Many actors of the classic Hollywood era were admired by men and women but many were fiercely private, and let the public believe the image of their characters was their real persona. a few actors of the classic Hollywood era were privately battling anorexia, alcohol and drug problems. Many held private secrets such as homosexuality and their true identity.
after reading a few biographies from the classic Hollywood era, I realised many of the actors I had admired were struggling with addiction and other problems. Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Vera Ellen, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra. Some were homosexual like Montgomery Clift and some changed their name and image like Cary Grant. Some had eating disorders like Vera Ellen. Some fiercely guarded their privacy such as Katharine Hepburn.
The 25-year-long relationship between Hepburn and Spencer Tracy was kept a secret until after Tracy’s death from lung congestion and heart attack in 1967. Tracy’s drinking problems were kept not so secret. Sometimes he would go drinking for days on end, resulting in one occasion where he was fired from Fox who were tired of his escapades and resulting bad press. He was a heavy drinker, and although he attempted to stay sober around Hepburn, he inevitably fell off the wagon whenever she left to work on a film. MGM gave Hepburn and Tracy a number of opportunities to work together which allowed Hepburn to keep an eye on Tracy.
Hepburn herself was subject to constant attention from the press who tried to find out any morsel of information on her. The films and stage productions that Hepburn had acted in had created an image of Hepburn’s personality. Her star image played a part in the creation of narrative images. Hepburn used this created public image to her advantage when she portrayed the snobbish Tracy Lord in ‘The Philadelphia Story’. She played the characterized part based on her own image as snooty and arrogant. In reality Hepburn was merely looking out for her own career, and worked hard to get to the top, refusing to let anything stop her getting where she wanted to be. Her career only faltered when she allowed it to, mainly when she was looking after Tracy before his death.
Tracy and Hepburn were good friends of Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall. Bogie at one point said, "The whole world is three drinks behind and it’s high time it caught up". Comments such as these led people to believe that Bogart had a problem with alcohol, but in reality although he liked a drink or two, he was never an alcoholic as Bacall will still testify, he was a "first-class person with an obsessive compulsion to behave like a second-class person." (Mike Romanoff). In reality, his friend Spencer did most of the drinking.
Drink wasn’t the only problem to affect the iconic stars of classic Hollywood. One of the biggest enigmas of Hollywood is Marilyn Monroe. During her career in Hollywood, she became addicted to sleeping pills and started to show the side effects during "There’s No Business Like Show Business". along with sleeping pills, she was taking barbiturates and she had ‘illnesses’ which were documented by physicians. Like Tracy, Monroe was fired from the studios for her addictions. She was hired after she worked with the press to change her image. However the film never starred Monroe. Her sudden death in 1962 created a lot of speculation about how she died, from suicide, accidental drug overdose, political murder to a Mob hit and a cry for help.
another actor who made an unsuccessful cry for help was teen heart-throb Montgomery Clift. Clift was exclusively homosexual and was guilt ridden at the same time. He had many female friends in the acting business which his publicists actively encouraged, but Clift’s homosexuality, and a near fatal car crash which scarred his face, led to an addiction to pills and alcohol which slowly caused his heart to fail and killed him at the age of 46.
Despite the problems, all of these actors were admired for their talents as actors, singers and dancers. They are all iconic images of a Hollywood long gone. Hollywood’s history just wouldn’t be the same without Monroe, Tracy, Clift and Sinatra.
as Osgood Fielding III says at the end of "Some Like It Hot"…. "Nobody’s perfect"
Lisa McFadyen is a 25-year-old journalist from Paisley, Scotland and a self confessed hockey nut. She writes regular articles from Scotland. Her website is www.lisamcfadyen.tk
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