Was Oliver Reed the manliest man who ever man'd?

[quote]Yes - he was a drunk, a misogynist and seemed almost ape-like, but he was just so bloody hot!

Nepotism aside, who could have played Bill Sykes better than he could in [italic]Oliver![/italic]

[quote]They don't make them butch like this anymore, that's for sure.

They didn't much then, either.

And he gave his all in Women in Love. Give him credit. Shame on Val Kilmer, Dean Cain, Eric Roberts, Aaron Eckart, etc.

He was fucking horrible! He had a face like a rottweiler.

Hold me, Oliver, I'm scared...

Takin' a bath, Oliver? I'll join you.

Handsome with beard.

He was a disgusting drunken slob.

Thread Closed.

here's a fun one

I watched Burnt Offerings recently (what a dull film!) and there are quite a few scenes with Mr. Reed in swimming trunks or walking around shirtless. He had a pretty hot body. Apparently everyone on that film hated working with him. That must have been one crazy set, with Reed, Karen Black and Bette Davis around.

I was in Malta a few years ago and we actually visited the bar in which he drank himself to death and they have some pictures of him on the walls. It was hard to believe he was "only" sixty when he croaked because he looked like shit at the time.

I can't sleep, OP. Come...lie with me

young and handsome

Some men arent traditionally attractive but have "IT". He was one.

No he was sexy as hell and yes a stinkin drunk. There is a famous English chef named Marco Pierre White who talked about what a great guy he was when he was customer of his at his restaurant. I believe he was really liked in the movie industry and he was the very definition of "hell raiser". Loved him.

And who could ever forget his nude wrestling scene with Alan Bates in "Women in Love"? Isn't it ironic (don't you think) that fifty years ago they had the guts to film a scene with two A-list actors fighting totally nude and rubbing against each other but no major studio or actor would dare to film a scene like that today?

Bravo, r15. Must we live in the Thermidorian Reaction to the sexual revolution?

Well we have half of a fully nude fighting scene in 2007 r15:

I thought Vic Tayback was the manliest man who ever man'd.

R17 Well, only Viggo was naked in that scene and unlike WIL scene there was nothing homoerotic about it but he did present his hole so that's a plus.

I've always liked Gladiator because it has Reed in it as well as Richard Harris. Plus crazy Russell Crowe at peak hotness.

It's funny how he was always known for being hard to work with, so in keeping with his reputation he managed to screw even the last project he was working on by dying unexpectedly. They had to spent more than 4 million dollars to make a digital version of him for additional two minutes of scenes in Gladiator.

Here's CGI Oliver:

Manly men don't do musicals.

R21, fascinating. When you know the dungeon Reed is CGI, you can sort of see a jerkiness to it.

Bates is IT for me.

Sexiest man since Brando...

He was a in TV movie set in a desert island - nude scenes.

....

good photo.

very '60s

[quote]Sexiest man since Brando...

Another one who did a musical.

I've never seen Oliver! because I hate overblown 1960's musicals but I didn't know Carol Reed and Oliver were related. According to Reed's wiki page he also claimed to have been a descendant of Peter the Great. WTF?!

Most people are descended from Peter The Great.

R31 That's Charlemagne.

That's Ghengis Khan. Genghis?

R12 Javier!

He went on the Max Headroom show and was asked: Is it true the only exercise you get is in your liver?

R15, those were beautiful men. Lithe bodies, not the inflated droids ubiquitous now.

Stills don't capture what he had. When I was a little gayling, I had such a crush on him.

Was he cut?

Any relation to Robert Reed?

Back in the 90s I hung out with a biker ( hardcore...insane chopped monster of a bike and he covered miles on it travelling all over to parties and runs ). We spent a fair bit of time drinking. He was gay but somewhat on the down low given the world he was involved in.

There was always something about him that I couldn’t put my finger on. The way he looked, sounded, physical mannerisms. Eventually, over a drink, he revealed he was one of Reed’s illegitimate offspring. While his story seemed entirely plausible when he explained the circumstances of Reed’s and his mother’s encounters I didn’t need that to believe him. I had grown to trust him but, more so, his looks and mannerisms confirmed it. There truly is an Oliver Reed gene that, certainly with him, made itself very visible. Of course, in his case, he had inherited the hell raising habit as well.

I’d go into more detail but we’ve sadly lost touch and, if he’s still alive, who knows what he’s up to now.

[quote] I've always liked Gladiator because it has Reed in it as well as Richard Harris. Plus crazy Russell Crowe at peak hotness.

I crushed on the young Oliver Reed big time after seeing Women in Love (25 years after it was made). What i loved about him was his manliness and that brutish quality. Then later, I had a huge crush on Russell Crowe for the very same reason. They were both alpha males and it was fun to see my two biggest screen crushes together (although Reed was an old man then) Crowe was a hell-raiser too but even he couldn't keep up with Reed in his old age. It didn't sound like Crowe got along with him, he said Reed drank too much.

[quote] Was he cut?

It looks like he was. I've inspected the wrestling scene frame-by-frame on my bluray version of the film and it looks like both him and Alan Bates were cut which is quite shocking if you ask me. What are the odds of having two naked Brit gentiles in the room together and both of them turn out to be cut?

R40 I love that story. Did Reed support him and his mother financially?

[quote]What are the odds of having two naked Brit gentiles in the room together and both of them turn out to be cut?

the odds are very good. Circumcision is and has been very common in Britain for"gentiles" for decades.

Get informed before you ask such stupid questions.

[quote] it looks like both him and Alan Bates were cut which is quite shocking if you ask me.

stupid idiot.

He was incredibly sexy. Hard to describe why, but he just was. Hot body, too. Check out his big, beefy ass in Women in Love. Absolutely exquisite.

Oliver Reed and William Shatner were my first crushes as a budding gayling. My best friend (female) and I went to see "Oliver!" eight times in two weeks. She had a crush on Reed too, but I didn't dare tell her I did too!

And we were both obsessed with Shatner; again, I never told her why

Reed, Peter O'toole , Richard Harris and Burton used to tell the best stories about each other.

So, in that link at R9, Shelly Winters said he looked familiar and she kept talking, he told her to shut up and sort of hinted that the reason he looks familiar is they may have slept together. Were they joking or was this true?

I read Shelly Winter's book when it was released in the 80s or 90s and that woman slept around big time. She was also a big flirt. In that link, she's only 46 years old and says she's too old for younger men. Well, all she had to do was shed a little weight.

Nonetheless, he was a gifted actor! Reed and Alan Bates in Women in Love were extraordinary...The scene ...":The proper way to eat a fig in society..." was the only scene I've ever seen on film where two men talk candidly about what will make them happy...including "a woman and nothing but a woman" I don't know if that that's anti-woman or not ...it certainly shed light on two men talking candidly with one another and re-thinking being male. If women can re-think being female, and look elsewhere , other than a male for happiness....then the same holds true for men...it's just taking us longer because we've been trained not to talk about feelings.

That interview years ago on Johnny Carson with Shelly Winters and Oliver Reed was the epitome of women's Hate/Love relationship with men and the penis...she was threatened and intrigued at the same time.

R43 Circumcision rates peaked in the 1930s in the UK, at about 30%. Given the two actors were of middle to upper class stock, of a similar vintage, it's not completely shocking. However, to say it's been very common for decades is rather misleading.

Does anyone know if he was a homophobe? He certainly seems to fit the type.

the devils was his best film.

[quote]Does anyone know if he was a homophobe? He certainly seems to fit the type.

Doubt it. He WAS an English actor.

While his ass in the wrestling scene is magnificent, the torso and the thighs are equally breathtaking.

Glenda Jackson, as Gudrun certainly got her wish:

How are your thighs?

My thighs?

Gudrun Brangwen : How are they? Are they strong? Because I want to drown in flesh. Hot, physical, naked, flesh.

[R38] Yeah,LOL I remember her line about thighs.....Both of these actors (Reed and Bates) were great and great to look at as well!

He terrified me on Letterman when I watched this live.

He was only 49 years old in the video but looks 20 years older.

When he takes his glasses off, you can see he’s still gorgeous. But wow, was this tension real? I always assumed everything was rehearsed on these shows.

He really hit a wall in the early 1970s.

In the early 60s, he was actually rather pretty.

The quote I remember is Reed saying his ideal woman was a "deaf mute nymphomaniac whose father owns a pub."

Mark Lester said that all the boys on Oliver! were terrified of Reed because he was a method actor and would toss them around.

Today would have been his 80th birthday which is kind of hard to believe since he looked to be well in his 70's by the time he died (and that was almost 20 years ago). Stay away from the liqueur if you want to age gracefully, ladies.

Actually, R50, he was only 61 when he died! He was born 1938.

He looked like shit. Yes, he did look like late 70s then.