Frank Langella Attacks Hollywood Stars In Scathing Memoir

I cannot wait to read this!

Worked with him a couple of times over twenty five years ago (when he was still sexy) and he was an insufferably pompous narcissist but I bet he tells the truth.

Miss Langella appears to have a bee in her bonnet.

Where's the dirt on his many male lovers?

Everyone is dull. Get a jester, Queen.

Nothing he says seems untrue. Everyone knows Jackie was a glorified courtesan.

(Chuckles) What's that bitter old queen up to now? She's such a bitch!

Yawn. Boring stuff.

Convinces me once and for all that he's GAY.

He cruised me on the street around Times Square. If not completely gay, then very, very bisexual.

I actually believe everything in OPs post is probably true.

He's not gay gay.

I think he was romantically connected to an actor named Paul Shenar. Shenar later died of AIDS. I worked at ACT when Shenar was there. Langella would come around from time to time. I wonder if he mentioned that in his memoir.

Shenar was a beautiful, incredibly sexy man and a really good actor.

R11...Yes, he was! He had a great voice.

Langella has one of the hugest egos in entertainment, and that's really saying something. He's famous for being incredibly difficult, which got in the way of his career when he was younger and hot because no one wanted to work with him. (Take that, apologists for Roseanne, Rosie, and Sharon Stone, who always bitch "If a male performer knows what he wants and make demands in entertainment, he's rewarded and celebrated"... not true at all.)

But at the height of his youthful fame, he was going to star in "Dracula" on Broadway and he just drove the producers and director crazy. Apparently there's a famous story where at one point he wanted Dracula to make an entrance through a door center stage and wanted a trained wolf to be on either side of him to come through and stand guard on either side. He insisted on wanting this, and the director, Dennis Rosa, didn't know what to do, since this was going to be impossible and also incredibly expensive.

So one of the producers said, "Don't worry, I know how to handle Frank," and went to him and said, "Frank, we'll be delighted to get the trained wolves for you. But I wanted to tell you how incredibly brave this is of you as an actor." And Langella said, "Brave? What do you mean? The wolves will have to be trained, of course." And the producer said, "Oh of course! No, I say 'brave' because when those wolves enter with you no one will be able to take their eyes off them during your big scene, and that's all anyone will talk about afterward. They're going to be sensational!" So that was the end of Langella proposing the wolves on stage with him.

"Take that, apologists for Roseanne, Rosie, and Sharon Stone, who always bitch "If a male performer knows what he wants and make demands in entertainment, he's rewarded and celebrated"... not true at all."

Please, this thread will hardly degenerate into a frenzy of whore/bitch/cunt/herpussystinks/driedupoldcunt/she's fat/ugly bitch/ 500 post foaming at the mouth extravaganza similar posts on female celebrities inspire. Mostly, people will come to his defense and blame his mother/sister/people he worked with.

I blame Kate Nelligan!

[quote]"If a male performer knows what he wants and make demands in entertainment, he's rewarded and celebrated"

Only if the like/fear him.

Respect is often merely fear.

This memoir is likely to blowback on his closeted ass.

He probably only thought Paul Newman was dull because Newman had other interests besides Frank Langella.

Paul Newman was dull because he drunk, not unlike Elizabeth Taylor or any of the others.

The reason Langella only names "affairs" with dead celebrities is because if he named a live one they'd at he was full of shit.

[quote] But at the height of his youthful fame, he was going to star in "Dracula" on Broadway

He DID star on Broadway as Dracula.

[quote] and he just drove the producers and director crazy.

He may have driven the producers and director crazy, but they didn't fire him, they put up with him.

So his career wasn't hurt by his diva-ness after all.

I wonder if Whoopi will have him on the View to talk about the book. Or if she'll be gone the day he is there.

Does anyone know if their relationship is cordial?

I don't see anything in OP's list that my Grandmother wouldn't know from faithfully reading the celebrity page of Parade Magazine every Sunday.

He's Gore Vidal next Gen

You need reading comprehension, r20. R13 didn't imply he was fired - he was just telling the story of how the producer outfoxed him.

Doesn't anyone think that both Whoopi and Langella are gay?

If these are the supposedly virulent and mean parts, it sounds like it might well be a pretty tame and respectful book. And it sounds like this is merely hype to get drama fiends to buy it.

Finding money an aphrodisiac is hardly a major attack on a person, let alone a shocking revelation about a woman who's first husband was a Kennedy and who's second was an Onassis.

Being a crashing bore and reciting poetry when drunk? If that's the worst that can be said about Richard Burton, he will rest fine when this book is launched.

A performing artist of Anne Bancroft's stature having some insecurities and a touch of narcissism.... (that hardly makes her Joan Crawford!)

And Paul Newman? He was, oh, perish the thought, "a pretty dull companion."

This is really scathing shit!

NOT!

Does Frank talk about his affairs with Alan Bates? Ray Liotta? Paul Shenar? Barry Miller?

If not, then full disclosure isn't part of the plan and why should we believe anything he says if he can't be honest about his own life??

Langella likes beautiful black women (don't know how Whoopi fits there) OR beautiful young men. (not pedo mind you, but young MEN) I believe he is into whichever presents itself in the moment as available.

He also exudes quite a bit of sexual energy even for a man of his age. In his prime he must've been an incredibly hot date. And I imagine that probably fed into any narcissitic behavior in the rest of his life/career.

Yes, I've spent some time with him. And at the time he was dating an incredibly beautiful black woman who was also quite classy and smart.

Ray Liotta? Spill!!

What does he mean by the term "companion" when he refers to Paul Newman?

Frank and Ray did a play together a few years back on Broadway called MATCH. It wasn't a good play and didn't run very long at all.

Ray was at a low point in his life (getting a divorce) and career when he agreed to do the play and had little to no stage experience - Frank took Ray "in hand" (as he liked to say) and "taught him how to act for the stage" - there were long private "coaching sessions" in Ray's hotel room, Frank's apartment, and various dressing rooms at the Plymouth Theater. In rehearsals, Ray would defer to Frank rather than to the director, Nicky Martin.

The play opened to bad reviews (even for Frank) and Ray got only OK notices. But it was late in the season, so there was lots of pre-Tony publicity events, which Frank and Ray always attended together. The show got only one Tony nomination (for Frank) and closed before the awards were even handed out. Ray's "comeback" was a failure - he sort of blamed Frank for using him and left quite bitterly. Frank, OTOH, got a Tony nomination and bragged to his friends about bagging a "Goodfella with the bluest eyes you ever saw and a good cock to match."

End of story.

Rex Harrison: homo or no?

Sexy Rexy? No.

I saw him in Dracula and he was really hot! He was the toast of Broadway then and the play was a huge hit.

Rex was a womanizer and just awful to the women in his life.

Boooooring.

However did Rex Harrison invade this thread?

Watching him burn to death (well, he was shot at the last second) in the execrable "The Ninth Gate" was a special pleasure. It made no money, but the few dollars it pulled in came from us in the business.

[quote]his book only takes on deceased celebs.

How very brave of him.

I met Whoopi Goldberg many, many years ago at the Valencia Rose in San Francisco where she was appearing. She was a total lesbian then and I magically became straight when she got famous.

Really, I always assumed Langella and her were mutual beards.

[quote]He DID star on Broadway as Dracula.

I said absolutely nothing to the contrary.

[quote]He may have driven the producers and director crazy, but they didn't fire him, they put up with him. So his career wasn't hurt by his diva-ness after all.

but word that he was full of himself spread, and he had trouble getting good work after the success of the play and the film. Given his looks and his talent and his stage success, he should have been a much bigger star in the 1980s, but his reputation as a diva hurt him.

He cruised me 3 years ago in front of Fiorello's across from Lincoln Center. He was very sexy even then.

He did some dreadful play on B'way a few years ago where he played a gay modern dance choreographer. He relied on every stereotype in the book to play that character.

Didn't he leave his wife and young kids in California to live with Whoopi Goldberg, aka Karen James, in New York during the run of Coward's "Present Laughter"?

Yeah, as 'sisters'.

I hate her! I hate dat kveen!

Karen Johnson, R42

It's CAREN Johnson. Get it right.

Oops--CARYN Johnson.

Truth nothing, R1. It is his opinion and I found several of these stars to be a lot more charismatic and interesting than he was.

A friend of mine worked on a production of THE FATHER at the Roundabout. An actress came in who gave a knock-out audition. Langella nixed her because she was "intrinsically too interesting." He said "They'll be watching her in our scenes together and this play is entitled THE FATHER and I am playing THE FATHER!" What a douchenozzle.

Oh yes...his "memoir."

I never got the supposed sex appeal of Ms. Langella. Major case of gay face. And a pathetic, femme-y Count D. Feh!

The scene where his "friends" desert him at the end of "Dave" when they realize what a big creep he is seems particularly fitting.

[quote]It's CAREN Johnson. Get it right. by: Anonymoust

[quote]Oops--CARYN Johnson.

You pretty much owe r45 for the douchey comment at r46, don't you? You couldn't even get it right yourself.

I corrected myself rather quickly, R53. Go fuck yourself.

So nowhere in this memoir does Langella admit to enjoying the homosex? Only gives anecdotes about being hit on?

Yeah, you are pretty much a douche. You've confirmed it.

Oh, dear, R53/55. Someone had a rather disappointing weekend, didn't he?

R41, he could have and should have become a very big star in the 1980's and 1990's. His ego got in the way and it wasn't until 2008 that he became more widely known (other than NY or California) or mainstream when he was in Frost/Nixon. Up until then he was still doing tv work and little known films

And he will appear in the media to promote this fictional tale, and no one in the media will call him on being a huge closet case. That's how much you trust the veracity of the MSM.

I wish r31 would share some more juicy gossip about Broadway stars. Also liked the post about Langella and the wolves.

I've always thought he's a decent actor but agree with those here who've said they don't see the appeal. I think he's ugly and just did an image search to see what he looked like as a young man - ugly even in his youth, imo.

Does this cape make me look like a self-absorbed queen?

I liked him in Frost/Nixon

When I saw him on Charlie Rose, I thought he was pompous, but he did have some interesting things to say.

I liked the wolves anecdote, too.

[quote]Someone had a rather disappointing weekend, didn't he?

Oh, you did? Well, I guess that explains why you're being so douchey.

Not surprised to hear that about Bancroft. I had assumed as much from the evidence.

Skeletor!

So what you're saying is he actually was the character he played in DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE

Frank Langella is a Black man.

That's absurd, R66! He's a strong, black woman.

Check him out in Diary of a Mad Housewife from about 1967. That was, I think, his first film and he was very hot back then in a pansexual sort of way.

"Diary Of A Mad Housewife" was 1972. Can't even recognize it's the same guy .

Actually.....as per imdb, Diary of a Mad Housewife came out in 1970.

This is Frank's warm-up ritual before every performance:

My first thought when I started reading this thread was, he really is George from DOAMH.

Apropos of nothing, but has anyone noticed that douche, douchebag, douchey, and other forms of the world, seem to be the word du jour? I love the word, it sounds so good when you say it out loud.

Are you people schizo? A Hollywood actor is dishing dirt and you are bashing him before you read a page. Isn't the stuff in his book why we are all here in the first place?

"Dracula" was a HUGE hit on Broadway, and as I recall the film didn't do so shabbily either. I did expect him to be much more high profile than he was after that, and this explains it.

The business with the wolves goes beyond narcissism to sounding like outright mania.

I always forget that he costarred with La Dunaway all those years ago in The Deadly Trap. I wonder how much neuroses and star difficulty was on that set!

Also, I wonder what he has to say about Miss Clooney from GNAGL. Good things if he's smart!

r73: Langella is almost patholically private. A friend was going to interview him and was told by Langella's publicist "NO QUESTIONS ABOUT MR. LANGELLA'S PERSONAL LIFE!"

You don't want people digging, Frank? Don't dish.

Used to see him almost daily when I worked on the same street that he lived on back in the 80's.

He has the biggest head I have ever seen on a person. Huge noggin. Bet it makes him look very memorable on stage.

I have known Frank for years and while he has mellowed somewhat in his later years his is still and will forever be myopically self centered.

I also knew a fair percentage of the people he is writing about, Paul Newman, Richard Burton, Liz Taylor, JKO etc., and I can only add the following:

What Frank is saying is true in the sense that nobody is fascinating all the time. These legendary people could be boring or prosaic just like anyone else.

HOWEVER, you have to realize that when Paul Newman and Laurence Olivier are in proximity of someone like Frank Langella they are not the least bit concerned about impressing Frank Langella.

These people are fucking legends and they honestly didn't give a shit whether Langella thought they were interesting or not.

They aren't thinking about Frank or caring about Frank or even talking to Frank that makes them crashing bores.

All Frank thinks about is Frank. If you want to appear deep and profound to Frank, talk about nothing but Frank. He will decare you the new Socrates.

I am sure if you asked Paul Newman, Liz Taylor Larry Olivier et al what they thought about Frank Langella I am sure you would get "what a bore" from most of them buy only after some polite prodding because nobody wants to punch down.

And if you asked Larry Olivier what he thought of Langella he might say: "Who?"

Is his book to have anything on Kate Nelligan at all? She basically disappeared. Dropped off the face of the planet she did.

Didn't his film of "The Twelve Chairs" come before "Housewife"? BTW, the wolf story is absolutely hysterical -- and exactly the way to manage a diva.

Someone here mentioned his cape work in "Dracula." I've always wondered -- was he ever involved with Leonard Bernstein?

Didn't he do a quick full frontal in one of his broadway plays?

R78,

You bitch.

[quote]I've always wondered -- was he ever involved with Leonard Bernstein?

Lennie preferred young black men. VERY young.

Sorry, I can't beyond him allegedly having an affair with Barry Miller!!!!

And Farley Granger, R84. I'll never forgive him for that.

[quote]Didn't he do a quick full frontal in one of his broadway plays?

He did in the remake of "Lolita." Not a pleasant sight.

Can't believe that old man was so hot in the 70s.

Speaking of Good Night and Good Luck, I recall a photo from a post-screening Q&A with Clooney and the cast at the NY Film Festival critic's screening.

The photo shows Langella leaning over to semi-embrace star David Strathairn, and Strathairn is leaning away trying to avoid it.

Strathairn seems the sort who would find Langella very tiresome.

Why should anyone care what that bitter old queen Frank Langella thinks about anybody? I guess we know Anne Bancroft didn't think much of him.

Posters who are saying Frank is gay, what a laugh! He is the biggest pussyhound in Hollywood.

tinymeat

"Graduate star Anne Bancroft was incredibly vain "consumed by a galloping narcissism that often undermined her talents."

Pot. Kettle. Black.

More!

Here's a better story from Langella's book.

Tony Perkins' come-on to him.

And here's more, including Olivier saying he was a premature ejaculator, and Yvonne DeCarlo going down on Langella.

Agree with those who say he seems like his character in DOAMH. Ugh he was such a prick in that.

Ecch

I was reading this today. I wouldn't call it gossipy, particularly -- he's not really dishing dirt, just giving his impressions of all of these people, many of whom he only met a few times. He's enjoyably bitchy but for the most part I didn't think it was really mean, just honest.

The chapter on Paul Newman was a good example -- instead of fawning all over him like most people did, Langella opines that Newman's remarkable good looks made people think he was more interesting and talented than he really was, and suspects Newman knew this himself.

On the other hand, the chapter on Charlton Heston really is hilariously snarky.

Girl is a bitch!!!! I swear he posts on DL....I've read some of his comments before.

he seems straight like kelsey grammer seems straight, ie, not so much.

Langella is NOT straight.

Gay as the day is long.

Ask Alan Bates, Alfred Molina, Ray Liotta, etc etc (see upthread for full story)

I read the book. Frank used his sex appeal to make friends with Bunny Mellon (who also couldn't resist John Edwards) and several of the chapters refer to her as being a great "teacher" in the ways of the rich. Langella likes rich people and likes to hang out with them, especially if they are not as pretentious as he is.

My favorite revelation was his teasing of Olivier when they were appearing in Dracula. Olivier appeared to be smitten. Frank would be in bed and would slip on his boxers when Olivier came in to chat. One day, he decided to give Olivier a thrill and DIDN'T slip on his undies when he got up to go to the bathroom. Olivier loved it, but when Langella returned, Olivier didn't look up to check out the "front." "Laurence Olivier was a gentleman," says Frank.

Reviews for his memoir have been good. My guess is that these comments are sound bites taken out of context.

R95-6 = Musto self-marketing? Busy whore

Frank's not so bad, if you accept he is a total narcissist with a sometimes bad habit of getting actors replaced.. maybe those days are over though.

I see this book as his attempt to have a last act, to be talked about and become current. Maybe it will work, he can be very good.

"Langella asking Dominick Dunne, toward the end of the author's life, if he was gay. "I'm nothing now," Dunne responded, blankly. "I've been celibate for 20 years. It just got too difficult for me to deal with." "What did?" wondered Langella. "Hiding it. Wanting it," responded Dunne, looking pained."

Who the hell did he think he was, asking Dominick Dunne if he was gay? If I was Dunne I would have told Langella "my sexuality is none of your damn business, you impudent douchebag."

Langella did give off a gay vibe in "Diary of a Mad Housewife." In the book Tina goes to George because she thinks she's pregnant by him and needs to "talk." He doubts that she is, but tells her that if she is "haven't you ever heard of an abortionist?" Then he says maybe that's why she'd there, to get him to "pony up the dough" for an abortion. Enraged she tells him she hates him and can't stand the thought of any part of him growing inside her, "in my womb!" He laughs at her. She slaps him; he hits her back. She then tells him "you're sick. SICK. A latent homosexual like all Don Juans." That's why Langella seemd so perfect as George; he WAS George in a lot of ways.

he only talks about dead people? No wonder he finds them all so dull.

[quote]Those of us who work in the wig dept. know everything

More!!

[quote]Mostly, people will come to his defense and blame his mother/sister/people he worked with.

This didn't happen at all.

This is why we hate you.

R103tDid he write about Kate Nelligan at all? They did "Dracula" together and I am just curious.

I'm reading it now and am a bit more than halfway through it, and all I can say is that I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

The only people he REALLY trashes (so far) are Rex Harrison and Laurence Olivier.

Whereas he says wonderful things about many others, most notably Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum and Jackie O.

I'm sorry "Diary of a Mad Housewife" was never released on DVD.

"Langella is NOT straight."

Let's just say he's not [italic]straight[/italic] straight, y'know what I'm sayin'?

Whoopi, did you and Frank ever have sex? And by that I mean sex sex.

HELL to the NO.

The only white man who ever came close to my Va-jay-jay was Ted Danson - in blackface.

Does he have halitosis? He looks like he has halitosis.

Frank and Whoopi propositioned John Benjamin Hickey for a 3-way when they all made some crummy movie back in the late 90s. Hickey wisely passed.

Can't remember the name of the cummy film but it was where Frank met Whoopi.

I finished the book last night. He did not trash everyone in the book, far from it. He did NOT like Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Cameron Mitchell, Bette Davis, Charlton Heston and a few others.

But there were many chapters that made me almost cry, namely Raul Julia, Alan Bates, Jill Clayburgh and Rita Hayworth. He adored Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy and George C. Scott (I had no idea Scott's end was so sad).

For some reason, I was surprised to read that apparently Deborah Kerr was a bit of a lush. I never would have guessed. She also ended her days in a very lonely way, it sounds.

Lesson learned: No matter how beautiful, talented or famous you are, it all comes down to the same for all of us in the end, which usually isn't a bit pleasant.

So what does he have to say about Heston?

[quote]Langella opines that Newman's remarkable good looks made people think he was more interesting and talented than he really was, and suspects Newman knew this himself.

I think that's probably true of most good-looking people. There's the old story about someone realizing with a shock that Greta Garbo was completely uneducated and uninteresting--her looks made her seem fascinating, at least for awhile.

Heston, Langella and others believe, actually saw himself as the roles he played. He gave a lot of speeches and his favorite way to start would be: "Nice weather today. You can thank me later." hardy-har-har.

Langella said Cary Grant was a fucking bore who could suck the energy out of a room just by walking into it.

Rita Hayworth comes off as a brassy, faded, floozy desperate for a comeback but unable to remember any of her lines. (Early onset Alzheimers)

Elizabeth Taylor’s bedroom was filled with pictures of her dead ex-husbands, “dozens and dozens” of bottles of witch hazel which she used to remove her make-up and a giant open box of chocolates on the bed.

Despite knowing that a relationship with Elizabeth Taylor was “quicksand”, Frank Langella began a brief affair.

Frank Langella says Elizabeth Taylor was: “A small, sweet woman who wanted a man to be with her, protect her and fill a void as deep as the deepest ocean.” At one stage, Elizabeth Taylor told him she wanted to leave Los Angeles and move with him to the East Coast of America to “find a place that’s normal”, but Frank Langella told her a relationship would never work because she would “have him for lunch”.

When Langella refused to yield the spotlight for Olivier in a dual photo, Olivier cracked: “You know, Frankie, dear. You’re a monster. So am I. It’s what you need to be a star.”

Didn't work out so great for Langella as well as Olivier, but his Dropped Names is a great read. Enjoyed it tremendously.

What did he say about Raul Julia? I saw both Frank and Raul in Dracula and preferred Raul, which I know puts me in the minority. What famous actress once said that Raul was the best kisser she ever met her life?

About Raul Julia, Langella states unequivocably that he was in love with him. They were very, very close and even though Langella claims it never culminated in a sexual relationship, one has to wonder how true that is. If it didn't, I'd be very surprised.

When Raul died, Frank closes the chapter with these words: "...and I lost my boyfriend."

Very sad.

It's difficult for me to understand that someone would say that they have read the book and that Langella didn't "like" Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Cameron Mitchell or Bette Davis. I would say that he found them to be somewhat sad figures based on age and the particular circumstances of their encounters. The section on Burton has the same tone.

Did Frank work with Bette Davis or Cameron Mitchell? What does he say about them?

[quote]So nowhere in this memoir does Langella admit to enjoying the homosex? Only gives anecdotes about being hit on?[/quote]

I'm halfway through it and it's tedious to see him studiously mentioning a wife/ex-wife/girlfriend/femal companion on every page. At first it was funny--now it's just irritating. At the same time he goes into great detail about the seduction techniques of gay actors and other theater folk, which begs the question of how would he know unless he indulged?

I agree with R125: Langella states his admiration for Olivier, Davis, etc., but he also describes the other, less flattering sides of their personalities(yeah, pot/kettle) and in Davis's case, her forlorn ending. His account of working with Cameron Mitchell is one of the saddest in the book--how a once talented man ended up as a self-loathing drunk doing trash.

As far as his account of Deborah Kerr goes, I fail to see how she comes off as a drunk. Yes, she got smashed on a couple of occasions in his presence, but look who she was stuck working with. Langella admits that he acted like an arrogant shit toward her to the extent that she gave up trying to be friends after many months (they appeared in the original production of Albee's "Seascape"). He wanted to make amends 20 years later after he saw her in a London restaurant, but she had been in ill health for a long time and his efforts went nowhere, which he now regrets. I remember seeing her at the Oscars to accept an honorary award around that time and she was indeed very frail.

So far the only person whom he truly hated was Lee Strasberg, and apparently he wasn't alone. However, I thought it was incredibly petty and bitchy of Langella to also trash his performance in "Godfather II."

Too bad he didn't write about Carrie Snodgress. That set must have been one big bucket of crazy.

Just finished my library copy and agree with both r122 and r127. The Raul Julia and Alan Bates chapters were very touching.

I also liked the way he arranged the book -- by the person's name, and then a few pages about his impressions of him or her. Made it an easy-breezy read.

I thought he was gay before I read the memoir, but he doesn't mention it and otherwise seems so honest in his writing that I am re-thinking that opinion.

128 posts and not one "Scathing" story from the book. Nice try OP/PR.

To the posters who want the Bette Davis chapter: It's very brief. Langella and La Davis shared an agent in the late 70s and they talked on the phone a few times, and FL said the conversations weren't all that memorable, and Davis had a habit of hanging up in his ear.

Flash-forward to the late 80s. FL and Davis are in the same hotel lobby. By this time, BD was very old and frail and ill. She sat in a chair smoking a cig while waiting for her car. FL went up to her, said something like "You're a great actress blah blah blah" and BD didn't recognize him, just said "thank you." FL walked away. That was it.

r130 there's a bit more to it than that.

Interesting , and you think that Mr.Paul Shenar had all that time for all his famele/male lovers ?

[quote]Convinces me once and for all that he's GAY.

Ya think, R7 ?

Case closed!

Those are some big fingers he has.

In 1962 Mr. Langella was a young, aspiring actor who would occasionally come home to his modest walkup on 61st Street to find an unconscious man in the building’s vestibule.

It was Montgomery Clift, in the terrible grip of inner demons that “caused this lovely actor to curl up in an abandoned hallway, not his own, rather than turn a corner and suffer in his empty house.”

Mr. Langella knew Clift lived in a town house on the next block and would help him home, once cradling Clift in his arms until he handed him over to his housekeeper.

R122, Alzheimers is ALWAYS "early onset".

So many get it confused with dementia.

Langella SUCKED in Frost/Nixon.

Of course why that movie was made at all is confounding.

But he sucked, SUCKED.

Easy, man.

I thought he was mesmerizing.

[quote]Frank and Whoopi propositioned John Benjamin Hickey for a 3-way when they all made some crummy movie back in the late 90s. Hickey wisely passed. Can't remember the name of the cummy film but it was where Frank met Whoopi.

That would be "Eddie".

Sorry friends but Mr. Paul Shenar was bisexual hahaha,depends from his day mood !!!

Yo, Frankie from Joizy!

I liked him in Frost/Nixon on the stage and in film- he was very good.

I read the book- loads of fun. He makes no claim of "truth" about anyone he writes about and rarely just trashes anyone (except maybe Heston).

Have no idea what his sexuality is. He does not strike me at all as someone who would hide the truth- his truth. Of course he is self absorbed, but the book is fun and never merely mean-

Read it and decide yourself.

Interesting comment from the NYT article:

[John Clark, Hollywood, CA

"I wonder if Mr. Langella writes about his refusal to share the curtain call with my wife, Lynn Redgrave, on the opening night of LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, in which they co-starred in 1988? Does he talk about his threat to not perform that night if he didn't get a lone call, how he hid in his dressing-room and refused to appear until the last possible moment? How he did finally share a joint curtain call for the run (yes, I made sure it was in her contract), but never ever talked to Lynn again off-stage?

A more ego-centric childish spoiled star is hard to imagine. The alleged anecdotes may make for entertaining reading. I shall not buy the book."

April 16, 2012 at 10:28 a.m]

I don't think he mentions Lynn Redgrave at all.

And Claark may not buy the book, but he could always borrow from a friend or the library.

Frank Langella should be tarred, feathered and dragged through the streets of New York winding up going down Mulberry St. so the boys can spit on the piece of dirt before he expires from the face of this great earth.

"He does not strike me at all as someone who would hide the truth- his truth."

Your opinion of him is wrong. He is a lying closet queen.

LOL at r83

More about Ray Liotta!

Was Ray Liotta heavily drinkin? He doesn't strike me as a somebody willing to be a bottom.

FYI---the Kindle version is on sale this month ($2.99).

Godammit, my main takeaway from this thread is the realisation that for years and YEARS now, I've been confusing Frank Langella with Frank Finlay.

I now have to completely recalibrate my idea of Frank Finlay.

He dished some dirt ain't he?

Never saw the play Dracula but in the movie he was hot.

10 stories from Frank Langella about his famous friends

[quote] his book only takes on deceased celebs.

But of course

Btw, Langella was a diva extraordinaire. He could barely get work for a number of years because of his diva behavior. One minute he was the hottest actor around (Dracula), then he disappeared for a long time.

He's a great actor

I listened to him read the audio book. He identifies as a straight. Not all of it is nasty, in some cases he actually likes the person and is very sympathetic.

I just read the book. Some good dish. The chapters about Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor are very poignant.

My childhood memory of Frank onscreen is seeing him on snooze-control playing the Detective in BRAINSCAN, opposite an obviously-troubled Edward Furlong and T. Ryder Smith in a frightmarish wig.

Seeing that movie as an adult, I’m just like, “oh, he’s tired again”.