I worked with Harrison's son, Nigel - a writer - on a project about 30 years ago. All the stories you ever heard about Harrison are NOTHING compared to the truth. The son became a writer because it was the one thing the old man couldn't one-up him on.
I worked with Harrison's son, Nigel - a writer - on a project about 30 years ago. All the stories you ever heard about Harrison are NOTHING compared to the truth. The son became a writer because it was the one thing the old man couldn't one-up him on.
didn't Noel Harrison make an attempt at being a recording artist for no more than a few months in the early '60s? or was that a different son? I know that one of his sons released a record or two.
Alan Jay Lerner wrote a book touching on his life and the three biggest musicals he wrote with Fritz Loewe (one of Lerner's eight wives, Nancy Olson Livingston, the last surviving cast member from "Sunset Boulevard," has out her autobiography, and I've read some of it--she was just interviewed on Orange Hitler loving the film and the similarities between him and Norma Desmond--or is it Carol Burnett's spoof of her?). Anyway, he said that he loved Harrison, but that he could suddenly change for no reason. I wonder if he had an undiagnosed mental health issue. And then I don't wonder.
I just read an article about the Nancy Olson book on Yahoo News. what hit me, very personally, was that she was also married to Alan Livingston (born Levinson), who headed Capitol Records; the genius who refused to release the first two Beatles albums because he couldn't imagine they had any sales potential. in 1965 (the summer I saw "Cat Ballou" in Denver), I was in a writers' workshop in Aspen with his son, Peter. Peter was Byronic, even down to the limp (hemophilia had eroded his ankle bone). he wrote a lot of bad but very flashy pseudo-Ginsberg, which garnered him a LOT of female attention. he was also a nasty, cruel scumbag who took a pathological delight in insulting me, so I obviously remember him well. and every time I see his dad's name (or that of his uncle, who wrote the lyric to "Che Sera Sera"), I get a tiny shudder of what I nowadays could say was PTSD but which I prefer to call "loathing." he was all set to be a literary superstar but didn't get there. hahaha.
and Alan Jay Lerner was no bargain, either...he had to wear gloves because his amphetamine addiction caused him to chew on his fingers until they were chronically infected. speed is not a drug to foster great relationships. I mean, like, EIGHT wives? it puts him in Artie Shaw territory.
Uncle Jay Livingston wrote a LOT of songs, and he and his partner Ray Evans actually had a cameo in the movie with Olson. At any rate, she and her husband apparently were active in Democratic causes, as was Lerner. One nice thing we can say for those two guys.
Lerner wrote the song "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life." That described him well. At least he wrote some great musicals.
I always LOVED Nancy Olson and have always been surprised that she faded so quickly after the '50s. if she liked Harrison, she's probably the only one left who'll say it. in a long interview accompanying the DVD of his great television "Hamlet" from 1964 (in which, btw, Michael Caine is the greatest Horatio of all time), Christopher Plummer is full of horrifying Harrison stories. horrifying.
thing is, I remember talking to several people who worked backstage on various Christopher Plummer plays, and they ALL said that Plummer could be a real prick close-up. stuff like slapping dressers, cursing out stage managers, etc. I'll bet there are many, many people who worked on "My Fair Lady" whose stories could make paint peel, but I can't imagine any of them are left to tell the tale.
I worked with Harrison's son, Nigel - a writer - on a project about 30 years ago. All the stories you ever heard about Harrison are NOTHING compared to the truth. The son became a writer because it was the one thing the old man couldn't one-up him on.
didn't Noel Harrison make an attempt at being a recording artist for no more than a few months in the early '60s? or was that a different son? I know that one of his sons released a record or two.
That was Noel. Who also did "dinner theater" when I knew him, using his father's reputation.
Alan Jay Lerner wrote a book touching on his life and the three biggest musicals he wrote with Fritz Loewe (one of Lerner's eight wives, Nancy Olson Livingston, the last surviving cast member from "Sunset Boulevard," has out her autobiography, and I've read some of it--she was just interviewed on Orange Hitler loving the film and the similarities between him and Norma Desmond--or is it Carol Burnett's spoof of her?). Anyway, he said that he loved Harrison, but that he could suddenly change for no reason. I wonder if he had an undiagnosed mental health issue. And then I don't wonder.
Where was the interview?
The Washington Post, I believe, did a story on his love for the movie and they talked to her about it.
I just read an article about the Nancy Olson book on Yahoo News. what hit me, very personally, was that she was also married to Alan Livingston (born Levinson), who headed Capitol Records; the genius who refused to release the first two Beatles albums because he couldn't imagine they had any sales potential. in 1965 (the summer I saw "Cat Ballou" in Denver), I was in a writers' workshop in Aspen with his son, Peter. Peter was Byronic, even down to the limp (hemophilia had eroded his ankle bone). he wrote a lot of bad but very flashy pseudo-Ginsberg, which garnered him a LOT of female attention. he was also a nasty, cruel scumbag who took a pathological delight in insulting me, so I obviously remember him well. and every time I see his dad's name (or that of his uncle, who wrote the lyric to "Che Sera Sera"), I get a tiny shudder of what I nowadays could say was PTSD but which I prefer to call "loathing." he was all set to be a literary superstar but didn't get there. hahaha.
and Alan Jay Lerner was no bargain, either...he had to wear gloves because his amphetamine addiction caused him to chew on his fingers until they were chronically infected. speed is not a drug to foster great relationships. I mean, like, EIGHT wives? it puts him in Artie Shaw territory.
Uncle Jay Livingston wrote a LOT of songs, and he and his partner Ray Evans actually had a cameo in the movie with Olson. At any rate, she and her husband apparently were active in Democratic causes, as was Lerner. One nice thing we can say for those two guys.
Lerner wrote the song "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life." That described him well. At least he wrote some great musicals.
yes, that he did.
I always LOVED Nancy Olson and have always been surprised that she faded so quickly after the '50s. if she liked Harrison, she's probably the only one left who'll say it. in a long interview accompanying the DVD of his great television "Hamlet" from 1964 (in which, btw, Michael Caine is the greatest Horatio of all time), Christopher Plummer is full of horrifying Harrison stories. horrifying.
thing is, I remember talking to several people who worked backstage on various Christopher Plummer plays, and they ALL said that Plummer could be a real prick close-up. stuff like slapping dressers, cursing out stage managers, etc. I'll bet there are many, many people who worked on "My Fair Lady" whose stories could make paint peel, but I can't imagine any of them are left to tell the tale.
Even the son is gone, I believe. Noel, not Nigel. 30 years, what can I say?
I believe she decided to devote herself to motherhood, as too many women were expected to do then. She had a long and happy second marriage.