[Robert Sellers]Hollywood Hellraisers : The Wild Lives and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, and Jack Nicholson(epub){Zzzzz}

“I don’t know what people expect when they meet me. They seem to be afraid that I’m going to piss in the potted palm and slap them on the ass.”—Marlon Brando
“I should have been dead ten times over. I believe in miracles. It’s an absolute miracle that I’m still around.”—Dennis Hopper
“You only lie to two people in your life: your girlfriend and the police.”—Jack Nicholson
“The best time to get married is noon. That way, if things don’t work out, you haven’t blown the whole day.”—Warren Beatty

They’re the baddest bad-asses Hollywood as ever seen: Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, and Jack Nicholson. They are men to whom rules did not apply; normal standards of behavior were simply too wearisome to worry about. These are men who brawled, boozed, snorted, and screwed their way into legendhood—but along the way they changed acting and the way movies were made forever. Hollywood Hellraisers is a whistle-stop tour of jaw-dropping sexual activity, misbehavior of an Olympic standard, all-out excess, and genuine madness. It’s a wonder Hollywood survived.

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing; First Edition edition (July 13, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616080353
ISBN-13: 978-1616080358

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Sellers, a U.K. film writer and author of Hellraisers (on the lives of Richard Burton, Peter O™Toole, Richard Harris, and Oliver Reed), turns his attention to the careers of another four "bad boys." A paragraph describing Brando on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire as "some women in the audience began hyperventilating" establishes the tabloid approach: what follows is a recounting of acid dreams, bad trips, amorous encounters, bedroom escapades, failed film projects, "creative differences" turned hostile, and family tragedies. Numerous pages detail the charismatic charm and sexual stamina of Beatty and Nicholson. The young Brando, according to Elia Kazan, was "a fuck machine," ending his life as a recluse whose ˜™eccentricities took on a sinister tone." During years of "self-destructive hedonism,™™ the wild-haired Hopper was a rebel, yet he survived to become part of the establishment, "almost Hollywood royalty, revered, iconic." Stirring together familiar and unfamiliar anecdotes--switching back and forth between actors with little transition--Sellers adds to the mix interviews he conducted with Hollywood insiders. 24 b&w photos.

Review
"The never-dull exploits of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. One hell of a ride." ----People Magazine

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Life, Love and Inebriation
By wogan TOP 100 REVIEWER on July 19, 2010
Robert Sellers turns his examination of bad behavior from England's bad boys to Hollywood's. They are Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. They all have lived lives of excess, in money, and women. Beatty seems to have spurned the drug and alcohol route, but the three others certainly didn't and all of those stories are told in the 7 chapters of this book. Each man is covered in recounting their early life, how they arrived in Hollywood, the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. Brando's death is dealt with, but this book was written before Hopper's death.
Each man showed signs of bad behavior at a very young age, Brando had to be led to kindergarten on a leash so that he would not run away. Dennis snorted gasoline on his grandparent's farm before he was 10. Warren set off fire alarms and dumped neighbor's trash on their lawns. Jack misbehaved so much in school he had to stay after every day. They all escalated from those younger years.
Their `missions' in life are covered; Brando's many causes, Beatty's politics, Hopper's involvement taking pictures at Civil Rights marches, Jack and Dennis' art collections. Some of their friendships will surprise you; such as Marlon's deep abiding one with Wally Cox.

Their acting talent is undeniable, but the stories of their actions on set makes one wonder how great they were that directors and other actors would put up with their deeds. You want to laugh and enjoy this behavior, but cringe at the same time of page after page of out of control living. You'll wonder most of all how they got away with it.

There is really no depth into their personal thoughts and many of the stories have been previously published in biographies other and sources. By the end of this reading their bad behavior overwhelms any thoughts of their acting abilities. That anyone would work with them is still a marvel left unexplained, except we are told that they are magnificent actors.