Was John Cassavetes an alcoholic?
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BEAUBIE1 — 2 years ago(June 30, 2023 10:41 AM)
I have been sober in AA for decades. I'm always amazed how much people resist accepting alcoholism in was the case of my mother After my father collapsed and landed in the hospital with pancreatitis he was told if he didn't stop drinking he would die. And then there was my uncle, who, within minutes of arriving to visit me asked to go get an alcohol supply. My mom said they were weak but not alcoholic and perhaps she was an enabler.i think one way to describe an alcoholic is this.
A social drinker holds a glass of wine and sips it and then laces it on the table 3/4 full. Meanwhile when the alcoholic gets his/her wine he drinks a swallow or two and and the compulsion kicks in like an itch that must be he finds the bottle he'll grab it secretly and chugs it. He marvels how anyone could leave an almost full glass of wine to remain the table. I believe Cassavettes was a functional alcoholic well able to mask his drinking. I also think he developed a massive tolerance. At some point a long term drunk needs more and more alcohol. And like any addict who tries to quit he faces withdrawal which can be horrific. -
clavinet27 — 13 years ago(October 05, 2012 12:20 PM)
A little off topic, bb68ut I wonder how his career and life would have turned out if his drug of choice was cannabis instead of liquor.
What got me thinking about it was this: I was listening to an interview with Alice Friedland (Mr. Sophistication's blonde Dee-Lovely in 'KoaCB'. There is a link to the interview recently posted on the movie's message board, btw) yesterday. In it, she said that before the dressing room scene near the end, John instructed the ladies to 'just do whatever strippers do backstage'. Anyhow, one of the ladies started smoking weed, John caught her and gave her the riot act.
Anyhow, this confirms my belief that John was very much against cannabis use, as with other illicit drugs. It's reflected in the Carney bio (ranting about "kids sucking smoke in their lungs" and not being able to be "dopey without the dope") and in a couple of movies he was in (he jokes about it in "Rosemary's Baby" and berates his character's son about supposedly selling it in "Machine Gun McCain").
So, how could someone who frequented the smoke-filled Greenwich Village jazz clubs during his younger days; was a friend of Seymour Cassel's (I guess he smoked or still does?) and loved alcohol, cigarettes and the idea of personal freedom be so offended by weed?
It doesn't really matter now, but I find it interesting. -
somethingtodu — 13 years ago(October 07, 2012 08:49 AM)
Well, maybe he'd still be with us today, but I can't see weed ever having a place in a Cassavetes film and I can understand his personal distaste for marijuana. Being a pretty outspoken and opinionated person, it's no surprise that he was vocal about something like that. I guess alcohol - for better and for worse - often creates a lot more drama and brings out the contradictory emotions which seem to be what he was out to capture in life. Also it's likely that he held the belief that weed subdues people too much - makes them mellow/not on edge enough. Plus, from the sounds of things he was kinda "old-school" in many ways.
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death_jamm_productions — 13 years ago(October 22, 2012 04:40 PM)
I'm not sure he could be deemed an 'alcoholic' its a difficult issue; books have recounted the fact that once his actual appearance started to deteriorate (not just the bloated stomach but his looks and skin becoming gaunt, hollow and stretched and jaundiced) he became a Vitamin C addict, eating orange peels, oranges and drinking orange juice, but this really happened around the time of Love Streams when he was given the 6 months 'sentence' so I don't think he drank then like an alcoholic would to the grave, he was just too ill
If you go back to Tempest, The Haircut and even Marvin and Tige he still looks relatively healthy and probably drank thinking he looked and felt great; obviously around the time of LS he just had to look in the mirror to feel like crap and the fact he could hardly get insured for 'Big Trouble' certifies that; he clearly wasn't drinking thenbut by the time of 'Bookie' and 'Opening Night' he looked fine and probably felt invincible with the whole Sol Madrid debacle behind him
http://www.mickey-rourke.com/ -
in_my_trailer — 12 years ago(December 21, 2013 03:45 AM)
Short answer to the OP's question: Yes. Call it "a taste for the good life" or say that Cassavetes "enjoyed his cocktails," whatever - but someone who drinks an amount considered excessive by healthcare professionals and who ultimately compromises his health so much that it shortens his life IS an alcoholic. The fact that he smoked surely hastened his death as well. Pity, as he was a very talented man.
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brabryant — 12 years ago(January 05, 2014 08:03 PM)
He was a pretty decent actor, but he really over acted most of the time. Seems like he was always trying to be a little too cool for his own good. I think maybe because he was only 5' 7" tall that he had 'short man's syndrome' and tried to make people think he was tougher than he looked. See this a lot with Steve McQueen as well. Cassavettes and his wife Gina Rowlands made a pretty good acting team for a married couple though.
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meary8412 — 9 years ago(September 24, 2016 05:36 PM)
well guess what?? he was scum and a cult leader and a bisexual!! he was the main attraction on a new CNN documentary called 'HOLY HELL" I JUST SAW IT, MANY OF THE FOLLOWERS iN HIS CULT ADMITTED TO HIM RAPING THEM MOSTLY IN THE "BACKEND" he manipulated them for many years ,he wasn't a nice guy as stated here in this thread!! they so their houses ,cars and belongings and gave him the money. f ya have ondemand on your cable/satellite provider ya could probably catch it or just do a search on any web engine, your welcome!