CDAN – June 20, 2007: I’ve heard this before, and allegedly Very Bad Things is loosely based on it to some extent. However, I always thought of it as a Hollywood legend until I recently met someone in the producer’s family. When I say family, there is one widow and one child. No other family. None. A fairly minor producer died within the past month or so. It wasn’t really noteworthy for the most part, but there were three or four very happy actors to see him pass. All of the actors are aging, but not George Burns old or anything. In fact, they are still A list at least by reputation. Could they carry a movie OR television show on their own anymore? Probably not. Are they regularly in movies AND television? Yes. See, back in the day there was a party like you could only have in Hollywood’s glory days. Martinis, cigars and lots of beautiful women. Well it turns out that one of the beautiful women didn’t go home at the end of the night. There was some incident involving either five or six actors. Two have died. Not knowing what to do, these actors got a studio gofer, now our dead producer and told him to get rid of the body and not tell anyone about it or tell anyone where the body was buried. Throughout the remainder of the producer’s life, these actors took care of him, but were always afraid he would spill the secret because he was the only one who knew where the body was buried. No body, no case. Now, they are just worried that something will show up in the estate sale and some person will stumble onto a letter or some other evidence hidden in a desk drawer which will come back to haunt them. Maybe that’s why one of the actors offered to buy the house with everything in it at a price that is twice what the place is worth. Still waiting to see if it will be accepted, but there won’t be an estate sale yet for sure. The actors think they are being careful and that their true motives are unknown. Not at all the case, but the producer’s widow is happy to take their money and be done with it. One hint is they have all been in at least one western. Although it could be on television OR in a movie.
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Why is this a blind item? It sounds like the sort of thing that needs to be sent to the police!
I have found this producer, Richard Goldstone, but there is no information on his family anywhere, which I find rather odd, as if it’s been sanitized. Not even a Wikapedia page. Everything else about it fits.
http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/obituary-richard-goldstone-1912-2007/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0326371/
Also, no obit appeared anywhere until 2009. Odd, don’t you think?
Likely so the house could be sold safely and the lawyers met terms with one another. If this is true, the evidence now will be notably destroyed so the BI can be released without worry.
And look through this list of actors who were all in “Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary: No Guts, No Glory (1998) (TV)” directed by Richard Goldstone. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310339/
He also produced shows starring Glenn Ford, Karl Maulden, Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Ryan O’neal, & Paul Langdon, and many many others throughout his career.
Wow…interesting!
Okay, no idea, but this shouldn’t be a blind item, it should be reported to the police. If it’s true at all.
Western actors?! Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Wayne, Stewart, Cooper, Fonda, Kirk Douglas, William Holden, Tim Holt, Robert Mitchum, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, James Garner, Eastwood…
Like the guess… they are all A list at least on reputation…
Some possible actors: Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken and Nicolson seem like good guesses. What about Robert Wagner? Has he ever been in a western? Warren Beatty has been in a western. I could see him being involved.
If Walken and Wagner were involved, it would be chilling!
Chilling, because there’s a new book out about their involvement with Natalie Wood on the night she drowned.
The book is by the yacht’s captain, who was also there on that fateful night.
One of the actors is Clint Eastwood.
I’d heard this about Jerry Lewis, but…no. Clint Eastwood, I agree, and/or Steve McQueen.
This old tired rumor again. Really?
I haven’t the foggiest, but Very Bad Things is one of my favorite movies, so I’m very intruiged…will keep checking back at everyones guesses
Who is the ‘fairly minor producer who died within the last month’?
I googled “producer died” and came up with Bernie Brillstein (although his death was August 2008), Daniel Melnick (Oct 16) and John Kenley (Oct 23) but it looks like he did all theater.
Look at the date. This blind is from June 2007 so the producer died around that time.
I’d go with Melnick. Worked on a fair number of films between 60s and 90s. Not particularly famous which would explain the “minor”.
I was leaning his way too but his NYTimes obit listed two children and two grandchildren and his circle of friends doesnt exactly strike me as the one referred to: “Mr. Melnick’s centrality in Hollywood doings was suggested by the monthly poker games he held at his home for years. The regulars included Johnny Carson, Steve Martin, Neil Simon, Chevy Chase, Carl Reiner and Barry Diller.”
Only one I saw for 2007 who could fit that was Sidney Sheldon, wife, one dau but 2 grandkids; hes better known as a writer but did some producing – I Dream of Jeannie…no mention in his obit tho about ever working on the low rung at a studio.
Sidney Sheldon was not at all minor. No way it’s him.
Curious- he says aging, but not George Burns kind of way. So could it be someone in their mid-40’s? Two of them are close to 50… Say Young Guns Group? Keifer, Lou Diamond Phillips, Emilio, etc?
The story isn’t new it first appeared in June 2007, so the producer must have died in early 2007. For some reason the item has been suddenly resurrected on CDAN, Dennis Hopper is probably one of the actors, as he appeared just below the spot where Enty re-listed this BI. So actors around his age would be most likely. James Caan is also a prime contender for one of the actors.
Dennis sounds like a good guess and why it would be mentioned again now. Looking back at the westerns from the 60’s/70’s there are lots of older A list actors who starred in both TV and movie westerns and many of them starred in westerns together. Some would be Dennis Hopper, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Jack Nicholson, James Garner, Harry Dean Stanton, Peter Fonda, Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman (alive in 2007) Dead ones: Marlon Brando, James Coburn, Steve McQueen
Who is George Burns old other than the dead?
Hopper was one of my guesses, too, given his reputation back then. As I began rummaging through old westerns, the cast of True Grit kinda stood out, for it included Hopper, Duvall and Glen Campbell – all likely suspects to me. I’m having trouble, though, rounding out the quartet from this movie’s line-up. I just can’t see John Wayne cavorting with these three, particularly since he’s rumored to have been gay.
I just reread your comment and “John Wayne . . . gay” shocks me more than this blind. Holy Hannah!
Everyone is “rumored to be gay” these days. There has never been a whisper about him being gay before poeple decided that everyone everywhere is gay.
There were hints, broad hints by certain funny actors quite a while back. But we were just too blinded by his screen persona to comprehend.
But now we know that Marlon Brando outed himself, despite his womanizing rep and nine kids. So a person could have more than one sexual side to him, so to speak!
The duke had many gay and lesbian co-stars. There’s much more, but if you want to find more, you’ll have to google it. The info is there!
And now, people who worked on his pictures are speaking out, however low key.
His fans still love him; they consider it no big deal.
His favorite director, John Ford, has already been outed by big industry insiders.
RN, if you don’t have any proof, you should not be slandering anyone.
Some of those names come with a lot of notoriety from their younger days – Dennis Hopper, Jack, Steve McQueen, Peter Fonda, Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Wagner -none of them have angelic histories and McQueen and Brando could be teh two who are gone.
But who would the producer be,someone probably not much older than them if he was a gofer at the studio, probably younger even, so chances of there being a body on the premises of the guy’s estate are slim to none – he wouldnt have lived there at the time and wouldn’t have chanced moving a body to new digs (sorry) later. He would have buried it somewhere it would never be found, desert or someplace untrodden. Bet his obit noted he rose to the rank of producer quickly too.
The actor who played Matt Dillon on Bonanza is in that age range too. That show is still on tv, don’t know the actors name or if he is still alive
His name is James Arness. Still alive. He’s the bro of Peter Strauss.
Actually, Matt Dillon was Gunsmoke. Bonanza was Ben Cartwright. James Arness (Gunsmoke) is brother of Peter Graves (Mission Impossible), not Peter Strauss…..just to clear that part up. As far as the blind goes, what about the Carradine brothers? They were in a few westerns and the age group should be about right. Probably not them but all I can come up with.
Thanks for straightening that out.
Peter Graves is a versatile actor, and appreciated.
Peter Strauss has done some good work, as well.
Something that stands out in my mind, as this is a resurrected BI, Dennis Hopper was just diagnosed with cancer. It’s nothing to go on, but it’s a link to perhaps why this was brought up again…
Stan Daniels, producer, died April 2007. Produced the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi.
…no, not him – Daniels had 4 children. Unless only one of them survives, this blind plainly states that the producer in question was survived by only a wife and one child.
I second the Wagner guess. The guy is dodgy. There is a book out called ‘Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour’ that is a must-read, and makes a very compelling case that his wife’s death could not have been an accident. The author seems very sincere about simply wanting to see justice done, and the tone of the book is not remotely sensationalistic, and no claims are made without thoroughly going over other possibilities. Another (bio about Wood, ‘Natasha’, also found some disturbing evidence that not only did Wagner lie to the police, but waited many hours to call for any help after realising his wife was missing (and then lied to the press he searched for her immediately). ‘Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour’ also does a good job of pointing out the parts of Wagner’s own autobiography that imply a violent past – from his mention that he and his friends ’silenced’ a troublesome photographer (with no elaboration on what that meant), to his explicit admission he sat outside Warren Beatty’s house with a gun contemplating killing him (he was dating Wood after their first marriage ended).
I just think the guy has a lot of secrets in his life and is good at keeping them. Well, not that good, the lies are glaringly obvious if you compare various accounts of his, but most people would not be aware of this and his loyal following make excuses for it.
I can imagine him being involved in this and that it somehow made an imprint on him and affected his choices later in life.
re Wagner: I think anyone truly paying attention, as the circumstances unfolded in Natalie’s death, immediately intuited that there was a whole lot wrong with the Wagner/Walker story. Nevertheless, it was business as usual for the powers-that-be who seemed resigned, for obvious reasons (money/power/prestige/patriarchy), to collude in a cover-up.
I always found it interesting that Walken, just coming off of the success of Deer Hunter and arguably one of the most brilliant actors in the biz, seemed to fall off of the map after Natalie’s death. Whether he chose to go underground or was blackballed because industry insiders knew the truth of the scandal remains a mystery to me.
That said, “the tabloid era” has exposed an unseemliness in the lives of the so-called rich and famous that, remarkably, make these scandals almost trite. Scratch the surface of any one of them and the skeletons come screeching out. I don’t know if it’s that wealth breeds boredom that in turn enlists high-risk behavior, all I know is that it certainly appears to breed debauchery.
I don’t mean to sound as though I’m minimizing what happened to Natalie, but one way or another, it’s sadly becoming all too commonplace. It stops being fun when perfectly good human beings self destruct.
so very well put…and its tragic when their self destruction involves taking others with them or turning them into the mode.
The book also tells about how, he, the captain, Walken and Wagner rehearsed the story they were going to tell the law officers, over and over, in front of a lawyer.
Also, that Natalie Wood’s body had so many bruises that she looked like she had been in a boxing ring. Repeatedly hitting the dinghy as she fought for her life wouldn’t produce such telling bruises, according to the captain.
I agree, your comment is very well put. I like your theory about Christopher Walken falling off the radar at that time. I remember that tragedy/fallout very well, as Natalie Wood was one of my favs. (1981?). Wagner had fallen off the popularity radar, hadn’t started “Hart to Hart” yet. Natalie Wood was a lot hotter than he was, at the time of her death. It seemed like noone was fighting for her (side of the story), everyone accepted the “she was a drunk and fell off the boat” story. I think he married Jill St. John a (mere) year later. I thought, and still think he is a true Hollywood SCUMBAG!
Agh! I’d forgotten about Hart to Hart and Wagner’s quickie marriage to Jill St. John (what could she have been thinking?). I recall thinking at the time that the universe was patently unfair: after, literally, trashing Natalie’s life and her legacy, his life just rolled along, with no obvious repercussions.
I’m getting sick to my stomach all over again!
Me too, “Brainstorm” was to be her comeback and the buzz about it shadowed him and they just trashed her didn’t they? Movie was good! Remember, her sister finished the scenes left to shoot (it was a bit creepy)(Lana Wood)
One more on Natalie Wood, she was afraid of water and afraid of drowning. She commented openly and often that she didn’t know how to swim. How does a person (drunk or not) fall off/out of a yacht?
This has been one of the more interesting blinds, because we are talking about real movie stars/celebrities for once!
can someone call police?
i ABSOLUTELY refuse to believe that Clint Eastwood or Robert Redford are involved.
Somebody needs to report this.
wouldnt someone have reported this woman as missing? even if she was a hooker someone would have been wondering what had happened to her. And I wonder if any of the surviving actors are aware that widow/child blabbed about it. That would explain the offer to buy the estate at a higher price (which evidently happened 2 yrs ago now), but the sale wouldnt have made note of other than legally, papers only remark when someone famous is selling, and they usually buy quietly.
Sigh. People, don’t waste your time. It’s not real.
BG cut off the first portion of this item, in which Entertainment Lawyer said that he was reprinting this for Halloween as it’s the “scariest” blind he’s ever printed (that’s why it “resurfaced”, so nothing sinister involved here). So, it may not have anything to do with Dennis Hopper reappearing in the news this week. But, Hopper definitely fits the clues as one of the actors involved.
And I’m quite surprised that no one’s said, “This is CDAN. It’s obviously fake.”
I would believe it from Hwood. Power mad, lustful creeps dominate this town. They have publicist pimps and fixers take care of EVERYTHING. A dead girl would not even bother them. They believe in liberal causes for everyone but them. They sexually harass and assault and patronize and pander.
They believe in the environment unless they need to destroy woods in Mexico or Utah for a scene. They do not recycle or respect the earth in the least.
and they make movies south and north of the border to avoid union rules but support Democrats who support unions.
A dead girl? Sheesh, the returns on this weekend’s movies would cause more sweat.
It would help to know when “back in the day” is…10 years, 20 years, who knows?
well the most useful info is that it relates to a producer who died sometime in ‘07 before the summer, he was once a studio gofer so he probably rose from that quickly since it says they took care of him thru the yrs, suggesting they helped him up the ladder. the actors suggested here – hopper, wagner, walken, caan, brando, mcqueen, jack, they have history and as was mentioned, a studio, a pr guy – theyd do anything to protect their stars.
And thats the sad part, guys in Hwood can get away with physical, emotional abuse, even murder, all they nd is a lawyer with a stack of non-disc forms, and no ones the wiser, especially the next victim.
The Los Angeles Times newspaper has a prominent section devoted to real estate sales.
Not myself, but someone more enterprising could check to see which houses were on the market around that time.
the house would never have been listed, too much of a paper trail . . .
it says someone offered twice the list price, as in the house was put on the market but it might never have made it to a newspaper listing, if it did and his name was atached it probably would be locatable in archives. again though, if this guy was a gofer at the time (in the day), he wouldnt bury the body then have it moved to his estate when he became a rich producer.
now if the actors were still in touch with him, maybe they knew of a secret safe or the guy mentioned he hid stuff from his wife somewhere particular, other wise the house wouldnt really contain any evidence of what happened. I think the offer to buy it at the elevated price was to pay off the widow.
great article!!! I’m totally looking forward to reading more articles!!!