Fame Hoarder
Rona Barrett may look like a spinster but she is currently married. Even during her heyday, Rona had been married from 1973 to 1982 i.e. she was married after starting two most popular magazines but she divorced after they ceased to exist. Publishing four magazines simultaneously is not only a sign of greed but also a sign of not getting attention when you factor in the fact that Rona Barrett was hell-bent on making herself known as a TV reporter. Her best magazine was Hollywood. The back of each copy contained a column called Rona Barrett’s Have You Heard? Below is a concise collection of the most interesting kernels of truth.
August 1974: Goldie Hawn & her brilliant Sugarland Express director, Steve Spielberg, are “quite serious” I’m told. Wonder what Goldie’s now telling Tedd Grossman & Bruno Wintzell?
January 1976: To make sure there is no confusion from you Brits, Rona was referring to the posterior instead of the pussy: A long time ago, Katharine Hepburn told John Barrymore that if he pinched her fanny one more time while they were onstage, she was going to stop acting.
July 1976: Warren Beatty agreed to star in Hardcore after Paul Newman turned it down. Warren eventually backed out, but Paul said: “Quite honestly, most scripts today aren’t very good - I’ve turned down a lot of them because they’re either too violent - or too pornographic!”
November 1976: While we’re on the subject of “funny” ladies, how about young Tatum O’Neal? A producer wants to star the lass in something called Janie and the Pope in which “a young girl stricken with leukemia runs away from home in America to see the Pope in Italy.”
June 1977: Joan Rivers said: “Italians are the sexiest men. But have you ever seen a homosexual Italian? The minute they go gay, they make them nuns!”
July 1977: Considering that Kris Kristofferson died on September 28, 2024, it’s eerie that Rona referred to his following statement as Famous Last Words: “I stopped drinking Sept. 20, 1976. From now on, that’s an anniversary I’ll toast with milk or cola.”
October 1977: Kristine De Bell said: “I want to be a female Marlon Brando. I’m too cute to be a pornographic film star!”
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Same issue: Sylvester Stallone being quoted about agents: “Most are liars! They’ll turn on you. They’re flesh-eaters who’ll try to devour you.”
June 1978: Diane Keaton admits “sex, to me, is as important as eating and sleeping. But it is also one of my biggest problems!”
October 1978: As a former neighbor of Michael’s, I can personally guarantee anyone who’s curious that Mr. Caine is as straight as an arrow - and just as sharp!
November 1978: And be sure to credit Jodie Foster with a lot of smarts in the Birds & the Bees Dept. She recently revealed she walked off the set of The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane when “this crazy producer kept saying he wanted me to pull my dress lower. I decided he was nuts. I used to tell him to shut up. He really was an idiot!” Attagirl, Jodie.
March 1979: Producer Don McElwaine wants Tatum O’Neal to star in Tryst, a gothic mystery drama.
April 1979: Glenn Ford talking about being on location in Japan circa 1957: “I spent a particularly enjoyable evening with a beautiful Japanese geisha. The next morning, she asked me to sign her kimono - you wouldn’t believe the famous names on it.”
May 1979: Michael Jackson said: “I’ve never been dizzy off liquor, and never been high on anything. People are always shovin’ drugs at you; it’s sloppy. If people want to escape, they should go to the beach or be around kids!”
June 1979: Christopher Reeve: “I knew Travolta back in New York, but now he’s too protected even to see.”
August 1979: Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about The Villain: “I play this totally straight shooter who is completely naive, which took a lot of acting. I’m not at all naive - and I’m not that straight either!”
October 1979: Michael Douglas: “I’m your basic flasher - I’ve always loved exposing myself!”
