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Return to ListingSTARS OF STAGE, SCREEN AND PUNCH-UPS
Oliver Reed's brawling scars put him out of work. And Ryan O'Neal's quick temper could cost him �500,000
ACTOR Ryan O'Neal's temper is notorious for its short fuse-and it fair fizzled at Hollywood's On The Rox nightspot recently. By the time it burned out, actress Susan Blakely, a star of "The Towering Inferno," was nursing a split lip and her agent Steve Jaffe a black eye. The punch-up could cost O'Neal around �500,000 in damages. That's the sum being claimed by lawyers for shocked Miss Blakely and furious Jaffe.
Yet the cause of the fracas was apparently as trivial as an argument about T-shirts - which could prove costly casual wear for O'Neal if a charge of assault and battery is upheld.
Shortly before the incident, O'Neal is said to have floored film director Peter Bogdanovich at another Hollywood nightclub, Pips, after Bogdanovich had voiced his objection to O'Neal chatting up his girlfriend, Cybil Shepherd.
SINATRA
And that's enough to enrol O'Neal as a fully fledged member of the Punch-Up Club, which boasts such distinguished showbiz names as Oliver Reed, Frank Sinatra, Lee Marvin and Richard Harris. Curious thing about the members of this club is that their brawls never seem to leave any permanent marks on their famous faces. Like Tom and Jerry, they reportedly get hell knocked out of them - and still end up none the worse for wear. Only Oliver Reed owns up to his battle scars. He says: "I seem to get into fights fairly easily. It's not a publicity stunt, I assure you." "If it were, I wouldn't have scars on my face, a broken nose, chipped teeth and mucked-up knuckles." "I've fought because of traffic violations, because somebody was rude to me, because I thought somebody was rude to me or because I thought somebody was stealing something." One particularly painful encounter in a Soho club some years ago damaged his career as well as his looks. Reed explains: "I was so badly beaten about that my nose and mouth were a ghastly purple for several months." "No-one wanted an actor looking the way I did and I had eventually to take a job as a minicab driver." DIED
Riotous Reed still rues the day he swopped punches with a man in an Italian restaurant. "It started with an argument over whether a fellow who had collapsed should be moved." "I'm afraid that while we were punching each other, the poor devil died." Meanwhile, Frank Sinatra blames his rough-house reputation on an incident in 1947, when he was "physically rough" on a columnist, Lee Mortimer. But he doesn't regret it. He says: "If he were alive today, I'd still knock him down. He was a -------." Like so many other members of the Punch-Up Club, Sinatra blames others for the trouble he gets into. He says: "When I'm in public, people are sometimes crude towards me and make silly remarks. They want to prove something." MISTRESS
"I guess they want to take on the fastest gun in town. You know the line: 'Who is this guy who goes around in his own jet plane? Why does he have all this adoration? He's just a singer.'" Lee Marvin is a much reformed character these days; but there was a time when he was head bar-brawler of the PUC. One-time mistress Michele Triola claims: "I was listed on the emergency phone numbers of every barman in Malibu." "They would phone me and always Lee would be at the centre of so me fracas." "I'd drive down there, put my arm around him and say, 'We're going bye-byes, darling' - and I'd bring him home in one piece." "I can't tell you how many times I did it. But, boy, it was rough." Marvin recalls what happened in one bar when he was continually being interrupted by another customer. PAYOFF
He says: "I just had to shut him up, so I took a banjo off the bar and smashed it on his head." "I had to pay the fellow off afterwards, but at least he got a new set of teeth out of it." Richard Harris is another reformed character who once made a few alterations in a bar. He says his agent once told him: "We were sitting in a hotel lobby and when I ordered a drink, the waiter pointed to a glass partition and said: 'We don't serve drinks in this room - only through there.'" "Apparently I picked up a chair, hurled it through the glass and said: 'Now it's one room - serve the drinks.'" "I can only vaguely remember being thrown out." You don't usually associate pop singers Rod Stewart and Elton John with beefy bruisers like Oliver Reed, Lee Marvin and Richard Harris. But they seemed to have filled in their PUC application forms - and each other - at a Beverly Hills restaurant, The Bistro, not so long ago. Apparently, Stewart entered the restaurant with a girlfriend and made a funny remark to Elton John as he passed by his table. John is said to have jumped up and shoved Stewart into a nearby booth, where he landed on someone's lap. Stewart allegedly lashed out and punched John in the eye, breaking his spectacles. Latest news is that the two are now the best of friends and planning a film together.
Frank Garvan, Weekend Magazine, February 1978
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And that's enough to enrol O'Neal as a fully fledged member of the Punch-Up Club, which boasts such distinguished showbiz names as Oliver Reed, Frank Sinatra, Lee Marvin and Richard Harris. Curious thing about the members of this club is that their brawls never seem to leave any permanent marks on their famous faces. Like Tom and Jerry, they reportedly get hell knocked out of them - and still end up none the worse for wear. Only Oliver Reed owns up to his battle scars. He says: "I seem to get into fights fairly easily. It's not a publicity stunt, I assure you." "If it were, I wouldn't have scars on my face, a broken nose, chipped teeth and mucked-up knuckles." "I've fought because of traffic violations, because somebody was rude to me, because I thought somebody was rude to me or because I thought somebody was stealing something." One particularly painful encounter in a Soho club some years ago damaged his career as well as his looks. Reed explains: "I was so badly beaten about that my nose and mouth were a ghastly purple for several months." "No-one wanted an actor looking the way I did and I had eventually to take a job as a minicab driver." DIED
Riotous Reed still rues the day he swopped punches with a man in an Italian restaurant. "It started with an argument over whether a fellow who had collapsed should be moved." "I'm afraid that while we were punching each other, the poor devil died." Meanwhile, Frank Sinatra blames his rough-house reputation on an incident in 1947, when he was "physically rough" on a columnist, Lee Mortimer. But he doesn't regret it. He says: "If he were alive today, I'd still knock him down. He was a -------." Like so many other members of the Punch-Up Club, Sinatra blames others for the trouble he gets into. He says: "When I'm in public, people are sometimes crude towards me and make silly remarks. They want to prove something." MISTRESS
"I guess they want to take on the fastest gun in town. You know the line: 'Who is this guy who goes around in his own jet plane? Why does he have all this adoration? He's just a singer.'" Lee Marvin is a much reformed character these days; but there was a time when he was head bar-brawler of the PUC. One-time mistress Michele Triola claims: "I was listed on the emergency phone numbers of every barman in Malibu." "They would phone me and always Lee would be at the centre of so me fracas." "I'd drive down there, put my arm around him and say, 'We're going bye-byes, darling' - and I'd bring him home in one piece." "I can't tell you how many times I did it. But, boy, it was rough." Marvin recalls what happened in one bar when he was continually being interrupted by another customer. PAYOFF
He says: "I just had to shut him up, so I took a banjo off the bar and smashed it on his head." "I had to pay the fellow off afterwards, but at least he got a new set of teeth out of it." Richard Harris is another reformed character who once made a few alterations in a bar. He says his agent once told him: "We were sitting in a hotel lobby and when I ordered a drink, the waiter pointed to a glass partition and said: 'We don't serve drinks in this room - only through there.'" "Apparently I picked up a chair, hurled it through the glass and said: 'Now it's one room - serve the drinks.'" "I can only vaguely remember being thrown out." You don't usually associate pop singers Rod Stewart and Elton John with beefy bruisers like Oliver Reed, Lee Marvin and Richard Harris. But they seemed to have filled in their PUC application forms - and each other - at a Beverly Hills restaurant, The Bistro, not so long ago. Apparently, Stewart entered the restaurant with a girlfriend and made a funny remark to Elton John as he passed by his table. John is said to have jumped up and shoved Stewart into a nearby booth, where he landed on someone's lap. Stewart allegedly lashed out and punched John in the eye, breaking his spectacles. Latest news is that the two are now the best of friends and planning a film together.