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Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Oliver Reed
Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, and Oliver Reed: On screen they were stars. Off screen they were legends. Hellraisers is the story of drunken binges of near biblical proportions, parties and orgies, broken marriages, riots, and wanton sexual conquests. Indeed acts so outrageous that if you or I had perpetrated them we could have ended up in jail. They got away with the kind of behaviour that today’s film stars could scarcely dream of, because of their mercurial acting talent and because the press and public loved them. They were truly the last of a breed.
Hellraisers is a celebratory catalogue of their miscreant deeds, a greatest hits package of their most breathtakingly outrageous behavior, told with humor and affection. You can’t help but enjoy it—after all, they certainly did.
286 pages, Hardcover
First published May 29, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
April 10, 2010
This is an odd book. It's basically a collection of anecdotes from the drinking lives of four amazing actors. The anecdotes pretty much follow one basic form: Person X got really drunk, did something stupid, doesn't remember it, doesn't regret it. There is a slight variation where Person X remembers it and regrets it, but this variation doesn't occur often. It's slightly different for each man - with Richard Harris and Oliver Reed there is a fight of some kind, with Richard Burton there is also Elizabeth Taylor (who drank as much or more than he did), and with Peter O'Toole there is always a bon mot. In the end the endless repetition of dumb activities reads like a great advertisement for a 12-step program - the pursuit of fun is all so desperate and boring and soulkilling. I'm a bit undecided as to whether or not this reaction is by design or not - the author is so absent and deadpan it's difficult to know what he might think.
I was reminded of reading Touched with Fire, Kay Redfield Jamison's study of artists and bipolar disease. She neatly punctures the idea that madness and art are romantically and inextricably intertwined and instead dares to wonder how much these individuals might have accomplished had they not suffered from depression. Anyone who has ever been through a severe depression knows that there's nothing romantic or even remotely creative about it. When getting out of bed is your biggest achievement for the day it's hard to produce anything other than tears. I was left to wonder what they all might have been without the booze. It's telling that Peter O'Toole, the only one forced to quit drinking due to health concerns, is the only one of the four still alive.
I was reminded of reading Touched with Fire, Kay Redfield Jamison's study of artists and bipolar disease. She neatly punctures the idea that madness and art are romantically and inextricably intertwined and instead dares to wonder how much these individuals might have accomplished had they not suffered from depression. Anyone who has ever been through a severe depression knows that there's nothing romantic or even remotely creative about it. When getting out of bed is your biggest achievement for the day it's hard to produce anything other than tears. I was left to wonder what they all might have been without the booze. It's telling that Peter O'Toole, the only one forced to quit drinking due to health concerns, is the only one of the four still alive.
April 27, 2010
If you think you drink a lot, well, you probably do. But if you think you drink a lot compared to these cinematic icons, then it's a miracle that you haven't been in a coma since 1987. Utterly insane tales of drunken debauchery from some of your favorite actors is what this book sets out to provide, and for the most part, succeeds in. Personally, I wish that there was more info regarding what happened on specific films (only two bloody paragraphs on
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
?!), but that's just me. People seem to knock this book for culling from too many already published biographies, but the author did interview a bunch of people as well, including one of my favorite directors of all time, Richard Lester. And the gory details just don't stop: Anthony Hopkins used to be a bottle-of-tequila-a-day black out drunk, Elizabeth Taylor delighted in whispering "fuck you and you and you" to fans as she waved from her car, Richard Burton drank so much his spinal column was coated in crystallized booze, and much more. So if you ever hear a friend--who's maybe having a crap day at work or going through a rough breakup--utter the words, "I'm about to get as drunk as Peter O'Toole," you might want to think about staging an intervention instead of buying them a shot.
September 15, 2011
This book wore me out. Just reading about the frenetic pace at which these men lived their lives was exhausting.
Yes, I feel like I know a lot more about these men when I finished the book than I did when I started - was any of it anything I really needed to know? I'm not sure.
More than the endless repetitive stories of boozing and brawling, I would have enjoyed reading about their careers - but that's not what this book was designed to be.
The book served it's purpose well - to tell us about the Hellraisers - but after a while I felt like I was just reading about the same drunken brawl, over and over and over, looping into eternity.
Yes, I feel like I know a lot more about these men when I finished the book than I did when I started - was any of it anything I really needed to know? I'm not sure.
More than the endless repetitive stories of boozing and brawling, I would have enjoyed reading about their careers - but that's not what this book was designed to be.
The book served it's purpose well - to tell us about the Hellraisers - but after a while I felt like I was just reading about the same drunken brawl, over and over and over, looping into eternity.
March 9, 2010
A totally uninteresting boring recount of 4 men who spent most of their lives in a drunken stupor. While they claim to love life, they were so drunk that they did not remember much of theirs, and caused a great deal of distress to many people around them both known and unknown. It quickly becomes a very tiresome read.
February 11, 2015
The author clearly loves the subjects of this book, but though I enjoyed it, I started to wonder if their allure would hold in this day and age. The book covers four hellraisers, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed. All of them were talented actors who lost years of their lives to booze, seemingly without regret. While I agree with the author they were great actors, I think part of the reason for the nostalgia is that, in our digital age where everyone has a camera, all that was available to describe their exploits were words. They created great stories for people to tell. That made it easier to add a dash of fun and glamour to the whole business. Enjoy the stories, because we just won't get to have stars like this anymore withTMZ and US magazine. Sometimes, telling is better than showing.
December 28, 2022
This is a fun, easy read - tells each of the actors' stories in bite size chunks split into decades. All written in an irreverent, fun, matey tone, the book is great company.
Most amazing to me, even as a drinker, was the sheer volume of what these arch pissheads were putting away in their prime - northwards of two bottle of spirits a day - and working!
Of course Sellers finds it hard to keep the jokey tone going for the whole book as professional alcoholics - sorry, hellraisers - while being entertaining are also tragic, but he does a decent job of keeping things light. The misogyny of each is the most jarring note and, as glossed over as it is, it does make the whole thing a wee bit hard to swallow.
Most amazing to me, even as a drinker, was the sheer volume of what these arch pissheads were putting away in their prime - northwards of two bottle of spirits a day - and working!
Of course Sellers finds it hard to keep the jokey tone going for the whole book as professional alcoholics - sorry, hellraisers - while being entertaining are also tragic, but he does a decent job of keeping things light. The misogyny of each is the most jarring note and, as glossed over as it is, it does make the whole thing a wee bit hard to swallow.
August 13, 2024
this was good, a fun read. very of its age what hoh. and it definitely is very reassuring for anyone who believes they drink more than others. during surgery doctors found Richard Burton's spine was encased in crystallized alcohol. don't worry about that second pint.
September 12, 2010
A Welshman, a Brit, and two Irishmen walk into a bar . . . . Robert Sellers's book on the drunken exploits of Burton, Harris, O'Toole and Reed often reads like a series of jokes and punchlines--probably because of Sellers's past as a standup comic. If you want credible biographies of these great men, look elswhwere. If you're looking for entertaining apocryphal anecdotes, this is the book for you.
December 31, 2016
Four talented actors who were alcoholic bullies that crapped on everyone around them. The author romanticizes their drunken antics. It's an entertaining read but it leaves you feeling as if you just enjoyed driving past a horrendous traffic accident.
May 31, 2011
I'm drunk I'm no one I'm drunk I'm famous I'm drunk I'm a jerk I'm drunk I'm dead.
February 5, 2015
Not a very dignified read, and the anecdotes of drunken mischief get numbing after a while. But if you have any affection for one or more of these gentlemen, you might get something out of it.
May 3, 2022
If you’ve ever wondered what sort of drunk nonsense the likes of Burton, Harris, O’Toole and Reed got up to in their heyday then you could do worse than read Hellraisers. On the surface it’s a roughly chronological group biography, but really it’s an anthology of anecdotes. Some of them had me wincing in disbelief, and a few are funny. It’s bracing and very readable.
The trouble with Hellraisers is that all those anecdotes are much of a muchness, and after 200 pages of it I was left almost as amnesiac as Harris was about most of his life. It starts to feel like an audience with Rowley Burkin, the muttering souse from The Fast Show who ends all his anecdotes with “I was very, very drunk.”
Then there’s the author’s stated aim not to “moralise”. This is perhaps fair enough if he’s only here to record this stuff, but then he’s hardly objective about it, clearly worshipping the revels of “our Dick” and company and at one point saying of Oliver Reed making a pass at a female interviewer, “can you blame him?” Well, yes mate. What a bizarre take. (Sellers’ habit of referring to any films he considers a failure, however right he may be, as “shit,” “crappy,” “lame” and “piss-poor” etc feels similarly mucky, like stumbling on an online comments section. If he can be bothered to critique movie choices and weigh in positively on drunk antics then this isn’t objective, in which case, why not engage with how nasty this all is?)
There’s very little analysis of why these people were the way they were, or how - just as remarkably - they survived that long when contemporaries like Robert Newton did the same stuff and perished. It’s a bit of a running theme, other actors going down in flames and that not registering with any of our foursome as like, I dunno, perhaps a sort of hint.
It should be celebrated that the likes of Burton could drink ruinously and then deliver a word-perfect performance. What makes that happen? Such a phenomenon is fascinating to me. But that’s not the point of Hellraisers, which comes from the POV that all of this (tanked careers, failed relationships, physical ruin) was worth it if it was a laugh. I dunno; it seems like there’s more to be said here than oft told, suspiciously-punchlined tales of piss ups. But if you want to know them, here they are.
The trouble with Hellraisers is that all those anecdotes are much of a muchness, and after 200 pages of it I was left almost as amnesiac as Harris was about most of his life. It starts to feel like an audience with Rowley Burkin, the muttering souse from The Fast Show who ends all his anecdotes with “I was very, very drunk.”
Then there’s the author’s stated aim not to “moralise”. This is perhaps fair enough if he’s only here to record this stuff, but then he’s hardly objective about it, clearly worshipping the revels of “our Dick” and company and at one point saying of Oliver Reed making a pass at a female interviewer, “can you blame him?” Well, yes mate. What a bizarre take. (Sellers’ habit of referring to any films he considers a failure, however right he may be, as “shit,” “crappy,” “lame” and “piss-poor” etc feels similarly mucky, like stumbling on an online comments section. If he can be bothered to critique movie choices and weigh in positively on drunk antics then this isn’t objective, in which case, why not engage with how nasty this all is?)
There’s very little analysis of why these people were the way they were, or how - just as remarkably - they survived that long when contemporaries like Robert Newton did the same stuff and perished. It’s a bit of a running theme, other actors going down in flames and that not registering with any of our foursome as like, I dunno, perhaps a sort of hint.
It should be celebrated that the likes of Burton could drink ruinously and then deliver a word-perfect performance. What makes that happen? Such a phenomenon is fascinating to me. But that’s not the point of Hellraisers, which comes from the POV that all of this (tanked careers, failed relationships, physical ruin) was worth it if it was a laugh. I dunno; it seems like there’s more to be said here than oft told, suspiciously-punchlined tales of piss ups. But if you want to know them, here they are.
April 16, 2020
I read this book the first week I got sober. Don't believe me? Fuck you. All actors and drunks should read this book immediately.
March 10, 2017
a fun read. interesting. kinda made me want to punch Oliver Reed in his stupid face. Peter O'Toole is a badass though.
September 7, 2023
Side splitting- heartbreaking and overall just a fantastic look into the life and times of individuals unlikely to ever remerge
December 23, 2011
Only one of these men is left alive, which is a pity. One may be able to tell a lot about how these men lived by how they died.
Richard Harris was living in the Savoy Hotel when he died of Hodgkins disease. As he was being wheeled out on a stretcher to an ambulance, he propped himself up on emaciated elbows and shouted "It's the food! Don't touch the food!" (270)
On May 2, 1999 while filming Gladiator in Malta, Oliver Reed was leaving a pub when he spotted a group of Royal Navy sailors. Reed "bellowed "let's have a drink" and downed 12 double measures of rum before he retreated to his more accustomed double whiskies. He also challenged the sailors to a number of arm wrestling contests and won several matches." He was 61 years old (264)
Richard Burton was plagued by a bad back in his later years; when undergoing surgery for the problem, it was found his spine was encased in crystallised alcohol. The night before he died of a cerebral hemorrhage, we wrote the following line from The Tempest on a napkin next to his bed: "Our revels are now ended." (230)
Much of what occupies this book is drink stories that one only sees in shitty movies. These guys did all of these things and more. This is by turns a funny and incredibly sad book. Ultimately what saves it is that these fuckers are so likable. The least likable is Oliver Reed, who was a violent chauvinist pig when drunk but a most generous man when sober. The most likable is, of course, Harris. Imagine what the kids would think if Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Gilderoy Lockhart engaged in a "pub invasion" and still being at it at 4 AM. By the 1990s, people were in awe of O'Toole and Harris, less so of Reed because he was unemployed and damn near broke.
Of course, what draws people to stories like this are two items. One, most of us could never hope to consume 2-3 bottles of vodka a day for six months (Harris, Burton) or drink 126 pints of beer in a 24 hour period (Reed). Two, these men are an antidote for our plasticine, bull shit celebrities of today. Harris openly mocked Hugh Grant, and once told Bruce Willis politely to "fuck off, I am talking to my ex-wife". The only one of today's movie stars that holds a candle to them is Russell Crowe. Harris made this comment about Crowe: "He irritates the shit out of those Hollywood bigwigs, but he's much to good for them to ignore." (267)
Crowe gets in fights, acts like an ass sometimes, but seems a decent enough fellow. In other words, he acts stunningly like a guy you would meet in a pub. The "Hellraisers" are genuine people, not about to be handled by publicists and studio douchebags. Burton went that route with Liz Taylor, and she comes out of this book looking like a booze-soaked old hag. Hollywood does not like real people, they like fake ones. Never was that so much in plain view as it was in this text. At his height in the 1950s, Burton could consume a fifth of brandy and still play Hamlet with little or no ill effects. Burton became a movie star and made some great films and some incredibly awful stinkbombs, but he had presence, as did the rest. What makes them awesome is not the amount of liquor they can drink or the women they can bed, but that they can function not only like human beings but like talented actors. That's why Harris bagged on Hugh Grant; Hugh Grant has played the same damned nitwit character in every movie since 1989. Harris played himself to the hilt, and it was the only role he never varied.
Richard Harris was living in the Savoy Hotel when he died of Hodgkins disease. As he was being wheeled out on a stretcher to an ambulance, he propped himself up on emaciated elbows and shouted "It's the food! Don't touch the food!" (270)
On May 2, 1999 while filming Gladiator in Malta, Oliver Reed was leaving a pub when he spotted a group of Royal Navy sailors. Reed "bellowed "let's have a drink" and downed 12 double measures of rum before he retreated to his more accustomed double whiskies. He also challenged the sailors to a number of arm wrestling contests and won several matches." He was 61 years old (264)
Richard Burton was plagued by a bad back in his later years; when undergoing surgery for the problem, it was found his spine was encased in crystallised alcohol. The night before he died of a cerebral hemorrhage, we wrote the following line from The Tempest on a napkin next to his bed: "Our revels are now ended." (230)
Much of what occupies this book is drink stories that one only sees in shitty movies. These guys did all of these things and more. This is by turns a funny and incredibly sad book. Ultimately what saves it is that these fuckers are so likable. The least likable is Oliver Reed, who was a violent chauvinist pig when drunk but a most generous man when sober. The most likable is, of course, Harris. Imagine what the kids would think if Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Gilderoy Lockhart engaged in a "pub invasion" and still being at it at 4 AM. By the 1990s, people were in awe of O'Toole and Harris, less so of Reed because he was unemployed and damn near broke.
Of course, what draws people to stories like this are two items. One, most of us could never hope to consume 2-3 bottles of vodka a day for six months (Harris, Burton) or drink 126 pints of beer in a 24 hour period (Reed). Two, these men are an antidote for our plasticine, bull shit celebrities of today. Harris openly mocked Hugh Grant, and once told Bruce Willis politely to "fuck off, I am talking to my ex-wife". The only one of today's movie stars that holds a candle to them is Russell Crowe. Harris made this comment about Crowe: "He irritates the shit out of those Hollywood bigwigs, but he's much to good for them to ignore." (267)
Crowe gets in fights, acts like an ass sometimes, but seems a decent enough fellow. In other words, he acts stunningly like a guy you would meet in a pub. The "Hellraisers" are genuine people, not about to be handled by publicists and studio douchebags. Burton went that route with Liz Taylor, and she comes out of this book looking like a booze-soaked old hag. Hollywood does not like real people, they like fake ones. Never was that so much in plain view as it was in this text. At his height in the 1950s, Burton could consume a fifth of brandy and still play Hamlet with little or no ill effects. Burton became a movie star and made some great films and some incredibly awful stinkbombs, but he had presence, as did the rest. What makes them awesome is not the amount of liquor they can drink or the women they can bed, but that they can function not only like human beings but like talented actors. That's why Harris bagged on Hugh Grant; Hugh Grant has played the same damned nitwit character in every movie since 1989. Harris played himself to the hilt, and it was the only role he never varied.
February 3, 2014
Just about what I thought it would be: capsule reviews of the lives of four of the British Isles' greatest actors and drinkers. And if it occasionally feels repetitive, in a "then he made this movie, and drank this, and wrecked this bar/hotel/etc.," it still reminded me of some great performances in some great movies (Harris in "Unforgiven," for example). There is also plenty of talk about wasted talent, but each, for the most part, gave interviews in which they admitted they loved every minute of their wild years and wouldn't have changed a thing. All but Burton had an opportunity for some late in life career renaissance (Oliver Reed really didn't do a good movie from "Tommy" to "Gladiator," unless you count "Baron Munchausen," which Sellers apparently doesn't, as it isn't mentioned here.). But Burton threw all his talent away to be with the most beautiful woman in the world, so who can blame him?
Peter O'Toole is probably my least favorite of the four, although I loved "My Favorite Year" when I was a teenager (I watched it again recently, and was sad to find it didn't hold up for me.); he actually passed away while this book was in my to-read pile on my nightstand. And God bless Richard Harris for giving us his son Jared, who was so great as Lane Pryce on "Mad Men." Rest in peace, hellraisers!
Peter O'Toole is probably my least favorite of the four, although I loved "My Favorite Year" when I was a teenager (I watched it again recently, and was sad to find it didn't hold up for me.); he actually passed away while this book was in my to-read pile on my nightstand. And God bless Richard Harris for giving us his son Jared, who was so great as Lane Pryce on "Mad Men." Rest in peace, hellraisers!
May 26, 2010
Tales of wretched excess: these actors spent most of their days drunk as skunks getting into all kinds of mischief--much of which they couldn't remember. But they all made indelible marks during the 50's, 60's, and 70's when they were in their heyday. A lot of what went on with these guys (Richard Burton, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris and lone survivor, Peter O'Toole)off stage caused bruises on my chin from my jaw dropping so often (and I felt a bit woozy from all the vicarious boozing)--but after a while, the legacy of their excesses and their attempts to stay on various wagons was wrenching; doctors operating on Richard Burton, towards the end of his life, discovered that his spinal column was coated with crystalized alcohol; marriages were shattered; careers evaporated. In the end, all of them are and will be remembered fondly for the brief shining moments of their acting lives--and that they had a hell of a time.
The chapter titles give an idea what the reader is in for:
"The Plastered Fifties", "The Soused Sixties", "The Sozzled Seventies", "The Blotto Eighties", and "The Pickled Nineties". (burp)
The chapter titles give an idea what the reader is in for:
"The Plastered Fifties", "The Soused Sixties", "The Sozzled Seventies", "The Blotto Eighties", and "The Pickled Nineties". (burp)
October 22, 2010
If there was a Mount Rushmore for drunks, these guys would be on it, probably along with Liz Taylor. Anecdotes out the wazoo on the drinking lives of these guys, and a lot of it gets repetitive at times, especially with Oliver Reed's antics. I just thought I knew what a heavy drinker was, until I read this book. Whew! Somewhat sad and sobering but it also had numerous belly laughs throughout. Reading this was like seeing a bad train or car accident. You know you shouldn't but you just can't keep from looking and at the same time being glad you're not a victim. In this case just being glad you're not a boozer. These guys left quite a trail of empty bottles and broken relationships. Numerous stories include John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Robert Mitchum, Lee Marvin, Russel Crowe, Rex Harrison, Keith Moon and many, many others of stage and screen.
February 19, 2015
While I enjoyed the tidbits of Hollywood stars gossip on some of my favorite actors (not just the main four on the cover but many others as well), for the most part this book was just "he got drunk, he did damage, he didn't learn his lesson, he drank again." Sure, that was essentially the point of a book about four alcoholics, so we shouldn't be surprised. I did like how it covered their movie careers in chronological order, but I would have loved more details about the making of those movies. Guess that's to be found in other books. If you're a fan of old movies or in the acting business and appreciate this era of greats, I would still recommend it, though.
April 4, 2010
This is nothing but 350 pages of anecdotes, but it was darned entertaining. My life has been enriched now that I know that Peter O'Toole once smuggled a pair of valuable earrings out of Egypt in his foreskin.
June 11, 2010
Goes down easy, like a tumbler of good bourbon.
The best parts of the book were the segments on Richard Harris, a mean-spirited, violent, and cruel drunk who managed to transform himself into an occasional tippler of Guinness, and more importantly, Albus Dumbledore.
The best parts of the book were the segments on Richard Harris, a mean-spirited, violent, and cruel drunk who managed to transform himself into an occasional tippler of Guinness, and more importantly, Albus Dumbledore.
April 20, 2021
Reading ‘Hellraisers’ was meant as a guilty mindless pleasure. It is not a biography or even a reputable historical piece. Mr. Sellers’s work is the stuff of gossip columns. The book does not have a section citing sources like all respectable historical works do. I normally shy away from such nonfiction books, but three of the men covered (Burton, Harris, O’Toole) I found the press coverage of their alcohol shenanigans to be amusing when I was in my teens during the 1970s. Also, less than a month ago, I saw a brief interview with the old Richard Harris in which the alcoholic said he didn’t regret even one drop of what he’d done in his life. I found it was an odd shallow statement from a notoriously reckless man. Mr. Sellers shows, however, Mr. Harris did occasionally regret some of his drunken actions… or at least when he remembered what he did while on a bender.
Even if a quarter of the stuff covered in ‘Hellraisers’ is true, these guys sure weren’t candidates for sainthood. Mr. Sellers recalls their adventures in a wink-nod sort of way. He implies it was all in good fun. The author appears to be indifferent to the boozy troublemakers’ victims or wanton destruction beyond it being great material for a book. Mr. Sellers skims over their respective childhoods as excuses for Burton’s, Harris’s, O’Toole’s, and Reed’s lifestyle choices. Infidelity was also as natural and common to them as breathing. There are cameos from other Hollywood alcoholics who crossed paths with the four men. The movie industry during their heydays is represented as a chaotic place that was crawling with philandering alcoholics. Mr. Sellers’s usage of British terms had this American reader often looking up their meaning. The four alcoholics were products of their times in which male chauvinism was the standard. They all believed nondrinkers were bores and pub brawls were common. Their deaths are covered from the perspective of their relationship with alcohol. The book includes 16 pages of black-and-white photos.
‘Hellraisers’ is nowhere near a respectable biography about any of the four guys. Look somewhere else for more well-rounded books about their respective lives. However, the superficial book occasionally caused me to laugh out loud which was what I was looking to achieve. It was an entertaining read. If you come away from reading ‘Hellraisers’ thinking the Four Lushketeers are excellent role models, you, my friend, have a friggin’ problem.
Even if a quarter of the stuff covered in ‘Hellraisers’ is true, these guys sure weren’t candidates for sainthood. Mr. Sellers recalls their adventures in a wink-nod sort of way. He implies it was all in good fun. The author appears to be indifferent to the boozy troublemakers’ victims or wanton destruction beyond it being great material for a book. Mr. Sellers skims over their respective childhoods as excuses for Burton’s, Harris’s, O’Toole’s, and Reed’s lifestyle choices. Infidelity was also as natural and common to them as breathing. There are cameos from other Hollywood alcoholics who crossed paths with the four men. The movie industry during their heydays is represented as a chaotic place that was crawling with philandering alcoholics. Mr. Sellers’s usage of British terms had this American reader often looking up their meaning. The four alcoholics were products of their times in which male chauvinism was the standard. They all believed nondrinkers were bores and pub brawls were common. Their deaths are covered from the perspective of their relationship with alcohol. The book includes 16 pages of black-and-white photos.
‘Hellraisers’ is nowhere near a respectable biography about any of the four guys. Look somewhere else for more well-rounded books about their respective lives. However, the superficial book occasionally caused me to laugh out loud which was what I was looking to achieve. It was an entertaining read. If you come away from reading ‘Hellraisers’ thinking the Four Lushketeers are excellent role models, you, my friend, have a friggin’ problem.
March 12, 2018
This is the 'story' of four of the greatest actors of their generation; Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris and Oliver Reed - told through the lens of alcohol. If you know anything about the history of these four they were, to put in a mild form, drinkers of phenomenal stamina. Robert Sellers, the author, had trawled the biographies, autobiographies of the four and interviewed close friends and colleagues to lay out their careers and the insanity that drink had on it all. As reads go it's addictive (no pun intended). It roll out story after story - and when I say story after story I'm talking hundreds of anecdotes and tales - about the four. Some so insane that you have to wonder at the veracity of them.
I liked this book but two major issues arose. The author has chosen to tell this all chronologically and to do so moves from one actor's story to the next in sequence. A few pages on one actor, a few on the next one and so on - throughout the book. Good as the tale telling is I look back on the work and I'm struggling to remember what story related to what actor. It's all a bit of a blur. It's also relentless and, at times repetitive, if Oliver Reed displays his private parts once in public he did it daily - and although funny at first it wears thin. Then again if you want a summer read that just makes you keep saying 'What the f@£$ - then this is it.
I liked this book but two major issues arose. The author has chosen to tell this all chronologically and to do so moves from one actor's story to the next in sequence. A few pages on one actor, a few on the next one and so on - throughout the book. Good as the tale telling is I look back on the work and I'm struggling to remember what story related to what actor. It's all a bit of a blur. It's also relentless and, at times repetitive, if Oliver Reed displays his private parts once in public he did it daily - and although funny at first it wears thin. Then again if you want a summer read that just makes you keep saying 'What the f@£$ - then this is it.
January 31, 2021
"I formed a new group called Alcoholics-Unanimous. If you don't feel like a drink, you ring another member and he comes over to persuade you."--Richard Harris
A very fun collection of anecdotes, less "written" by Robert Sellers than "compiled" by. Reads a bit like the IMDB Trivia page, only with a somewhat solid underlying structure; this is a book about four famous thespians (Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole & Oliver Reed), equally famous for both their extraordinary acting talents and their nausiating drinking habits. Here you'll find story after impressive story of these stars packing away the booze as if it was a superpower, blowing clocks off walls with shotguns, totalling Rolls-Royces, throwing tables through plate glass windows, screwing with Michael Caine, & generally leaving waves of destruction in their wakes. Immensely repetitive, but then again it appears their lives were much the same: only so many ways you can get drunk over the course of an entire lifetime. That only O'Toole lived to see an average lifetime out of the four is the real kicker, I suppose.
A very fun collection of anecdotes, less "written" by Robert Sellers than "compiled" by. Reads a bit like the IMDB Trivia page, only with a somewhat solid underlying structure; this is a book about four famous thespians (Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole & Oliver Reed), equally famous for both their extraordinary acting talents and their nausiating drinking habits. Here you'll find story after impressive story of these stars packing away the booze as if it was a superpower, blowing clocks off walls with shotguns, totalling Rolls-Royces, throwing tables through plate glass windows, screwing with Michael Caine, & generally leaving waves of destruction in their wakes. Immensely repetitive, but then again it appears their lives were much the same: only so many ways you can get drunk over the course of an entire lifetime. That only O'Toole lived to see an average lifetime out of the four is the real kicker, I suppose.
August 30, 2020
I’m sure the subjects of this book would think me a terrible joyless bore, but ultimately I found this book rather sad. Page after page of actors getting so drunk that they attack people, trash places and then fall asleep wherever they happen to land. Assuring the reader over and over again how much they enjoyed themselves and how much fun it was, although all of them cannot remember huge blocks of time. How they really knew how to have a good time, while their wives stayed home looking after the kids, who according to one anecdote didn’t even recognise his own father because he was never there. I was interested when Richard Harris got cross on a chat show after someone describing him and his friends as drunks, arguing that there was more to their accomplishments than that. But I wonder if there was? Oliver Reed was a wasted career, ironically his last ever performance probably one of his best. The book itself tells us that yes, these men had one or two extraordinary performances but the rest of the films they made essentially were garbage. I would say that these were drinkers who occasionally acted but imagine what they could have been.
June 26, 2022
I have to declare before I start, that I've always had a man-crush on Richard Burton. The man was an absolute legend.
This book is about his legendary drunkenness, along with Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and another favourite of mine, Oliver Reed. All four of them were well known for being very drunk a lot of the time, difficult to work with, violent, womanising, impossible to live with (ask their ex wives), but geniuses in their art. What is not to admire?
Sellers takes us on a well humoured walk through the decades of their drunken debauchery, of their successes and of their failures. It is a wild ride.
Sadly at the time of the writing, the only one still alive was Peter O'Toole (sadly also now passed), and after going on the adventure with them throughout the pages, I admit sadness at their premature ends detailed here.
The don't make actors like this anymore, and the world is worse for it.
This book is about his legendary drunkenness, along with Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and another favourite of mine, Oliver Reed. All four of them were well known for being very drunk a lot of the time, difficult to work with, violent, womanising, impossible to live with (ask their ex wives), but geniuses in their art. What is not to admire?
Sellers takes us on a well humoured walk through the decades of their drunken debauchery, of their successes and of their failures. It is a wild ride.
Sadly at the time of the writing, the only one still alive was Peter O'Toole (sadly also now passed), and after going on the adventure with them throughout the pages, I admit sadness at their premature ends detailed here.
The don't make actors like this anymore, and the world is worse for it.
November 2, 2018
The lives of some incredibly talented (and incredibly stupid) people chronicled here-all the carousing and comparatively uncivilized things rich drunken sots can get up to are chronicled here. They might have been assholes, but, they were never boring> But you know? You'll never read much about serious hardcore stoners pulling some of the crap these dense old alkies set about. Maybe someday in the future people will see the comparable cultures of the Rake and the Rope and see - alcohol definitely leads to a path of self- and social-destruction. As old Akbar of Afghanistan said "the man on hashish will be laughing and joking with you at the end of the night- the drunkard on wine will maybe even end up trying to kill you. Couldn't be more evidence needed than a look at these tragic actors' lives.
October 28, 2020
I suppose it's a train wreck that we admire these reckless men. Going into it, I liked Harris the best but learned that he could be equally dangerous and unaccountable. I found Burton to be mysterious but probably the most self destructive of the four. Burton would never fill the bottomless void he was feeling. O'Toole is the one I knew the least about but if there's a redeemable guy in this foursome, Peter was forced to quit drinking early and feels the most harmless. I was repulsed the most about Oliver Reed whose tense David Letterman show appearance is on Youtube and deserves a look. I'd also like to see Castaway as the trailers look like an art film but is hard to find on DVD in the USA. I feel like I read one of the stories twice when Oliver Reed put perfume into someones drink and made them sick.
May 16, 2018
"Hellraisers" takes an inside look at the wild and boozy careers of four of England's greatest actors. It is filled with hilarious anecdotes - many from the Actors themselves - which show how they lived in the fast lane but still gave some of the great performances of their generation! - This is a fast and funny read, and a fascinating look at the lives of some of our most famous Actors. https://johnrieber.com/2018/05/16/the...
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