Let's talk about David Begelman, the gallant tortured studio head

who swindled Cliff Robertson, was ousted by Columbia Pictures, and ended up making a small comeback -- yet falling prey to his gambling addictions and shooting himself in the head after a tryst with Tony Bennett's ex. It's all so scandalous! He managed Barbra Striesand and blackmailed Judy Garland, telling her that photos existed of her stomach being pumped in London. Oh dear.

• He sounds like the kind of guy George Clooney should play in a movie he produces written by that guy he always works with.

• I lived in LA during the Begelman years. Everyone went to Ma Maison. The new 1976 Mercedes 450s were out and everyone was buying them. In all models. But only in chocolate brown with tan seats. Not me. I had a black Seville. An Arab prince bought a mansion on Sunset Boulevard and painted in all the pubic hair on the fake white statuary. The place was abandoned and then set on fire. You could walk to Studio One from L'Orangerie, right past the old Beverly Hills Health Club where John Travolta and other Hollywood stars hung out, literally. Devil's Gun by CJ & Co. was probably playing when you got to Studio One. You bragged about being in the crowd scene of The Rose but not staying long enough to collect the fifteen bucks. How many times can you watch Bette Midler walk out of a helicopter and collapse. Ah yes, I remember it well.

• He was all those things,but...he also made Taxi Driver, Close Encounters of the Third kind,and with Freddie Fields changed film industry! Ask Ovitz! I know cuz he was my Father!

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• I've seen those photos of Judy, not pretty.