LOIS CHILES. Spill the dirt.

May 2024 · 12 minute read

From Arthur Laurents memoir: “In New York, Ray [Stark, producer of ”The Way We Were“], bubbling with that infectious enthusiasm, worked overtime at the job he wanted: casting young actresses. He took me with him to a casting session at an excellent Chinese restaurant convenient to his apartment on East Fifty-seventh. The other guests were Oleg Cassini and his very pretty girl who had no interest in becoming an actress, and an even prettier girl who was an actress and extremely interested in being recognized as one. ”Her name was Lois Chiles. I liked her; it was a pleasure just to look at her. Although she gave the impression of being the well-spoken, fresh-faced graduate of a very good private school, she got all Ray's jokes which flew thick, fast and dirty. The part she wanted in The Way We Were was a good one. The requirements for the role were simple; understanding the requirements for getting the role was also simple. Lois understood.“'In other words,' she said to Ray as though she were talking to a broker who had just explained the contents of her portfolio, 'I get the part if I fuck you.'”'Right!' Ray winked and laughed as though he might not have meant it. No one was going to catch him. Lois got the part.“ [Several months later...] ”The first person I saw on the set, however, wasn't Barbra [Streisand]; it wasn't Sydney [Pollack] or [Robert] Redford; it wasn't even Ray. It was Lois Chiles. She raced over, threw her arms around me as though we knew each other, and burst into tears. Sydney was mean to her, Redford was glacial, Barbra invisible, Ray ignored her—could we please have dinner please? Of course. Here, take my handkerchief, call me at my hotel later to fix the time. “When she called, she asked: 'Would you mind if I brought a friend? Would it be alright?' 'Sure. Who's your friend?' 'Bob Evans.' Jesus. 'You don't need me, Lois. You're doing fine.' The Great Gatsby, her next picture, was produced by Bob Evans. Hollywood was full of Chinese restaurants.”-- from ”Original Story By Arthur Laurents: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood."

by Anonymousreply 75February 21, 2022 4:38 AM

Evans said much the same in his autobiography. One of his friends sent Chiles over to Evans' house - I think it was in the wake of his split with Ali McGraw - and Chiles stayed for months.

by Anonymousreply 1February 17, 2022 9:54 PM

Chiles teaches acting at a Texas university, right?

by Anonymousreply 2February 17, 2022 9:55 PM

With that level of whorey ambition in her, and her connections, WHET Lois Chiles? She's been ovah forevuh.

by Anonymousreply 3February 17, 2022 11:10 PM

I knew Lois when she was dating one of my good friends. This was after her affair with William Paley ended and she was looking for work again. At the time she was also close friends with Michelle Pfeiffer. The funny thing was on screen Michelle was more beautiful but in person Lois was possibly the most beautiful woman I ever saw in my life, her face just glowed somehow. She was so remarkable looking. However, she wasn’t terribly bright. I

by Anonymousreply 4February 17, 2022 11:16 PM

Are the two Laurent books worth reading? Is there a preference? I would hope for these tomes to be juicy and cunty.

by Anonymousreply 5February 17, 2022 11:16 PM

Holly Harwood was always a man eating tramp

by Anonymousreply 6February 17, 2022 11:26 PM

I think she taught at U of H, r2.

by Anonymousreply 8February 17, 2022 11:53 PM

R5 Well, Arthur is a Grade A mother fucking classless cunt. So if you like that sort of thing....

by Anonymousreply 9February 17, 2022 11:54 PM

Lois Chiles is a contender for the worst actress in big movies, ever. She nearly decapitates Death on the Nile, but fortunately, she's the victim, so she's a dead, halfway through the movie.

by Anonymousreply 10February 18, 2022 12:05 AM

One of her stepdaughters, Ginny Gilder, is a power lesbian who co-owns a top WNBA team. Here they are together at a gala. I failed to locate a photo of Lois attending a Seattle Storm game.

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by Anonymousreply 11February 18, 2022 12:06 AM

Lois looks a but like Kathleen Turner, if Turner had aged well.

by Anonymousreply 12February 18, 2022 12:10 AM

She certainly married well. Her deceased husband was fucking LOADED. Handsome older gent too.

by Anonymousreply 13February 18, 2022 12:11 AM

Her husband funded a theater that was named after Chiles, and they just staged "Newsies". Sadly, she wasn't in the cast.

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by Anonymousreply 14February 18, 2022 12:26 AM

I never thought about it before, but the young Lois and the young Michelle Pfieffer do have a similar look.

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by Anonymousreply 15February 18, 2022 12:27 AM

Wait a minute. Chiles teaches whaaaat? Acting?! Those can do and those who can't.....

by Anonymousreply 16February 18, 2022 12:38 AM

I never thought she was as bad as her reputation. She was fine in Death on the Nile.

Theresa Russell was a million times worse.

by Anonymousreply 17February 18, 2022 12:46 AM

[quote] Redford was glacial

Ha! Never liked him. Full of himself. Surprised he’s still above ground.

by Anonymousreply 18February 18, 2022 1:14 AM

Hey, I was in The Way We Were.

by Anonymousreply 19February 18, 2022 1:14 AM

"My crowning achievement as a thespian was the 'Murder She Wrote' I did with the late Arlene Golonka."

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by Anonymousreply 20February 18, 2022 1:22 AM

Fortunately for her, everything else about Moonraker was so bad her "acting" went unnoticed. Wait, no it didn't.

by Anonymousreply 21February 18, 2022 2:23 AM

I loved her in Wish Upon a Star! Mittermonster!

by Anonymousreply 22February 18, 2022 2:29 AM

Loved seeing her banished to and shivering in the Anchorage affiliate in ‘Broadcast News’.

by Anonymousreply 23February 18, 2022 3:00 AM

Lois Chiles was a beautiful woman. She was very good in The Way We Were and should've had more screen time but you just know Barbra wasn't having any of that.

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by Anonymousreply 24February 18, 2022 3:17 AM

I don't get the hate. I've seen her in a few things. She wasn't great, but she wasn't distractingly awful.

by Anonymousreply 25February 18, 2022 3:53 AM

She came from money. Don’t know why she had to whore around.

by Anonymousreply 26February 18, 2022 4:35 AM

She was lovely in Death on the Nile.

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by Anonymousreply 27February 18, 2022 4:51 AM

Oh, dear goodness! Her nose at R24 is stomach churning considering how much the surgeon must have sliced away.

Also worthy of note, Lois Chiles was Don Henley's girlfriend when he was caught with underage girls and successfully got himself off the for underage charges while one of the minors was prosecuted for pandering.

She was all "I had no idea..."

by Anonymousreply 28February 18, 2022 6:12 AM

Nothing wrong with her nose

by Anonymousreply 29February 18, 2022 6:45 AM

Maybe she really did have no idea, it's not like Henley was banging those girls when she was around.

by Anonymousreply 30February 18, 2022 6:46 AM

When I was young, I thought Chiles in “Moonraker” was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

by Anonymousreply 31February 18, 2022 8:06 AM

Funny how she's all over director Lewis Gilbert... I bet she never even looked at a screenwriter.

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by Anonymousreply 33February 18, 2022 11:09 AM

She mentions the Stark and Laurents restaurant encounter after 7:00. She uses "askance" in conversation, so she's read a book or two.

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by Anonymousreply 34February 18, 2022 11:16 AM

I always thought she was a pretty girl in everything I've seen her in, I don't see a problem really. I do recall she looked great in a one piece swimsuit, high heels and a sheer shoulder wrap standing poolside on an episode of Dallas as one of JR Ewing's many mistresses circa early 1980s. I was a gayling then, but in my Eyes she still looked good, a very pretty girl. And she has aged very well, I might add, which is the best revenge on haters. Good fit you Lois Chiles.

by Anonymousreply 36February 18, 2022 12:39 PM

^^good For you, I meant^^ lol

by Anonymousreply 37February 18, 2022 12:40 PM

OMG, Google Lois Chiles Dallas, there is a picture of her in a revealing swimsuit with Patrick Duffy on her arm. That Body!! Sorry, do not know how to add a link here. I'm gay, gay, gay, but Lois Chiles has a body!! I so not apologize for acknowledging it, she looks so good. Just sayin....

by Anonymousreply 38February 18, 2022 12:45 PM

Was Laurents' book before Robert Evans'?

by Anonymousreply 42February 18, 2022 12:53 PM

"People who are very beautiful make their own laws." --Karen Stone.

by Anonymousreply 43February 18, 2022 12:55 PM

Thank you to R40 & R41 for posting pictures. Always wondered why Lois never had a swimsuit poster like many actresses back then...

by Anonymousreply 44February 18, 2022 1:00 PM

She was good in Creepshow 2. "Thanks for the ride, lady"

by Anonymousreply 45February 18, 2022 1:07 PM

Impossibly gorgeous. Prettier than Michelle Pfeiffer, who was funny and vulnerable.

by Anonymousreply 46February 18, 2022 1:09 PM

Lois' first movie, "Together for Days" was retitled "Black Cream," lol.

by Anonymousreply 47February 18, 2022 1:27 PM

The handsome Clifton Davis (who wrote "Never Can Say Goodbye") was her co-star.

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by Anonymousreply 48February 18, 2022 1:28 PM

She didn't have much of a movie career. I remember her for doing guest shots on long forgotten hour long dramas on tv. She even did the obligatory "Murder, She Wrote".

by Anonymousreply 49February 18, 2022 1:30 PM

I thought it was strange that barely a year or so after the last of her four big movies, she was guest starring on "Hart to Hart." (It was a fun episode. She played twins.). It makes sense that she relied on the kindess of producers, and without their patronage, no directors were looking to cast her.

by Anonymousreply 50February 18, 2022 1:32 PM

Her acting is pretty dreadful in the rape (not rape rape) scene but she's quite effective when she pulls a gun on JR. Her biggest problem was that she lacked flair.

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by Anonymousreply 51February 18, 2022 1:35 PM

Lois was beautiful. She had fantastic hair and a sexy voice. Too bad her acting was so wooden.

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by Anonymousreply 53February 18, 2022 1:38 PM

"Would you like me to disapprove?"

Chiles best line delivery ever. She says it with exactly the right combination of husky voiced, quiet, faux polite concern and maximum condescension.

You all know where that's from.

by Anonymousreply 54February 18, 2022 2:00 PM

R54 Exact.

In TWWW

About Babs getting her hair ironed by her friends in Harlem.

by Anonymousreply 55February 19, 2022 10:29 PM

I wonder how she pissed off Evans. (Everyone pissed off Laurents.) To single her out like that suggests that there was bad blood between them.

by Anonymousreply 56February 19, 2022 10:40 PM

R41 The 80's world of the perm left no woman's head untouched.

by Anonymousreply 57February 19, 2022 10:40 PM

Lois Chiles had sent me down a YouTube hole. Linda Gray could not pull of this look.

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by Anonymousreply 58February 19, 2022 10:46 PM

Was she fired from Dallas? Was her acting too bad even for that show?

by Anonymousreply 60February 20, 2022 4:05 AM

If you bang someone to get an ongoing role, what happens if they get bored and decide to wash their hands of you....?

by Anonymousreply 61February 20, 2022 12:24 PM

Beautiful woman, wooden actress.

Arthur Laurent was a smart and talented writer. His autobiography is very interesting. But he is thoroughly unlikeable in my opinion. He’s kind of like Lauren Bacall: angry, chip on his shoulder and even more unkind to his peers. It comes through in his autobio- although I recommend it-

by Anonymousreply 63February 20, 2022 1:02 PM

Jaclyn Smith is around the same age, from the same area Houston, and was up for Moonraker too. Smith and Chiles look and sound similar enough and are both models turned actress. While Smith was never a great actress she at least had a presence. Chiles was a monotone block of wood no matter how many acting classes she took.

by Anonymousreply 64February 20, 2022 1:04 PM

r62, see r55.

Chiles character is a former college sorority girlfriend of Hubbell's who is now with Hubbell's best friend JJ.

It's post college, Katie and Hubbel are lovers and Katies hero FDR is US President. At a party of Hubbell's friends, where Katie doesn't fit in, they're wise-cracking about FDR, including jokes about Eleanor Roosevelt.

I can't remember if it's before or after Katie brings the party to a crashing halt by telling them off, but she's alone with Chiles and Chiles is attempting, perhaps manipulatively, to reach-out to Katie.

The contrast between Chiles character in college where she was a classic, beautiful, popular sorority girl and Katies was, well, in the Young Communist League, couldn't be more Ray Stark.

Anyway, during their conversation Katie tells Chiles "I actually have friends in Harlem" and that's when Chiles, with exquisite faux curiosity and condescension delivers her "Would you like me to disapprove?" line.

That was long but when I saw the word "elaborate", I rolled with it.

by Anonymousreply 65February 20, 2022 1:15 PM

THANKS FOR THE RIDE, LADY!

by Anonymousreply 66February 20, 2022 2:18 PM

So Ray Stark required a fuck before casting?

Because that is how Barbra got Funny Girl, although somewhat less willingly than Lois.

by Anonymousreply 67February 20, 2022 3:05 PM

That does give an added dimension to Babs writing "paid in full" in lipstick on a mirror.... Her own spin on leaving the money on the dresser.

by Anonymousreply 68February 20, 2022 4:28 PM

Jon Peters was the one who blabbed about Stark raping Streisand.

I'm sure she was NOT pleased.

by Anonymousreply 69February 20, 2022 5:45 PM

What are y'all talking about? Ray Stark was as queer as a three-dollar bill!

by Anonymousreply 70February 20, 2022 8:14 PM

She was so beautiful in The Great Gatsby.

by Anonymousreply 71February 20, 2022 9:24 PM

Somebody thinks she was good in Death on the Nile? Think again. She is ATROCIOUS.

by Anonymousreply 72February 21, 2022 2:36 AM

[quote] About the years ago, I had a freshman named Bertha. Pretty young black woman. Maybe it was a family name, but what a pity.

The European pronunciation, Bare-tah, is much better than the American way.

by Anonymousreply 73February 21, 2022 4:18 AM

I've seen "Death on the Nile" exactly once, the weekend it was released in 1978, and I still recall Lois Chiles played a character named "Linette Ridgeway"!

I must have liked her!

by Anonymousreply 74February 21, 2022 4:29 AM

[quote]She even did the obligatory "Murder, She Wrote".

Angela Lansbury had previously co-starred with Lois in "Death on the Nile" and she frequently invited actors with whom she'd worked to appear on the show. Very good form on Angie's part.

by Anonymousreply 75February 21, 2022 4:38 AM

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