Articles/Interviews
Return to ListingTHAT CERTAIN SOMETHING
and the men who have it
OLIVER REED
- cave-man appeal With so many softies around, Oliver Reed enjoys a unique position as one of the few actors with the good old cave-man appeal. And boy, does he work hard at his tough-guy image! One of the last of the great drinkers, had me paralytically drunk within an hour of my being assigned to look after his publicity - at eleven-thirty am. in fact! Highly aggressive by nature, he is proud of his cruel facial scars, the legacy of a far-from-faked pub brawl. Off set he favours rugged, ex-War Department clothes and despises anything remotely un-butch in men . . . like long hair, coloured shirts and pretty ties (I was sporting all three when we met, which is why he got me drunk I'm sure). He revels in terrifying girls, and once horrified a lady reporter during an interview by donning a Dracula cape and leaping about the roof of his sinister Wimbledon mansion. Secretly she loved it, I suspect. Wherein hides the truth of Mr. Reed's considerable appeal.
Chris Greenwood, Petticoat, July 1971
Return to Listing
- cave-man appeal With so many softies around, Oliver Reed enjoys a unique position as one of the few actors with the good old cave-man appeal. And boy, does he work hard at his tough-guy image! One of the last of the great drinkers, had me paralytically drunk within an hour of my being assigned to look after his publicity - at eleven-thirty am. in fact! Highly aggressive by nature, he is proud of his cruel facial scars, the legacy of a far-from-faked pub brawl. Off set he favours rugged, ex-War Department clothes and despises anything remotely un-butch in men . . . like long hair, coloured shirts and pretty ties (I was sporting all three when we met, which is why he got me drunk I'm sure). He revels in terrifying girls, and once horrified a lady reporter during an interview by donning a Dracula cape and leaping about the roof of his sinister Wimbledon mansion. Secretly she loved it, I suspect. Wherein hides the truth of Mr. Reed's considerable appeal.