The Rolling Stones

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors
  1. The Juicy Fruits, Phantom of the Paradise, 1973.   Director Brian De Palma’s art v commerce opus began peculating in 1969 when shocked to hear The Beatles’ A Day In The Life as Musak in a lift…  He wanted to use a real band… as his bands. Neither rock groups or their record companies were much interested in the unknown Brian De Whosis? As the Liverpudlians had self-destructed, he thought of the Stones, of course. They had, after all,  starred in Sympathy For The Devil, 1968, for no less a director than Jean-Luc  Godard.  (He also cast my first wife,  Jeannette Wild). The Stones  passed, but Mick Jagger remained a target for Swan, the film’s manipulative, Dorian Grayish rock icon – a kind of Performance II!
  2. The Beach Bums, Phantom of the Paradise, 1973.  Booked to play Swan, pop composer-performer Paul Williams said he needed to build a group to cope with  three different music styles.  Together with director Brian De Palma, he started  forming  their own band(s)… the night before The Off!
  3. The Undead, Phantom of the Paradise, 1973.   Paul Williams called in fellow songwriter Jeff Comanor. Brian De Palma saw John Belushi’s replacement, Harold Oblong, in Broadway’s Lemmings –  and he  brought in Archie Hahn, another improvisational comic. Gently mix  the trio and  voilà, three instant (but different)  groups… “It was an era when people were letting young directors make all kind of films,” De Palma said. “For a while.”
  4. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Simpsons #81: Krusty Gets Kancelled, TV, 1993.  Since its 1989 birth, the yellowtoon family Simpson smashed records for episodes, audiences, and the most guest stars (as themselves or others). From Buzz Aldrin, Glenn Close (Homer’s Mom), Dennis Franz (Evil Homer!), George Harrison, Stephen Hawking, Dustin Hoffman, Bob Hope, Eric Idle to Paul and Linda McCartney, Conan O’Brien (a Simpsons writer made good), Michelle Pfeiffer, Mickey Rooney, Ringo Starr, Meryl Streep plus Barry (and Betty) White! Not all celebs played ball… The Stones (and Wynonna Judd) spurned offers to join the Season 4 Closer with Johnny Carsonb, Hugh Hefner, Elizabeth Taylor, etc. Mick Jagger and Kerith Richards agreed to #293 and the prosaic title (for the Stones) of How I Spent My Summer Vacation, 2002.

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  4