Blog Archives

Ghosts of the Savoy

Posted on October 31, 2022 by ronbase — Leave a comment

Seated on a banquette in a corner of the Savoy Hotel’s iconic American Bar, sipping one of Priscilla’s Buck Fizzes, the celebrated ghosts of the hotel’s legendary past swirl around. The 2022 Savoy is a sleek modern, beautifully run hotel…

Tagged with: Gary Cooper, Richard Burton, London, Prudence Emery, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Downton Abbey, Death at the Savoy, Savoy Hotel, Noel Coward, Marlene Dietrich, Scandal at the Savoy, American Bar
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Remembering (Again) How I Nearly Killed Peter O’Toole

Posted on December 17, 2013 by ronbase — 2 Comments

Since Peter O’Toole left the stage this past weekend at the age of eighty-one, there has been a huge outpouring of sadness and remembrance. It has been pointed out in his many obituaries that O’Toole encountered a few down periods…

Tagged with: David Hemmings, Joan of Arc, Lawrence of Arabia, Martyn Burke, New York Post, Oliver Reed, Peter O'Toole, Power Play, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Stardust, Stunt Man, The Last Emperor, The Tudors, Troy
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Fighting With Richard Burton; Dreaming of Cleopatra

Posted on June 5, 2013 by ronbase — 1 Comment

The first time I met Richard Burton I got into a fight with him. I was wandering through the vast upper floor rooms inside a Rosedale mansion at a Saturday night party when I encountered him holding court, seated with…

Tagged with: Blu-ray, Circle of Two, Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Furious Love, Graham Greene, James Hunt, John Warner, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Jules Dassin, Lindsay Lohan, Martin Scorsese, Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, Rome, Rosedale, Susan Hunt, Tatum O'Neal, The Comedians, Washington
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Chasing Plummer

Posted on August 15, 2012 by ronbase — Leave a comment

I’m not certain exactly when I became so fascinated with Christopher Plummer. It may have been as a teenager when I got up at six one morning and drove to Stratford to line up at the Festival Theatre for rush…

Tagged with: A Word or Two, Antony and Cleopatra, Barrymore, Caesar and Cleopatra, Christopher Plummer, Four Seasons Hotel, George Bernard Shaw, George Christy, Hans Gerhardt, HotelBiz:A Memoir, In Spite of Myself, John Barrymore, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Lewis Carroll, Peter O'Toole, Prospero, Ralph Richardson, Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, Robin Leach, The Aged Aged Man, The Sound of Music, The Sutton Place Hotel, The Tempest, William Shakespeare
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I (Prematurely) Killed Peter O’Toole

Posted on July 11, 2012 by ronbase — Leave a comment

I thought I had killed off Peter O’Toole in 1978, so naturally it came as a surprise to read that he was retiring from acting a couple of weeks short of his eightieth birthday. O’Toole was in Toronto making a…

Tagged with: David Hemmings, David Lean, David Thomson, For Great Glory, Joan of Arc, Lawrence of Arabia, Martyn Burke, New York Post, Oliver Reed, Oscar, Peter O'Toole, Power Play, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, The Last Emperor, The Tudors, Troy
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The Legendary Watering Holes Have All Dried Up

Posted on February 23, 2012 by ronbase — 6 Comments

Back in another mist-shrouded time when I was single, I always took dates to Bistro 990 in downtown Toronto. With its arched ceilings and pale gold walls, you could believe for a few hours (aided by a glass of wine)…

Tagged with: Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Bill Marshall, Bistro 990, Club 22, Count Basie, Courtyard Cafe, David Haslam, Donald Sutherland, El Padrino, Elaine Kaufman, Elaine's, Elvis Presley, Hans Gerhardt, Hollywood, James Coburn, Jerzy Kosinski, Karen Kain, Lee Majors, Lillian Hellman, Marlon Brando, New York, Oak Bar, Park Plaza Hotel, Paul Drake, Pierre Trudeau, Richard Burton, Robert Loggia, Robert Morse, Sutton Place Hotel, The Godfather, Van Johnson, Warren Beatty
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