Today's Blind Items - Tragedy From Almost Day One
One of the more tragic stories in Hollywood has never really been shared before. This actress was the "it" actress. Just a few movies, but you could tell she was going to be a huge star. I blame a few people for her death. The first in line is her father who started having sex with her when she was about 10. When she started fighting him off and refusing to have sex with his friends in her mid-teens, the police chief, who was also raping her on a weekly basis threw her in jail.
How she ever managed to achieve anything after that is pretty amazing. Hollywood is probably not the place she needed to be to get better. It was a place to get drugs though. Good ones. She was really good at self medicating.
Her first film was also her introduction to the casting couch. The director of her first two movies told her in no uncertain terms he expected her to have sex with him every day and not just one time to get the part. As long as she continued to sleep with him, she would keep working.
In that first movie, two permanent A list musicians got her drunk or drugged her and then while she was passed out, raped her.
Later, when she finally called it quits with the director, this permanent A list mostly movie director made her pretend she was a teenager while they had sex before he would cast her. Apparently his significant other at the time found out about it and our actress was warned off seeing the director again as if she wanted to.
Her boyfriend at the time of her death verbally abused her and made her life miserable. He wanted her to leave, but instead, she killed herself.
How she ever managed to achieve anything after that is pretty amazing. Hollywood is probably not the place she needed to be to get better. It was a place to get drugs though. Good ones. She was really good at self medicating.
Her first film was also her introduction to the casting couch. The director of her first two movies told her in no uncertain terms he expected her to have sex with him every day and not just one time to get the part. As long as she continued to sleep with him, she would keep working.
In that first movie, two permanent A list musicians got her drunk or drugged her and then while she was passed out, raped her.
Later, when she finally called it quits with the director, this permanent A list mostly movie director made her pretend she was a teenager while they had sex before he would cast her. Apparently his significant other at the time found out about it and our actress was warned off seeing the director again as if she wanted to.
Her boyfriend at the time of her death verbally abused her and made her life miserable. He wanted her to leave, but instead, she killed herself.
Brittany Murphy maybe?
ReplyDeleteShe came to mind straight away
DeleteMargaux Hemingway?
ReplyDeleteWoa! Nothing like throwing an insane post at us on a Wednesday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI haven't a clue about this blind. It's terribly sad though.
Jean Seberg? Otto Preminger was her director in the first two movies she was in.
ReplyDeleteMissed he b\f part can't be Brittany. She was married when she died.
ReplyDeleteSandybrook - when I saw your answer I thought, "nooooo..couldn't be."
ReplyDeleteThen the more I thought about it, the more I think you may be right.
Britney Murphy's life saddens me. She was a good actress & had so much more potential in her --- the girl could sing too.
Oh wait a minute. BM was married to that older guy though, when she died.
ReplyDeleteBrittany Murphy didn't have the same director for her first two movies. Her second movie was Clueless. I'm kind of glad it wasn't her.
ReplyDeleteNo glue she was married, otherwise she might fit. Her life was totally screwed.
ReplyDeleteLaurie Bird
ReplyDeleteLaurie Bird
ReplyDeleteJames Taylor and Dennis Wilson raped her
Woody Allen as perm A list director
No surprise. Dennis Wilson was a piece of shit.
DeleteWasnt she dating art garfunkel?
DeleteSounds like the Clara Bow story.
ReplyDeletelucy gordon (foreign born, otherwise could fit)
ReplyDeleteLaurie Bird fits, same director for the first two films, her third and last director was perm A Woody Allen and she died in her bf Art Garfunkel's apt of an apparent suicide.
ReplyDeleteGreat work!!
I was just coming to say Laurie Bird.
ReplyDeleteMONTE Hellman
Woody Allen
Art Garfunkel
yep, the Laurie Bird answer is spot on. Excellent work, DonnaMarie
ReplyDeleteThis sounds more like Laurie Bird, tragic young actress who committed suicide at just 25 by OD'ing on Valium.
ReplyDelete+ Her first two films Two-Lane Backdrop (1971) & Cockfighter (1974) were both with director Monte Hellman, & both when she was still a teenager.
+ After these two films she was cast in a bit part in Annie Hall (1977) as Paul Simon's girlfriend...of course this film was directed by Woody Allen, a permanent A list movie director
+She dated Art Garfunkel and was living with him and committed suicide at just 25 in Garfunkel's apartment....she was linked to both Garfunkel and Paul Simon---the two A list musicians.
So my guess:
Hellman likely the director of "her first two films" who introduced her to the casting couch.
Woody Allen the A list director who made her pretend she was a teenager & forced her to have sex with him if she wanted to be cast her in Annie Hall. She was 23 when he cast her so fits that he would make her pretend to still be a teenager.
Simon & Garfunkel for two A list musicians who got her drunk and raped her.
Yes she stayed with Garfunkel after this and lived with him but she was of sane mind at the time from all her drug use....
Very sad indeed.
+1
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ReplyDeleteLaurie Bird Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteHer strict father restricted her social life and she fled home multiple times. In response, her father had an arrest warrant issued in her name....
All the horrible allen blinds coming out.
ReplyDeleteTho I believe Wilson and Taylor are the musicians that raped her per the blind. The musicians were in the movie.
ReplyDeleteAll the horrible allen blinds coming out.
ReplyDeleteSo with all the sex abuse allegations sweeping Hollywood is the casting couch finally dead or is it just on hiatus? Will the industry truly change or will they just find better ways of covering things up.
ReplyDeleteJust when I thought I couldn’t hate woody Allen more than I do.......
ReplyDeleteOops yes, Wilson and Taylor for A list musicians who raped her; Garfunkel for the bf who verbally abused her....
ReplyDeleteI think Laurie Bird too. She appeared in 3 movies, first and 2nd directed by Monte Hellman, she debuted at age 18 and died around 26. And another sad story.
ReplyDeleteRapewood
ReplyDeleteOh, ugh. James Taylor and Paul Simon - noooooooooooo. Two of my dad-rock faves. :(
ReplyDeleteWow James Taylor?!! Why does this shock me so much. I honestly never would have thought he was that way. Sad!
DeleteThis fits Laurie to the letter. So how does it go, these nasty old dudes in Hollywood get outed for abusing, raping, and killing people and yet for most of them life goes on as if none of it ever happened. Wow! This is beyond sad.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought that this was a greatly exaggerated blind,but when we figured it out to be Laurie Bird, it all fit.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought that this was a greatly exaggerated blind,but when we figured it out to be Laurie Bird, it all fit.
ReplyDeleteGad: Monte Hellman is troll level ugly. No wonder he had to employ the casting couch.
ReplyDeletegreat work, donna marie! i knew nothing about her story. struck by xyz's quote about her running away from home and her (rapist) father getting an arrest warrant for her. poor girl.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't she go to the poli--? Oh. Right.
ReplyDeleteHe's not the focus of this blind, but it remains remarkable that Woody Allen walks around free, and even continues to make movies, and people continue to watch them, saying to themselves, "Well, I know, but....movie."
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9e/9d/10/9e9d10c830ad58b075bbaaab705ef307--rare-photos-dennis-wilson.jpg
ReplyDeleteThey all look like creepy men.
Delete@Cail - isn't it funny, when you look at Allen these days, he's yet another one who looks like his portrait in the attic. We could model gargoyles on his face in years to come, it's so nasty and repulsive. His profile is almost demonic and his eyes are cold and dead, like a reptile. Quite pathetic.
ReplyDeleteIt's really quite interesting when you line these men up - their lack of integrity, their immorality, their secrets and their lies catch up with them in later years and all of them look like hell, like they're being slowly hollowed out from the inside. People who've led decent lives don't look like this.
Land Manatee what a perf image for this blind ewwww
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteGreat job gang!
ReplyDeleteland manatee: that photo makes me sad. she shouldn't have to spend eternity with them like that.
ReplyDeletealso your name makes me sad...i'm still mourning poor snooty the manatee.
@just sayin' - totally agree on the pic, but it was too perfect to pass up posting.
DeleteAnd friend, don't even remind me of my main squeeze Snooty *tear*
Totally Laurie Bird how sad
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Bird
Probably this Bird chick but no way she was an 'it' girl and destined by stardom. I guess it makes for a more interesting blind if she is described that way though.
ReplyDeletei don't remember her either texasrose, but from the insider viewpoint enty has she must have been a hot up-and-comer in hollywood. a lot of people here remember her. go figure.
ReplyDeleteCan we all agree that if we ever see any of these asshats in public, we walk up and holler "Laurie Bird!" in their faces?
ReplyDeleteoh land manatee - you understand! how could it have happened? i'll never fully recover. that sweet boy. i raised my kids in sarasota and one in particular was so attached to him i can't even tell you.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Laurie Bird until I googled images of her and read her story. Her brief life was tragic from beginning to end. I was also struck by her resemblance to a young Mariel Hemingway, who also filmed with Woody Allen.
ReplyDeleteWas Diane Keaton Allen's girlfriend at the time?
ReplyDeleteI have a good memory of her and the public part of her story. I even had a book about the movie. I remember her Father blaming Art Garfunkel for her death, and that the Garfunkel song"Bright Eyes"was about her.
ReplyDeleteIt is Laurie Bird. I read about her horrendous prison experiences in “Show magazine “ and was appalled that the write up was exploitative. One of her co Stars was Dennis Wilson who befriended Manson. Read Carly Simon’s memoir re her other co star. Garfunkel shredded what was left of her
ReplyDeletewoody and diane were still working together but i don't think they were a couple, picklet. she was with warren beatty by 1978. i think that diane and woody were more of an early 70's couple.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't Woody Allen's nom-de-web "permanent A-list pedophile"?
ReplyDeleteLand Manatee & Just Sayin'- Awe....We Loved Snooty too!! We live in the Lakewood Ranch area and I'm so glad both of my girls got to see him several times before he passed away.
ReplyDeleteaah! i'll bet we lived 5 minutes from each other jennerationb! i've been back up north since the real estate crash, which for me started in 2006. every year there was a field trip to the museum, so with 4 kids i was there a lot, lol. is it true they're going to replace a civil war monument with a statue of snooty? it still makes me sick to think about his last minutes, i can't bear it.
ReplyDeletejust sayin'- hot up and comers don't make 3 movies over six years. She was in a movie in 1971, 1974, and 1977. 2 independents no one saw and a bit part in a woody allen film. She is remembered because she killed herself in garfunkel's apartment. That's my point.
ReplyDelete** they definitely don't remember her for her acting in those movies
ReplyDeleteok texasrose, like i said i have no memory of her at all so i shouldn't make assumptions. i was a young teen then, her target demographic, and have no idea how she was completely off of my radar since so many here do remember her.
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ReplyDeleteIf it's indeed Laurie Bird, the whole BI should be taken with a great dose of salt. Enty wasn't around at the time, and it's, at best, a third hand recollection.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I've seen Two-Lane Blacktop, and I even have it on DVD and Blu-ray. It would have never been in any universe a blockbuster to launch a career. Apart from the Warren Oates character, there must be something like 40 lines of dialog in the entire film (mostly to ask for precise tools when Dennis Wilson tunes the car), and the characters are totally secluded from each other. Her character is anything but glamorous, and nobody would say that Bird should have been a huge star.
At one point, Universal did actually assume they had a big hit in their hands. That was the moment Easy Rider had just been released. So, there were a few projects bankrolled by majors for a pittance, in the hope that they would get the next Easy Rider. The famous ones were Electra Glide in Blue, Vanishing Point and Two-Lane Blacktop. Two-Lane Blacktop was directed by a guy who had directed Waiting for Godot at UCLA, and it looks like it.
Bird only made two "real" films. She has a very small part in Annie Hall, playing Paul Simon's character's girlfriend, and that's due to her relationship with Art Garfunkel. The part didn't ask for more than a day on set, and her character doesn't even get a name, she's just "Tony Lacey's girlfriend". She's basically an extra. So, I find it a little dubious that Woody Allen would use the casting couch for such a minor part, for somebody who had major connections to Simon and Garfunkel, especially Garfunkel, who was acting in a lot of prestige stuff.
The truth is that Laurie Bird was a troubled soul. Her mother committed suicide when Laurie was three. She was a runaway and spent time in an institution because of her strict father. She was an introvert, according to all reports. She suffered from chronic depression. So, there's a lot of factors that can explain her own suicide. Even if she's crossed paths with a few rock stars and Woody Allen, I find it insulting to her memory that she's now used as the subject of a horrific rape and abuse story, while the guy who wrote this has obviously never seen her two films with Hellman and can't remember her part in Annie Hall. But, hey, he could tell she was going to be a huge star.
This one was really sad to read... also I had no clue but as soon as I read “the director had her pretend she was a teenager” I knew it was Woody the Molestor. I hope she has found peace. This is my 3rd time trying to post.
ReplyDeleteThings were different in the early 70's, including the definition of what constituted an "it" girl. Certainly a different process than today, so don't be so quick to discount Enty on this one. I agree it's Laurie Bird all the way
ReplyDeleteNice try, Woody/Garfunkel's lawyers... Oops, "Angela".
ReplyDeleteTyped all of that and posted twice to discredit this dead woman who can't add to her story and no longer has a voice. Classless, evil and as transparent as a thinning old pervert's hairline.
Correct, Lauren. I know for a fact Garfunkle destroyed her.
DeleteWoody Wood Pedo is such a hack POS... Catch his new flick Wonder Wheel in cinemas soon!
ReplyDelete@Lauren.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Blogger had issues last night, and it was in particular very slow. Hence the double or triple post.
Second of all, I've been reading and contributing to the site since the early days. I was actually the one who made the right guess over one of the big BIs, the one about the early Oscar winner for best actress or supporting actress that had been won by a transvestite who replaced the sick actress in most of her scenes. Even then, I expressed doubts over several elements of the story, which was, in my eyes, embellished with the passage of time. Then, I took my distances with the site, when it switched to this awful platform.
Then, I have nothing against Laurie Bird, and also nothing in favor of Woody Allen, Art Garfunkel or Monte Hellman. It's just that many things in the story ring totally fake. She has a very small part in Annie Hall as Paul Simon's girlfriend. She's not even in the first 30 actors listed, and there's a typo over her name. So, she's basically an extra with a few lines. My doubts are that an actress with such "big star" potential would have to accept the casting couch for such a minor part. Either she was desperate or she was stupid, and I don't think she was either.
Also, have you seen how tall she was?
https://nypdecider.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/annie-hall-12.png
She must be 5 ft 10. She would not be the first pick by anybody, or more exactly any perv, to impersonate a teenager.
But what makes the story sound like a big bowl of BS is that, at the time, a wannabe actress dating a big star such as Art Garfunkel, could have easily got an audition or a meeting with a producer due to his connections to the film industry (he did two Mike Nichols films, one of them as a lead). With Paul Simon being there on set for all her scenes, why would Allen try to manipulate her in particular? With someone as famous and important as Simon reporting that his partner's girlfriend was forced to have sex with him to get the part, Allen would have got into serious issues.
(End of part one)
Angela doesn't believe an actress with big potential would accept the casting couch for a small part. I'm convinced there are quite a few girls out there who are just as attractive and talented who would blow a guy just for a ride to Hollywood, to get close to the casting couch. Maybe I'm too cynical and she's closer to right.
ReplyDeleteBut we had another blind where a director was bringing kids in who never even made it on screen; they were just there to participate in character background discussions -- and to be molested. I think it's hard to overstate the extremes people with stars in their eyes, especially young people (or their parents), will go to if they think it may get them a little closer to that goal of stardom.
Now, some more general consideration about the site.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Enty is trying to ride the current wave of sexual harassment and assault reveals, now that notorious pigs such as Weinstein, Spacey, Lauer or director James Toback have been accused, with the first three of them being strong providers of BIs for years, here and other gossip sites.
I'd say that, in the process, Enty wants to fill our crave for more similar horrific stories of assault, so he can get more traffic and page views, and he's been relying on vague hearsay and a few creepy "crowdpleasers" here such as Woody Allen to get a start, forging a lot of details in the process.
The events he talks about took place more than 40 years ago. He wasn't there, the guys who were there are now in their seventies. And the story took place mostly in New York, while Enty's usual sources are in L.A.
That's why I think it's mostly bullshit, like the story about French director Leos Carax' actress girlfriend getting AIDS from a sex scene with Guillaume Depardieu, a bunch of people he wasn't obviously familiar with when he wrote the blind. Notice also how there was no or almost no blind items over Bill Cosby or Louis CK, even if Cosby is famous and did awful things even compared to most of the assumptions made on the site. Enty isn't very connected with the comedy circuits or African-American entertainers. His big sources have always been the Hollywood film and music industries.
There's a bunch of men who have done terrible, awful things for years, and we should be grateful that their victims are now able to tell their stories in daylight, and that these men are no longer in a capacity to hurt more people. I also consider that Allen is a creep with a lot of skeletons in his closet. He had sex with teenage girls, like actress Stacey Nelkin, with the relationship being an inspiration for Manhattan. And his fascination over May-September relationships gets more and more repulsing with every film he relies on it. But I'm a little surprised over the quantity of material Enty suddenly provides about him. Either he sat on it for years, either a lot of people opened to him about it lately, or he's relying on vague stories he heard a long time ago, basic hearsay without much substance, to keep on riding the same wave, even if the BI is 90% bullshit.
For the record, the most likely explanation about Laurie Bird is the one that's been provided for decades. She was a sad, beautiful woman, who was an inspiration for many people she met. She was also very depressed, and she wasn't able to get the career she deserved. Her part on Annie Hall was definitely a favor to Garfunkel. She spent a lot of time in their apartment alone, and people who cared for her assumed that spending a few hours on a film set would change her spirits. So, Garfunkel passed a word to Simon, who was already cast in Annie Hall, and Allen gave her this very small part.
Not every actress who is in the background or who barely says three lines in a film got this through casting couch or was raped during production. Most of the time, they got their part due to some regular casting or because they knew someone who knew someone in the production, nothing more. Even when it is a Woody Allen film.
So, my current beef with the site is that it tries to sensationalize every sad stuff that's ever happened to people, to put It on the back of a few key alleged molesters, and that Enty is ready to take every connection to a suicide or drug issue around any woman who crossed paths with them just to get a mostly forged story.
@Angela,Two Lane Blacktop was hyped quite a bit at the time,and while looking at it now,you would not consider it a star making role,in the Seventies, things were different. Also,what Enty calls rape now was very common in the pre AIDS , free love and drugs seventies. He does have a habit of making stories even more salacious than they already are. The true story should be sad enough. The same was done with the presumed Karen Carpenter blind,some things were added for clickbait.
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ReplyDeleteYes, the Karen Carpenter story was ridiculous, with all the incest stuff. FFS, this woman has been the object of countless articles and sensationalistic pieces after her death. Every side of her life has been considered. There's no way they could hide such a scandal with all the scrutiny she got. A lot of stuff is pretty well documented, and it's suspicious when somebody suddenly explains it all with incest. Enty's timeline wouldn't even check, as Richard spent time in rehab during a key moment of the story.
ReplyDeleteAnd my issue is that the clickbait stuff basically belittles bulimia, which is in itself a grave disease, by explaining it was caused by other stuff that's more important.
Other stuff I don't believe here:
- Daniel Craig is an idiot. He gives articulate answers in interviews (that don't come from rewritings, as he uses the same words on TV), he shows some self-deprecating humor, and he has proven he could find new approaches to play Bond, four decades after some iconic actors created the character. He's far from being the least articulate celebrity in the world. Sure, some people don't like him as Bond, and Enty must be one of them, but Craig isn't dumb. Also, he won't make a sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, not because Rooney Mara won't have sex with him, six years after, but because David Fincher isn't returning and the budget wouldn't be as big. Plans for a proper sequel were dropped long ago, as the books aren't that famous in the US, so the second novel adaptation might get Mara back but would use a new cast and crew.
- Robert Wagner murdered Natalie Wood. It relies on the testimony of her sister Lana, who's not the most reliable person in the world and who wasn't on the boat that night. But I believe that their mother pimped Natalie to stars such as Kirk Douglas to get her start in the industry.
- Courtney Love killed Kurt Cobain. Cobain already tried to kill himself when he was on tour in Rome, thousands miles away from Courtney. Sure, she may have made his life miserable, but so had chronic back pain, heroin, and depression. He writes about this in his diaries, he talked about it in his interviews, there's no secret.
That's the three that come to me immediately. I'm sure that there are others. I'm also quite fond of the various generic blinds about "So and so is gay", then when the guy gets married, they turn into "He cheats on his wife with younger girls".
@Lora said:
ReplyDelete"This sounds more like Laurie Bird, tragic young actress who committed suicide at just 25 by OD'ing on Valium.
.....
+She dated Art Garfunkel and was living with him and committed suicide at just 25 in Garfunkel's apartment...."
That's an interesting coincidence.
Laurie committed suicide in June 1979.
In 1979, Garfunkel was acting,alongside Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel and Denholm Elliott. in Bad Timing,directed by Nicolas Roeg,
The plot of the film focuses on the turbulent relationship between an American woman(Russell) and her lover a psychology professor(Garfunkel) living in Vienna.
The film uncovers the details of their relationship as uncovered by a detective(Keitel) investigating her apparent suicide attempt in her apartment, by prescription drugs and alcohol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BOqQGMdIVE
I've always kind of liked the film. Now I wonder what state of mind Art must've been in during filming.