Three Great Drinkers: Allen, Coward and Sinatra
Huge Talents Had Huge Opus, and Huge Thirst for Booze
Mar 20, 2009 Laura Harrison McBride
Here are brief profiles of three men whose contributions to the arts is astonishing, and their appreciation for imbibing is well-known also.
Steve Allen
“Do not allow children to mix drinks. It is unseemly and they use too much vermouth.”--Steve Allen
Steve Allen, who died in 2000, was the first host of The Tonight Show, virtually developing the concept of the talk show. That’s not surprising, as he had the Irish “gift of the gab,” having been born Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen to a vaudeville comedienne named Isabelle Donohue Allen and vaudevillian Billy Allen.
Allen did everything to extremes. He composed more than 10,000 songs, recorded by Perry Como, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé and others. He wrote more than 50 books. Among those books were Dumbth, about the problems with the American educational system, and Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Morality.
He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He didn’t die of drink; he died of a massive heart attack at age 78 after being broadsided by a truck while driving to his son’s house.
Noël Coward
“I’m not a heavy drinker. I can sometimes go for hours without touching a drop.”—Noël Coward
That’s Sir Noël Coward, actually. Born in 1899, Coward died in March, 1973, after a career as playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. He also worked for the British government during World War II, when he ran the British propaganda office in Paris. At the time, he concluded that “if the policy of His Majesty’s government is to bore the Germans to death, I don’t think we have the time” according to Dick Richards in his 1970 book, The Wit of Noël Coward. Wisely, the government decided to use Coward’s distinct penchant for high living and carousing by sending him on trips to America where he was to use his wit to influence public and political opinion in aid of Britain. He must have done well. He ended up on a Nazi blacklist of people they intended to execute if they conquered Britain. So, in very real terms, his rather boozy wit saved a couple of nations, and his own hide, a hide later knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1969.
He died in Jamaica of heart failure, after suffering for several years from arteriosclerosis.
Frank Sinatra
“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.”— Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (1915-1998) was another prolific artist. His career began in the swing era, when he sang with the orchestras of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Although his singing career stalled after the 1940s, it was revived in 1954 after he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in From Here to Eternity. His singing career picked up again, as well, after that and he was a staple in movies and in singing performances until his retirement in 1971. He is probably best remembered today for his TV shows with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. (In those shows, Dean Martin was the one with a glass of Scotch in his hand, however.)
Sinatra was a committed Democrat until the 1968 election.
Sinatra was honored in 1983 with the Kennedy Center Honors and in 1985 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in addition to his eleven Grammy Awards.
He died of a heart attack.
References
Quotes are from OnMyList website.
Biographical information from Wikipedia.org.
From Here to Eternity poster
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