Seeing The Last Picture Show on VHS at age 12 did three things for our childhood: 1) we finally understood why men salivated over Cybill Shepherd; 2) we became madly obsessed with the honky tonk music of Hank Williams and 3) we developed a crush on an actress we assumed was still a total unknown, an Oscar winner named Cloris Leachman.
In the movie, Leachman seduces (or allows herself to be seduced by) a shy high school boy, who ultimately falls in love with her and loses her in a fit of miscommunication. Leachman, who plays an aging housewife in a heartbreaking marriage, gives one of the best performances in screen history and virtually could have been her own movie.
Last year, when Leachman was on Dancing With the Stars, her career took off again and, to capitalize on it, the sexy senior is dishing dirt on her romances with famous co-stars and other Hollywood dudes, leaving out none of the racy details...
On then box-office sensation Gene Hackman:
"As we moved into the main course, it was as if a cosmic wind
enveloped us. Some giant space magnet was pulling us together. We didn't finish the meal. We went upstairs, flew
into bed and made love. It was epic. And the next morning, Gene went
back to his film and I went back to mine. I haven't seen Gene since
that night, but I remember well the feisty lad he was."
On Ed Asner, her co-star on the Mary Tyler Moore Show (yep, that's where you know her from):
"He always told me he loved me,
and every once in a while, he'd grab me and whisper, 'You're God's gift
to man!'
"One day we made an agreement that I would have sex with him if he
lost 32 pounds. He almost did it; he lost
29 pounds. We both got so disoriented at what we were facing that his
weight shot back up, and our assignation never happened."
And on singer Andy Williams, a lifelong friend:
"enduring passion" "tryst with caviar
and champagne" "a cascade of photographs fell onto the floor and into
my lap. All were handsome shots of his wife and his daughter.
"There was not much either of us could say. It
was apparent to both of us where Andy's heart lay. . . . [It] ended not
in a fiery affair but as it should have, with a light, friendly kiss."
In case 82-year-old Leachman is starting to turn you on, there's this news from yesterday:
68 percent of men between 57 and 85 reported having sex last year, as
did 42 percent of women... more older
women might have wanted to have sex, but there just aren't as many
available older men for them to partner with. [HealthDay]
That's where you come in, dear readers...
Excerpts obtained by the NY Post.
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