 Starring: Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez, Delroy LindoDirector: Tony Scott Year Of Release: 2005 Plot: Loosely based on the true story of Domino Harvey, daughter of actor Laurence Harvey, Domino leaves the high life behind to join Ed Moseley and his team of bounty hunters. However, after the mobs money is stolen from an armoured truck, Domino ends up in the middle of a situation involving warring Mafia, the FBI and even a crazed TV producer. |
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I have to say, Im glad my parents arent movie stars. While a lot of the offspring of the rich and famous do okay, there are a hell of a lot that seem to go off the rails, with the main question being whether they die before they pull themselves back on track. Its rather like young starlets who go nuts, where it seems that having a lot of money and a have-it-all lifestyle at an early age warps their view of reality and ends up with them taking the sort of risks normal people know to avoid.
That was certainly true of Domino Harvey, daughter of Oscar-nominated actor Laurence Harvey and model Paulene Stone, as while the film biopic loosely based on her life, Domino, presents her as a bored former model looking for a bit of excitement by becoming a bounty hunter, in truth its debatable whether she ever was a model at all. What is known is that she had a long history of drug abuse and was in and out of rehab endlessly, and had drifted around running a London nightclub for a while and working as a ranch hand in San Diego. Not long before the movie came out, Domino was found dead in a bathtub in West Hollywood, with the coroner find shed died of an overdose of fentanyl.
While her mother tried to suggest it was an accident and she might have been prescribed the medication for an injury shed received, a drug addict would know that taking a powerful opiate based painkiller is a very bad idea for them, especially as she died while talking to her sobriety guardian on the phone. Its also true that at the time of her death, she was under house arrest, awaiting trial on charges of trying to possess and distribute methamphetamines. Strangely, little about this other side of her life was mentioned in the movie.
More recently weve seen the downfall of Cameron Douglas. While his father, Michael, was the son of movie star Kirk and a bit of a wild child himself in his youth, he never went completely went off the rails and of course became a huge star himself. His son, Cameron, initially looked like he was going to follow in his father and grandfathers footsteps, appearing with his famous family members (and his mother) in the 2003 film, It Runs In The Family, as well as scoring roles in Loaded and National Lampoons Adam & Eve.
However things starting coming to pieces in 2007, when he was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance after the police found a syringe loaded with liquid cocaine in his car. Then in 2009 things got even worse, when he was discovered in possession of half-a-pound of meth and was charged with intent to distribute. Despite the fact its not believed money was ever a problem for Cameron (his father never cut him off), he later admitted hed been dealing and helping move large amounts of drugs across the US from LA to New York since 2006. He also had an extra charge of heroin possession added to the docket, after his girlfriend tried to smuggle him the drug while he was under house arrest. Cameron was sentenced to five year in jail in April of this year, with his dad Michael saying he was to blame for being a bad father and that he was glad his son was in jail, because otherwise he was going to be dead or somebody was gonna kill him.”
However the father you really dont want is Marlon Brando, at least around the time his first child, Christian, was growing up. Christian is probably now most famous for shooting his half-sisters lover dead in 1990, but thats only the tip of the iceberg. Born during the brief marriage of Brando and actress Anna Kashfi (a bohemian who claimed half-Indian parentage when actually both her mother and father were British, of Irish decent her real name is Johanna O’Callaghan) in the late 50s, he was the subject of a long-running and very bitter custody battle. It seems he was literally the kid put in the middle between his warring parents, with Christian more a tool to beat each other with than either of his parents genuinely wanting the best for him.
Brando eventually won custody, but he was a distant father, and Christian was largely brought up by nannies and servants. With his father eventually having 12 different children by numerous mothers, home-life was apparently like a revolving door, with Christian later saying that, The family kept changing shape, I’d sit down at the breakfast table and say, Who are you?”
In 1972, while his father was away filming Last Tango In Paris, his mother arranged to have Christian kidnapped by some of her hippie friend, who she promised to pay $10,000. When she didnt give them the cash, they took Christian to Mexico, with his father having to hire private investigators to find him and bring him back. It was certainly not your usual upbringing and pretty much a recipe for later dysfunction. (Incidentally, Christian went to high school with both Michael Jackson and Danny Bonaduce, two other La La Land kids who had profound difficulties growing up).
While he was a sometime actor, Christian hit the headlines in 1990 when he shot dead Drag Drollet, his half-sister Cheyennes lover. Although the full events of what happened were only known to Christian, he claimed the he and his sister had had dinner that evening, at which point she told him Drollet had been physically abusive to her. Then, while drunk, Christian decided to confront Drollet at the Brando family home. Christian claimed he didnt intend to kill anyone, and only took the gun to scare Drag, but they ended up fighting over the weapon and it went off, killing Cheyennes lover.
Christian pled guilty to manslaughter and spent five years in prison for the crime.
Shortly before he was released from prison, his half-sister Cheyenne killed herself after being diagnosed with schizophrenia and losing custody of her child (she was also said to still be depressed about Drollets death).
Christians plans for a quiet life post-jail didnt quite work out, as in 2002 lawyers for Baretta actor Robert Blake tried to implicate him in the 2001 murder of Bonnie Le Bakley. Blake was charged with the killing, but his lawyers argued Brando had a better motive and was the real reason the killing has taken place, as Bakley was dating Blake and Christian at the same time. When she had a child, she told Christian it was his and named him on the birth certificate (even though later DNA tests proved Blake was the biological father). However Brando and Bakleys relationship soured dramatically, with a conversation between them two, taped days before her death, allegedly involving him saying, “Youre lucky. You know, I mean, not on my behalf, but youre lucky someone aint out there to put a bullet in your head.
Although Brando couldnt have committed the murder himself (he was in Washington State when she died), the insinuation was that it was one of his associates that did it in order to curry favour with him. However the judge forbade the defence from presenting this scenario to the jury. After Blake was acquitted in the criminal trial, Brando was called to testify in the civil trial, but he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to say anything. His behaviour in court also resulted in a contempt charge and conviction. In that trial, Blake was found liable for the death of Bonnie Lee Bakley, although he continued to say he wasnt at all culpable for the murder.
In 2004 Christian married Deborah Presley, a woman who claims to be the illegitimate child of Elvis. Only months later he was charged with two counts of spousal abuse, to which he pled guilty and was given probation. Deborah then sued Christian seeking financial damages for multiple counts of violence and threats of violence and murder against her 13-year-old daughter, with further allegations of what amount to spousal rape. In that case an out of court settlement was reached.
Finally, in January 2008 he was hospitalised with pneumonia and two week later he died, with friends saying hed succumbed to the disease because his body was completely compromised by his hard living, which had also involved a lot of drink and drugs.
Although being born into fame and wealth sounds like it would be great, with ready-made access to the high life, it comes with an awful lot of pressures. Not only are you living in your parents shadow, unsure whether people like you or just like the fact you come from famous stock, but youre also likely to have had a fairly unusual upbringing. Just look at the Brangelina kids, who may all grow up to be fine upstanding citizens, but at the moment probably dont realise that most kids dont have a thousand photographers following them wherever they go, and neither do most children continually travel round the world depending on where their parents are working.
Many of the children of movie stars are raised in a closeted bubble that seems to ill-prepare them for real life, where it often seems they believe they should be able to have whatever they want (whether because of a sense of entitlement, or because theyve never had to worry where the money comes from), without seeming to realise the risks are just as big for them as for anyone else. While most peoples teen rebellion is limited by money and opportunity, the possibilities and temptations are sky high if you want to act out in La La Land. It is a recipe for having a skewed view of the world, which in some cases has led to major trouble for movie star kids with some being able to pull themselves back on course, but many not being that lucky (and of course thats not to mention the endless child stars whove ended up dead or in jail, which I ought to write about some other time).
At Christian Brandos funeral, the chaplain, Timothy Berg said, “I guess as a society, we’ve made it really hard for people who are famous. God, he had a hard life, he really did, and I guess that’s really true of a lot of people who are born into fame.” It may seem like itd be good to be the child of a movie star, but much of the time it really isnt, so be thankful you parents arent famous.
TIM ISAAC
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