Maxwell Reed
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Maxwell Reed (1919-1974) was an Irish-born 1950s matinee idol with the Rank Organisation in Britain. He became the first husband of the young British starlet, Joan Collins in the 1950s. Their first sexual encounter was supposedly preceded by him drugging her; when she awoke, Reed inquired "Did you enjoy that?". Collins divorced him after he allegedly tried to sell her to an Arab sheik. Maxwell Reed's career is sadly neglected these days but he was a true star of British noir thrillers. Among his best are The Dark Man, Daybreak, Clouded Yellow, Dear Murderer, There Is Another Sun and The Brain Machine. He also appeared to good effect in non-genre films such as Sea Devils, The Brothers and The Square Ring (in a role later played on TV by Sean Connery). Reed drifted to the US in th late 50s and appeared in films and on TV before dying young in 1974. He had a reputation as 'the wild man of British cinema' in the 50s long before the likes of Burton, O'Toole, Harris and his namesake Oliver ... I for one wish their were more like him today.
