Drink Now, Pay Later

After retiring to her room with a cold compress on her forehead, the Siren felt a little bit better. As long as the Criterion Collection is out there, a chance exists that she will someday see Blowup. All of Blowup.

Seeing that movie again did prompt another train of thought. The actors who came out of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1960s were phenomenonally good-looking. They were also complete boozehounds. Sad to observe this parade of gifted men who wrecked their looks and (sometimes) their talents with too much hooch on too many occasions.

So, even though no contemporary actor will probably ever see this (Russell, Leonardo, I'm talking to you), the Siren has compiled a rough photo essay as a sort of memento mori. Mind you, no one will ever mistake the Siren for Carrie Nation, and she doesn't expect footwashed-Baptist-style temperance from your average thespian.

All she is saying is that drinking entire film crews under the camera crane might not be such a great idea, either.

Exhibit A: David Hemmings, born 1941. Top, in Blowup, 1966. Bottom, at the Gladiator premiere in 2000.

Exhibit B: Peter O'Toole, born 1932. Left, in Lawrence of Arabia, 1965. Right, in My Favorite Year, 1982. 

Exhibit C: Oliver Reed, born 1938. Left, in The System 1964. Right, in Condorman, 1981. 

Exhibit D: Richard Harris, born 1930. Left, in This Sporting Life, 1963. Right, publicity shot for his song "Macarthur Park," 1968. 

Exhibit E: Richard Burton, born 1925. (Slightly older, yes, but an essay on actors and drinking without Burton is like an essay on Italy and cooking without tomato sauce.) Left, in The Robe, 1953. Right, in Equus, 1977. 

Exhibit F: The control specimen. Famously health-conscious, teetotaling Terence Stamp, born 1939. Left, in Billy Budd, 1962. Center, publicity shot, circa Wall Street, 1987. Right, My Boss's Daughter, 2003.