Dropped Names

[Karl-G]

Actor Frank Langella recently published a book of his memories of actors and actresses and other famous people he has met over the years, entitled "Dropped Names." The chapters are very short but fun. He doesn't really dish gossip, but he certainly tells tales out of school.

 

His memories of an afternoon with Jack and Jackie Kennedy and Bunny Mellon on Cape Cod are marvelous. His friendship with Bunny came up again last year when it was revealed Mrs. Mellon was a major supporter of John Edwards. Today she is 102 years old.

 

When Langella visited Else Lancaster, the widow of Charles Laughton, he was taken on a tour of the house and garden. She pointed out that only three corners of the pool could be seen from the house. In the secluded corner, she explained, Charles seduced the most beautiful boys in Los Angeles. Only the most beautiful, she emphasized. "He was homosexual, you know."

 

Langella describes how Noel Coward tried to seduce him. The chapters on Rita Hayworth and Montgomery Clift are very sad. I'm not finished with the book yet.

 

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[+ newatthis]

Read this book a couple of weeks ago; there was a review in the Times that made it sound enticing. Sorry to say that I found it largely uninteresting. The excerpts you cited were the best of a fairly dull lot, IMO.

[hornytwells]

Funnily enough, I started reading it today on a flight. It is mildy entertaining, but what makes me laugh is how Langella accuses so many of his fellow actors of narcissism and then, proceeds to complain about Yul Brynner pulling focus from carol Channing. Apparently when she made her entrance, Brynner leaped to his feet to start a standing ovation, earning himself a mention in the paper next day> Langella is supposedly outraged by this, and then goes on to say "but no mention of the prince of Darkness" (referring to himself as Dracula, his stage role at the time). He obviously felt his mere presence in the audience should have been trumpeted in a review of carol Channing's Hello Dolly! Talk about pot and kettle!

[+ Lucky]

I plan to read the book, which appears to be a sort of you drop the name, he tells a story type book. Short vignettes. I like his acting a lot, but he sure can come across as an old queen.