Celebrity Friendships

William Powell, Richard Barthelmess and Ronald Colman - again - on vacation in Catalina, 1926

Gracie Allen comforts co-star and friend Bea Benaderet at the wrap party for “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" on June 8, 1958.

I know this is odd but does Kylie Minogue have friends? Ive never ever seen her photographed with anyone but her latest boyfriend or her sister.

Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart. I heard somewhere they would get together frequently at Fonda's house and hang out, building plane and car models and Fonda wouldn't talk much, sometimes not at all. IIRC, Jimmy Stewart relayed this during an interview on Johnny Carson.

Henry Fonda sounded like a rather impossible-to-like man. I've rarely heard anything positive about him.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Are Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood still close pals? They were for a long time.

Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas became close friends after working together, and I believe they remained friends and golf buddies until Lancaster died in the 90s. Douglas wrote about enjoying his time with Lancaster, talking about everything and nothing, which doesn't sound like those two notorious assholes but everyone has to relax sometime.

That nude is of dancer, Lee Evans.

Boris Karloff, C. Aubrey Smith, and James Gleason.

Meryl Streep has been besties (reportedly) for several decades now with former co-stars Goldie Hawn, Catherine O'Hara, and Tracey Ullman.

I like the fact that she surrounds herself with funny ladies, as opposed to dramatic types.

Jeremy Renner and Sam Rockwell

Well, I stand very corrected, r8. Thanks.

Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, James Cagney and Frank McHugh (the "Irish Mafia").

Alan Ladd and William Bendix.

RDJ and Goop

THAT'S an interesting combination, R9.

Affleck and Damon. Thought it seems as they've grown older, Damon is closer to Casey than Ben.

It's interesting (to me) that some high-profile actresses make a big point out of the fact that they don't really socialize within the industry, and that their nearest and dearest are from other professions. Both Glenn Close and Patti LuPone have stated this.

Lucy and Viv in real life. They got closer as the years went on but it was always a complicated relationship.

Leo and Tobey.

Leo and Kate Winslet.

Joan Crawford and William Haines

Leo and Kate bonded out of necessity during one of the most physically demanding film shoots in history under the sadistic tyrant Cameron. But although they have remained friendly it's hard to call their their current relationship a "celebrity friendship." They don't socialize outside of industry events.

RDJ and Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.

Aren't RDJ and Mel both besties with Jodie Foster? They sat with her when she received her Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement Award.

I find it telling that 1) Jodie doesn't seem to have any close actress friends and 2) her closest are both deeply conservative dudes with a history of emotional troubles and substance abuse. .

Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck. Two hard-working studio gals who pulled themselves up out of nowhere.

RDJ is a democrat

Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. This is DL, after all.

Paul Newman and robert Redford aka the original george Clooney and brad Pitt. Their friendship was authentic and spanned several decades

Another photo of Paul Newman and robert Redford. A life long hollywood bromance

Salma and Penelope

Kylie Minogue and Mika are supposedly friends. Or at least neighbours in London. Or maybe they have the same agent.

Mickey rourke and Tupac

Gore Vidal and Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando.

Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.

Stephen Sondheim and Mike Nichols.

Marlon Brando and Wally Cox. Besties from childhood. There's even a famous photo of Brando's mouth on Cox's cock. Google it if don't believe me.

OP is ancient

Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz

Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox. Probably the only authentic, lasting friendship from that show.

OP, I *love* William Powell from "The Thin Man" films, "My Man Godfrey", and a ton of other wonderful movies I've seen of his on TCM; he's one of the most elegant, charming, and comedically gifted actors in film history (in my opinion).

I've heard a little about his personal life on TCM and elsewhere--like his deep love for Jean Harlow and his lifelong friendship with actress and frequent co-star Myrna Loy--but never heard about his "Three Musketeers" friendship with Ronald Coleman (who I also love) and that other actor!

Thanks for sharing, and for posting those fun pics of the trio vacationing in Catalina!

Ronald Colman (not Coleman)

Besties and Church of the Good Shepherd (Our Lady of the Cadillacs) devotees Loretta Young and Irene Dunne. Rosalind Russell and Jane Wyman would also frequently join them in the church functions.

Burt and Dom, so close they eventually became Bert and Ernie

Bill Clinton and Bush sen

Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra made three movies together.

Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts.

Until Todd's untimely murder.

Here's a random one: James Cromwell and Charles Keating (from Another World.) Long-time friends and also neighbors. Cromwell married AW alum Anna Stuart at Keating's house.

Lee Marvin and Keenan Wynn were real life brahs.

Been watching William Powell's pre-code films(not the Thin Man etc) obsessively this summer, he really is the BEST. The guy you'd like to know. Here's another two..Lugosi and Karloff.

"Bela's wife Hope Lininger, who he married in 1955, was awakened one night to see Bela stumbling around in the dark insisting that Boris Karloff was in the living room downstairs and that he needed to spruce himself up before meeting him. He died soon afterwards on August 16th. 1956."

I was going to say Matthew Lillard and FPJ but i don't know if they're still close or really count as celebs these days lol

Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur.

[quote]Gracie Allen comforts co-star and friend Bea Benaderet at the wrap party for “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" on June 8, 1

Friends? That bitch spelled my name wrong in the closing credits!

R1's picture=what Sean Cody would've been filming in 1938.

Me, and every other celeb that knows me. They all love me, they really do and tell me all the time how honored they are to even know me.

Michael J. Fox and Bruce Willis.

Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin

River and Keanu

Lauren Bacall was good friends with Vivien Leigh and Olivier.

Vivien Leigh, Noel Coward, Betty Bacall, and Kay Kendall.

Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez are best friends.

Julie Christie and Julie Andrews were close in the 1960s

So the friendship didn't endure, [R61]?

Keenan Wynn and Van Johnson

Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. They starred together in a couple of films and Cooper tried to bed a reluctant Stanwyck, but she told him she wanted to remain friends which they were until his death. Of course, it helped that both she and Cooper shared the same political views.

Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten.

Mark Strong and Daniel Craig

Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes

Leonardo Dicaprio, Kevin Connelly, Tobey Maguire and Lukas Haas.

Stan Laurel and Olvier Hardy remained best friends long after their popularity. Supposedly, when Laurel was told of Hardy's death, he collapsed to the floor and then was bedridden for several days. So distraught, he chose not to attend Hardy's funeral.

Busy Phillips and Michelle Williams. Was weird to see Busy in the front row of the Oscars this year as Michelle's date.

Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve

William Holden and Barbara Stanwyck - from 1939 until his death

Ben Gazzara, John Cassavetes, and Peter Falk

Fitting William Powell and Ronald Colman were close friends--I get them mixed up.

Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett, if you believe it.

George Clooney, Richard Kind and Grant Heslov.

R69: I always found that friendship unlikely, but very sweet. Weren't they both actors in the program at Juilliard and, for a while, roommates in NYC?

Christopher Reeve was a lovely, generous man. Patti LuPone tells a story in her autobio about him making sure she caught a flight out west to a film shoot while she was in EVITA... during a blizzard. She was another Juilliard acting grad too, but they didn't even know each other that well. Reeve made sure she got on set on time--he was just beginning to enjoy his SUPERMAN stardom.

Patti has a bitchy reputation (don't cross Italian girls!) but she is very loyal to people who do right by her.

Davis and deHavilland

Ava Gardner and Lena Horne

Davis and Mary Astor

David Niven and Errol Flynn

Cooper and Gable

Taylor and Reynolds

Brando and Wally Cox

Ann Miller and Linda Darnell - two Texas gals who became fast friends even though they were at different studios.

Since that was the worst photo of Linda, here's a candid shot from a promo film about the Hollywood canteen.

Love this thread!

Ingrid Bergman and Irene Selznik Katharine Hepburn and Irene Selznik Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall and Judy Garland Judy Garland and Kay Thompson Ava Gardner and Esther Williams

ooop! didn't space properly:

Ingrid Bergman and Irene Selznik;

Katharine Hepburn and Irene Selznik;

Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall;

Lauren Bacall and Judy Garland;

Judy Garland and Kay Thompson;

Ava Gardner and Esther Williams;

Christmas Moose and Friend of Christmas Moose.

As a kid, I found it odd that THESE two were best buddies.

I guess Don's nasty guy routine had me goin'.

R75 Yes, they were roommates at Julliard and remained friends. I recall a story that Williams helped with some of Reeve's medical bills.

Reeve also remained close friends with Jane Seymour after they filmed Somewhere in Time. She named one of her twin sons after him.

Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Boris and Natasha.

Ava and Esther? Never would have figured that.

Lucille Ball & Betty Grable. Became lifelong buds while at RK0 in the mid-'30s. Earlier, both had been Goldwyn Girls, but not at the same time.

(Lucy & Betty flank Harriet Hilliard in FOLLOW THE FLEET)

Lauren Bacall and Kirk Douglas. They were friends before they became famous.

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

Apparently Bob Newhart was positively devastated when Rickles died this year.

Even though his character when he's "on" is so nasty, you can pretty much judge people by their friendships. And from what I have always read, three quarters of Hollywood adored DR. And I think it was sweet the way the younger comedians held him in such reverence.

Liz Taylor and Monty Clift, Liz fell in love with Monty when they first met after she found out he was gay she remained a close friend and was protective of him as he spiraled downward due to alcohol, drugs and schizophrenia.

Don Rickles really wasn't that nasty when "on", when you use today's standards of nastiness. I'll bet he, like all big insiders, knew plenty of truly nasty stuff that he never thought of using in his act, instead he'd make fun of Jimmy Durante's nose or Lucille's henna rinse. All small stuff that were standard fare.

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing -

"at some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line..."

Jennifer Jones and Charles Bickford. Jones attempted suicide a couple of hours after she found out about Bickford's death. I guess she saw a father figure in him, or something.

Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. They and a couple of other friends from their 1950's days at the "Old Vic" had this tradition that they would dine at each other's houses every Sunday. Unfortunately only Dench and Smith are still alive from that picture below.

R31

Neither one can speak discernible English so one can understand the basis for their relationship.

Debbie Reynolds & Agnes Moorehead became friends in the late 1950s and it lasted until Aggie died in 1974.

The late Suzanne Pleshette & Tina Sinatra were very tight.

R31, Salma & Penelope. Who can tell the difference?

Speaking of Thelma Todd, she was also very tight with Patsy Kelly & the two made quite a few films together too.

Tyrone Power & Cesar Romero were good friends.

Clifton Webb & Rudolph Valentino were good friends. Years later Webb would mentor and mold the young Robert Wagner in the early 50s. Wagner even lived with Webb for a while.

Tony Perkins & Tab Hunter were good friends, and for a number of years lovers as well.

Michael Wilding & Stewart Granger were best friends and had lived together for a while when young men.

Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun were compatriots. Rory was the godfather of Guy's first born. Rumor is that the two men enjoyed their time together in a Brokeback Mountain kind of way.

Errol Flynn & Ida Lupino adored one another. Ida's mother loved Errol too and even claimed to see him waiting for her as she lay dying.

R93 mentions Chris Lee and Peter Cushing, but they were also both close friends with Vincent Price. Curiously the three only managed to star together in "The House of the Long Shadows". Filmed in 1983, it remains a clever parody of the 70's and 80's horror genre, while managing to be a good story in its own right.

Also J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis. Tolkien commented on Lewis' death: "In my older years I have become like a mighty oak tree. Like any tree, I have lost a few leaves and twigs, even branches, along the way. But now I feel as if someone has taken a great axe to my roots."

Elizabeth Taylor & Jean Simmons were good friends though that might possibly have come about because of the 2 husbands being friends.

Zsa Zsa Gabor was good friends with Betty Lanza, wife of Mario. When Mario died, Zsa Zsa tried to help her friend through everything now being a young widow with children. Betty's heart was broken however and she died not long after Mario.

Shelley Winters & Marilyn Monroe were good friends and had even shared an apartment for a short period of time before they became famous.

Montgomery Clift was also very good friends with Kevin McCarthy.

Hope Lange & Natalie Wood were good friends. Natalie dated Hope's brother David** for a short period of time following her 1962 divorce to Wagner. Hope delivered the eulogy at Natalie's funeral in 1981.

** David was also a suspect in the 1963 murder of Karyn Kupcinet; I believe both lived in the same developement.

Natalie had also been good friends with Dominick Dunne (R); the two shown here in 1965.

Hedda Hopper and Lucille Ball had been friends since the mid 1930s when Ball was a Goldwyn girl and before Hopper became a columnist. Ball kept vigil as Hopper lay dying in 1966 and was actually still at her side when death came.

Tallulah Bankhead and Estelle Winwood were best friends since the 1920s. When a late night party in a NYC apartment complex had wound down, Miss Winwood found herself alone with the host and was vaginally penetrated. Panicked, she ran up to Miss Bankhead's flat and explained what had happened. Tallulah loaned Estelle her douche kit and rinsed herself clean. And thus began a lifelong friendship between the two.

Michael Landon & Johnny Carson were the best of friends.

Shirley MacLaine and

Nefertiti

Julius Caesar

Chaucer

Will Shakespeare

Marie Antoinette

Et al.

Roddy McDowall, who probably had the most celebrity friendships of anyone in the history of Hollywood. Seems like almost everyone liked and hung around with him.

R118

The women anyway.

Carroll O'Connor and Larry Hagman. A rather unlikely one. They bonded over salary disputes, I think.

Lucille Ball and Carol Lombard.

When Lucy and Desi were debating whether to risk everything -- money, status, etc -- to get into the new medium of television, Lucy had a dream in which Carole appeared to her and said "Go for it, Lucy."

Years later, when Desilu had an apprentice program for young performers, similar to the one at RKO run by the mother of Ginger Rogers in which Lucy was a participant, Lucille Ball asked one her proteges to change her named from Mildred Cook to Carole Cook, naturally after Carole Lombard

Connie Britton and Lauren Graham have been friends since the 90s and they lived together for awhile.

Growing up, Helen Hunt was best friends with B-movie sexpot Darcy DeMoss.

Brandon Lee, Lou Diamond Phillips, the nerdy kid from Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and Bill "Cru Jones" Jones are/were friends with each other.

Nina Dobrev and Julianne Hough

George Clooney is friends with B-movie actors Thom Mathews (Return of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th Part VI) and Matt Adler (Teen Wolf, White Water Summer).

Don Rickles and Frank Sinatra. I saw a show by Rickles a year or so before he died. He was no longer the caustic comedian. He told some jokes but mostly told funny, wistful stories about the past. It was kind of sad.

I knew instantly that nude was not of Elizabeth Taylor because the woman's tits were too small. Liz had famously large breasts.

Meryl Streep and Catherine O'Hara were really close friends.

James Mason and his wife were so close with the radio comedian Fred Allen and his wife that the Masons gave their daughter the unusual name of Portland after Allen's wife. (Allen's wife was named after the city in Oregon, where she was born.)

I have had many dear dear friends among my Hollywood inferiors, but they always wind up turning on me for some reason. Poor sad Noni Ryder still holds it against me that I took some screenplay she left lying around her place--imagine.

John Barrymore and Errol Flynn. Barrymore often served as a father figure and mentor to Flynn but they were also good friends, drinking buddies and co-conspirators in mischief-making, especially during each of their many divorces.

Gary Cooper and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. Best of friends, despite their political differences - Cooper being conservative/Republican and the Roosevelts being liberal/Democrat.

Wondering if they ever saw each other naked...

Shannen Doherty and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

I think ShanDo might actually be the "nice one" of the two.

James Stewart and Henry Fonda were lifelong buddies (and former roommates when they were both starving actors). Stewart was conservative and Fonda liberal, but despite their political differences they remained the best of friends.

Debbie Reynolds was good friends with Liberace too r97. I guess she didn't much like Liberace's boyfriend Scott Thorson.

John Barrymore and Errol Flynn

Another picture of Tab and Tony with their dates.

Tab was a close friend of Natalie Wood's.

Randolph Scott and Cary Grant were as friendly as it gets.

Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis, of course.

As previously mentioned, Ty Power and Cesar Romero were besties.

I know Cesar Romero was gay, but was Tyrone Power bisexual? I thought I recall reading years ago that he was.

Jon Hamm and Paul Rudd. They met through a friend of Rudd's when Rudd was in college and Hamm was in high school and became besties.

DL faves Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello, friends since college

Roddy McDowall & Tab Hunter were good buddies. Not sure if they were lovers though.

Crawford and Stanwyck, from their showgirl days

Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart

Judy Garland and Sylvia Sidney

Matt Bomer and Lynn Collins since grade school, Lee Pace since high school, Joe Manganiello since college. Matt seems to make lasting friendships.