Blind Item #8 - Old Hollywood Blind Item
For most of his career, this stage/film actor with a famous last name was A++ list, but his longtime battle with the bottle caught up with him and it showed in his performances. He slipped to a B-list character actor with A-list name recognition, often appearing in supporting roles in both big-budget epics and low-budget musical comedies. When he first came out to Hollywood in the mid 1920s, the make-up department went into overdrive because pockmarks dotted his face due to his drinking. They had to use women's makeup to make him look presentable. The actor often joked to his friends that he was one step away to becoming a drag queen.
Stuff we know!
ReplyDeleteBarrymore?
ReplyDeleteBarrymore
ReplyDeleteValentino
ReplyDeleteOne of the barrymores
ReplyDeleteI was just looking at Barrymore 's bio and everything seems to fit.
ReplyDeleteThat is John Barrymore.
ReplyDeletePock marks are caused by drinking? That's news to me, forget the blind. Anyone care to explain the reasoning here?
ReplyDeleteOr bad adolescent acne.
DeleteBarrymore.
ReplyDeleteFearN wish I could tell you..I only have gin blossoms and the pock marks came from acne which caused me to drink. There, maybe that's it?
ReplyDeleteLmao! Yeah I have pockmarks too but they came from picking my zits. No alcohol necessary.
Deletepockmarks are caused by acne, not drinking.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBarrymore came to H'wd in 1912..he then went back to theatre in 1917 and returned to films in the 1930's. Not sure this is Barrymore.
ReplyDeleteIf you have rosacea, if it's untreated it will cause pock marks. Combine that with alcohol, and it's pretty much guaranteed scarring/pock marks will occur.
ReplyDeleteI have it and the scarring is one of the main reasons why I don't drink any more. My nose has some scarring but, thankfully, Metrogel has pretty much put me in "remission".
Oh wow that's interesting - thanks for explaining.
Deleteacne/poor complexion can also be brought on by drinking or any chemical contamination of the body. fast-food won't give you pimples because it's fattening or greasy, but the toxins used in low-grade food will.
DeleteOh Wait he did Dr. Jekly and Mr. Hyde in 1920. My bad!
ReplyDeleteDear Enty,
ReplyDeleteThank you for giving a decade when you say "Old Hollywood". I'm always amused by the people who throw out actors popular in the 60s/70s/80s/90s as "Old Hollywood".
+1 steph
DeletePockmarks from drinking?
ReplyDeleteI thought gin blossoms were from drinking. (red veining nose and cheeks)
ReplyDeleteThis may well refer to John Barrymore, who was a known lush. However, one does not get "pock marks" on one's face from drinking. Smallpox, measles, possibly even chicken pox cause them. Drinking can do a lot of bad things to one's looks, but pock marks isn't one of them.
ReplyDeletejames cagney kinda fits. he was a dancer and actor but doesn't have the famous last name. in 1919 he did his first role in drag as a female dancer.
ReplyDeleteprobably not him he was president of the SAG for a couple of years. I don't see a drunkard pulling himself together long enough to b this responsible.
jack warner called him a "professional againster" cause he was constantly a thorn in the ass of the studios. tehehehehe
thought that was cute. off to Google more...
Douglas Fairbanks.
ReplyDeleteBill Murray?
ReplyDeleteSort of off-topic, but once I was able to trace the lineage of Barrymores as being actors/actresses through like the late 1700's.
ReplyDeleteMy Little Chickadee.
ReplyDeleteWC Fields.
His nose was a Gin Blossom.
John Carradine
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm ignorant, but how does drinking cause pockmarks? I've heard it causes your nose to grow and roseacea, but pockmarks? How?
ReplyDeleteLet's remember that this was the 1920's. At the time Im sure they thought drinking caused the pockmarking. The Enty probably is reporting the blind with the exact information from the time.
ReplyDeleteBarrymore and couldn't the pock marks be caused by the stuff they used in makeup back then? Especially stage makeup, I'd always heard there was lead and all other kinds of nasties in it.
ReplyDeleteW.C. Fields?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely John Barrymore.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hale Sr.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hale Sr.
ReplyDeleteJohn Barrymore.
ReplyDeleteDrinking causes me to get deep cystic acne that leaves scars. I try not to drink now because of it. Even one heavy night and a few days later cystic acne starts to pop up.
ReplyDeleteRichard Burton
ReplyDeleteLionel Barrymore
ReplyDeleteStewMcgee has it right,,, plus remember, we're speaking grain alcohol/moonshine/liquid lightning during prohibition 1920-1933 technically. but the Feds were poisoning the water,so to speak from 1916 on... that stuff blinded you & DEFINATELY exacerbated most light skinned rosacea into full-blown scarring,W.C.Fields look all over chin,cheeks,nose,hairline,etc.
ReplyDeleteHad to use women's makeup on an actor in the 1920s, 1930s? That claim sounds ridiculous -- if you have ever watched a film made back then, you'd notice men wearing more enough products to make a Juggalo envious.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Wizard of Oz himself Frank Morgan ??
ReplyDeleteStarted in Hollywood in late teens, known drinking problem, ended up in character roles due to his heavy drinking.
With the John Barrymore guess.
ReplyDeleteBarrymore, but Fields was (for some unknown reason) beloved and his drunkeness and alkie nose celebrated.
ReplyDeleteNot Fields. Fields went out on his own steam, never slipping to small character roles. It's almost certainly John Barrymore, who died from complications of cirrhosis. It's well known that his ability to carry films began to slip during the thirties, and he finished his career with smaller roles. His aged precipitously in last decade. I think the use of pockmarks to describe his complexion was probably just a sloppy choice of words.
ReplyDelete