Thursday, July 05, 2007
George Melly dies on schedule
The wonderful George Melly has popped off at 80 - good age considering all the illneses he wrote so entertainingly about over the years. He was due to die this year according to the evil Death List website. Other famous people expected to die this year include Gore Vidal (I think not), Ariel Sharon (could linger yet), Bill Deedes (the very idea!), Harold Pinter (" ") and Olivia de Havilland ("Who's she?" I can hear Daughter-of-a-bitch mewing, as her mummy cuts up her asparagus spear). I must write to Olivia for a final interview and get her to bitch about her sister Joan Fontaine.
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5 comments:
Please do contact Olivia de Havilland - but also and preferably her sister Joan Fontaine. They were born in Tokyo and their father was an eccentric Cambridge rowing blue. I've wanted to interview Joan Fontaine for a while, not only because of 'Rebecca' but also because of 'Letter From An Unknown Woman'. But these old gals refuse because of their appearance, so an online interview would provide the perfect veil of respect. In a lesser galaxy, I've tried and failed to interview Googie Withers and Dulcie Grey. Is Joan still alive? If so, where and how? The very idea spangles the air.
Best wishes, Duncan Fallowell
Joan is still quite active and lectures periodically. Olivia's not that well, alas; but what keeps them both alive is the thought of being outlasted by the other. It's one of the great feuds of Hollywood, as we all know, but I won't allow that to stop me repeating the statement. I'll keep you posted.
Oops, that should be 'Dulcie Gray'. I'll never get her now.
I'm not on this scurrilous death list so cheerio to everyone else.
Is DIck Fontaine (urbane head of Docs at Britain's National FIlm School and some time enfant terrible of 60s British TV) related to Joan, or is her surname a pseudonym? His, bizarrely, isn't. His son, a hip-hop writer, is called Smokey.
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