Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Oliver Reed

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When getting out of bed is your biggest achievement for the day it's hard to produce anything other than tears. Turns out that the actor Michael York — he played D'Artagnan in that movie, though younger audiences might know him as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers films — was one of the diners that morning, and he swears it happened just like that. Disappointed in the hope that “the fascinating filthiness of the poor would stimulate his flagging senses”, he has turned into a neurasthenic, would-be solipsist, constructing a world of self-indulgent aesthetic excess. He has also written biographies of Sting, Tom Cruise and Oliver Reed, as well The Pythons: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. A savage sock in the jaw to polite, reverential biographical graphic novels, these hilariously bleak shock tales make the modern-day antics of Lindsay Lohan look like Dr.

The movie industry during their heydays is represented as a chaotic place that was crawling with philandering alcoholics. A portrait of four profoundly flawed yet awesome leading men, as well as a window into a time when glamour was sacrosanct and when stardom was achieved rather than manufactured. Robert Sellers traces the intertwining lives and careers of these four actors in a celebratory catalogue of their miscreant deeds, told with humour and affection and not an ounce of moralising.The stories collected in it make you wonder how they made any art at all between drinking binges, pub crawls and pub brawls, public scenes of ribaldry and all-around boorishness. Hellraisers" wants only to be a rowdy collection of greatest hits, and it lives up to that fun-loving ambition.

From O'Toole getting arrested for wooing an insurance building, Reed dropping his pants in public to show off his "mighty mallet," Harris attacking cars in Italy, to Burton urinating onstage, it is laid out in hilarious detail by Sellers. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.And the fact that none could entirely stop drinking, even when it became a life-or-death medical necessity, makes it that much sadder. Told through the eyes of Martin, a wannabe hellraiser, we begin our tale in a typical London pub at Christmas time. If you know anything about the history of these four they were, to put in a mild form, drinkers of phenomenal stamina. Whether you're looking for some textbooks for university, the latest biography or a travel guide - you'll find what you need in our categories.

The best parts of the book were the segments on Richard Harris, a mean-spirited, violent, and cruel drunk who managed to transform himself into an occasional tippler of Guinness, and more importantly, Albus Dumbledore. Robert was a regular contributor to Empire, Total Film , The Independent, SFX and Cinema Retro and has contributed to a number of television documentaries, including Channel 4's The 100 Best Family Films . It's an entertaining read but it leaves you feeling as if you just enjoyed driving past a horrendous traffic accident. Hellraisers: A savage sock in the jaw to polite, reverential biographical graphic novels, these hilariously bleak shock tales make the modern-day antics of Lindsay Lohan look like Dr. Their mercurial acting talent and love from the press and the public allowed them to get away with the kind of behaviour that today’s film stars could scarcely dream of.

Anecdotes out the wazoo on the drinking lives of these guys, and a lot of it gets repetitive at times, especially with Oliver Reed's antics. Hellraisers tells the story of four of the greatest boozers of all time: Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed. View image in fullscreen Violent, vainglorious … Robert Carlyle as Begbie in the 1996 film of Trainspotting. So wonderfully captures the wanton belligerence of both binging and stardom you almost feel the guys themselves are telling the tales. People seem to knock this book for culling from too many already published biographies, but the author did interview a bunch of people as well, including one of my favorite directors of all time, Richard Lester.

These four renegades defied authority, ignored the restrictions of society and lived life without restraint. Raise a glass to the story of four of the greatest actors—and boozers—of all time: Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Oliver Reed.You'll never read much about serious hardcore stoners pulling some of the crap these dense old alkies set about. An in-depth inside look at the chaotic, fantastic and hideously messy private lives of four legendary British actors of the latter 20th century: Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed. All but Burton had an opportunity for some late in life career renaissance (Oliver Reed really didn't do a good movie from "Tommy" to "Gladiator," unless you count "Baron Munchausen," which Sellers apparently doesn't, as it isn't mentioned here. Burton, Harris, O’Toole and Reed were four of the great actors to emerge in postwar British stage and cinema; they also were legendary drunks, who not only pursued their avocation -- it surely was more than a recreation -- in public and without regrets.