"There is no feud. I have never had a feud with anyone. But if I ever considered having a feud, it would be with one of the stars of the film." -- Dorothy Lamour on being "replaced" in the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope film, Road to Hong Kong (1962), by Joan Collins
I did 3 episodes of Guiding Light with Collins (she was doing a brief bit of daytime slumming) and found her surprisingly warm, friendly and approachable.
ReplyDeleteIt is one of the lasting regrets of my life that, as we chatted about the lousy fake creamer on the craft services table, I never summoned up the cajones to ask if she ever had to encounter Dottie on the set at Shepperton, and what, is anything, transpired.
I'll just have to content myself with being one degree of separation from Dottie and the boys... sigh...
If contemporaneous gossip columns are to be trusted, Joan's bitchy response to Dorothy's indignation at being offered what amounted to a token cameo role, rather than the female lead, was "She should be grateful to be in the picture at all!" Ouch. Not terribly respectful of one's elders, but the hard truth was that in 1962, Dottie was many years and several pounds past her box office prime.
DeleteI'll have to dig out my Lamour auto-bio and see what she had to say. I seem to recall her having more issues with Bob & Bing than Collins (and even the quote above seems to veer towards them while simultaneously diminishing Collins' "contributions.")
ReplyDeleteHave you ever noticed how Dorothy Lamour bears a striking resemblance to Wallis Warfield Simpson?
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