“The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind,” noted Humphrey Bogart. Not so in Hollywood, where drinking has long been a favorite tradition. Maybe it was the way movie studios watched carefully over herds of their stumbling stars, but for today’s celebs a wild night out often results in a celebrity mugshot the next morning.
In the past 48 hours Amanda Bynes and Michael Phelps were both pulled over and arrested for DUI. For Bynes this comes after just three days out of rehab. On the other hand, this is the first skirt with the law for Phelps. While it might be his first we can almost guarantee it won’t be his last.
Nostalgic for the good old days, when stars sipped their liquor in glamorous watering holes that looked like Hollywood sets.
BETTE DAVIS
Confession: “There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of Champagne.”
Reality: “She could drink a bottle of Scotch a night and not show it at all,” wrote an ex-husband.
CARY GRANT
Favorite cocktail: A Stinger made with brandy and crème de menthe.
CLARK GABLE & CONSTANCE BENNETT
Favorite drink: Jim Beam bourbon whiskey. Was known to drink it from vases.
COLE PORTER & ELSA MAXWELL
Favorite champagne: Pommery
Inspired lyrics: “I get no kick from champagne. Mere alcohol doesn’t thrill me at all, So tell me why should it be true, That I get a kick out of you?”—Anything Goes
DAVID BOWIE
Favorite cocktail: Bombay Sapphire martini
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Favorite cocktail: Mojitos
Best advice: “Write drunk; edit sober.”
GRETA GARBO
Weekly consumption habits: 2 bottles Cutty Sark, 1 bottle Stolichnaya
Curiousity: Garbo’s speaking debut in Anna Christie (1930) was: “Gimme a whiskey with ginger ale and don’t be stingy, baby.”
HUMPHREY BOGART & JUDY GARLAND
Bogey’s drinks: “I should never have switched from scotch to martinis.”
Judy’s favorite drinks: Vodka and black tea, but never together.
JOAN CRAWFORD
Favorite cocktail: Vodka and Pepsi
Frequency: A quart a day
JOHNNY CARSON
Liquor-inspired zen: “Happiness is… finding two olives in your martini when you’re hungry.”
JOHNNY DEPP
Favorite cocktail: Blueberry and ginger bourbon sour
Favorite grape: Château Petrus
JULIA CHILD
Favorite cocktail: A reverse martini (a glass full of Noilly Prat vermouth on the rocks with a topper of gin.)
KATE MOSS & DAMON DASH
Her favorite cocktail and locale: French 76 at the Hemingway Bar, Paris.
LIZ TAYLOR & RICHARD BURTON
His: Jack Daniels, Gordon’s gin
Hers: Jack Daniels
LUCILLE BALL
Favorite brand: Early Times bourbon whiskey
MADONNA & PENELOPE CRUZ
Favorite cocktail: Pomegranate Martini
MARLON BRANDO
Beer choice: Miller High Life
Favorite cocktail: Disaronno and scotch whiskey
NATALIE WOOD & ROBERT WAGNER
His: Scotch
Hers: Pouilly-Fuissé
NOEL COWARD WITH VIVIEN LEIGH, KAY KENDALL (MRS. REX HARRISON) & LAUREN BACALL
Favorite cocktail: A Bullshot (vodka, beef bouillon with hot sauce and pepper)
Thought of the day: “Why do I drink Champagne for breakfast? Doesn’t everyone?”
PAUL NEWMAN
Favorite beer: Budweiser
SHIRLEY TEMPLE & BABY LEROY
Favorite drinks: Malted milkshake
W.C. FIELDS
Favorite cocktail: Gin martinis
Health tip: “Nothing stronger than gin before breakfast.”
