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We preview the next series of Hollywood’nt: Hollywood Declassified with a special look at the life and career of the legendary Bette Davis. With the release of a new book, Wicked Becomes Her, this 8 part series revisits some of the actress’ most memorable roles, but focuses on the fascinating story behind the making of her final film, Wicked Stepmother. This episode offers a glimpse at what is in store and the book that inspired it.

For the latest series we go back to the 1960s for a little known and rarely seen low-grade horror flick called Incubus. Starring a young William Shatner, the film has a dark and eerie past. A troubled film and a backstory that includes murder, suicide and tragedy.

As we wrap up our series on Incubus, we revisit the troubled film and how it was nearly lost for the ages until it was rediscovered. And the films bizarre history of horrific true events that followed many associated with the film have continued to make people interested in the story of Incubus.

What the filmmakers hoped would be a revolutionary and and thought-inspiring art film turned out to be a less-than-spectacular film that failed to find an audience and disappeared from the scene. However, tragedy would follow many associated with the film.

Author John William Law recently appeared on The Author Show to discuss the bookWho Nuked the Duke? and the related filmThe Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout. The interview is hosted here.

The book helped inspire a film that had its world premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival in October 2023 and closed the Palm Beach Film Festival that same month. The author appears in the film — It’s an epic tale that spans more than 30 years. As the Cold War took hold at that dawn of the 1950s the U.S. government began a program to perfect the atom bomb. The Nevada Test Site would be the prime location for testing atomic weapons on U.S. soil. A key to the program was to reduce impact to the public by having the radioactive nuclear fallout drift “downwind” into sparsely-inhabited areas of Utah. Who Nuked The Duke? looks at the program through the camera lens and filming of the 1954 RKO epic The Conqueror. The John Wayne feature, from producer Howard Hughes, would be filmed inside the infamous Snow Canyon, “a key resevoir” of nuclear fallout. As the years ticked by cast and crew would succumb, one by one, to a host of cancers. Director Dick Powell, co-star Pedro Armendariz, leading lady Susan Hayward, co-star Agnes Moorehead, and ultimately John Wayne himself. Along with countless other cast and crew, they represent a microcosm of what happened in the Utah community where the movie was filmed. Taking an objective look back at the government program, the scientific facts behind the testing and its impact on the community, as well as the lives of the Hollywood stars, Who Nuked The Duke?offers a rare look inside movie history and the Atomic Energy program. This award-winning book was first published in 2014 and has been updated in 2023. Who Nuked The Duke?was an inspiration for the film documentary The Conqueor: Hollywood Fallout.

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William Shatner was just beginning his career when he agreed to star in a low-budget horror film called Incubus. While the film had a bizarre story, a strange language and short production schedule, it would have a long path to finding a fan base and would be followed by a series of strange tragedies.

As we wrap up this series we wanted to talk a little more about the book and the upcoming feature film on the same topic. The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout will be released in late 2023 (estimated) and cover the filming of John Wayne’s The Conqueror and the tragedy that followed.

The Poster for the movie, The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout.

With Who Nuked the Duke? in print, a new documentary called Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout was released in 2023 on the big screen and digital platform. With Who Nuked the Duke? as part of the inspiration behind the film, we close out the series by discussing the new edition of the book, the current state of the story and the release of the film.

After The Conqueror was completed it would take several years before the film hit big screens. After the release, Hughes removed the film from circulation, but the trouble behind the film – and the filming on a radioactive film site – would begin to follow cast and crew.

John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz, Agnes Moorhead and a host of others gathers in St. George Utah to film Howard Hughes’ epic The Conqueror. Directed by Dick Powell, the film would be crucified by critics for bad casting, but would still make money thanks to John Wayne and his fans. What followed was a 30-year unfolding tragedy.

John Wayne is back in 2023. With a new updated release of Who Nuked the Duke, in print, ebook and enhanced digital edition, and a new feature film documentary on the making of The Conqueror, we are revisiting the topic with a new series in Hollywood’nt. This first episode offers an introduction into the topic and what’s in store.

After her movie career ended, Crawford continued to work for a couple years into the 1970s, but found preparing to be “Joan Crawford” was becoming too much. She receded from public life and in her last few years alcoholism and illness were sometimes issues. We wrap up our series on Joan Crawford.

With the success of Strait-Jacket, Joan Crawford agreed to another role in Castle’s follow up film, I Saw What You Did. Though her character is killed in the first third of the picture, she got star billing, her usual salary and a chance to be a star again.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was a smash hit and it was followed with numerous offers of work for both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. However, most of the work was in horror films. Joan Crawford picked up an axe for William Castle’s 1964 classic Strait-Jacket and Crawford saw dollar signs.

Joan Crawford found a way out of debt and a shot at a second – or third – act in Hollywood. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?would become a smash, but working with Bette Davis was the price to pay.

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford met Alfred Steele in the mid 1950s when her career was going downhill. She decided to step away from Hollywood and become the wife of a Pepsi executive. All seemed rosy, but the marriage ended in his death and she found she had crushing debt. The only way out was to find work – in the movies.

Joan Crawford died in 1977, but her career died around 1970 with her final film, Trog. Crawford’s body of work on film from 1960 until her death was primarily horror related. The success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? gave her career a boost, but put her on a course where nearly every film offer was in the horror genre. And as they continued, each one was worse than the one before.

With the fall of 2022 marking the 60th anniversary of the release of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, the 1962 classic starring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, this new series of Hollywood’nt – Hollywood Declassified looks back to the film and one of its stars, Joan Crawford. This episode introduces the topic and sets listeners up for what’s in store.

As we wrap up this series on William Holden we take a brief look at the book that inspired the project. Hollywood’nt isn’t just the name of this podcast series, it’s the name of a new book about some of Tinseltown’s lost films and performances. The book discusses a number of films, but includes one chapter on the final film William Holden was due to start making at the time of his death. Listen in …

After several days of not being heard from, some began to worry and their concerns would be validated when William Holden’s body was found in his apartment. In this episode we go back to 1981 and the circumstances surrounding the death of William Holden.

As we get closer to the death of William Holden he had one last film he was about to begin, so in this episode we discuss the film and some of the other things going on in his life in the final weeks. Listen in …

By the 1970s alcohol had become a limiting factor in his career, but William Holden still found work in some notable feature films and on TV. He also had a passion for several things outside of Hollywood that drove him. In this episode we look at his later years. Listen in …

With his big break coming in Sunset Boulevard in 1950 we look back at some of the key moments in William Holden’s career. With huge hits in the 1950s, his career faltered in the 60s when drinking became more of a problem for him. Listen in …

William Holden was a leading man who often found himself romancing his leading ladies. In addition to a long relationship at the end of his life with Stefanie Powers, Holden had a not-so-publicized romance with Audrey Hepburn and an a lengthy affair with Cappucine. In this episode we discuss some of the key romantic figures in his life. Listen in …

As we look at the tragic circumstances around the death of William Holden it helps by getting an understanding into who he was and how we became one of Hollywood’s leading male stars of the 1950s. This episode looks back at his early years and the movie part turned down by another star that would become his big break into stardom. Listen in …

As we launch our new series on William Holden we thought it might be helpful to catch listeners up on some of the earlier shows by revisiting Series 1-4 of Hollywood Declassified. While the early shows are no longer available we can give you a sense of what was covered and how the evolution to Hollywoodn’t has occurred and where the show is going.

William Holden was found dead on November 17, 1981.  At the age 63 years old, his body was found by an apartment manager inside his Santa Monica apartment. Police surmized that he died of natural causes after he tripped and hit his head and bled to death. In this series we look at the details around his death and the highlights of his life and career. We also discuss his final film project. Details on the film he never completed and his last days are included in an upcoming book called Hollywood’nt.

Welcome back. In 2019 we launched Hollywood Declassified to listeners interested in some of Tinseltown’s most fascinating backstories. After several series on topics like Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner and Montgomery Clift some organizational changes and sponsor changes caused us to go dark and reformat a bit. Now, we are back with an updated and slightly rebranded show called Hollywood’nt … Hollywood Declassified. Listen to our first show and discover what’s in store.

In the closing episode we talk about Montgomery Clift’s later years, his films, his struggles and his death.

After surgery and a rough recovery would Montgomery Clift be able to return to filming Raintree County and would the film be a hit? This is the topic of this episode.

The crash that nearly killed Montgomery Clift is discussed.

We are re-running the last series for users interested in catching up as we changed platforms and programs during the running. This episode talks about the making of Raintree County, Montgomery Clift and the car crash that nearly killed him and ended the movie.

We are re-running the last series for users interested in catching up as we changed platforms and programs during the running. This is episode 2 on Raintree County.

We are re-running the last series for users interested in catching up as we changed platforms and programs during the running. This is episode one of series 4.

The Longest Suicide in Hollywood – Preview episode. We are re-running the last series for users interested in catching up as we changed platforms and programs during the running.