Superstar to Old Age Pensioner

This was posted some time ago but it is worth another visit  .Sadly some of the names on the list of stars have passed on ...Richard Dodd

This might turn out to be a difficult item to write, mainly because it is based on rumour and my own hazy recollections but the idea for it came from this weeks cover on The Hollywood Reporter which features six famous actors who seem to have been around forever

Ed Asner
Larry Hagman
Debbie Reynolds
Eva Maria Saint
Betty White
Mickey Rooney

All of them have had astonishingly successful careers and are fortunate enough to be still employable, and therefore able to make some money.

I wont detail the careers of these six extremely talented icons of the silver screen, we remember their performances, but what about the ones we have forgotten about, those famous faces of their day, never off the telly or starring in a movie, where are they and how do they exist

Every year I am invited to a re-union of my old film department, a gathering which takes place in a very nice hostelry in the UK..

We gather and swap stories, repeatedly, and to some of us boringly, but we do it and enjoy it.

Unfortunately, every year the group could meet in a smaller venue because someone has passed on.

Last year I talked to a colleague from those far away days and it took me some time to realise he had no idea who I was, and we had often worked on the same camera crew, I had lost my hair, gone bald, and he had developed Alzheimer’s.

Appallingly sad for him, all I had lost was hair, he had completely lost all of his memory, he even had a minder with him to make sure he made it home, and he is younger than me..

The point is that every day we all get a little older but when you are used to seeing someone on the screen be it TV or Cinema you tend to remember them with that image in mind. Unfortunately they are all humans too and they age just the same as us lesser mortals.

Some years ago I worked out of LA, had an apartment in Sherman Oaks, in the Valley as it was called.

Several evenings a week I would be at some vast party or gala evening, all very posh and black tie, great fun, all of the stars were usually there, some had not worked for donkeys years but were still Hollywood legends, they all looked great, had great vitality and zest for life, just as they had been when they performed on screen, they all seemed to have very deep pockets, all of these functions were money raising events for some charity or other, they were all expected to contribute, and I am not talking loose change here, these people donated thousands of bucks, and it could be several times a week. .serious money.

Where did they get it from?

I have no idea about the financial affairs of the six on the front page but they all seem to live very well, maybe they were shrewd and saved some of the dosh they got.

Stars today command much more than any of our cover stars so they do have a chance to invest for their old age or their inevitable fall from the spotlight…Not all of them do.

Think about the cost of being a Superstar
Agent
Personal Assistant, even models have those.
Hairdresser
Manicurist
Masseuse
Publicity
Fitness instructor
Gym fees
Driver..plus Limo..
Clothes.

And then there is the house..

John and Bo Derek moved way out of Hollywood onto a remote Ranch, eschewed the Hollywood scene, must have saved a lot of money not attending those functions.

Another International Star lived on a quiet stretch of the coast road north of LA, in a modest house, for a star.

When I visited him the maid asked me to wait by the pool and our hero would join me out there.

A few minutes later a small man, with a humpback and dragging his foot like Quasimodo, carrying a tray with some drinks on it, made his way slowly from the house and set the tray on my table.

I stood up and said.”Hello Mr xxxxx, Nice to meet you”

He was not happy, he was an actor and had put on a performance for me and I had spotted the real person, not surprising really if you knew who it is am referring to. But this man too had moved out of Beverly Hills.

He explained that he was still regarded as an International Hollywood Star but he had not made a movie in years, he was not far from being short of cash…He was still expected to go to functions and spray cash around etc but he did not have the income anymore…So he moved out of town.

Another world famous star arranged for me to go her house in the Beverly Hills…It was a mansion…acres of grounds, all well attended.

I arrived and rang the doorbell, no answer, the door was slightly open so I pushed it further and shouted into the deserted and vast hallway, no answer, calling out “Hello, anyone there” I ventured further into the massive property.. Still no sound, then I heard a response from a back room that overlooked the enormous lawn..."Through here..at the rear of the house."

There, in a darkened room was a little old man, sitting in front of a make up mirror, except it wasn’t an old man but the superstar without her wig on to cover her almost bald head.

She had no staff and had reduced the gardeners to short time.

"Why?" I asked.

“Money, sweetheart “ she replied, or rather lack of it.

So even the well known ones find it difficult to keep up appearances but what happens to the second billed actors in shows like Miami Vice…Hawaii Five O …Columbo etc, there must be hundred or even thousands of them that have never worked for years but who are all instantly recognisable.

Do they open corner shops, drive taxis, pretend they have dosh but run up massive debts…who knows, but it would be fascinating to find out .