Pick of the week’s Gossip

Both on screen and in real life, Lee Marvin (pictured) excelled in the role of an alcoholic hellraiser. However, when he appeared in the film of Wilbur Smith’s Shout at the Devil, he astonished the cast and crew with his gentle pacifying of a baby. The child had been crying frantically, but was no sooner in Marvin’s arms than it fell asleep. According to Smith, it took a while for everyone to work out what had happened: “Lee had breathed vodka fumes all over the boy, stupefying him instantly.”

With Debbie Reynolds and the singer Eddie Fisher for parents, Todd Fisher had a wild Hollywood upbringing. Among his pets was an alligator; when it became too big, it was secretly released onto a local golf course. He was also allowed real guns and explosives, so that he and his friends could make home movies with convincing battle scenes. When he accidentally shot himself in the leg with a blank, his sister Carrie decided to make mischief. “Todd wouldn’t brush his teeth,” she told reporters, “so Mum shot him.”

Bruce Forsyth had a favourite story about taking a London taxi with a friend, according to The Times. When the driver remarked that he looked like someone famous, Forsyth revealed his identity – but the man was unconvinced. “If you’re Bruce Forsyth,” he said, “I’m James Bond.” At which point his other passenger, Roger Moore, intervened: “No,” he said, “I’m James Bond.”