The "difficult" list

Christian Bale....

I've read that Racquel Welsh was a real nut/difficult to work with.

Theatre- film- television? Theatre: Mandy Patinkin-pain in the ass dick. POMPOUS-EVIL Betty Buckley- Crazy. If she shows up for rehearsal 2 hours late that's on time! DIFFICULT- to say the least

Charlize Theron = pompous biatch

Lisa Gay Hamilton. Evil, crazy-ass bitch.

Katherine Heigl?

Shannon Doherty OWNS this thread.

I'm a saint

Naomi Campbell

Tom Welling. Infamous.

Debra Winger. David Caruso. Mandy Patinkin.

Barbra the Streisand has improved and/or mellowed in her old age. But in her youth, between her obsessive perfectionism/control freak-ism and her utter lack of generosity to her fellow actors, she was no picnic to work with. Excuse me, to work FOR.

Roseanne owns this thread

I own this thread, bitches!

Lindsay Lohan. Now this thread is CLOSED!

Michael Moriarty, unfortunately. Shame, because he's an exceptional actor and very good acting teacher. He seems like an untreated, self-medicating bipolar.

[quote]Tom Welling. Infamous. Bullshit. He's gorgeous and very well hung. If he's difficult, it's because he is misunderstood.

lol R17.

Joan Crawford

Crawford wasn't difficult.

She knew her shit and expected her costars to know theirs, too.

She didn't suffer fools on set. Very professional.

Josephine

Linda Fiorentino

Sean Young, though maybe she's more crazy than difficult, if reports are to be believed.

r20 = fanboi

That's what I always heard about Crawford too, R20.

Her view was that if you had a job to do, you show up on time and ready to do it.

If we're talking current context, Heigl indeed owns this thread. Her handlers are throwing themselves into fits trying to find someone, ANYONE, interested in a co-starring romcom role with her, because her on-set and off-set behavior has gotten so legendary.

Uh, FYI, after about 1950, Crawford usually showed up to work drunk and stayed that way for the day. She was more professional earlier in her career, but later...glug, glug, glug. Kate Jackson. She segued from being simply difficult to being batshit crazy. Sad.

Chevy Chase.

Christopher Meloni. Some crew people that have worked with him have said that he's a major asshole behind the scenes.

R29, he has a big head literally and figuratively.

LOL@R30. You are so right.

"I've read that Racquel Welsh was a real nut/difficult to work with" Raquel Welch was apparently a nightmare bitch-from-hell on the set of "The Wild Party" (1975)- though it might have been insecurity because it was an "art" film...

Elizabeth Ashley Amanda Plummer Elaine Stritch Jane Adams Frank Langella Carol Kane has a reputation for being difficult, but she was a doll on the film I did with her.

Val Kilmer

jane adams? really?

Mike Meyers. I'm always disappointed to read stories about his difficult ways. I was also sad when his marriage ended. I had such a different perception of the guy.

Belle Poitrine was the most difficult star ever allowed on a set.

To the poster who named Charlize Theron: I have heard nothing but good things about her from any number of people who have worked with her, so not at all sure where you are coming from.

Jacklyn Smith. Total fucking cunt. I've worked with her a few times (photo shoots). Treats everyone but the photographer with disdain and attitude. She even tried to get one of our assistants fired because he "looked" at her and she didn't like it.

Hair and make-up people absolutely despise her.

Barbra

Faye

Lauren

'nuff said !

no menton of Bacall or Dunaway ????

Gerard Butler ?

r33 I would agree with all of your choices except have to say that Liz Ashley has mellowed quite a bit in recent years. Not exactly easy but not the crazy bitch she was in the 1990s. Jane Adams is truly certifiable and I pity poor Thomas Jane (don't know even him!).

Russell Crowe with his brawling brutish demeanor.

A relative worked with Heigl on her movie that is out now. Said she was a total diva and bitch. Said Ashton Kutcher was dumb as rocks and Tom Selleck still thinks all the ladies want him. A photog also said that Ashton was an a-hole. As for Charlize Theron, a friend waited on her. She was dining with Michael Stypes of REM. Said CT would not look at her and had MS order for her. CT threw a shitfit when she though her martini was wrong (even though my friend watched it being made and it was exactly what CT ordered). Sent it back and would only drink water.

wardrobe girl, I hear Linda Lavin is a name that strikes terror in hearts of even the toughest of the tough dressers. True?

Brando, especially in the 60's when he really didn't give a shit what he did. The stories about his asinine behavior on MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY alone could fill a book. Being an acting icon is no excuse. Marilyn Monroe - but we all know why. Didn't help when she started dragging Madame Strasberg (Lee's wife) on to sets as her "acting coach". Raquel Welch was a raving bitch on many sets and it finally caught up with her in that no one much would hire her after the mid-70's. Pathologically insecure.

Posting so that this read comes automatically on my thread watcher

R44, I'm sure Heigl and Kutcher knew they were in a piece of crap and behaved accordingly. I'm sure Heigl is pissed that she's getting lousy romcom scripts. Her comments about KOCKED UP being patronizing toward women were on-target, but also insured that Apatow and any of his pals would never hire her again.

[quote]Posting so that this read comes automatically on my thread watcher Silly, you can just click at the grey star at the left side of the title and when it turns orange it is in your thread watcher.

KOCKED UP

Oh, dear

R47, you can do that without posting. Just click on the gray star and the thread wlll appear on the Watcher.

tina fey.

When Joan Rivers was guest hosting "Tonight", she had the late James Coco and he was asked who the most difficult stars were. Rivers offered Raquel Welch to which Coco quickly responded, "She was NOT difficult." However, he said that the worst celeb he ever met was Cloris Leachman, and this was right after she suggested fat people should be rounded up and forced to go on a diet. He said she was every bit as terrible as he expected her to be.

Chelsea Handler is a coked out nightmare. Ellen Degeneres is unpredictable and volatile. She can be withdrawn and sulky or cruel, cutting and demanding. Much better when Portia is with her.

R2 = Elaine Marie Benes

More about coked up Chelsea!

Val Kilmer plus his looks have gone down hill.

"Uh, FYI, after about 1950, Crawford usually showed up to work drunk and stayed that way for the day. She was more professional earlier in her career, but later...glug, glug, glug." Doesn't matter--the infamous "Lucy" show debacle aside, Crawford always got the job done, no matter how smashed she got on set.

Look, it's "Tina, darling!" on "The Sixth Sense" trying to act:

Linda Lavin apparently can be dismissive and mistrustful (distrustful?) but I wouldn't go so far as to say she was a bitch. This is 2nd hand knowledge; she's one of the few I haven't personally worked with.

Jason Patrick

FELICITY HUFFMAN

Thinks she is God's gift to acting.

R29, not true. When we worked together he was very warm and loving. In fact, we "took naps" together between scenes.

R54 alcoholics tend to behave this way .

Julianne Moore, seriously.

Steve McQueen when he was using coke. 'Le Mans' was destroyed by his paranoid nonsense. I think the director had a heart attack and was replaced.

Claudia Lonow was a real pill.

Val Kilmer

Hi

Van Hansis

Speaking of which, R70, would someone be so kind as to start a new Van-thread? Thanks!

Who the hell is Van Hansis?

[quote]Marilyn Monroe - but we all know why. Didn't help when she started dragging Madame Strasberg (Lee's wife) on to sets as her "acting coach".

So what was that all about?

Could you elaborate on Carol Kane's difficult reputation, r33? I've always loved her and thought that she didn't get the career she deserved because of her unusual looks.

Vicki Lawrence

Karen Black is both difficult and crazy.

I've been around Ellen DeGeneres a couple of times and she is not a happy woman. She sits there sulking and looks like she's about to burst into tears or cut her wrists at any moment. I feel sorry for her girlfriends. I could tell that the gf before Portia couldn't stand her...they wouldn't even look at each other.

[quote]I've been around Ellen DeGeneres a couple of times and she is not a happy woman.

You can tell that she's kind of a jerk. But the media has tried to make her out to be really well adjusted and happy. She just seems unpleasant and cold to me.

Kim Raver

Rosie O. has her funky moments, too, but she snaps out of it and can be a lot of fun. Rosie is a good and genuine person. I don't feel the same about Ellen.

My mom worked with Karen Black, R76, and said she was really nice but would go off on tangents in the middle of sentences sometimes. I seem to recall someone here on DL working with her in "Nashville", maybe. Hopefully they can weigh in on this thread.

[quote]I've been around Ellen DeGeneres a couple of times and she is not a happy woman.

[quote]You can tell that she's kind of a jerk. But the media has tried to make her out to be really well adjusted and happy. She just seems unpleasant and cold to me.

She's besties with Seacrest, who is supposedly another Jekyll/Hyde persona.

r81, I can definitely see them being BFFs, like brother and sister. It speaks volumes about them!

bump

Edward Norton

[quote]If he's difficult, it's because he is misunderstood.

That's true of all of us!!!

Emily Taplin Boyd

I find it interesting to hear about Ellen,Esp that she seems better when Portia's around-makes her seem really insecure? I get a completely different vibe from watching her show. Speaking of Portia,does anyone have any stories on her?

I'm told by friends who worked on Tropic Thunder that Ben Stiller is a terror to be around. His potty-mouth mother was no fun on King of Queens.

Brando once said of Val Kilmer "if only his talent was as big as his ego."

R74 I once saw Carol Kane flip out on set when she saw that the camera set up was on her left. She shouted that she was never to be filmed on her left, as her right is her "good side". I liked her though. There was an incident when we made a company move, and transpo hauled her trailer with her little dogs still inside. That didn't make her happy, though the dogs were fine.

Faye Dunaway was an immense pain the ass on a little low-budget show I worked on. Always demanding lighting approval and shot set up approval, she was bitchy and unpleasant to everyone, the producers were constantly having to halt production while they placated and kissed up to her.

Judge Reinhold's temper ended his career.

Remember Brett Butler from her sitcom "Grace Under Fire"? She would go bat-shit crazy on set screaming, swearing and throwing things at people.

Jim Belushi is a major asshole. A pompous, arrogant, ill-tempered, unfunny ego-maniac who owes his career to his brother's overdose. During production on the film "Joe Somebody", Jim overheard Tim Allen (who's a great guy) say about Jim "He's like his brother but without the funny." Jim locked himself in his trailer and sulked for the rest of the day, refusing to work.

R53 I loved working around Cloris Leachman, even though I could understand why others didn't. She can't stop talking. Yak-yak-yak-yakkity-yak non-stop with suggestions for the director, the writer etc. She's a vegan and brings her own juicer on the set. But, she's friendly and I loved talking with her.

Cybil Shepherd. Total bitch that one.

Does anyone have any stories about the cast of Grey's Anatomy?

Johnny Depp was a nasty little punk on a feature I worked on in the late 90's. He interacted primarily with the wardrobe person and the director, and spoke very rudely to everyone else. He came to set when HE felt like it and left when he wanted, regardless of whether the director got a good take-we waited for him a lot.

r88, didn't Brett Butler molest the kid who played her son on the show? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Is there anyone in Hollywood that's not a drip-bag jerk? There have got to be some that are decent....

Not to hijack the thread, but what do people mean when they say an actor/actress is "generous?" They don't emote? I've never understood that. It seems like a pretentious thing to say, but WTF do I know.

Surely Johnny has matured? Everyone knew he had issues in the 90's?

Most celebs never mature.

I've seen Justin Timberlake on Ellen's show a few times, and she's always claiming they're close friends but it always seemed to me that Justin was uncomfortably going along with it. Like Penelope struggling to get out of Pepe Le Pew's grasp.

R93 There are many celebrities who aren't jerks. DL has had numerous threads about them. I was surprised that so many weren't given their occupation. I don't know If I believe all the stories. Celebrities for the most part are self absorbed. I really believe that.

R92 yeah, "molest" is a bit strong, but she allegedly flashed the kid actor playing her son.

R94-If actors describe other actors as generous, it means that the other actor will be there for the line readings when the camera isn't directed at them and will also allow for some improvising or different type of takes. For example- Lindsey Lohan didn't see why she had to be there physically in the scene if the shot was over her shoulder or the back of her head/body- even if there was dialogue involved-(she demanded a body double) this was back during "Herbie".

My experience- I've been very lucky for being 12 years in the business: Bill Murray

Raquel Welch must have mellowed- I worked with her a few years ago, and she was lovely (also a trooper- she fractured her ankle on set and was back in 2 days).

My friend worked with Cloris Leachman (sp) last year and said that she was very difficult and possibly had Turret's. She has also worked with Aretha, and Aretha straight up said, "I hate white people" to her face ( my friend looks like Snow White).

That's interesting R91, because I heard he was just the opposite on Public Enemies (2008), up to and including walking off set until Mann and his 1st AD treated extras and crew decently. That was a clusterfuck because Mann was horrendous and the script sucked. Bale was nasty to crew and lower level cast also. (Although if you stayed out of his way, he wasn't in raging at the DP mode.) R100 why Murray? Is he an asshole or just an alcoholic?

Love it r91. What a cunt he was.

I actually heard something nice about Jane Adams. She bummed a smoke one day off a crew member and the next day I guess brought him a whole carton as thanks. Overkill and a little weird, but a nice gesture.

My friend wrote a script for Mario Lopez for an awards show. She said he was very nice and only wanted a minor change to his script.

Winona Ryder - the bipolar, drug-addled, shrewish, kleptomaniac star of many a 90s blind item.

Gillian Anderson is not pleasant.

betty buckely terrorized the cast of eight is enough

"Is there anyone in Hollywood that's not a drip-bag jerk? There have got to be some that are decent...."%0D %0D Meryl Streep.%0D %0D

[quote]Raquel Welch was a raving bitch on many sets and it finally caught up with her in that no one much would hire her after the mid-70's.%0D %0D I suspect her age is what killed her career by the mid-70's; that and the women's liberation movement.

Really, 109 replies and Annabella Sciorra's name hasn't come up? Miserable person.

Just once I'd like to be in a position where I could fire some egomaniac for being rude to an extra or wardrobe person.%0D %0D Hey. YOU'RE FIRED. %0D %0D

bump

more on betty buckely and patti lupone. Frances ruffelle said that lupone was a nightmare to work with on london les mis-

R20 Crawford showed up on the sets of I Love Lucy and her daughter's soap opera very, very drunk. Hardly professional.

John Cusack. Seriously.

Morose, temperamental and a major pothead. And no sense of humor.

[quote]Carol Kane Ugh, I hate that baby talking twit.

Back when Tina Fey was head writer at SNL she did a Q and A at the IO in Chicago. She said the most awful person she worked with was Ben Stiller and the dumbest was Katie Holmes. She said that at the pitch meeting all she did was play with wigs.

r115- a typical lib

Ben Stiller is AWFUL.

Just a real ass who is totally impressed with himself.

Tina Fey also called Paris Hilton a piece of shit. There was a just a thread on reddit about celebrity encounters and a poster mentioned meeting Paris and how nice and smart she was. I'm more apt to agree with Tina on this one, though.

No, no, no, R105, worked in casting and adored Winona Ryder. She was just a baby then but so cool. Ditto Roseanna Arquette, Ricki Lake, Carrie Hamilton, Jennifer Tilly, all of whom had "difficult" or "troubled" tags (Hamilton) but could not have been nicer, fun really. The film was "Steel Magnolias" so every woman in town came in for it; even Olympia Dukakis had to meet director (but not audition) the day after she won her Oscar.

Only weird ones were Sally Field (not mean but always nervous, like she would faint if you said "Boo!") and Daryl Hannah, not rude but totally from Mars. And AWFUL in the final film if you ask me. :)

Biggest disappointment of all: Tom Hulce whom I thought was adorable then and hoped to be a warm friendly guy or goofy fun. Instead he never took his sunglasses off in-doors and just stared into space if you talked to him, ha.

Finally, late great director Herbert Ross told me that the meanest woman he ever worked with was Raquel Welch. And another big director Marvin Chompsky, told me, upon my suggestion of a cast name, that "you don't know me well enough to hate me enough to make me work with Cliff Robertson." I love that line and steal it all the time. :)

I can totally see myself pulling that Jane Adams cigarette thing and being dubbed a weirdo for being "too nice" by overcompensating...

These people all sound incredibly insecure and pathetic, but I imagine when every move you make is judged so harshly, it's hard not to be a neurotic freak and occasional asshole. It's easier to put up with a talented jerk than some fool caught up on a lame power trip, in any case.

Huh, r118? John Cusack is mentioned as being difficult and your response is "typical lib"?

First: I can't imagine examining life through whatever lens it is you do; does everything fall into liberal or conservative? Food? A window? A bowling ball?

Second: what on earth is "lib" about what the poster said? Are you a freeper with a stiffy for Cusack or something?

Mary-Louise Parker for the win

Mr. Nathan Lane never comes out and signs autographs.. I on the other hand always do.

My nephew got Nathan and the rest of the principles in "The Producers" to sign his program after the show, but that was very early in the run and I think it was a matinee. Plus my nephew was an exceptionally cute little boy (still cute but not little anymore.)

Live near Aretha and have met her. She was cordial to me but it is well known that she hates whitescandJews (I hit both criteria)

I always wonder how they get out of the theater if they don't want to deal with fans. Are there escape tunnels under Broadway?

Tom Hulce auditioned for Steel Magnolias?%0D %0D I'm confused r121 (but enjoyed your post)

R129, Hulce read for Sammy or whatever the guy's name is that ends up with Daryl Hannah. "Peggy Sue Got Married" guy, Kevin spacing on name 'cause mind is going, got the role. Was supposed to be off beat guy so Hulce was perfect.

Everyone who was anyone in 1988 read for that movie. :) And I mean READ. You'd see them at Oscars the night before, then there they are auditioning like an unknown. Showed me it never really stops no matter how big you get (it does stop, of course, once/as long as you're box office).

Herbert Ross was mean old coot by that point but I loved those days. He was with Lee Radziwell at the time and she was very nice (believe it or not), classy as expected. Sweetest actress auditioning? Dana Hill, rest her diabetic soul. Nastiest actress who just glared at me when I told her I liked her work (and I was part of the scene, not some fan on the street): Teri Garr. She still gives me the creeps, ha.

Linda Fiorentino was such a bitch on the sets of "Dogma" and "Men in Black" that she has been all but blacklisted from A-list films. Kevin Smith rips her a new one in the DVD commentary which had to be censored for fear she might sue. Smith also ragged on Reese Witherspoon, but I have heard she's less difficult and more professional and aloof on set. To her making movies is a job, not a frat party.

Judge Reinhold, seriously? More, please.....

P.S. It's common knowledge that Meg Ryan was attached as Shelby -- but Rob Reiner wouldn't push stop date for "Harry and Sally", almost out of spite it seemed. Herbert loved Winona but she was 18 and way too young so he ended up with Julia Roberts -- not his first nor second choice and he took it out on her bad. Really mean to her on the set (she got the last laugh later, of course). Later, he did the same thing to Joan Cusack on another movie we cast; they hated each other.

BUT, back to "Magnolias", the real deal that people don't know is another actress was right in there for the role, did a half dozen auditions, tested with Sally as her mom. And Herbert loved her, she was really Southern and lovely, a TV soap actor but nowhere in the same fame league as others. The day came for final callbacks -- Roberts, Ryder, one other. And this girl. Whose agent gets the time wrong or something so she MISSES the whole thing -- and the role.

Her name was Susan Walters and you're forgiven if you don't know it. But one twist of fate, one un-missed message, and she could've easily been there instead of Julia Roberts and who knows where she'd be now... weird, huh.

P.S.S. Catherine O'Hara also auditoned for Daryl Hannah role. Try to picture that one. And Jane Wiedlin of the Go Gos whom I thought was great but my boss didn't -- biggest fight we ever had, ha.

What part was Teri Garr up for? Weird that Hulce was up for such a small role (I don't even really remember that guy)ah showbiz.%0D %0D %0D r131 what does Smith say about her?

Very interesting. I hate Julia Roberts, but thought she did well with the role. Loved the guy who played Dolly's son; he was some hot stuff. He needed more screen time.

Celeste Holm%0D %0D Lesley Ann Warren %0D %0D BattyBetty Buckley%0D %0D Jen "Cuddles" Cody%0D %0D %0D %0D

Got this info from friends/family in the industry: Nice: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt (but he's dumb and can't act), Sandra Bullock, Ellen Nasty: Ben Stiller owns this Katherine Heigl, in addition to being a bitch, is also a bit of a drunk

Ellen Barkin, not Ellen D. Have heard that Ellen D. fights with her neighbors and flirts with the feamle cops who come up to investigate the disputes

Babs owns this thread. And I once had to kick Patti LuPone in her vagina bone to calm her down.

Mary Louise Parker isn't difficult. She can be very "methody" and doesn't like distractions while she is working, but she is very kind and generous, doesn't look down on anyone "beneath" her. I adored working with her.

Mary Tyler Moore is fucking nuts.

Yes R140. I always hated that bitch.

Tina Fey told Howard Stern that Ben Stiller was a complete asshole and Matthew McConaughey was a fucking nutjob.

[quote]No, no, no, [R105], worked in casting and adored Winona Ryder. She was just a baby then but so cool. Ditto Roseanna Arquette.%0D %0D Read somewhere in MovieLines that Winona has really mellowed out (and changed her ways) %0D since her arrest, and is now easy going to work with. The cast and crew of Black Swan said that Winona was a delight to work with.

Julia Roberts can't work with other women. I heard she tortured Cameron Diaz on the set of My Best Friend's Wedding. Who's the hott bitch now Julie?!

They had to tone done Cameron Diaz's make-up and hair in "My Best Friend's Wedding"...because Julia didn't want Cameron to upstage her.

Sorry, meant "tone down".

I thought Julia came across as a real shrew in My Best Friend's Wedding and was giving us a glimmer of her true self. Cammie stole that movie right out from under Julie's freakishly large nostrils.

Robin Weigert is convinced she is the greatest actor who ever lived and makes sure that everyone else in the cast knows it, unless they are really famous, in which case she kisses their asses. A real user, and can't bond with the cast.

I'm a flight attendant with one of the majors and love hearing stories about who's naughty and who's nice onboard.%0D %0D Speaking of Miss Roberts...heard from a friend who admired her greatly that when he asked her if she would like a beverage before take-off she ignored him...so he asked again and she she spouted at him, "Look, let's stop pretending you don't know who I am...and I don't want anything from you for this entire flight!"%0D %0D Heard Faye Dunaway, Marlo Thomas and Oprah Winfrey (when she used to fly commercial) were all biatches.

That made me like Julia, R149.

Nothing worse than a overly fawning skywaitress demanding to be acknowledged every 40 seconds.

[quote] They had to tone done Cameron Diaz's make-up and hair in "My Best Friend's Wedding"...because Julia didn't want Cameron to upstage her.

OMG! Julie is Julia Roberts!

F.U. (R150)

Aren't Julia and Oprah BFF's?

This thread is a hilarious read!%0D %0D

Thanks for the dish, R149. Ignore R150.

I know Susan Walters, btt/R133. Sorry, I don't mean I actually know her, but i know who she is. She was on the soap opera Loving for a while, and probably did some other soaps, but perhaps may actually be best known for her role as "Delores" on Seinfeld. (The woman whose name Jerry couldn't remember, but he knew it rhymed with a female body part.)

That's too bad about her missing the final audition.

Speaking of flight attendants: one told me that Harrison Ford was a real son of a bitch.

This thread is very difficult to digest.

r150 = Faye Dunaway.

BTW, if I had been the flight attendant I like to think that I would have replied "Very well, Miss Ross" but I don't blame him for wanting to keep his job. But this must have been the only time he wouldn't have minded so much if the plane had crashed.

R150 blech

Bumping this for any word on Tom Everett Scott? Asshole? Crazy? Handsome and a decent actor, yet never quite made it after the hype of That Thing You Do.

Although she's known primarily as a singer, Aretha Franklin was and is the cuntiest, nastiest bitch I've ever had the misfortune of having to deal with. She made me wish that the rumor about the paternity of her eldest son turns out to be true.

What's that rumor about, r162 ?

[quote]BTW, if I had been the flight attendant I like to think that I would have replied "Very well, Miss Ross"

Haha, something tells me that would've broken the ice with Miss Julia and she would have laughed. Grade A bitches sometimes appreciate it when they've met their match.

R163, Aretha refuses to divulge the paternity of her first two sons, but there has been a rumor for a really long time that her first son, born when she was 14, is allegedly the result of an incestuous relationship with her father, Rev Franklin.

Gross R165. BTW, not to dis Aretha because if she was the victim of rape and incest as a child, that's horrific. But, I love it when everyday sluts pretend to "refuse" to name the father of their child/children. It's more like "can't" name them.

Not surprised about Mary Tyler Moore. I've heard repeatedly nasty things from people who worked with her. Don Rickles said on Kathy Griffin's show something along the lines of "Mary's really not a 'people' person."

The Steel Magnolias bits are fascinating. I would have LOVED Jane Wiedlin as Annelle. God knows, Daryl was pitifully miscast. She moved right when everyone else was left...and IMHO she was the only one who didn't click.

Unfortunately, Justin Timberlake.

Vadge-onna, judging by DL threads.

Thanks, R167, not the only movie we cast but the most high profile. That was a fun day job as day jobs go. Ricki Lake teaching me how to Madison in the parking lot and then giving me her home number (I still have it in my Rolodex though it's long tuned off... she was living with her parents still), Rosanna Arquette putting my hand on her chest to feel how hard her heart was beating (and how many guys in America would've loved to change places), Jennifer Tilly's face falling when she saw Daryl Hannah and me assuring her it was just a favor to an agent and Daryl would NEVER get the part... oops.

One funny thing: a young actress on the rise flew in from Iowa to read for the Julia Roberts role. She was lovely and a good actor -- but she got two lines into the read before Herbert Ross recognized her from a movie he HATED called "Shag" (he took it personal because he felt they had ripped off his "Footloose"). He refused to see anyone connected to it (though Carrie Hamilton slipped through the cracks and Daryl Hannah's sister was in it) and rudely stopped the actress, said "That's enough" and sent her on her way. Back to Iowa. She was horrified, didn't bother to cover.

Not that it's big news but her name was Annabeth Gish. And later Herbert eased his ban and saw Bridget Fonda for another film (and she was adorable, I thought, one of the coolest).

Anybody have any dish on any one on Broadway. I know theaters have to be filled with the cuntiest cunts that ever cunted.

I heard from people working on the new "Spiderman" movie that Andrew Garfield was a diva and not well liked. Everyone apparently loved Emma Stone.

Linda Lavin!

Back in the 1970s, Lee Majors was considered nice to work with. Give him a sweet young blond boy and it was like giving a baby a pacifier.

Kate Jackson was impossible to work with. Thought she was God's gift to acting. Was actually not terribly smart and kind of loopy. Farrah on the other hand was kind of sweet but desperately insecure.

The Duke boys, Wopat and Schneider, thought they were god's gift to women--and all of humanity. Egos bigger than the planet itself.

Robert Conrad was next to impossible. Always itching for a fight. Literally would challenge other male stars to duke it out. Some say his ultra tight pants caused no blood to get to his head.

Betty White was charming to work with--difficult only if you did things wrong, wonderful if you were competent and diligent.

Jean Stapleton was lovely. A real pro. But she didn't like the role of Edith and felt she'd never be accepted as anything else, which made her very moody on the AITF set. Carol O'Connor was another pro. Sally Struthers was a bat shit mess.

[quote]Jacklyn Smith. Total fucking cunt. I've worked with her a few times (photo shoots). Treats everyone but the photographer with disdain and attitude. She even tried to get one of our assistants fired because he "looked" at her and she didn't like it. Hair and make-up people absolutely despise her.

I have a hard time believing this one. Smith is such a dullard I can't imagine her having any kind of emotion other than on/off. She comes off like an actual Stepford wife. I've always read she was the most cooperative during "Charlie's Angels" and never bitched about anything really. If she was such a diva you'd think she and Kate Jackson would both have bad reputations but Kate is the one people hate working with.

A coworker of mine who's a retired IRS agent once had to investigate Aretha Franklin for nonpayment of taxes. He said the first address they traced her to was a filthy, junk-filled abandoned house in Detroit. Then they located her at her newly built house in Oakland County (this must be the one her son was rumored to have burned down), which he said was already starting to look as dirty and junky as her old house. He said she was very nasty to the person who was working for her (I guess her personal assistant), and tried to give him the nasty treatment as well. Naturally she felt under no obligation to pay her taxes.

Guess we can add Alec Baldwin to this list.

hey BTT I bet I know you I worked @ a big ny agency in the 80s early 90s. Do you by any chance remember Annette Bening going in for Steel Magnolias and Kathleen Turner trying to get a meeting>?

178 here. Annette Bening was a stage actress unknown to films at the time. I think she went in for one of the smaller roles. Katleen was determined to be seen for something as I remember and we had to badger you on her behalf.

Cloris Leachman owns her space while at work in a very harsh manner. But, her bark is far worse than her bite. One of my cousins works on "Raising Hope" and he says that Cloris is a bitch when it counts but far from an inconsiderate person. He works behind the scenes on that show and the both get long rather well because he understands her.

Sarah Paulson is a very high maintenance person who thinks far too highly of herself to a downright destructive end. She was more or less canned from ICM and therefore Leigh Brillstein because of this and has since swapped over to UTA. I think her last bit of work under ICM will be the only well known work she ever winds up doing because Leigh Brillstein was truly the only person patient enough to overlook her issues and try to get her good work.

Don't fuck with me, fellas.

1. The only way a 'difficult' label can stick is if the correspondent reporting it has worked with the person more than several times over a period of years. In the late 80's I was hired to work on the tv version of "Sweet Bird of Youth", which starred Eliz. Taylor and Mark Harmon. Before Ms. Taylor arrived, a fellow crew member who had worked with her years previously warned us about how difficult she was. Turned out to be not true for the several weeks we shot "Sweet Bird". In fact, she was friendly to all, prompt and occasionally pulled practical jokes on the set. Note: I must quickly add that the story about her being difficult years before could and was probably true. Maybe it was during one of her addiction episodes. But I hope you all can see that if someone had to be around you on a day when you were less-than-wonderful.....and never saw you again.....then that would be in their mind's eye forever. 2. Same goes true for Jaclyn Smith during the same time period. I worked with her for a couple of weeks and she was quite cooperative, secure and a nice person.

Did Jaclyn talk non-stop about her shelter cat, Bootsie Gumdrops?

Hey R178, sorry for the delay, this one got buried way down on my list and had no idea you had responded.

No, don't remember about Bening or Turner (my favorite actress at the time and Herbert Ross used her a few movies later so he liked her fine)... but that doesn't mean I am doubting you. My boss in casting would fly to NYC for those auditions alone (Ross went to his grave insisting all the best actors came from there, not L.A.) so I wasn't privvy to the details since I would hold down the L.A. office. Do remember him telling me about this not new actress there he loved with odd choices in her audition -- that was Lara san Giacomo. And I made him meet with ultra hottie James Wlcek (soap star at time) who got the tiny role of Dukakis's gay nephew. My boss had him call me from the street since I was so smitten, ha.

Were you by some chance at the big agency that began with the letter G? :) Bet our paths did cross, at least by voice.

BUMP

The absolute worst was Mykelti Williamson. The guy tried to have me fired because I was white. Total douche.

Jon Avnet is a total dick too. He spent all of Red Corner in Bai Ling's trailer... And they weren't going over lines...

Nicole Richie is a known CUNT BITCH everyone hates her

Why would anyone give Nicole Richie the time of day? It's not as if she actually does anything.

Julianna Margulies is a bitch on wheels. Huge ego.

Jake Gyllenhaal throws hissy fits when the hotel management won't throw out other guests, so he can have his favorite hotel room. So I imagine he is difficult on set.

Bruce Willis owns this thread.

Teri Fucking Hatcher

Has anyone worked with Jodie Foster?

Tom Hanks was a real prick to work with. A total misogynist who treats women like shit.

I highly recommend checking this thread out (link below) to read more about what it was like working with Betty Buckley.

Debra Winger and Sean Young. You can tell that godd actresses who never get work, have made an ass of themselves now and then.

I don't believe Ellen Degenerous is a nice person and I don't like her show.

My cousin works in Hollywood. This is whom he's told me about:

Quentin Tarantino: Very nice and friendly, interested in everything, no longer the insecure motormouth he was when he started out in the business

Bill Pullman: Smart, but a complete mindfuck who plays little manipulation games with people he works with. Throws tantrums, and is genuinely hell to work with.

Chloe Sevigny: Insecure, and a complete diva. Disliked by most of the crewmembers on "Big Love," many of whom do imitations of Drew Droege imitating her being pretentious in his little youtube videos behind her back, not so much because she actually is pretentious but because she's needy and obnoxious and it's fun to mock her. (Some of them even referred to her as "TOE-ahst.")

Rosie O'Donnell: Loud, shrieking, demanding nutjob. Very difficult to work with. Throws tantrums, and can violently change her mood on a dime.

A friend of mine (she works at a bar in West Hollywood and is a lesbian) said Ellen used to come in all the time and was an absolute bitch. She told me that Portia de Rossi and Anne Heche were both extremely nice.

Brown

R29 I can believe that Jaclyn would ask someone to leave the room for looking at her. She's very self-conscious and so afraid of people noticing her flaws. She's had a difficult time aging and has had some work done to her face. My cousin was her assistant for awhile and told me that she snapped at a real estate agent "What are you looking at!?" for staring at her for too long.

Elizabeth Vargas is the terror of ABC News but now that she's in rehab for her alcoholism they may have an excuse to fire her.

Btw, everyone loves Chris Cuomo.

Christina Aguilera = bitch

Tim DeKay

Linda Fiorentino wouldn't show up on the set of Dogma when shooting started because she wanted the production to buy her a new car. Not rent her a car. Buy her one. It wasn't in the contract she signed, so she was willing to run the production over budget with delays to get a car she hadn't earned. All because she thought she was the STAR. Meanwhile, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck -- who individually have more name recognition than her a hundred times over -- showed up to set on time ready to go. Fiorentino got the free car, but that little stunt has cost her work worth far, far more than the value of the car. Stupid bitch.

In related gossip, Don Johnson almost never showed up to the Nash Bridges set. Entire weeks would pass where the entire cast and crew would be just waiting around in case he showed up (Cheech Marin was very professional and pleasant). The cost of him not showing up for days at a time was figured into the show's budget. Johnson would also let his dog run around without a leash on set. When the dog chased one of the cars transporting actors to and from the airport, Johnson flew into a rage and accused the driver of trying to kill his dog. He had the driver fired.

Gary Busey owns this list.

[quote]Jake Gyllenhaal throws hissy fits when the hotel management won't throw out other guests, so he can have his favorite hotel room.

LOL you just reminded me of this hilarious hotel prank call!

r133 Jane Weidlin is a member of The B-52s not the Go-Gos (shudder)

R208 = Belinda Carlisle on a coke bender

Um, R202, Vargas has been working for the past two weeks every morning on GMA. How can she be in rehab?

The guy who fired Nicolette Sheridan on Desperate Housewives.

Jane Weidlin is the cute little brunette from the "Go Blows" - to my knowledge she was never in the B52's. She's the band member that got totally crapped on by Belinda, et al. Kate Schneider and Cindy Wilson were in the B52s. ???

Was Belinda Carlisle difficult to work with?

The cuntiest person I have ever met is Ben Stiller - completely arrogant diva. Nicest person I have ever worked with - Bruce Campbell. Really down to earth and chats with all the crew. Will even sit with the crew and eat with them, which NO-ONE else would lower themselves to.

Brown

Christian Bale...gets very angry if you're in his lighting or distracts him.

How did this thread go several years and 217 posts without anyone mentioning Jennifer Lopez? That bith owns every "most difficult" list and is a raging cunt to deal with. And I know because I had to deal with her on multiple occasions spanning the past 10 years.

I'm seriously shocked no one else has named her.

Maybe J Lo is such an obvious nightmare -- from the Faye Dunaway school -- that posting it felt redundant. Indeed every wardrobe and makeup person I've asked always says she's hideous. (Said it before but they hate the Wilson Brothers too, for some reason).

Betty Fucking Buckley

Did anyone mention Valerie Harper? I mean, when a Network decides to kill off the actress whom the show is named after... you know she's a cunt.

R207...that was hilarious! Carrot Top? Oh my GAWD!

Valerie Harper is a doll. Her quarrel with the producers of her show was over terms, credit, and money, not her behavior. Everybody loves working with her. I've waited on her a few times at big starry catered events, and she was warm and welcoming to everyone, guest or staff.

R222

I got a good laugh at that one. Valerie Harper is by no means a "doll." She is known in the industry as being a bitch and difficult to work with. Now, maybe your experience is different because she's different to people who wait on her... but she is certainly not liked among her Hollywood contemporaries.

I mean, members of SAG preferred Melissa Gilbert over her... that should tell you something.

What about soap actors? Hard to believe none of them are/were difficult. They are actors too yet nobody mentioned any names.

Deidre Hall Emma Samms

R202, Elizabeth Vargas proved herself to the general public as a monster with zero empathy and a soul when she did an investigative piece with the sole purpose of debunking the Matthew Shepard murder as a hate crime.

Good god r208 needs a time traveling kick in the nuts.

bump

Rebel Wilson

My experience with Mariah Carey was surprising. I had figured she'd be high maintenance and a pain in the ass, but she wasn't.

Sure she was demanding in that she required a lot of stuff. A LOT of stuff. But she was never rude about it, spoke to me and started a conversation, and always said please and thank you.

After I was done working with her, she sent me a thank you note.

Same experience with Britney Spears. She was friendly, chatted me up and asked me about my life and always asked for things, didn't demand. I was pretty impressed with her behavior.

[quote]Same experience with Britney Spears. She was friendly, chatted me up and asked me about my life and always asked for things, didn't demand. I was pretty impressed with her behavior.

That's interesting because I know someone who worked with her and said she was a fucking bitch and that the whole sweet girl persona she has is fake.

R224, Robin Strasser is insane and mean and incredibly demanding of all around her.

Patti Lupone. Incredibly nasty. Invented the term "diva" as we use it today. Expects to be PAID for charity guest appearances, including chauffeured limo to and fro.

[quote]Expects to be PAID for charity guest appearances, including chauffeured limo to and fro.

And what's so strange about that?

Bruce Willis is supposed to be a human black hole of negative emotion and casts a dark cloud wherever he goes.

Yes on Willis. He's one of those insecure male action stars (usually closeted) who love to clash with directors.

Every director who's ever worked with him has had trouble.

Edward Norton is another one, wants script approval and thinks he's a director's equal all the time.

Gary Oldman was a holy terror back in his using days, and even now can be very intense and high strung.

more gossip on tom hanks being a mysogynistic dick, please!

LOL R219!

[quote]Emma Samms

Really? I don't believe that.

Sean Young

This thread needs categories:

Crazy: (Sean Young)

Addicts: (?)

Nasty: (Faye Dunaway)

Tough Pros: (Bea Arthur)

Unprofessional: (?)

Jared Padalecki from Supernatural has been known to be a complete jerk both on set and off. Then his 'buddy", Jensen, comes in and smooths it all over. Every time.

Robin Weigert -Crazy -Haughty -Fucks her way into roles -Cheats on her gf's by always sleeping with someone on the show/film -Wreaks emotional havoc -Diva -Did I mention fucking nuts?

[235] I've been told this too. In the Moonlighting days Cybill Shepherd got tagged as the "diva" as it was easier for the tabloids to have the woman being the big prima donna, but that set was a total boys club. As Bruce had all the new found fame he was doing whatever he wanted. I did see Cybill and Bruce on one of the extras on a Moonlighting DVD and he kept apologising and they were all hugs and very friendly so maybe he has mellowed. Richard E Grant wrote in this autobiography what a nightmare it was working with Bruce.

Anyone have anymore stories about Robin Weigert?

There are 2 Robin Weigerts threads here with detailed insider info. Anyway I'd appreciate more stories.

bump

Lea Michele

[quote]Crawford wasn't difficult.

She was known to give the same performance for her co-stars who were getting their close-ups done. Highly unheard of and she was a pro.

Cliff Robertson worked with her, post 1950, and was amazed that she would be that giving to her co-stars.

Tommy Lee Jones. Threw a huge tantrum when everyone on the set of MIB didn't wear the right kind of t-shirt.

{R32} I know someone who worked for Racquel. Welch is a horrible, awful woman.

[R73] Paula Strasberg used to sit in a direct line to Monroe and give her hand signals. Not sure what they were supposed to mean, but if Paula didn't like the scene, I guess she would indicate it to Marilyn and Marilyn would ask for another take. Needless to say, directors didn't like it.

Strasberg was signalling Monroe on the set of maybe Seven Year Itch, and Wilder saw Strasberg giving the signals and pretended he didn't. Finally they finished a scene and Wilder said, well, I think that was good. Then he turned and yelled, HOW ABOUT YOU, PAULA??? WAS IT OKAY FOR YOU?

A friend of mine works as an extra in Hollywood, and he says that on most TV shows, the actors won't acknowledge the extras, won't look at them in the hall, won't say hello. He worked on General Hospital and was blown away by how nice and friendly everyone was to him.

He also said one of the most wonderful people he ever met was T.R. Knight, who was always great to the extras on Greys. Also, an actor most of you won't know, Stephen Macht, a very prolific actor who is the father of Gregory Macht on Suits. My friend said he is a fantastic guy and is always great to everyone.

My cousin was an assistant producer on a film with Bruce Willis. She always found him very professional and he would know the name of each and every crew member and talk with them.

I work in UK TV and film. The actors here wear 'being down with the crew' like a badge of honour. Perhaps it's a hangover from theatre 'rep', but everyone eats together and plays together. No separation. From the lowliest runner up.

There are a few asshat exceptions, of course, but I think in all of those cases, the actor is as much of an asshat to their fellow cast as they are to crew. And I sometimes sense a 'look how munificent and egalitarian I am by sharing my divine person with even the plebs' rather than genuine openness. But most just muck in as one big family.

I can confidently say that 90% of divas and difficult / high maintenance / bullying / tyrannical / high-strung actors I've worked with in a 20-year-long career are male.

R254

Most of the crew people I've known have complained about male stars more than female ones. I think with men the press and public tends to write it off as artistic and intense.

Great story, R170 (hmmmm, over two years ago), I really liked Annabeth Gish back in the Mystic Pizza days.

It's one thing to be rude and temperamental to the crew, etc. on a set, but my sister worked as a PA to a director, who is probably mid-level, maybe B-List, and she said the worst times were the power struggles between actors and director. There are actors who believe the world revolves around them, and are a pain in the ass because they are always trying to second guess, interrupt scenes, and control the director instead of the opposite. It makes for a very tense set, and it spills over onto the crew. Toxic people.

I work with a teacher who looks a lot like Gary Busey. This is a woman, btw. She is annoying beyond belief.

Ellen Degenerous ?sp

Leonardo DiCaprio

Val Kilmer

I have a friend who works in production, and he did the last movie Tom Cruise shot in Vancouver. Tom has a 'bodyguard' that follows him around on set, and is constantly giving him compliments the whole time-we all knew he was a weirdo. Plus, unless you're a famous actor, don't talk to him on the set, because he'll yell at you, and try to get you fired. Extras beware!

Also have heard that Tom Cruise is a dick to staff or when he is off camera and something unexpected happens.

Ellen ... Moody and shows irritability symptoms of an alcoholic.

Don Johnson worked with a friend who is a designer ... DJ damaged a rug and still tried to return it. Mean and paranoid.

James Franco is nice but does a lot of drugs.

R257, I think it's easy for a director's assistant to side with him. But a lot of people forget that actors are the ones who provide the public face for the project and will accept the praise if it succeeds and the criticism if it doesn't. I think they have a right, within reason, to question whether something will work or will make them look foolish in celluloid forever.

It's the same thing when TV writers complain about actors making a lot of requests for their characters. Unless it's an auteur driven show, it's usually a room full of people deciding what this character will say and do, so why shouldn't the person who has to deliver the lines and make the character arc work have a say in what happens?

[R241] My buddy produced the infamous Sean Young and James Woods drug movie. And drugged movie. She's whack and he's funny very up exhausting. Coke didn't help, but he liked JW a lot, though he was prone to explain to everyone what their job was, or should be. Genius and quite amusing guy, famously predicted 9/11 down to the details and the participants names in latter August 2011.

JW, btw, took a PR hit prom Sean and her people, but as it turned out post depositions (lawsuits), he turned out the 'victim' of her lunacy.

Samantha Morton, likes to intimidate and bully. Nasty, nasty piece of work.

Really R264? I thought she was a good actress but not particularly sympathetic. I certainly never went to see anything "because" she was in it, but always found it was a plus. Because she doesn't have that warmth to her, and with this added information, I'll no longer make that effort.

Samantha Morton has "mental health issues" and she's difficult to work with for everyone. No director wants to be bothered.

She does look troubled/annoying. Usually don't like people like her. Good for her she had talent enough to last her a while.

[quote]Genius and quite amusing guy, famously predicted 9/11 down to the details and the participants names in latter August 2011.

Is this what James Woods wants us to believe? Like he wants us to believe he's an MIT product? He's also famously arrogant.

[R:262] Because 1. There isn't time to indulge every 'my character wouldn't'. 2. 95% of 'my character wouldn't' requests are terrible - they're about vanity, neuroses or building their role with ill-thought through, selfish contrivances that bear no relevance to the plot, other characters, the story, themes, style or even their own character journey. 3. The subtext for 80% of requests are 'listen to me I'm important', 'give me a bigger trailer', or 'let's put in some pointless crying here so I can win an award'. 4. It's almost always ego / a power trip, especially if they leave it to when they're already on set. It screws with the crew's time but also the other actors who've diligently prepared. There's times and places.

A few are bright, polite and worth listening to. But vast majority are not and their suggestions undermine not only the writer but the director, the other cast and the crew...and often the budget.

lindasy holan

One of my favorite James Woods moments was when he bragged to a magazine interviewer about what he claimed was his SAT score, and it didn't end in zero (which is impossible).

He has an enormous chip on his shoulder.

[235] I've been told this too. In the Moonlighting days Cybill Shepherd got tagged as the "diva" as it was easier for the tabloids to have the woman being the big prima donna, but that set was a total boys club.

That's exactly the story Cybill herself claims (and has claimed for years), but it's just not true. She's not a misunderstood victim of sexism; she's an asshole.

She was a total nightmare on the set of "Cybill" and behaved badly to everyone--almost everyone on the set came to hate her, including Christine Baranski, Peter Krause, and Alicia Witt. The only one who liked her was Tom Wopat who was so grateful she had wanted him back for series television.

Alan Ball (who later went on to create "Six Feet Under" and "True Blood") wrote for "Cybill" and hated her too--he mocked her as the hateful and completely self-absorbed diva Catherine O'hara played one season on "6FU." Ball once told a friend of mine she was the worst person in Hollywood he had ever worked with; when my friend reminded him that he had also worked with Grace Butler for "Grace Under Fire," he responded, "Oh you can't even compare the two. There's being tragically mentally ill, and then there's just being a mean and entitled asshole."

Madonna lady gaga jesus kanye west

To illustrate this: apparently Alan Ball wrote a screenplay for an episode for "Cybill" where Cybill's daughter (who was a teenager) was going to have an foreign exchange student fall in love with her. Cybill Shepherd called up Ball when she read the screenplay and insisted it be re-written so that the h.s. exchange student fall in love with her character instead--even though she was at the time in her late 40s! Then she called him up again and insisted that the exchange student be made Italian, "so you can work in an opportunity for me to sing some Italian opera."

R26: And fast forward nearly 4 yrs, and this bitch's latest & greatest triumph is to sue a drug store chain for using her likeness on Twitter.

Now there's a talented, class act for you.

The Cybill Shepherd stuff is great. More!

R272/R274 Do you have any stories about Brett Butler?

Edward Norton destroyed his career through his behavior. An entitled brat who thinks he's a genius.

Reading through this thread and who the source of so many stories about who is an asshole, Tina Fey makes frequent appearances as an accuser. I think we can deduce she's a rank bitch.

I've been thinking the same thing for a while, r278. I'm especially a fan of Amy Poehler, nevertheless I think of those two as like two sorority girls who are extremely catty about other women, or people in general, who they don't consider suitable or worthy of their little club.

All under the guise of feminism and "women being funny," of course.

Re: generous. There are a number of actors who owe their longevity to being professional, kind, and generous. This is independent of their brilliance and talent.

Julianne Moore has a good rep for being a pleasure to work with. She is very collaborative with her fellow actors and does not understand other actors who don't work this way.

Andie MacDowell owes her entire career to the fact that she was kind and respectful to her fellow cast and crew. Never a particularly brilliant actor, she was professional and respectful to people around her.

I worked briefly on a theatre project in the 90s with Chloe Webb. She never became a major star but she couldn't have been sweeter to those around her, including her fans.

Brooke Shields also (apparently) gets high marks for being a pleasure to work with.

Rosie Perez

I never worked with Linda Lavin, but I saw her in NYC many years ago. She and two other women apparently had just left the theatre where she was in a Neil Simon play. I asked her if I could take her picture, and she said sure. She was very nice and very patient, smiled, and signed an autograph for me. I thought she was nice.

BTW that same evening had seen Patrick Stewart and asked him if I could take his picture. He was very cold, rude, and said I would rather you didn't. He was with some girl who looked 40 years younger than him. Guess he is diva.

Admittedly, I didn't go through every single one of the 280+ posts, but I still haven't seen the one name who came to mind immediately:

ALEC BALDWIN

Very true r280. I brought this up once in another thread to crickets. You can be a great talent, of little talent, or a mediocre talent, but having a reputation as very professional and pleasant to work with will often explain an actor/entertainer's career longevity independently of all that.

A couple examples off the top of my head:

Amy Adams Betty White Diane Keaton Jimmy Fallon

A pretty eclectic collection of people, but you get my point...

Jimmy "aw shucks I'm so great I am in love with myself NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT" Fallon?

You put him on a list of pleasant people?

You put him on a list of people in show business?

Do you also like Romney?

On LSA they are going on and on about how Halle Berry got labeled difficult and crazy after complaining to her agent/manager? about Bryan basically having sex with children on set and it got back to him.

Singer's people apparently spread a bunch of lies about her, but I'm not so sure they are all that far from the truth. She screams kray to me.

Shia Laboeuf owns this thread.

[quote]A friend of mine works as an extra in Hollywood, and he says that on most TV shows, the actors won't acknowledge the extras, won't look at them in the hall, won't say hello.

This seems to be more the case with US actors. European actors are more inclined to treat the crew as equals and they have lunch at the same table as well.

R272 I believe what you are saying, dont get me wrong, I have never met Cybill Shepherd. I have met Alicia Witt several times when working on a Lifetime movie about 4/5 years ago now called Backyard Wedding in Newhall and Valencia in California. Utter nightmare.

I've got no doubts Cybill Shepherd is a diva but alright, she was a top model and a famous face that could get a TV vehicle commissioned on her name alone. Even a bit of a cult figure just based on being in Taxi Driver etc. She probably at that time could call the shots like a lot do when they can.

Alicia Witt though? This girl was in that sitcom for a few years but you'd have thought she was some legend of stage and screen the way she behaved. Difficult is an understatement! Larisa Oleynik was great though and I hope she gets more Mad Men episodes before that show ends.

Its sad 260 ex male prostitutes like Tammy can be so insecure

R285 you may not like him personally and his comedy is hardly cutting edge but he isn't cray cray and he has a professional easy to work with reputation. That same level of talent probably wouldn't have gotten him as far had he been more "prickly."

It isn't personal.

Get a grip.

[quote]R252

The incident you posted about Paula Strasberg and Wilder was during production of SOME LIKE IT HOT in 1958. THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH was made in 1954 before Marilyn had met any (of the) Strasbergs.

Fallon is a no talent and comes across creepy.

If there is an audience for Bravo, there is an audience for the likes of him.

I'm so sure you know him personally 284.

"I've been thinking the same thing for a while, R278. I'm especially a fan of Amy Poehler, nevertheless I think of those two as like two sorority girls who are extremely catty about other women, or people in general, who they don't consider suitable or worthy of their little club."

Taylor Swift, is that you?

r291, it's probably too early to tell what he's really like to work with because the network is squashing anything not positive since he's the Great White Hope of Late Night.

There were two posters in the other thread here who talked about problems with him, i.e. drinking and sleeping with staff on his show-a writer, I believe.

I worked at a PR firm that handled musicians. Fiona A/pple just released an album and she was a nightmare to work with, always late, like hours late to photo shoots etc.

Marilyn Monhoe's difficult behaviour could fill a whole thread.

R121 Finally, something nice about Winona from someone who's actually worked with her and sounds trustworthy. But that was when she was starting out, I wonder when exactly she went off the rails (of course opinions differ on the extent of this)

ON-J

Fay Bainter tried to run my grandmother down with her car.

I cannot imagine ONJ as difficult R299

Me neither, R20!

Charles Dance

Not that she is difficult to work with but she has a bad reputation for agreeing to do films then backing out at the last minute: Sissy Spacek.

which films r304?