Bet you didn't know that...

I just got a copy of the book Hollywood Trivia by Aubrey Malone from Drs. Willie Ong (who writes a health column for this paper) and his wife Liza. The book compiles “over 300 Curious Lists from Tinseltown.” As a gesture of appreciation to Willie and Liza, I am sharing with Funfare readers a few of those “curious lists.”

Here they are:

♦ STARDOOM (10 celebrities who died in accidents)

• Vic Morrow — Decapitated by the rotor blade of a helicopter when filming Twilight Zone: The Movie (1981) after a special-effects explosion went horribly wrong.

• Jayne Mansfield — Also decapitated, in a horrific car crash when she was only 34.

• Jeffrey Hunter — Died after a fall in his house at the age of 44. (Note: Hunter was the star of the Hollywood movie No Man Is An Island in which his leading lady is our very own Barbara Perez. — RFL)

• James Dean (photo) — Broke his neck in September 1955 in a horrific car crash days after the filming of Giant ended. (The director had prohibited him from driving until then, being only too aware of Dean’s penchant for speed.)

• Carole Lombard — Killed in a plane crash at the age of 34, leaving a devastated Clark Gable behind.

• Grace Kelly — Plunged 120 feet to her death in 1982 after her brakes failed. Ironically, the accident happened in the place where Kelly had shot a scene from To Catch A Thief (1955) years before.

• Leslie Howard — Shot down by German fighters in 1943 on a flight where he was rumored to be a decoy for Winston Churchhill.

• Natalie Wood — Victim of mysterious drowning in November 1981 after an apparent argument between Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken, co-star of her last movie, Brainstorm, released two years later.

• Alan J. Pakula — This acclaimed director died in November 1998, when he lost control of his car after a metal pipe flew into his windscreen. He was pronounced dead an hour later.

• Butterfly McQueen — Winner of an Oscar in 1939 for her part in Gone with the Wind, she was burned to death trying to light a lantern in 1995.

* * *

♦  DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (10 actor anagrams)

• Clint Eastwood — Old West action

• Marlon Brando (photo) — Alarm! Don born

• Woody Allen — A lewd loony

• Warren Beatty —Watery banter

• Sean Connery (photo) — On any screen

• Tom Cruise — I’m so cuter

• Leonardo DiCaprio — Adored in cool pair

• Michael Douglas — Eh! I am a cold slug

• Mel Gibson — Limbs ‘n’ ego

• Dustin Hoffman — Offhand, I’m nuts

* * *

♦  STAR-CROSSED (10 film folk who share identical dates of birth)             

• Marlon Brando and Doris Day (April 3, 1924)

• David Hemmings and Juliet Mills (Nov. 21, 1941)

• Meryl Streep and Lindsay Wagner (June 22, 1949)

•Sylvester Stallone (photo) and Burt Ward (July 6, 1946)

• Ben Kingsley and Sarah Miles (Dec. 31, 1943)

• Albert Finney and Glenda Jackson (May 9, 1936)

• George Peppard and Laurence Harvey (Oct. 1, 1928)

• Karen Black and Genevieve Bujold (July 1, 1942)

• Stephen Boyd and Gina Lollobrigida (July 4, 1928)

• Jean-Luc Godard and Broderick Crawford (Dec. 9, 1911)

* * *

♦  IT’S A MAD, MAD WORLD (15 bizarre things that stars have done)

• Emilio Estevez — Says that he’s seen Jaws (1975) more than 70 times.

• Kenneth Williams — Was so private that he wouldn’t even allow visitors to use his bathroom.

• Warren Beatty — Claims to have memorized the complete works of Eugene O’Neill.

• Cecil B. De Mille — A foot fetishist, he spent hours fondling the feet of his ingenues.

• Madonna (photo) — She once dyed her hair a different color every day of the week.

• Tony Curtis — At a premiere once he gave his automobile keys to the doorman and told him to keep the vehicle; he thought that was the hip thing to do.

• Larry Hagman — Has been known to celebrate American Independence Day by heading a parade along a beach in a gorilla skin, banging a drum.

• Johnny Depp — Tattoed “Winona Forever” on his arm when he was engaged to Winona Ryder. When their relationship broke up, he had some of the letters removed. It now reads, “Wino Forever.”

• Anthony Quinn — During his boxing years, he ran half a mile backwards every day.

• Dolly Parton — Loves to buy fitness videos and then sit watching them while eating cookies.

•Sophia Loren (photo) — Derives great pleasure from rolling her bare feet over a wooden rolling pin while watching TV.

• Jayne Mansfield — Had practically everything in her house colored pink, including the water in her bathtub which comprised pink champagne.

• Robert Redford — Books whole rows of seats on plane trips so that he won’t have to talk to other passengers.

• Cary Grant — Had a penchant for keeping buttons and assorted pieces of string.

• Howard Hughes — Toward the end of his life he kept all his urine in jars which were always carefully labeled and catalogued.

(Note: More “curious lists” in the not-so-distant future issue. Thank you again, Drs. Willie and Liza Ong.)

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