personalities."

I love these “looked in the eye”or instructions “don’t look so and so in the eye” stories. They seem ridiculous to me.

R17 I am surprised at that.

Lawrence Tierney was the king of "difficult"

Stallone is a dick to extras

Cuntess Cameron Burre

When stories from the Friends set started to come out, this was basically the consensus:

Easiest to get along with: Courtney Cox

Most Difficult: Schwimmer

Debra Winger (didn't get along with Shirley, John Malkovitch, Richard Gere...)

Thandie Newton

R24 wins. DL icon Deb Winger is queen of DRAMA!

La Chalamet.

Kate Jackson is the GOAT, no?

“They say I am ‘difficult.’ I am not difficult. I am right.”

Charlotte Rae has spoken and she’s never wrong!

Lon Chaney Jr. and Broderick Crawford were horrible, drunken, bigoted cunts.

A certain sitcom star currently living in earned obscurity.

Stockard Channing? Question mark because I've always gotten that impression but haven't heard any actual stories. Maybe someone will see this and drop a couple.

r33 I've actually heard great stories about Stockard Channing.

Joaquin Phoenix

Barbra Streisand doesn’t yell at people like a tyrant but she will do everything in her power to enact her vision to the point it drives people nuts.

There's a podcast called "I was there too" where they interview actors who had bit parts in big movies.

Apparently Eddie Murphy and Daniel Day Louis are friendly and normal but John Malkovich is a huge asshole.

[quote] and Broderick Crawford were horrible, drunken, bigoted cunts.

Shitpants Crawford.

Walked like he had a big turd in his pants on that awful Highway Patrol.

Don't know who it is but I nominate the actress that made Anna Faris leave the sitcom "Mom".

Where did you hear that? R39

William Shatner

Suzanne Somers!

42 replies and no mention of Kevin Spacey?

Linda Lavin.

I can see Kevin Spacey being a bad coworker. He seems like a blowhard and an asshole.

Pascal Pedrow

R14 Sean Young??? Since when is SHE working?

Lea Michele

Ask all those cute House of Cards actors about La Spacey

Lauren Bacall

I've shared this video before - I find it interesting. Judy Crown is an emmy-winner for hair/makeup. She has many interesting stories of the actors she worked with over the years. This short interview includes her talking about Lauren Bacall - and how she was mean.

[quote] I can see Kevin Spacey being a bad coworker. He seems like a blowhard and an asshole.

It's more because he molested so many young men on his sets.

I guess Lauren Bacall liked a dose of attitude with her High Point

and re: Spacey - that hot hunk Joel Kinnaman also said of his time on House of Cards something like (paraphrasing) "Yehhhh, um, Spacey was a bit... well, let's just say I can see why so many people came forward."

Alec Baldwin

Christopher Walken

Ben Foster

Frank Langella

Was Charlotte Rae senile at that moment in time at r30?

r55 I'm not r30 but I do believe she was

[quote]Stockard Channing? Question mark because I've always gotten that impression but haven't heard any actual stories. Maybe someone will see this and drop a couple.

[quote][R33] I've actually heard great stories about Stockard Channing.

What a weird thing to hope for. Sorry to disappoint, but r34 has heard correctly. Stockard is a joy to work with

Shelley Long

Amy "Cunt" Schumer

[quote]R50 Lauren Bacall

No one seems to have read this book, but the author of PIECE OF WORK (2006) was a publicist who accompanied Bacall on a book tour. Insanity ensued.

In short, Bacall was a CUNT.

———————

[italic] Julia Einstein knew that being a stay-at-home mom had a lot in common with her former job as a celebrity publicist - endless, irrational demands, little to no appreciation, and constant hustle. But it isn't until her husband is laid off from his job and she's forced to go back to work and resurrect screen legend Mary Ford's career that Julia realizes how very much she prefers an actual child to a formerly famous client. "For example, her child doesn't steal ten-thousand-dollar leather coats from photo shoots. Nor does he require a constant, fresh supply of a soda that is no longer in production. He doesn't curse at Julia, pronounce her name "Einstein" with a thick layer of disdainful irony, or incessantly poke at her with his index finger while reciting odd variations on childlike rhymes like a psych patient on day pass. With a mortgage looming and three years out of the business, however, Julia knows she has no choice but to make Mary's comeback a success. Even if it kills her." Which, at this pace, is a possibility. But if there is one thing Julia has learned from her time off from the office, it's that sheer determination can solve almost everything. After all, if she can get through suburban living with its uncontrolled clutter and playground politics, how hard can it be to resuscitate the career of an aging, desperate has-been? And get over the fact that her husband is a better stay-at-home mom than Julia ever was?

I started a thread not long ago about Jon Rudnitsky’s (SNL) experiences with Kevin Spacey. It got no responses so I’ll post it here.

Wait, did I miss her or has no one actually mentioned Faye Dunaway?

R62, she’s referenced at r1. I had to look up her real name

[quote] Shelley Long

From what I read, Shelley Long deserved the attribute Difficult without the quotation marks. She wasn't difficult because she was mean or rude or an overall awful person. So Difficult wasn't code for Bitch. She was just overanalyzing everything to death and wanted to try different takes in her scenes etc. As a result she killed the mood and taping just took longer (too long?) than it needed to from the perspective of her co-actors and directors. And keep in mind that everybody else on set was bunch of party boys, so a super-sincere actor in their midst was naturally not highly regarded. See that also in contrast to the other lead of the show, Ted Danson, who did his job with such ease.

Barbara Hershey with hair and makeup. Some make persondid a number on her psyche that she doesn't want anyone doing her lips- she has to do her own (even if it's not period appropriate), and you cannot watch her doing it. With hair, poor thing has 10 hairs, so my friend introduced her to skinwefts. We filmed the whole process with her, and the next time we worked with her, she instructed my friend how to do it (incorrectly), not remembering that it was my friend who showed her how to do it.

And indeed Faye is the boogey man with makeup/hair. As is Lauren Graham.

Reading R64’s post, wasn’t Bebe Neuwirth also rumored to be difficult to work with?

Linda Lavin being a PITA was immortalized in this skit

Sherwood Schwartz said Robert Reed was a pain in the ass on the set of The Brady Bunch

Linda Lavin and Robert Reed always struck me as two actors who felt they were "slumming" in their TV roles. I can see how they were probably frustrated and weren't fun to work with. Robert wanted to do Shakespeare and Linda wants a one woman show on Broadway.

Bonnie Franklin was the one who felt she was slumming doing TV. And told pretty much everyone on ODAAT that. She had no problem berating the writers and accusing them of writing shit for her to do. She wanted realism and fought against comedy.

r70 She was, by far, the worst.

[quote]R69 Linda Lavin and Robert Reed always struck me as two actors who felt they were "slumming" in their TV roles. I can see how they were probably frustrated and weren't fun to work with. Robert wanted to do Shakespeare and Linda wants a one woman show on Broadway.

Not to mention Nancy Dussault.

[quote]R65 Barbara Hershey with hair and makeup.

Actresses get a bum rap for taking time with this, but the truth is, most often, leading ladies are hired predominantly for how they look - so they’d better make damn sure they look pulled together onscreen if they ever want to work again.

One makeup artist/hair stylist said he was prepping Lesley Ann Warren once and this P.A. kept asking when they’d be finished. He finally snapped, “It takes two hours, and [italic]it’s always going to take two hours!”

Thomas Gibson kicked a writer on the shins for "Criminal Minds," and had to go to an anger management class after shoving an assistant director.

R50 My friend worked at Armani on Madison Ave in the early to mid 2000’s and said she was a total nightmare. She yelled at a couple of sales associates over something out of their control. She also expected specific treatment because she was friends with Giorgio himself.

R46- I did not know that Donna Pescow had a brother.

Not Pedro Pascal!

[quote]I just read an article yesterday, Matthew McConaughey tested for the role of Jack in Titanic. They made it sound like he was the frontrunner, but when Cameron asked him to do another take opposite Kate Winslet (without his southern accent) he said, 'No. That was pretty good. Thanks.'

Please post the article.

[quote]42 replies and no mention of Kevin Spacey?

Was he difficult to work with as opposed to his private life?

R54 Just list a bunch of actors you don't like.

r79 See the numerous posts in this thread suggesting her was trouble/difficult on set.

r78 / r79 / r80 You've contributed nothing.

Were there ever stories about Rob Morrow being a diva on the set of “Northern Exposure”? I remember they used to say how much he wanted to ditch the show for a film career but not sure if he was rumored to be unpleasant to work with as a result.

I've met Eddie Murphy more than once R37. He's a gentleman.

[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.]

[quote]R83 Were there ever stories about Rob Morrow being a diva on the set of “Northern Exposure”?

Didn’t a helicopter cut off his head??

My sister said that staging Pearl Bailey at her college back in the 1980s was a chore and a half.

Charlie Sheen

We think in the case of r87, the title of the thread should be, Difficult "actors."

90 replies and you never mentioned me?!

I never heard that Raquel Welch was difficult.

Welch was absolutely in the right in that situation, and won millions of dollars in damages.

Talk to Kramer, R92. He’s got stories.

I worked with someone from the cast of CANNERY ROW who said they thought Welch was perfect when playing the role of Suzy.

R23 Wasn’t Schwimmer the only “Friend” who had an extensive theatre background? That might’ve contributed to his behaviour.

There are stories that Felicity “I’m Friends with David Mamet” Huffman had a superiority complex on the Desperate Housewives set.

Val Kilmer (rest in peace)

R64 That’s pretty much exactly how Ken Levine put it. That Shelley was a lovely person but very time-consuming in how she approached the part.

In fairness, she probably had the most challenging role on that show. But I can see how it would drive her co-stars nuts. I suspect it really helped Diane’s onscreen dynamic with Carla, as Rhea Perlman had a lot of actual frustration to channel.

Marilyn Monroe could be erratic on the set, always late, etc.

The little people love me, as well they should. I am always the soul of graciousness and forbearance with them.

Gina Carano

[quote]I never heard that Raquel Welch was difficult.

Have you been living under a rock?

Tom Hardy was so late to the set of "Mad Max: Fury Road" that he kept people waiting for horus for him--finally Charlize Theron had a verbal confrontation with him as a result because he did it so persistently.

Robert Redford was notorious for always being late to the shooting of "The Sting."

In his book "I Loved Her in the Movies," Robert Wagner waxes nostalgic about all the legendary ladies he had worked with, romanced, and/or befriended (Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer, Loretta Young, etc., and of course, Natalie and Jill). He is largely positive and complimentary to all except two: Raquel Welch and Shelley Winters.

On Raquel: "While I worked with a lot of actresses during this era, most of whom were special ladies, I wasn't crazy about my experience with Raquel Welch."

Apparently, she was constantly late on the set ("The Biggest Bundle of Them All"), keeping the cast and crew waiting for hours while she had her hair and make-up done. When co-star Edward G. Robinson went off on her in a 10-minute tirade, she burst into tears and apologized. But she showed up late the very next day.

On Shelley: "Honesty compels me to say Shelley Winters was a difficult woman on the best of days and a massive pain in the ass on her worst."

I wouldn't want to be told off by Charlize Theron. She's a little scary. I bet she got right up in his face and asked what the fuck he was doing that was so important.

Has Cybill Shepherd not been mentioned or did I just miss it?

[quote]R104 "Honesty compels me to say Shelley Winters was a difficult woman on the best of days and a massive pain in the ass on her worst."

Although, as Winters is 10 times the actor Wagner is… does his complaint really matter? As a performer he’s a pipsqueak.

As for Raquel, when the whole film is set up and sold around you looking like this, that might take some extra time.

I mean, first, unrealistic demands are made of actresses re: their physical appearances. Then, the industry bitches that the process (which even requires body makeup) takes so long? Fuck off!

[quote]Wasn’t Schwimmer the only “Friend” who had an extensive theatre background? That might’ve contributed to his behaviour.

Nope. On a quick check of Wikipedia and Britannica, the only play I could find named that he had anything to do with was Alice Through the Looking Glass, and it's not clear whether he was even in it. He studied theatre at Northwestern, graduated in 1988 and did a bit of improv He and fellow graduates founded a theatre company in 1988 (which is apparently still running) but as for Schwimmer, by 1989 he was in LA doing random TV episodes.

Not exactly a young James Tyrone.

I had to look pretty, too, unlike everyone else on that Cheers set! Hair, wardrobe and makeup take time.

I remember reading somewhere that Bonnie Franklin would bring a stopwatch to rehearsal to time the lines to make sure Valerie Bertinelli didn’t get more screen time than her.

[quote]From what I read, Shelley Long deserved the attribute Difficult without the quotation marks. She wasn't difficult because she was mean or rude or an overall awful person. So Difficult wasn't code for Bitch. She was just overanalyzing everything to death and wanted to try different takes in her scenes etc. As a result she killed the mood and taping just took longer (too long?) than it needed to from the perspective of her co-actors and directors. And keep in mind that everybody else on set was bunch of party boys, so a super-sincere actor in their midst was naturally not highly regarded. See that also in contrast to the other lead of the show, Ted Danson, who did his job with such ease.

That said, I now firmly believe she was the “inspiration” for Valerie Cherish…

I got a general vibe from Schwimmer in the early years of “Friends” that he felt he was slumming it- despite being nobody I had heard of and LeBlanc, Cox, and Perry being the three actors I recognized the most as they had done so many projects for years beforehand.

But it seemed like Schwimmer loosened up a bit after a few years as Ross became so nutty.

Robert Wagner also said Steve McQueen was a jerk on the set of The War Lover

James Garner didn't like working with McQueen, either

Faye Dunaway!

Some people who worked with Joan Crawford found her to be professional but others thought she was a bitch

I worked on an Eddie Murphy movie directed by ex-Paramount CEO Brian Robbins, and Eddie was a gigantic asshole the entire day. Screaming at people who lived on the block, ruining take after take with his bullshit, and treating his co-star like shit. He got boo-d by the entire block at end of day.

Can you say the movie, R117?

Sharon Stone

Ezra Miller

Shia LaBeouf

118 replies and no one has mentioned Isaiah Washington? Have you all forgotten??

R118-I can. "Meet Dave". It's a piece of shit.

The cast and crew of "The Last of Sheila" were so fed up with Raquel Welch's diva antics, which included refusing to wear the costumes and bringing in her own designer to dress her, demanding the gallery photographer be thrown off the set, and filing assault and battery charges against director Herbert Ross then taking off for the South of France "to escape physical harm," that when she was filming a scene swimming alongside the anchored yacht, the crew allegedly opened up the sewage port so that Raquel ended up swimming through human waste.

Co-star James Mason, when asked what it was like working with Raquel, responded that she was "the most selfish, ill-mannered, inconsiderate actress that I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with."

R115: Speaking of Faye Dunaway....I couldn't help but laugh (and immediately thought of DL) when Faye popped up in the middle of this crazy story told by Steve Guttenberg. Sounds like she was pretty cool with him, considering. (~06:00)

A crew on a Sharon Stone film peed into a tank of water she filmed in. They hated her.

[quote]R123 Faye popped up in the middle of this crazy story told by Steve Guttenberg. Sounds like she was pretty cool with him, considering.

There’s a Method Acting side of Dunaway that’s seemed to always be interested in human behavior. She was probably puzzled by Guttenberg’s presence and curious about what was going on with this oddball.

It IS funny that he says she appeared to be mad about something, and wanted to vent at a studio employee. Oh, Faye. Never change.

Raquel was a difficult bitch on the set of The Wild Party (1975) too. Word leaked out DURING the filming, I remember, which is always a bad sign.

Some of it evem on Wikipdia:

"Raquel Welch was a very, very difficult actress to work with", said (the director). She fired the cameraman, she fired Ismail, she would have fired [co-star] Perry King...and it was our film! I did not enjoy making The Wild Party.

Welch demanded that the cinematographer Walter Lassally be fired after he made an "impertinent" remark to her. She also wanted Ivory fired and replaced as director by her then boyfriend Ron Talsky. The Directors Guild became involved and threatening letters were sent to Welch. Filming continued.

R9 - 'Julia Roberts has difficulty working with women.'

I find that hard to believe:

Everyone knows Ms. Roberts demands ALL the attention of ALL men. Gay and straight.

Robert Downey Jr

[quote]R128 Everyone knows Ms. Roberts demands ALL the attention of ALL men. Gay and straight.

A high school acquaintance of mine lives near and socializes with Roberts occasionally, and at our last reunion I asked about the rumors that they were close friends.

She said, “Well, I’m close with SOME people she’s close to…. but she doesn’t really like other women so no, we’re not exactly friends.”

Kate Nelligan was reportedly both unhappy and demanding… though she may have been dealing with an alcohol addiction, as well.

It would explain why she always got great reviews but didn’t seem to advance professionally as one might expect, either on stage or screen.

[quote]Faye Dunaway! —Bette Davis

That's so funny. When she was alive, Bette Davis stated her boundaries with "Miss Dunaway" and told Johnny Carson that pretty much everyone else in Hollywood felt the same way. They can't all be lying about Miss Faye.

[quote] It would explain why she always got great reviews but didn’t seem to advance professionally as one might expect, either on stage or screen.

It also didn't help that she had a face like a baboon's ass.

[bold]Bacall vs Welch - Who's the bigger PITA?[/bold]

During her successful and sold out run on Broadway in "Woman of Year," Lauren Bacall was due for a two-week vacation in December, sending producers on a search for a temporary replacement. Bacall lobbied for her friend, Dina Merrill, and when Raquel Welch got the job, Bacall hit the roof!

Bacall refused to do press promoting her replacement, rejected joint photo ops, requested that the producers not invite the critics to Raquel's performances, and demanded that no Raquel ads be placed in papers larger than hers. Yet despite Bacall's silence and attempt to quash publicity, Raquel's upcoming engagement was generating a lot of media buzz, further incensing Bacall.

On Bacall's final night before vacation, ads appeared in the papers listing Raquel's dates. Bacall was livid and threatened not to go on. Only when she was informed that Raquel wasn't selling tickets was she placated. "Well, of course she can't sell any tickets!" she sneered and went on with the show.

Raquel's two-week stint was a success. Reviews were largely positive, with critics commenting that Raquel brought new excitement, glamour, sexiness to the show. However, Raquel's diva tendencies reared its ugly head and towards the end of her second week, cast and crew allegedly wore t-shirts with "Bring back Betty!" printed on them.

Trump was an asshole in guest spots and look what happened.

It should be noted that Miss Streisand, whom most people think defines the word difficult, is not a tenth as bad as some of the divas described above. She was a micromanager, yes, and I seriously doubt she’d let any actor micromanage HER if she was directing them. Okay.

Any stories of Barbra acting like a psycho diva would be appreciated. Are there any? The A Star is Born experience shouldn’t really count because Babs was hampered by that illiterate asshole Jon Peters.

Faye is bipolar, and clearly self-medicated for decades.

Reading the Mommie Dearest book, and Diana Scarwid and Faye hated each other. Faye was constantly having scenes changed at the last minute, with changes that benefitted her. Diana was so appalled by Faye's behavior that she contemplated quitting the business for good after making the movie.

Faye also got so into filming the scene where she chokes Christina that she wound up hitting Rutayna Alda in the chest. Jocelyn Brando was scared shitless that Faye was going to hit her as well.

Both Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman and countless directors had major issues with Robert Redford’s refusal to rehearse. Sanctimonious Bob believed his performance got weaker with each take, so screw everyone else and the movie. Table read, blocking, one take and BYE!

Did Dustin Hoffman have the right to complain? Dude has his own issues

R138, Sinatra was the same way, in both singing and acting. Minimal rehearsals and retakes, earning him the nickname "One-take Charlie." This stemmed from his belief that spontaneity and naturalness were crucial to his performance and that additional takes could diminish the quality.

^ “dude” wanted to rehearse his scenes in All the President’s Men, as Alan J Pakula the director wanted him to, sweetheart

At least I didn't expose myself to teen girls!

[quote]R131 It would explain why she always got great reviews but didn’t seem to advance professionally as one might expect, either on stage or screen.

[quote]R133 It also didn't help that she had a face like a baboon's ass.

How very dare you!

Kate Nelligan wasn’t scouted by the TOWNSEND AGENCY, perhaps, but she’s an attractive woman! Better looking than Jane Alexander, Sharon Gless…. Angela Lansbury… many actresses who had strong careers.

Kate Nelligan’s also much prettier than Stockard Channing.

R140, the only reason Sinatra got away with that shit on movie sets was because of his stature. Walking through a movie performance like he did was not tolerated by most. But Sinatra was Sinatra and directors knew what they were getting. When he started, movie acting had little to no rehearsal. Gene Kelly talked about how Frankie was overwhelmed by the dance rehearsals he couldn’t get out of at MGM, that kind of stuff was difficult and mandatory.

As for the music, he had a point trying to be as spontaneous as possible. The thing is, good actors and musicians usually get better with rehearsal as they discover their performance in the material, not worse.

Judy Garland wasn't mean but she could certainly be difficult at times

AT TIMES, R147???

Okay, a lot of the time!

Judy was only difficult after World War II

The young costume designer Raquel rejected on THE LAST OF SHEILA was none other than director-to-be Joel Schumacher.

There don't seem to be any stories of Raquel's interactions with Faye on the 3 MUSKETEERS movies. How is that possible?

[quote]there don’t seem to be any stories

Oh, dear

Raquel and Faye apparently got along fine. I think Faye even complimented Raquel in her book.

Harpies of a feather flock together?

I'm surprised to see Christopher Walken named above. Sure, he looks like he might be one of the aliens from Men in Black wearing a human suit, but my impression is that he's well-liked by casts and crews he's worked with.

[quote]R153 Raquel and Faye apparently got along fine.

I think it’s more that they were carefully cagey with each other, so as not to invite scandal and gossip.

There was a mistake in this scene that caused Faye to make Rocky fall and injure her wrist - but no one thought it was malicious.

Diahann Caroll

R5, Tom Hardy is on the Paramount+ series "MobLand," alongside Pierce Brosnan and Dame Helen Mirren. Perhaps not A+ Hollywood fare, but it's steady work.

Why has no one mentioned that insufferable CUNT Blake Lively??

Faye and Rocky both being banshees cancel each other out on the same set for some reason. Hilarious.

Luckily, in Parts 1 and 2 combined, I think they had two short scenes together.

The producers probably decided not to push it.

I loved the 3 Musketeers as a kid- I was fascinated with Michael York. I should revisit it.

Larry Hagman could be "difficult" on the set of I Dream of Jeannie

Suzanne Somers

Burt Reynolds was notoriously difficult, fighting with costars, directors, producers, which probably explains why after, say 1986, his filmography is largely crap.

In 1972, he was re-teamed with Raquel Welch for FUZZ, but after the fiasco of 100 RIFLES, who thought this was a good idea?

Burt: "When I made the movie Fuzz, a police action comedy with Raquel Welch in 1972, I had top billing and that pissed her off. She told the producer: 'I will not work with him. I will not be on the same stage.'"

"So I'd come to work, and Raquel's double would be there instead, with her back to the camera. I'd say my lines to her and the director would say: 'Cut.' As I was driving out of the studio gate, the guard would pick up the phone and say, 'He's leaving now,' and then Raquel would go in and say her lines to my double. We made the whole movie like that, never together in the same scene. Put it this way: we don't send each other Christmas cards."

Ironically, during Raquel's CANNERY ROW lawsuit case, Burt testified on her behalf, claiming that she was "always on time, well prepared and thoroughly professional." Complete BS!

Kathleen Turner on "Burt Whatshisface":

"Working with Burt Reynolds was terrible. The first day Burt came in he made me cry. He said something about not taking second place to a woman. His behavior was shocking. It never occurred to me that I wasn't someone's equal. I left the room sobbing. I called my husband and said, 'I don't know what to do.' He said, 'You just do the job.'

"It got to be very hostile because the crew began taking sides. But as for the performance, I was able to put the negativity aside. I'm not convinced Burt was."

Speaking of Cannery Row, Debra Winger could be difficult, too

R164, Reynolds also trashed Raquel on the Tonight Show. It wasn’t anything real or intelligent, he went pure sexism.

No mention of Linda Fiorentino? She's one of the all-time queens of this kind of thread.

That bitch? Yeah she’s a nightmare

Burt's fragile male ego. When girlfriend Sally Field was receiving accolades for NORMA RAE, he became jealous of all the attention she was getting.

Sally: "He did not want me to go to Cannes at all. He said, ‘You don’t think you're going to win anything, do you?'" (She did).

"When the Oscars came around, he really was not a nice guy around me then and was not going to go with me."

isn't will ferrel a rude asshole?

R166, correct. Debra is mentally ill, don't quite know what it is, but sounds like bi-polar.

I happened to be working on another project with Kathleen Turner when she found out Burt was to be her co-star in that film, which was a re-make of His Girl Friday. She had been promised Michael Caine and was furious when she heard about Burt. This was around 1985 when KT was at the height of her stardom (and beauty).

It doesn't sound like Burt was happy working with any female stars who were as popular as he was.

Mickey Rourke was known to be an asshole on set, which is why his career went down the shitter. The awful plastic surgery didn't help either.

He was lucky Darren Aronofsky gave him a second chance.

Makes me wonder how he got along with Catherine Deneuve.

Streisand gets a lot of flak, but I've heard a ton of horror stories about Bette Midler.

There was a TV Guide story back in the 90's about Midler agreeing to do a Wynonna TV special. Wynonna had duetted with Bette at a VH1 event and Bette wanted to return the favor. Bette was a raging bitch throughout the taping (which was a live concert) and got pissed that they kept having to redo the song The Rose to get different takes to choose from. Bette started to make snide remarks to the audience about the production team being too slow. Wynonna got flustered and flubbed one of the lyrics to the song, and Bette exploded at her in front of everyone. After the taping, Wynonna joked to the reporter about how you shouldn't always go out of your way to meet your idols.

A few years later, Rosie O Donnell had Wynonna, Bette and Katie Couric as guests on Rosie's birthday episode of her talk show, and you could cut the tension between Wynonna and Bette with a knife.

I remember reading about the Turner/Reynolds tension on Switching Channels way back when. I remember Burt saying he had sustained a jaw injury on another film shoot and was unwell and Turner was relentlessly nasty and unkind. Frankly, I think they were both assholes around that time and probably had a cunt off to see who was worse.

I've heard numerous horror stories about Bette Midler. I've shared before that I worked fundraiser events, and I remember around 2010, Bette was going to be a 'featured guest' at an event. I'm serious when I say all the 'veterans' of the event planning were non-stop "Oh shit, why her? Seriously. Ugh. Can we please get someone else, etc." Thank goodness, she cancelled - I forget why, but everyone was relieved.

[quote] Apparently, she was constantly late on the set ("The Biggest Bundle of Them All"), keeping the cast and crew waiting for hours while she had her hair and make-up done. When co-star Edward G. Robinson went off on her in a 10-minute tirade, she burst into tears and apologized. But she showed up late the very next day.

This explains why Faye LOVED Raquel.

Generally, people do not like working closely with stars, any star. They’re ALL egomaniacs, they have to be to protect their position. If a star is gooey nice, chances are their “people” are around causing trouble for everyone else because star needs to appear “nice.”

Oh, dear what, R152?

There don't seem to be any grammatical errors in that sentence.

I don't get it about Midler. She has a reputation of being very, very difficult on film sets; almost a quivering mass of insecurities. Her time in LA working on her sitcom produced very similar tales.

Yet I don't remember reading "horror" stories of her time starring in Hello, Dolly! or that one-woman show she did about uber-bitch/Hollywood agent Sue Mengers.

And she's built a solid reputation in NYC for her Project Restoration foundation.

Most actors who were once major stage and Broadway stars tend to be difficult. A lot of them tend to believe working in television is a big step down in their career.

Hugh Grant

Ben Stiller

Has Jerry Lewis been mentioned? Total prick to everyone.

From people who worked with her (Hello Dolly) I’ve heard only good things.

R182 She could have mellowed out the older she got.

But the stories are legendary. The rumor in the 90's/early 2000's was that there wasn't a First Wives sequel because Goldie refused to work with her again. Though it seems they eventually buried the hatchet. Goldie was at Bette's Kennedy Center Honor induction.

Was it on Kramer vs. Kramer that Dustin hauled off and slapped some actress across the face? Jane Alexander was a last-minute replacement for someone whom Hoffman had treated horribly.

I think Meryl even alluded to having a rough time working with him.

I thought he slapped Meryl. No?

^A girl can dream^

What do you have G? An alert for the name Meryl?

Meryl was definitely put off by the unexpected things Dustin did. He did hit her (a scene the got cut), plus grabbed her tit when he met her. The part where he hits the wine glass at the wall at the restaurant was a genuine reaction, and she was terrified.

Also, Dustin was going around giving melvins to the cast and crew, including Meryl.

I thought I read Jason Bateman was difficult to work with on Ozark.

On The Tonight Show with Joan Rivers, James Coco said emphatically that Raquel was not difficult. However, he also said that there was only one person he worked with that was not only difficult, she was every bit as horrible as people told him she was. It was revealed that it was Cloris Leachman who said that there should be fat police who round up the rotund and force them to go on diets because they pollute the aesthetic environment.

I don't know if anyone else said it, but Leslie Jordan famously said that Mary Frann was horrid.

March 12, 2023

This A- list actress last seen in a huge streaming hit, has a last name shared by several other people from the past and present that are higher on the list. Our A- lister says a very recent co-star was always horrible to be on set with and our actress was grateful when the show ended.

Julia Garner/James Garner/Jennifer Garner/Jason Bateman

[quote]I thought I read Jason Bateman was difficult to work with on Ozark.

I worked on Ozark, and that is not true.

Being a jerk with other actors isn’t the same as holding up production or refusing to cooperate with the director. That’s how actors get the reputation of being difficult - they cost the movie extra time and money.

R188, The bastard slapped me!

"I have to say, I never trash people. I've worked with lots and lots of people. But, I remember vividly... I worked with Raquel Welch and I was very excited to meet her. She just wasn't nice. She was mean, not just to me, but to everybody." -- Marie Osmond

"Raquel Welch was a problem on this movie [A Swingin' Summer] and she was a major, major bitch. She wanted to have her signature bikini in the film. I had bought my bikinis before we got to Lake Arrowhead and she wouldn't let me wear any of them. I had to go out and buy new swimsuits. Working with her was not a lot of fun... She kept trying to get people fired. We lost two cameramen who quit because she was just wretched. For me, she was just the worst person I ever met during the time I worked." -- Lori Williams

"Her real problem seems to be that she's delusional. Unlike Lauren Bacall, who knows she's no singer, Welch seems to think she is one and she's not, kind of like her acting ability as well." -- James Ivory

"The worst experience in my life... Her behavior during the filming was reprehensible. I went in thinking about an Emmy and I came out thinking about a Purple Heart." -- Mel Damski, diector of "The Legend of Walks Far Woman

May she rest in peace.

Not to Dean Martin, I'd imagine.

Raquel sounds awful. Too bad, she really was one of the 5 or so most beautiful women ever put on film. Way more attractive than Sophia Loren to me.

William Hurt was infamously awful on sets. He fought with directors all the time, even when he was reduced to doing plays in Portland, OR near the end of his life. He was such a jerk that people in the film industry refused to work with him, which mostly ended his chances of getting good roles after he aged out of his looks.

he was of course a terrible person in his personal life too, and notoriously beat his girlfriend Marlee Matlin when she won the Oscar for "Children of a Lesser God" and he didn't. (He had won the year before for "Kiss of the Spider-Woman," but she noted that he was furious because he had been in the business for years and years before he got his first Oscar and she got it right off the bat with her first film.)

Well, I worked with Bill Hurt on a play about 35 years ago and he was perfectly delightful to me and everyone else involved. He would initially overthink some things but he always came around quickly once he'd been heard.

William Hurt was a raging asshole.

Ahem.

#200, Lori Williams was a knockout, sorta like Sharon Tate with more... estrogen. Welch was probably jealous of her.

Veronica Lake thought Brian Donlevy and Fredric March were jerks when she worked with them. She got along well with Alan Ladd, though

But what about Joel McCRea?

R202, Sophia knew her place - Carlo Ponti was her meal ticket out of poverty and prostitution. She wasn’t really an actress, but managed a few good performances. Raquel, on the other hand, was a total wash. Absolutely nothing of value in her movie performances. A few moments here and there, not for an entire film. I wonder what she hoped to achieve by being such an impossible bitch. Sophia was far more beautiful too, unusually beautiful.

R203, Hurt was a drug addict. Nuff said.

Orson Welles became impossible.

Betty Fucking White, the cunt.

Pretty as she was Raquel is never remembered among Hollywood's most beautiful actresses. Her good looks were too bland and there was no charisma there.

R214, I think that's completely wrong. Part of Welch's appeal was her vaguely ethnic look that appealed to a wide range of fans. She is always listed as among the most legendary Hollywood beauties.

I have no idea, but I'll ask the little homosexual boy who works for me.

That little Corky bastard.

R125 = gets I for from LISTS

R214 needs a serious ass kicking, and I'm just the broad to do it.

There's an odd disconnect with Raquel. When I was too young to be aware of the hype I could have mistaken her for a foreign language actress dubbed into English.

[quote] —RW, still doing Rochelle, Rochelle, The Musical

Raquel didn't do Rochelle, Rochelle: The Musical. That was Bette Midler--or it would have been, had she not been "Gillooly-ed" at a softball game.

Raquel did Scarsdale Surprise, the musical about the murder of the Scarsdale Diet doctor.

"You're a fraud, Dr. Tarnower! You've never even been to Scarsdale!"

I wonder how many of these, "Don't let anyone look at me directly!" celebs are on The Spectrum. I know a few high-functioning "aspies" and they can be quirky in ways that seem rude but it's really about managing their extreme anxiety and discomfort.

Jennifer Lopez would be on this list - but no one knows her anymore.

[quote]I wonder how many of these, "Don't let anyone look at me directly!" celebs are on The Spectrum.

Not actors but I worked at different times at events with Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly. We were warned about both not to speak or make eye contact with them. Olbermann mostly seemed like a spoiled diva who would lodge a complaint with the venue but I have no doubt O'Reilly would have gotten physical if someone didn't follow those orders. Scary fucker

I still listen to Keith Olbermann's Countdown podcast. He puts it out twice a week. One of the few news shows I can listen to. He gives the facts with just the right amount of snark, and is able to expand boundaries making it better than when he had to conform to the rules at MSNBC. He trashes just about everybody. I really want to believe he's a great guy in person, but I suspect he's closer to R224's post.

R177 "I remember reading about the Turner/Reynolds tension"

Wasn't he just worried she'd comment on him being on the down-low so he went on the attack first?

R225 I also still listen to his podcast. Just looking at his dating history, I would say he's a huge red flag. I just enjoy that he's got zero fucks left to give.

R224, I remember the whole Bill O'Reilly vs Al Franken thing. Al Franken was cool and calm while O'Reilly kept screaming "SHUT UP!!!!". That dude needs some prozac.

Raquel gets a pardon for making this fabulous music video

It was a TV special, not a “video.” Try sitting through an hour of that.

Even people in the media realized after a time that Bill O'Reilly was a nutjob.

R230 Lighten up, “grandpa”.

r232, r230 was not attacking you.

Pot, thy name is kettle.

I'm too lazy: did anyone list Val Kilmer? He worked his way down to 'straight-to-video'... then he died.

Gary Busey

Steven Seagal

I thought I recall reading that William Hurt was an alcoholic, so perhaps that might explain the very different perceptions of him.

Not sure if she's already been mentioned but Emmy Rossum (supposedly) had a reputation for being a terror on Shameless (to everyone who wasn't William Macy, that is). When is the last time you saw her in anything?

Huh, I remember working with Emmy Rossum when she was a teenager on a TV pilot (unsold) and she was very dear. Her mother, OTOH......

But neither could compare to the pilot's star Rip Torn who was fresh off his comeback success on The Larry Sanders Show, and was absolutely impossible. Has be been mentioned upthread? The producers fired him the day before filming was to begin and replaced him with Robert Loggia who should be mentioned on the "Nicest Celebrities" thread. Loved him!

Dana Carvey did a short-lived show with Mickey Rooney when he was younger and said Mickey was nuts

i worked with Raquel Welch in 2007, and she was actually lovely and a trooper- fractured her ankle walking round set in her kitten heels on Friday, and was back at work on Monday, still wearing them. Jeffery Tambor was a little more difficult for me, but an interesting guy.

Bill Murry is a cunt- made my 2nd cry in front of the whole crew for something that was not her fault. His brothers came up to her later to apologize for his behavior.

In her patented backhanded compliment fashion, Chloe Sevigny suggests that Cooper Koch pissed off Netflix (and probably Ryan Murphy) by becoming Erik Menendez’s number one cheerleader and bff during the Monsters PR tour.

“‘The Netflix team had given us all these talking points, and we were supposed to stay very disengaged [from the brothers] — and Cooper did not listen to them’ Sevigny recalls with a laugh.”

Cooper didn't care what Netflix wanted, he was going for that prison dick.

I remember reading about that Raquel Welch tv special in a book. I think it was the one by Jerry Della Femina, his ad agency was involved. He said she could not dance. At all. He meant a dance routine. So she was filmed in short takes. Two steps, cut, two steps cut and they patched it all together later. This was still the era of professional song and dance stars and long full length takes. He said this was the origin of quick cut videos, all to disguise the fact that the star couldn’t dance.

Here is one of Raquel's TV specials after she started doing her Vegas act. She's actually pretty good and the Muppets who work with her are more than up to the supporting challenge.

I think Raquel mellowed the older she got. She clearly had a sense of humor about herself with her Seinfeld and Naked Gun appearances. But she was at the Castro or another big theater a few years before she passed and she was charming and funny,, telling entertaining stories about Myra Breckenridge and other past projects.

Like Ali MacGraw, neither were great actresses but they came to view their careers with a sort of bemusement and humor that others like Faye and Streisand could never achieve.

There was Faye Dunaway style drama backstage at Victor/Victoria. Raquel threw a hairbrush at someone and it made Page Six. She was absolutely horrendous in V/V however, I loved her in Woman of the Year. Absolutely stunning in one tight dress after another and her singing and dancing was polished. Acting was so so but the bitch was never a master thespian.

Was it a hairbrush or a hand mirror?

"Welch, who replaces Julie Andrews in the long-running musical Thursday night, recently threw a mirror against her dressing-room wall because she was unhappy with her wig, production sources said yesterday. The mirror shattered, lodging pieces of glass in the hand of one of her hairdressers, Alfonso Annotto."

She also, allegedly, scissored a costume that she was unhappy with.

R245, why should Faye and Streisand laugh at their work? Compared to hacks like Raquel Welch and Ali MacGraw, they actually made a good contribution.

R248, i think R245 was just saying those two lack the ability to laugh at themselves and take themselves very seriously, not so much that they don't laugh at their work.

What should they laugh about? Faye - Mommie Dearest? Babs - Hello Dolly?

R250, Supergirl, Mommie Dearest ( I think it's a good movie but it's ridiculous that Faye would refuse to even discuss the movie for so long), Dunstin Checks In. For Babs, she could laugh at the fact that nobody under 40 listens to her.

[quote]but I have no doubt O'Reilly would have gotten physical if someone didn't follow those orders. Scary fucker

Years ago I used to work very close to the Fox News building and would see Fox News personalities on the street all the time. Bill O'Reilly was very tall, and menacing-looking. Always had a scowl on his face and looked pissed off. You could tell just from looking at him that he was a huge asshole with a temper.

R162 Difficult? Didn't he piss all over the set when he wasn't happy?

R247. Thank you! Hand mirror. Not brush.

I think Raquel was a better actress than people gave her credit for. She had some decent films, Last of Sheila, Three Musketeers, Kansas City Bomber, Mother Jugs and Speed.

And she got good notices for Women of the Year. If you can pull it off on Broadway, you have some talent.

^ ha!

The Last of Sheila is a great fun film but Raquel was definitely the weak link. Every line reading sounded artificial, like it was fed to her by an off-camera coach. A very forgettable performance. She's nowhere near the level of Dyan Cannon and Joan Hackett.

But, for me anyway, that artificial quality was in all of her film work.

R257, she was very good in Kansas City Bomber. The scenes with her kids, one of whom was Jodie Foster, perhaps mirrored her own life as a woman who had a career and was often away. And she was pretty funny in the Three Musketeers.

Quite big tits in Fantastic Voyage.

It’s called padding, R259

Sydney Chandler, star of the new FX series Alien: Earth and nepo baby daughter of Kyle, did herself no favors by not showing up to her Variety cover shoot.

R261, she sounds flaky

Yet Raquel Welch had the nerve to rag on Mae West for being a pain in the ass

Sean Young was right about how Hollywood treats women, but it's not just one story about her, it's all of them at a certain point.

In addition to her mental health issues, a problem with Sean Young is she’s a very wooden performer (which is why she was most believable playing a robot.)

But i do wonder what she would have gone on to if she hadn’t broken her arm preparing for “Batman.”

R99 But as Billy Wilder said, when you saw what was on the screen you realized she was worth the wait.

He said: If I wanted someone punctual, I would've hired my Aunt Mildred.

....or something like that.