Drinking on the Set!

Invariably, when you read enough movie production histories (particularly the low-budget genre kind), it doesn't take long before you come across a sentence like this: "... it was an open secret that [name your favorite down on their luck actor] was drinking on the set....". The drunk actor was practically a stereotype since the days of Barrymore, and that stereotype never flourished more than in the meatgrinder world of Hollywood filmmaking. Especially in the back stages of poverty row grade-Z productions, with their skimpy budgets and truncated schedules and their harsh and unreal expectations, many actors would find solace in booze, finding in the bottle either a kind and gentle anesthetic, or a fuel for bravura. And often these actors were once major stars, commanding fortunes and enjoying the adulation of millions. When they once were scented with the sweet perfume of success, they now wallowed in the shit stink of cardboard sets, six-day shooting schedules, the sweaty indifference of journeyman technicians, and the paltriest of paychecks. Call it a weakness, if you must, but who could begrudge them a sip or two.

One of the more vivid images I remember from reading Gregory Mank's excellent history of the Universal Frankenstein series It's Alive! more than 20 years ago was the sight of Lon Chaney Jr., in full Monster makeup and costume, taking a couple of nips from a pint bottle behind the sets of The Ghost of Frankenstein. It goes without saying that this was the pinnacle of Chaney's movie career (he was now Universal's leading horror actor). It was downhill from there. One of the more infamous examples of mixing liquor and acting was Chaney's appearance in the 1950s program Tales of Tomorrow's live production of Frankenstein, where Chaney once again played the Monster. His performance was erractic, even surreal at times. He often looked plaintively straight at the camera, as if looking for direction. Some say Chaney had a bit too much to drink before the performance, and was not fully aware that this was not a dress rehearsal but a performance being broadcast live to millions. At any rate, Chaney's performance made this Tale of Tomorrow the most memorable of the series.

Some more set boozing anecdotes:

Not Elvis! Q: How was Elvis on the set?
Stella Stevens: It was fine working with Elvis. He was nice, but he also was drinking on the set. Anything that Elvis said had to go through the Colonel. He was not allowed to speak for himself. If Elvis had a drink -- and believe me, in Hawaii he loved those rum punch drinks -- it would be swept away and a bottle of Coca Cola would be set there in front of him. He was drunk when he sang "Return to Sender" and not a really professional actor. When I left it after the 6th day, I said, "I?ll just forget about it." Did you ever try to forget about an Elvis Presley film? It totally is impossible. Totally impossible. (she laughs)

Mitchum vs. Otto... Director Otto Preminger had declared there was to be no drinking on the set of River of No Return. One day he saw an actor crossing the set with a glass of vodka. He lambasted the actor who said, "I'm just taking this to Mitchum." The director paused and said, "Oh, that's different," and allowed the actor to complete his mission. Preminger had learned not to cross Mitchum in the earlier Angel Face.

In like Flynn! Australian actor Errol Flynn was frequently banned from drinking on the set. Necessity being the mother of invention, the savvy star soon developed a solution: Injecting oranges with vodka and eating them during his breaks.

The short and tragic life of Superman... While George Reeves played the heroic role of a Superman, a dark side began to emerge. In an interview with Phyllis Coates, she recalls that, "Every day at four o'clock George had open bar in his dressing room on the set. And nobody could stop him." That apparently caused some friction with production manager Barney Sarecki who deplored drinking on the set and felt that George's antics brought shooting to a halt whether they were ready to stop or not. Coates also recalled that Toni Mannix was usually with George when shooting wrapped, keeping up with Reeves, drink for drink. It was not uncommon for Reeves to host parties and card games at his home at 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills which lasted late into the night. Reeves was also known to enjoy the nightlife of Los Angeles sometimes being seen with some very shady characters. In addition, Reeves continued his affair with Toni Mannix, whose husband, Eddie Mannix, was also said to have ties to the mob.

And not just in Hollywood... Writer-director Francis Veber has the highest respect for Gallic veteran Gerard Depardieu - with one qualification.
"I think he's one of the best actors in the world, especially when he doesn't drink," Veber says. "I love him and respect him, but some of my colleagues have had the bad luck of having him drunk on the set.
"I think it's very difficult to be Gerard Depardieu. He's a very big man, but at the same time he's a very fragile man.
"If he has problems at home, he can drink two bottles of wine then turn up on the set."

Spock??? Mind Meld plays like outtakes from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier's cheesy campfire bonding sequence until you realize Nimoy has started discussing being drunk on the set in 1967.

And not just in the old days... Terminator star Michael Biehn is being sued by a Russian production company, who are accusing him of being drunk on the set of a new movie. CTB Film claim Biehn - who played the man sent back through time to stop Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator character in the 1984 blockbuster - made sexual advances toward production staff while drunk on the set of Amerikanets. According to the suit, filed in Los Angeles, Biehn showed up drunk on the second day of filming in Russia and was "excessively intoxicated, his speech slurred and erratic, and he had trouble walking". He is also alleged to have carried a Pepsi Cola bottle containing vodka and made advances on female production employees - behavior which continued for several days. CTB claim scenes with Biehn shot in Russia were useless, forcing the company to suspend production. In Amerikanets, Biehn as an American stockbroker who loses millions when a Russian company he invests in declares bankruptcy, and then travels to Russia to seek justice.

Take this with a grain of salt... "It was OK when she wasn't drunk on the set. I think she's an alcoholic -- it was either that, or she was on cough syrup the whole time," Gallo allegedly said about Ricci.

The great ones can even use an actor's drunkeness as inspiration.... Fellini: It?s always satisfying when you can turn something that goes wrong into something that is even better. If I saw that an actor like Broderick Crawford was a little drunk on the set, I tried to make it part of the story.

And it's not just actors.... JM: You got to work with Stanton again on Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid [1973] for director Sam Peckinpah. In fact, you did two other movies with Peckinpah in the '70s [Convoy (1978) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)]. Tell me about working with him. The stories of his drinking on the set are legendary.
Kris Kristofferson:They're true, too. I had to take a pistol away from Sam once: He was lying sick in bed and took a shot at Harry Dean Stanton and my piano player, Donnie Fritts. I got a call about it and went over there and said, "All right, where is it?" He was heavily anesthetized with Mescal or something. Sam was a good man; he just needed turmoil around him.

And another cinema great.... Mickey Rooney recalls that Buzz [Busby Berkeley] was often drunk on the set and once almost fell from one of the girders where he had climbed to set up shots of the dancers. To avoid a serious accident, the grips put a rope around his waist, tossed it over a"strut" and held it while he crawled about from girder to girder. Then they picked out the biggest extra around to hold the rope. However, several times Buzz fell off and dangled up there while the big guy held on for dear life.

For some more drinking tales, here's a nice piece called Drunks On The Set.