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'I'm the biggest star this country has got,' Oliver Reed once claimed. 'Destroy me and you destroy the whole British film industry.'
But Oliver Reed did not need anyone to destroy him as, in May 1999, after a forty-year acting career which included 100 films, he succeeded in destroying himself. He died, as he had invariably lived, drinking with friends while making yet another film.
Born in Wimbledon, London, Reed rose to international stardom with his powerful performance as Bill Sykes in the 1968 musical Oliver! He was seen as one of the brightest prospects of the British film industry and, by the late 60s, he was Britain's highest-paid star. However, his later career became overshadowed by his reputation for drunken behaviour.
Reed's career was full of characteristic firsts: in 1969 he starred in Women in Love, the first English-speaking commercial film to feature full-frontal male nudity; in 1967 he starred in I'll Never Forget What's 'Is Name, the first film to feature the word 'f**k'; and in 1972 he starred in Sitting Target, the first British film to receive an X rating purely for its violent content.
Throughout his eventful and colourful career, Reed worked with some of the most famous names in the film industry from Bette Davis to Raquel Welch. His opinions were expressed bluntly, his exploits are legendary, but bestselling author Cliff Goodwin also explores the other side to this complex character.
Unique, compelling and insightful, Evil Spirits contains material from first-hand interviews with Reed's family, friends and colleagues, and features never-before-seen photographs from the family album. This is the fascinating story of one of the UK's most infamous stars.
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