Does anyone who attended last years "Give Us Your Money" reunion tour by the Sex Pistols remember Sid? How about the indelible movie portrayal of the doomed uber-punk, done to a chilling turn by the then little known British actor Gary Oldman? His star-making turn as the '77 epitome of "it's better to burn out than to fade away," had worldwide audiences wondering, "Is it Memorex, or is it Vicious?"
Thirty-nine-year-old Oldman was recently called one of the best actors in Hollywood by industry glossy Movieline, which raved about the massive talent of this lithe Brit, calling him a "rogue prince, so dazzling, brave and scary that the movies he's in can rarely keep up." And what a strange lot of films he's chosen in which to showcase his brilliantly raw talent: An Irish gangster in the Sean Penn vehicle, State Of Grace, assassin of the American dream Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's controversial JFK; the romantically creepy lead in Bram Stoker's Dracula; tortured genius Beethoven in Immortal Beloved. "I don't think Hollywood knows what to do with me," the risk taking thespian has said. "I would imagine that when it comes to romantic comedies, my name would be pretty low down on the list."
Oldman's romantic life is equally dramatic. In the late '80s he married English actress Lesley Manville - a union which produced his only son, Alfie. He was next briefly wed to ultra-babe Uma Thurman. Presently, his on-again-off-again relationship with Isabella Rossellini keeps his name in the tabloid pages. While it appears that the extraordinarily talented Oldman likes to keep his love life as off kilter as his film roles, one source would beg to differ. "The first time I met him, he was the opposite of what I expected because he always plays dark characters," Rossellini once said. "But he was charming and fun and funny - and he made me a cup of tea." Ah, the allure of the tortured English gentleman - long may he make us swoon!
(Source and date unknown. Passed on to me by KC Lancaster.)