That time I was way-laid by the Happy Hooker

Posted on June 15, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – I went to London to see the Queen and met the Happy Hooker, who led me astray.

Fifty years ago this month, Queen Elizabeth II was touring Canada and The Windsor Star newspaper sent me to cover the leg of her trip in the closest city in southwest Ontario.

After she did a walkabout and departed, photographer Cec Southward and I repaired to the London press club, as you would, for a libation or two. That’s where we unexpectedly ran into Xaviera Hollander and I got distracted. Continue reading →

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How fame got the better of Treat Williams

Posted on June 13, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Treat Williams, who died aged 71 on June 12 in a motorcycle accident, became instantly famous in the movie version of ‘Hair’ in 1979. After shining brightly in Sidney Lumet’s fine 1981 cop picture ‘Prince of the City’ (below), he was on track to become a major movie star until fame and cocaine got in the way. Continue reading →

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Robert Lansing, intense and unhappy with television

Posted on June 5, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – ‘Television is just awful,’ Robert Lansing told me. ‘I’ve done a lot of it but not from choice. I’ve done an awful lot of garbage; an awful lot of lousy things. I’m not saying I’m ashamed but I think my career is almost one-hundred percent ahead of me. I’ve fouled up until now.’ Continue reading →

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That time on the ‘Hill Street Blues’ set with Charles Haid

Posted on June 2, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – ‘You don’t say Hill and you don’t say Renko. You say Hill and Renko’. Charles Haid (above right) stated the case for one of the most durable partnerships on television in the 1980s on the hit cop show ‘Hill Street Blues’. Continue reading →

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How Tina Turner dealt with her troubled past

Posted on May 24, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – ‘As crazy as it was,’ said Tina Turner, ‘I laugh about it. ’ The queen of rock’n’roll, who has died aged 83, was talking about her difficult childhood in Tennessee and her abusive marriage to rocker Ika Turner. Continue reading →

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When Joan Collins kicked me off the set of ‘Dynasty’

Posted on May 23, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Joan Collins was pointing at me. I was on the set of the hit primetime soap opera ’Dynasty’. It’s important to make yourself as invisible as possible on a busy TV soundstage so I stood quietly at the rear. TV shows proceed at a rapid pace and performers often need to be prompted by a floor manager. I wasn’t surprised to see Collins blow her lines. Continue reading →

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Why British comic Eric Sykes didn’t become a movie star

Posted on May 4, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Eric Sykes, who was born on May 4 one hundred years ago, was one of Britain’s most treasured comedians on radio and television but he might have become a leading actor in movies too as ‘The Liquidator’.

English thriller writer John Gardner wrote more than fifty novels including fourteen original James Bond yarns at the request of the Ian Fleming estate.

‘The Liquidator’, his first novel published in 1964, was a smart and funny spoof about a reluctant secret agent named Boysie Oakes. Mistakenly thought to be a ruthless killer but actually a coward who hates guns, he hires a real assassin named Griffen to bump off people in order to keep the rewards coming.  Continue reading →

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That time Michelle Pfeiffer thought she’d sworn on live TV

Posted on April 29, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Michelle Pfeiffer was worried that she’d dropped an f-bomb on live television.

The actress, who turns 65 today, came to meet me right after she appeared on CNN to talk about the John Landis black comedy ‘Into the Night’ in which she played a wild-child who discovers the dark side of Los Angeles. She’d said she knew something about that and told of an encounter that occurred when she was just getting started as an actress. A man offered her some cash and an all-expenses paid 24-hour trip. She turned him down. Continue reading →

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Composer Patrick Doyle on his triumph over cancer

Posted on April 6, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Anyone who has spent time with film composer Patrick Doyle (above with wife Lesley and me) knows that he is one of the funniest men alive. Not so many know that his sense of humour played a large part in keeping him from an early death. Continue reading →

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When Dar Robinson leapt from Toronto’s CN Tower

Posted on March 26, 2023 by admin

STICK, Dar Robinson, Burt Reynolds, Jose Perez, 1985. ©Universal

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – The perfect word to describe legendary movie stuntman Dar Robinson, who was born on this day in 1947: unfuckwithable. It allowed him to create thrilling stunts in films such as ‘Stick’, ‘Sharkey’s Machine” (below)), ‘Papillon’ and ‘Magnum Force’ and combined with a bright smile and killer pickup line, it made him catnip to the ladies. Continue reading →

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