An American Actress Dumps a Drink on a British Actor while on The Tonight Show
Forget Paul Revere’s warning, “The British are coming,” one Brit should’ve been warned about an American actress wielding a glass of “whisky.”
One afternoon, I decided I needed some mind-numbing amusement, so I dove into the abyss of trivia, aka YouTube. I watched clips of old television shows, flicking through some while perusing others. The algorithm eventually led me to a gem! The thumbnail photo showed a woman pouring a beverage over a man’s head.
Dynamic Duo
The clip showed an incident between Oliver Reed and Shelley Winters while on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Whether by the “fickle finger of fate,” serendipity, or a savvy producer, the pairing of Reed and Winters was pure gold. Not since Martin and Lewis, Kojak and “Fatso,” or Woody and Buzz Lightyear had the animus of two people with big egos worked so well.
Reed was known across the pond to be a tad pugnacious … or perhaps just pugnacious, but US audiences were unaware of his reputation. It was Reed’s first time on The Tonight Show, and Carson greeted him with a friendly, “How are you?” To which the British actor replied, “Quite extraordinary.”
