“When I compare Mother’s relationship with Father to
mine with Warren [Beatty], there’s no question Warren’s promises were far more
seductive than Jack Hall’s could ever be. After I confessed I was terrified to
fly, Warren surprised me as I was about to board a flight to New York, took my
hand, walked me into the plane, sat down still holding my hand, and never let
me go until we landed. Once safe on the ground he kissed me, turned around, and
flew back to L.A. On Valentine’s Day he bought me a sauna for one bathroom and
a steam room for the other. He was full of magnanimous gestures. He also filled
my head with crazy thoughts: I could be a director, a politician, as well as
one of the most revered actresses in the world if I wanted. I would laugh and
tell him he was out of his mind. But I loved it, every second, and I loved him,
especially his insane largesse.”—Diane Keaton, Then Again (2011)
Years ago, after watching The Witches of Eastwick, a friend of mine had a dream involving
star Jack Nicholson. “I’m going to get you,” he told her with the same devilish
grin as his character in that movie, Darryl.
“Oh, no you’re not,” she shot back.
“Oh, yes I will!” he answered.
“Oh, no you’re not.”
“Oh, yes I will!”
“Well,” my friend concluded, laughing, “he got me,
all right!”
The same self-confidence, if not the same
mischievous air, for years was part of the modus
operandi of Nicholson’s good friend Warren Beatty. In her recent memoir, Ms. Keaton recounts a piece of gossip related
by a friend about a pick-up by the legendary lothario that ended up in the
Waldorf Astoria, and how “we all swore we would never fall into that kind of
trap. Not us.” Naturally, like my friend in her dream with Nicholson, Ms. Keaton did.
Over the years, in addition to Ms. Keaton, Beatty’s
conquests included Joan Collins, Natalie Wood, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips,
Britt Ekland, Janice Dickinson, Julie Christie, Carly Simon, Goldie Hawn, Isabelle
Adjani, Madonna, Elle Macpherson, and Annette Bening (the only woman to get him to the altar).
Whew, my fingers got tired just typing all those
names! But evidently, Beatty’s seldom did. (What inevitably comes to mind at
this moment is Woody Allen’s wish that, if there is reincarnation, he’d like to
come back “as Warren Beatty’s fingertips.”)
The eternal question—why did so many women, when it
came to the star, do one thing after starting out to do the other?—can only be
partly explained that he was, as Ms. Keaton put it, “drop-dead gorgeous.” There’s
also his keen intelligence as a film professional (witness his work on Reds, which, as I wrote in a prior post, was one of the most
ambitious and fully realized epics in Oscar history), and even, astonishingly
enough for a self-evident narcissist, the deep kindness and generosity recorded
in Ms. Keaton’s memoir.
Today, Shirley MacLaine’s little brother turns 75. The
most wonderful thing I can say about this star, who has been in the business now for 50
years, is his acceptance speech for the 2008 American Film Institute’s Lifetime
Achievement Award, when he thanked his industry for leading him to Bening, “who
has given me the most important thing of all, which is her love.”
1 comment:
This is one of the times when early SNL really shines. Guest is doing an opening monolog and a cast member comes out and warns him to stay away from Belushi, because Johnny B. believes the guest deprived him of a Best Actor Academy Award nomination.
Guess looks confused. Why me? They quickly agree that two or three of the nominees were inevitable. Guest: "Well, what about Warren Beatty?"
Cast Member: "John figures he slept with every member of the Academy."
"There are 2,500 of them!" At which point the Cast Member just nods and shrugs.
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