BITCHES & BLAGGARDS: Glenn Close and Michael Douglas

This is the ninth in the "Bitches and Blaggards" series; posts devoted to my favorite movie bad girls and rogues.  A bitch is a selfish, malicious woman. A blaggard is a villain, a rogue and a black-hearted man. Both are bad, both are devastatingly alluring.

October's B&B are Michael Douglas and Glenn Close.  I must say it feels a bit strange to be writing about people who still walk among us, but I shall press on.

Glenn Close

Glenn Close is one of my favorite actresses. Like Meryl Streep, there seems to be nothing this lady can’t do. However, unlike Meryl, Glenn wears nasty like a second skin. Even where Meryl was the B in the Office in “The Devil Wears Prada,” you knew she had a bit of a soft spot for her clueless assistant. If Glenn played Miranda Priestly, little Annie Hathaway’s pet rabbit might have been stew. Glenn can play sweet and angelic, but I like her best as a bitch with great style and an even greater attitude and wardrobe. She's bad, she knows it and she likes it!

Fatal Attraction

Is Alex really a bitch? Well, she was to the bunny, I admit. And she is generally viewed as every man’s nightmare of the woman scorned, but I think she just lacks self-control and self-esteem. After all, look at her: she is attractive and successful. Obviously something is missing, but the pregnancy, well, maybe it was the hormones? Was Michael Douglas a victim here? Oh, I could go on for days, but see below.

Dangerous Liaisons

As the manipulative and bitter Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, Glenn is a menace! She and Valmont (played with equal bile by John Malkovich) play their little cold-hearted games of seduction and ruination. Merteuil shows she has nerves of steel at the end of the game, but even cracked ice melts. Glenn is truly brilliant when she comes face to face with herself.

101 Dalmatians

As a real life Cruella De Vil, Glenn is a vision in black and white fur and cigarette holders (with a dash of Norma Desmond). She wants the puppies, she needs the puppies and, therefore, she must have the puppies! Fun, nasty, and totally over the top, her cartoon villainy is unforgettable.

Add these to her sizzling (like in the fires of hell) performance in the TV series “Damages,” and Glenn’s body of wicked work places her front and center among those we’d like to see in the bitch hall of fame.

Michael Douglas

Remember when Michael Douglas was referred to as Kirk Douglas’ son? Now Michael is such a huge star that Kirk Douglas is known as Michael Douglas’ dad. A real movie star who can act, Michael can play good but troubled and be totally believable and sympathetic, but it’s as a charming bad-ass with a flawed moral compass that I like him best. When Michael is bad, it usually takes a mighty force to stop him.

Wall Street

Yes, greed is good and Gordon Gekko is bad. But is he really bad or just a victim of society's endless apatite for more? Or a symbol? Oh, who cares. Douglas is dynamic, appealing, repulsive and drop dead alluring. Buy!

A Perfect Murder

Why can't Mike just love Gwen and why can't Gwen stop fooling around with her murderous lover? They have a great life and a great apartment. Mike - just ask Gwen for the money - she has it. But no, more fun to have her killed - by her boyfriend (talk about having your cake and eating it, too). You're a twisted fellow, but my, you look good in a $4,000 suit.

Fatal Attraction

While the focus is on Glenn Close's out of control Alex, let's look at the creep she latched on to: great life great wife, great kid. But, oh, he's lonely because wifey left him on his own for a while. So, he picks up what he thinks is a tissue he can blow his nose in and discard and - oops - not so fast - she demands attention. Douglas is great as the bastard with a victim complex. He and Close do a dangerous dance that is unforgettable and unsolvable (until wifey appears with a gun). Hey, all the guy wanted was a little cheap sex for free.

Both Glenn Close and Michael Douglas are two actors whose films I would go to see just because they are in them. Now, that's a star!

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Bitches and Blaggards: Theda Bara and Richard Widmark

This is the eighth in the "Bitches and Blaggards" series;  posts devoted to my favorite movie bad girls and rogues.  A bitch is a selfish, malicious woman. A blaggard is a villain, a rogue and a black-hearted man. Both are bad, both are devastatingly alluring. 

Theda Bara: Bad to the Bone

               

The original vamp, this bitch and bad girl was a sexually independent and unrepentant woman. No wonder we still love her!

The story of Theda Bara is well known: the demure Theodosia Goodman from Cincinnati Ohio is transformed by the Fox Studio Publicity Department into the screen's first sex symbol, a woman of exotic mystery whose name was an anagram for Arab death. Theda was the anti-Mary Pickford/Lillian Gish,  but the heavy perfume of the vamp was actually a breath of fresh air for her fans.

And boy did she have fans! Between 1915 and 1919 Theda was her studio's biggest star and in such extravaganzas as "Cleopatra" and "Salome," Fox spared no expense. Sadly, almost all of Theda's films have been lost. We are left with just a few glimpses of her allure in action and a boatload of enticing stills that only make what has been lost all the more painful.

A Fool There Was

This is the film that put Theda on the map as the vamp supreme. Thankfully, it is still with us. As the "vampire" who literally drains the life from her men, Theda, behind 1915 heavy make-up, is cool, purposeful and surprisingly pretty. She is a sexual predator who goes about her business with great focus.  It's not her fault that her victims are ultimately fools and oh so boring.

 

Those Photos: A reminder of lost treasure

All that remains of Theda's great epic "Cleopatra" are these few, tantalizing moments.

 Your work as been obliterated and still, Theda, we remain in awe of your power, your allure, your bad to the bone badness.

 Richard Widmark

                           

I admit I am a little conflicted about Mr. Richard Widmark. He was a fine and versatile actor, but every time I see him I just can’t get the image of giggling Tommy Udo pushing the old lady in the wheelchair down the stairs. Blaggards are supposed to be charming and bad, but Widmark, especially early in his career, was more psychotic and bad. Still, he could be a not-so-bad guy. He was awfully good looking, so he never had a hard time attracting the ladies. Now, if he wasn’t so darn good at being murderous….. 

Kiss of Death 

Widmark is horrifying and unforgettable. His performance as the menacing psychopath Tommy Udo is fearless. Shudder....

The Cobweb 

I’m including this film here, not so much for Widmark’s performance, but because this is a film about drapes. Granted, drapes as therapy in a mental institution, but still drapes. With a cast consisting of Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Grahame (terrific as always), Charles Boyer and Lillian Gish, this is a film where most of the inmates are saner than the caretakers. Widmark is handsome, but way too obsessed with the drapes.

In real life, Richard Widmark was one of the good guys. A man of peace who loved his ranch, Widmark got to show a much broader range as he aged, playing many a good and decent guy. But the thing I really liked learning about Richard Widmark was that, not only was he a movie star, he was, from an early age, a real movie fan. How nice for him that he got to fulfill his heart's desire. The Bitch and Blaggard of October: Glenn Close & Michael Douglas

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Bitches and Blaggards: Lizabeth Scott and Jack Palance

This is the seventh in the "Bitches and Blaggards" series; monthly posts devoted to my favorite movie bad girls and rogues.  A bitch is a selfish, malicious woman. A blaggard is a villain, a rogue and a black-hearted man. Both are bad, both are devastatingly alluring.

Lizabeth Scott

After watching and listening to Lizabeth Scott in anything, I feel as though I have just smoked a pack of cigarettes. No other actress fits the word “smoky” better than Liz. Although she is often compared to both Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake (Paramount called her “the Threat” as a means to keep both actresses in line), Lizabeth Scott is uniquely a noir-ish babe with the muss of real life clinging to her. She was usually the girl pal of the story, but in a few films she really got to show she was a class "A" bitch.

Too Late For Tears

Oh, baby, this is the one. In "Too Late For Tears," Lizabeth Scott gets to play one of the most evil women in film and she does it with both girlish glee and gusto. As Jane Palmer, she is a dissatisfied gal whose prayers are answered when a suitcase of cash suddenly lands in her car. Trouble is, the crooks who stole it want it back. She shoots her husband, poisons the cop who tries to help her and, before  meeting the fate that all bad girls must ultimately meet, she gets to go on a big spending spree and live high on the hog. You gotta love this gal.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

The film starred Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin, but 2 newcomers, Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott, made lasting impressions. Cast as Toni Marachek, she's the gal who, just sprung from jail, is already in trouble for violating her parole. In order to help herself, she sets up an innocent man, but, hey, a babe has to do what a babe has to do.

Jack Palance

When it comes to a black heart, Jack Palance could play the character with the blackest. When it came to charm, well, once you get past the fear factor, I guess he could charm the buzzards out of the trees.

With the cruelly handsome face and physique of a fighter, Jack Palance was a good actor and even has the Academy Award to prove it. He was always a tough guy and could play a good tough guy, but very few could do crazy bad like Jack Palance. 2 of my favorite crazy bad Jack Palance performances are in “Sudden Fear” and “Shane.”

Sudden Fear

As Lester Blaine, Palance is the rejected actor who plans the ultimate revenge. Joan Crawford, in one of her last good roles, portrays a playwright who, though rejecting Lester for an acting part in her upcoming play, later falls for and marries him. This is pretty stupid on her part, since Lester’s duplicity oozes off him like a BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Once he learns that Joan intends to leave her considerable fortune to charity, he enlists chick-on-the-side Gloria Grahame (boy do these 2 deserve one another) to help murder Joan. Joan figures it out and the 2 love-baddies get theirs, but the stench of Jack’s menace lingers.

Shane

Playing psycho-gunslinger Jack Wilson, Palance is a disturbing presence that sets the drama on its ear. Sure, Shane is a good guy, but how much good is needed to overcome the pure evil of Jack Wilson? For him, murder is not a business, nor a necessity. No, for him it is a pleasure – one he gets positively giddy about. I guess you could say he was a man passionately devoted to his craft. Every good guy needs a bad guy, and Jack Palance as Jack Wilson wears the biggest, blackest hat in town.

City Slickers

Since he was such a good actor, its hard to separate the real Jack Palance from his image. Thank goodness, then, for “City Slickers.” As Curly, he is a tough guy, but his scary-tough act is played for laughs.

For this role he won his only Oscar (and treated viewers to the unforgettable moment of his one-armed push up). I’ll bet he was a sweetie, after all. Ya think?

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Bitches and Blaggards: Judith Anderson and Basil Rathbone

This is the fifth in the "Bitches and Blaggards" series; monthly posts devoted to my favorite movie bad girls and rogues. A bitch is a selfish, malicious woman. A blaggard is a villain, a rogue and a black-hearted man. Both are bad, both are devastatingly alluring.

Judith Anderson

Dame Judith Anderson was a world renowned stage actress whose film career stuck her in the corner pocket of playing nasty ladies. Being a superb actress, she played nasty like nobody's business.

Dame Judith (I wonder if anyone elver called her "Judy"? - I doubt it) was an unusual looking woman, not at all beautiful by Hollywood standards. Therefore, she must play ladies who have a black and bitter heart. Stands to reason, right? Trouble is, she is so damn good and so damn interesting that she makes her goody-goody co-stars almost invisible. As she says in "Laura,"  - "I am not a nice person." Thank goodness!


Two of my favorite Judith Anderson bitches are Ann Treadwell in "Laura," and Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca."

Laura

Hunky detective Mark McPherson summed it up best when he told Laura Hunt "I must say, for a charming, intelligent girl, you certainly surrounded yourself with a remarkable collection of dopes." He might have added snakes and dirty double-crossers, too. As Laura's aunt Ann Treadwell, Anderson is an older, less beautiful woman than Laura, but she appears to have deeper pockets and greater needs. She is chic and sophisticated and she knows she is better for sleazy Vincent Price than Laura, but what chance does she have against a beauty like her niece? She doesn't think twice to cheat with him behind Laura's back and, when Laura reappears, she is not quite as overjoyed as she should be. In fact, when she tells Laura that the thought of murdering her crossed her mind, Auntie Ann is downright bitchy.

Rebecca

This is Judith Anderson's finest bitching hour on film. As the nutty, obsessed, gender-confused Mrs. Danvers, she is a wonder. Do you really think there was a Mr. Danvers? And why did Maxim keep her around? He was rich and powerful - couldn't he have just exiled her to some other remote corner of Cornwall? But, I digress. From the minute poor little Joan Fontaine locks horns with the loony housekeeper, we know she is out of her league. In her widow's weeds, still mourning the loss of the beautiful (and evil) Rebecca, Mrs. D is rightfully annoyed with this little mouse. While either encouraging Joan to take a swan dive out the window or tricking her into wearing an offensive costume, Anderson is a trip. One of my favorite references to her role in this film is in an Abbott and Costello movie called "The Time of Their Lives." There, Gale Sondergaard does the mysterious and dour housekeeper in black routine, to whom one character asks, "Haven't I seen you in Rebecca?"


Apparently, Judith Anderson loved Santa Barbara, California, which is why such an accomplished and truly great stage actress succumbed to the film industry, which only saw her as a menace. Being a great actress, she turned the menace on her head and made her the star attraction.

Basil Rathbone

In the world of movie blaggards, Basil Rathbone is the creme de la creme. Could Basil Rathbone ever be anything other than black hearted? Even when he was nice - or at least honest - you knew the devil on one shoulder was so much more powerful than the angel on the other. He was debonair, handsome, and, like the rapier he so often bandied about, deadly. His real, full name was Phillip St. John Basil Rathbone. So fitting, don't you think?

Robin Hood

You can just hear poor Sir Guy of Gisbourne thinking: "Oh why oh why did Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) have to be so much better at everything? If it wasn't for that pesky fellow in green, I'd have it all!" He's handsome, but not as handsome as Errol's Robin. He can fence, but not as great as Robin, and he might have a better chance with the ladies if only that Robin wasn't around! He's fun and we hate him.

David Copperfield

Rathbone's loathsome Mr. Murdstone still gives me the chills. Cruel and abusive, he is the stepfather from hell. Rathbone does not make one misstep as he beats, berates and finally banishes young David from his once happy home. A great, totally hiss-worthy performance.

The Court Jester

As the conniving Lord Ravenhurst, Rathbone does a hilarious spoof of his swashbuckling villains. A supercilious smarty pants who is taken in by jester Danny Kaye, he is a brilliant cog in this brilliant film. His ability to play comedy with a sneer is equal to his ability to play evil with deadly seriousness. After much maneuvering with poisons ("the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!") and knighthoods, his Lord Ravenhurst is literally expelled from the castle by a catapult. He was nasty, but he was so much fun!


Of course, Basil Rathbone is first and foremost famous for being Sherlock Holmes, and there he was never a blaggard. But he was a supercilious smarty pants and with just a little encouragement, you know he could flip.


In real life, Basil Rathbone was apparently a grand party-thrower, whose soirees were legendary in Hollywood. I'm glad to see he liked to have and give a good time, but I think if I were lucky enough to be invited, I'd keep my eye on an exit at all times! 


The Bitch and Blaggard of June will be Vincent Price and Gloria Grahame.

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Bitches and Blaggards: James Mason and Jane Greer

This is the fourth in the "Bitches and Blaggards" series; monthly posts devoted to my favorite movie bad girls and rogues. A bitch is a selfish, malicious woman. A blaggard is a villain, a rogue and a black-hearted man. Both are bad, both are devastatingly alluring.

Jane Greer

This was one femme fatale with a heart of cracked ice. Her performance as Kathie Moffat in 1947's "Out of the Past" puts her in the Bitch Hall of Fame. Sadly, her career was spotty, since she was one of those gals whose career was controlled, stalled and pretty much ruined by Howard Hughes. Possibly because she is so rarely seen, there is an unequaled quality of mystery about this actress. She is elusive, delicate, deadly and unknowable - in other words, a delicious film noir desert. Her two films with Robert Mitchum were memorable, not only for her allure, but for their outstanding chemistry.

Out of the Past

Who does not love this dilly of a film?The utter coolness of the sexual heat between Jane and Robert Mitchum is almost too hot to handle. They are both so beautiful, your eyes hurt just looking at them. Mitchum had great chemistry with another HH/RKO Jane, that being Ms. Russell. Jane Russell matched Mitchum in toughness and cynicism (and beauty), Jane Greer is the bad beauty that Mitchum can't kick.

Of course, the fact that Jane's character has the heart of a snake makes her that much more alluring. With her Mona Lisa smile and her what-is-she-thinking eyes, she manages to hook, seduce and double-cross both Mitchum and Kirk Douglas. Alas, as must most femme fatales in the 1940s, she came to a bad end (but she almost made it out of Dodge with the dough). Her Kathie is enterprising, duplicitous and, hooray, always thinking. This is a fabulous noir without the usual suspects, which makes it so captivating.

The Big Steal

None of Jane's subsequent films are in the "Out of the Past" league, but she did get to team up with Mitchum again in "The Big Steal," and got to play a character named Chiquita Graham. This film is more of a comedy/noir with the RKO stock company present (and Ramon Novarro and Don Alvarado thrown in for all of us great-lovers-of-the-silent-screen hounds), but it's a bunch of fun to watch Jane and Mitchum heat up the screen. She's not so much a bitch as a toughie here, but, hey, any girl that can point a gun like she is doing in the above photo can't be a Pollyanna.


Jane Greer had a curious career. Hughes, ostensibly because Greer would not engage in a romantic relationship with him, held her career up and refused to let her work from 1949 to 1951. She made some interesting, more sympathetic, appearances after that, but the momentum of "Out of the Past" had passed. She worked occasionally in television in the 1970s and 1980s.


In 1984 she made news when she was cast in "Against All Odds," the remake of "Out of the Past," as her earlier character's mother (now called Jessie instead of Kathie). The remake was good in its own way, but anyone who has ever seen Jane Greer's performance in "Out of the Past" will never forget her.

James Mason

Oh, that voice! In the history of talking films, the velvety full-of-disdain British tones of James Mason have to be in the top 5. James Mason was so much more than a blaggard, but he fits that role so nicely! He was such a talented actor that he could be bad, good, tough, tender, and all of the above rolled into a complicated one. However, with his ever-present five o'clock shadow and sneering scowl, he had the intelligence and the vague aura of dissatisfaction with the world to make him a first-class blaggard. 

The Wicked Lady

James Mason's role in this film defines the word blaggard. As the highwayman and rapist Captain Jerry Jackson, he is a romance novelist's dream. The film is all Margaret Lockwood as the much too lusty lady who longs for excitement, but her meeting and mating with Captain Jerry proves even too much for this scheming wench. "The Wicked Lady" is such fun and is much beloved in Britain. Captain Jackson gets shot in the end, but his lustiness lives on! 

North By Northwest

Anyone who tries to hurt Cary Grant is a blaggard in my book, but James Mason's Phillip Vandamm is a bit of a complex blaggard. We know he's bad (although we are not quite sure what he's up to), but he seems so reasonable. if only Cary will give up the information he doesn't have, Van Damm is willing to strike a deal. Plus, he seems to really have a soft spot for double crossing Eva Marie Saint. When she faux-shoots Cary in the cafeteria at Mt. Rushmore, his first impulse is to go to her. It's the focused-on-the-mission-at-hand Martin Landau that sets the evil plan back on course. There is nobody smoother than Mr. Grant, but James Mason, with his black heart and cultured manner, gives him a run for his money. 

Lolita

Freaky Humbert Humbert is the blaggard of blaggards and James Mason lets his freak flag fly as much as possible (given the censorship constraints that existed in 196s). Pedophile, murderer, miserable, and snob, what more can you say about this bastard and fool? Mason is totally despicable and even the tiniest self-serving plea for some sympathy can't erase the utter contempt we have for him. A great performance in a disturbing film.


There is just so much more to say about James Mason. He lent authority and depth to virtually everything he touched. He was bad in so many other films, but he was never a one-dimensional baddie. The blaggards never are. They charm, they deceive and, even though they need to get it in the end, we miss them when they are gone.


The Bitch and Blaggard of May will be Judith Anderson and Basil Rathbone.

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Bitches and Blaggards: Gail Patrick and Clifton Webb

This is the third in the "Bitches and Blaggards" series; monthly posts devoted to my favorite movie bad girls and rogues. A bitch is a selfish, malicious woman. A blaggard is a villain, a rogue and a black-hearted man. Both are bad, both are devastatingly alluring.

Gail Patrick

If a young, snooty rich bitch was needed in a 1930s or 1940s comedy, Gail Patrick was a great go-to gal. Always sleek and handsome, poor Gail was usually the dame that tried to stand between the glamorous leading lady and the handsome hero. And, it was a good bet that she would get her ermine-covered butt kicked as comeuppance for her wicked ways. Gail was such a good actress that you immediately wanted to push her face in the minute she and her air of superiority entered the room.

Gail stated out as a WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star of 1935 (along with Wendy Barrie, Grace Bradley, Katherine DeMille, Gertrude Michael, and Ann Sheridan), and although she played the lead many times, her true niche was as that supporting bitch we all know and loathe.

Gail Patrick famously bitched in 2 of my favorite films:

My Favorite Wife

As Cary Grant's second wife, who never gets to consummate her relationship because first wife Irene Dunne comes back from the dead, Gail is a major pain in the neck. Her Bianca (the perfect name for a bitch) is lovely to look at, but impossible to warm up to. Sure she's frustrated, but can you blame Cary for following his heart and ending up with Irene? Bianca's reliance on her shrink is just another cause to be annoyed with her. Gail is so perfect in this film that you just want Cary to dump her already and get it over with!

My Man Godfrey

Did Gail's cruel and nasty Cornelia Bullock ever have a chance against her sweet and wacky sister Irene, as played by Carole Lombard in one of her signature roles? Cornelia's cruel and petty attempts to sabotage poor William Powell fall flat (as she did earlier in the film on a pile of ashes) and we can only feel glee when she is caught.


Some of Gail's other trouble-making roles include those in "Stage Door" and "Love Crazy." While she was not always a bitch, she was never an angel.

In real life, Gail was actually a pretty fine lady. She retired from the screen in 1948 and later became, with her husband, a producer of the "Perry Mason" TV series. Gail was active in civic and charitable causes and, from 1960 - 1962 was president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Gail was a graduate of Howard College in Birmingham, Alabama (now Samford University) and was a member of the Delta Zeta Sorority. Upon her death in 1980, Gail bequeathed $1 million to the sorority, from which the Delta Zeta Woman of Distinction Scholarship was established. Definitely NOT something Cornelia Bullock would have done!

Clifton Webb

Clifton Webb's filmography is rather slight, but as Spencer Tracy said of Katharine in Hepburn in "Pat and Mike": But what's there is cherce. Mr. Webb was not a blaggard in the usual sense. I would classify him as an intellectual blaggard, as his damage was done more with cutting wit than manly charm. He was often an urbane and supercilious snob (actually more of a bitch), especially in the character of Mr. Belvedere. But, even when he was playing a basically decent fellow, didn't you always feel that he could not be trusted?

Clifton Webb came to film rather late in life at age 55 (though he had made a few unimportant silents). Up until then he had a successful career on Broadway, mainly as a musical performer. It's hard to imagine Mr. Belvedere singing "I've Got a Crush on You," but Webb introduced that Gershwin classic on Broadway in 1928.

I only have one major full-fledged blaggard role for Webb, but it's a dilly.

Laura

In 1944 he was cast in his greatest movie role, that of the murderously elegant Waldo Lydecker, in Otto Preminger's classic "Laura." We know Waldo is a ticking time bomb from the moment we meet him. Once manly Dana Andrews is thrown into the mix, Waldo's fragile equilibrium is shattered (who can forget Andrews' sneer as Waldo emerges from the tub?). Not only is his quill dipped in venom, but his heart and mind are, as well. And yes, there is an ounce of pity for poor Waldo. Laura certainly used him, did not view him as a man, and, well, unrequited love is rather sad. A great performance among so many in the film, Webb's Waldo is unforgettable. 


All of Webb's subsequent roles had the touch of the blaggard (I am always waiting for that metaphorical gun hidden in the clock). The nasty, murder-on-his-mind husband of "The Dark Corner," comes close to Waldo's evil. His Elliott Templeton of "The Razor's Edge," certainly had signs of the blaggard (although most elegant and refined to be sure), and his comic version in "Dreamboat" and "Sitting Pretty" (and all other Belvedere films) make you want to just smack him (even though you know he was probably right). However, I find it almost impossible to believe that he and Myna Loy had enough husband and wife relations to produce that brood in "Cheaper by the Dozen"!


Off screen, Clifton Webb was a most interesting fellow. Famously devoted to his mother, with whom he lived with until her death at age 91, he grieved endlessly over her passing. Noel Coward, another like-minded blaggard, commented, "It must be terrible to be orphaned at 71."

Webb, after his death in 1966, apparently did not leave Hollywood. In a Beverly Hills home that he owned (other owners were Victor Fleming, Grace Moore, Gene Lockhart and Marlene Dietrich), his ghost and the ghost of his beloved mother, Maybelle, were seen by later owners of the house. Famous for his lavish parties at the residence, Webb, several days before his death stated, "I'm not leaving this house - even at death." According to later owners, he didn't, and he and Maybelle could be seen dancing and seemingly enjoying themselves (while driving the dogs nuts). The house was later razed and, apparently, Clifton and his mama moved on. And, it should not have been too hard for Webb to leave California, as he summed up his opinion of the state in these words:


"California is beautiful. So is a rose. But I can look at a rose for just so long and then I want to spit on it."


Spoken like a true blaggard! However, he might not be entirely gone, as there have been sightings of him strolling through the Abbey of the Psalms Mausoleum at the Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles. Again, his word is not to be trusted!




The Bitch and Blaggard of April are Jane Greer and James Mason.

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