Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (51 page)

"Marilyn Monroe would have frightened me to death," Michael said. "Too
much woman."

Peck and Michael also talked about the increasing infringement of the
media into a star's private life, and Peck sympathized with the ongoing invasions of Michael's privacy. "It's second rate to expose one's insides to the public," Peck said. "I don't like the tendency of all these actors to go on TV and
tell all. It's in poor taste. The only self-revelation I go for is in my screen performance. The public doesn't need to know that I fucked Ava Gardner."

Michael wanted to know how Peck got his start, and the actor laughed.
"On the stage. I once worked with the great Katherine Cornell, a famous stage
actress long before your day. She told me that I'd never make it as a film star.
`One of your ears is larger than the other,' she said, as if I didn't already know
that."

One night Peck arrived unexpectedly at Michael's door, asking for the
copy of the 1987 film Amazing Grace and Chuck that Peck had made with
Jamie Lee Curtis. As a good neighbor, he'd lent the film to Michael but had to
pick it up because a film exhibitor had received a defective copy. Peck wanted to get a good print in time for an eight o'clock showing of the film in a
neighboring town. Peck returned later for a visit with Michael.

He surprised Michael by telling him that political groups were being formed to run him for President in the 1988 elections. "These foolish people think the world will
be improved considerably if I replace Reagan in
the White House. Then there are those who think
Paul Newman should run as president with me
running as vice president."

Gregory Peck

"The day has come," Michael proclaimed.
"Movie stars taking over the role of politicians."

Peck amused Michael by reading to him an
article that suggested Charlton Heston should run
as the Republican candidate for President, with
Peck taking up the Democratic banner. "Peck has
nothing to compare with Heston's Moses," the
actor read from the newspaper column, "although Peck's portrayal of Douglas
MacArthur cannot be taken lightly."

Peck facetiously said he feared that if he ran for President, his previous
roles, where he played "certifiable lunatics," would be used against him. He
included Captain Ahab in Moby Dick and Dr. Josef Mengele in The Boys from
Brazil.

"I also suffered traumatic anxiety in Spellbound, and in Twelve O'Clock
High I went to pieces under the strain of sending bombers on missions where
they might die."

"I don't know," Michael said. "I've watched with my friend, Bubbles,
Bedtime for Bonzo many times. It didn't keep Reagan out of the White House.
Incidentally, if Bedtime for Bonzo is remade, I want Bubbles to play the lead.
Perhaps you'll take the Reagan role in the remake."

Peck told Michael that "about as close as I will ever get to the White
House is a visit I paid there when Richard Nixon was president. He kept praising my performances in films, and told me that in all of them I stood for the
American way of life. I asked Nixon, `Which films were your favorites?' I
fully expected him to say To Kill a Mockingbird. Everybody goes for that one.
Nixon said he thought I was most memorable in Red River, Fort Apache, She
Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Sands oflwo Jima. I didn't want to embarrass the
President but he had confused me with John Wayne."

One night Peck informed Michael that he'd signed with Michael's dear
friend, Jane Fonda, to make a movie called Old Gringo.

Michael and Peck remained friends for a quarter of a century. Peck often
went riding with Michael on his ranch, Neverland, and the actor was amazed
that Michael had seen To Kill a Mockingbird so many times that he had actually memorized all the dialogue.

Unlike most of Michael's fabled friends, Peck defended him when charges of child molestation arose. He even called Michael "a model parent,"
and posted a letter on Michael's website, defending him.

During many happy visits to Neverland, Peck saw up close how Michael
was with his children, Prince Michael I and Paris, from his marriage to Debbie
Rowe, his dermatology nurse. Peck even lived to see Michael as a parent to
Prince Michael II by a surrogate mother.

At Michael's 30th Anniversary Celebration at New York's Madison
Square Garden in 2001, an aging and ailing Peck taped a glowing video tribute. He'd kept his good looks as he matured, but he died in June of 2003.
When Michael heard the news broadcast on TV, he cried for hours at the loss
of such a steadfast and loyal friend. "The others deserted me," Michael
claimed. "They won't take my calls. But Gregory was always there for me."

On Monday, June 16, 2003 Cardinal Roger Michael Mahoney, archbishop of Los Angeles, held up funeral services for 20 minutes because of
Michael's late arrival at Peck's funeral. The moment he walked into the
church, Michael realized he was inappropriately dressed. For the occasion,
he'd worn a red jacket. To his dismay, he discovered that all the ushers were
wearing a similar red jacket. Michael demanded that the services be further
delayed until he could send for a black jacket, but the archbishop refused to
accommodate him any more.

After the services, Michael shook hands with Harry Belafonte and
Anjelica Huston, with whom he'd costarred in Captain EO. He stepped up in
front of Greta Konen Peck, the hairdresser Peck had married, and offered his
condolences.

She was 92 years old, and she took Michael's hand and gently squeezed
it. "My husband admired you very much." Holding back tears, she said, "The
story is over. No more Kilimanjaros to climb." She was referring to the 1952
movie, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, that her husband had made with Susan
Hayward and Ava Gardner.

The friendship that existed between Charlton Heston and Michael, or even
Gregory Peck and Michael, surprised Hollywood. His forming a relationship
with Sophia Loren shocked insiders. "What are those two doing at night
together?" asked reporter Donald Wolper. "I can guarantee they're not getting
together for sex."

For all the world to hear, the forever chic and still glamorous Neapolitan
proclaimed, "When I met him, it was love at first sight," she said.

In 1988, when Michael performed in Paris, Loren, in stunning couture,
showed up to greet him. To the show, she'd invited an entourage of two dozen
guests. When Michael appeared in Switzerland that same year, the continenthopping Loren was also there to greet him.

Loren also appeared at Neverland for dinner with Michael, but claimed she wouldn't show up if he invited his "best
friend," Marlon Brando.

"When we made that 1967 disaster, A
Countess from Hong Kong, your Mr. Brando
told me that `my tits and ass are too big,"' Loren
confided to Michael. "What about his tits and
ass being too big? Fatso!" The picture had been
directed by a 77-year-old Charlie Chaplin, who
still remained Michael's all-time screen
favorite.

Anjelica Huston

Marlon later said, "Michael Jackson is the
only person in the world who appreciated that
movie."

When Michael expressed his admiration of Loren's performance in the
film, she said, "How very kind. But one reviewer found that Brando and moi
had `about as much passion as that of a pair of love-wracked halibuts.' How
right he was."

"Is it true that Marlon told Chaplin at the end of the shoot..." He hesitated, not wanting to say the words.

"Brando informed Chaplin, `You can take this fucking film and stick it up
your ass-frame by frame!' Your Mr. Brando has such a way with words."

Michael was fascinated by Loren's background and eagerly listened to
stories of her private life. Her upbringing had been even more difficult than
his own, as she'd been born in a ward for unmarried mothers in Naples. She
went on to become a star and international sex symbol, cooking spaghetti for
Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and dining with the Queen of England.

Michael was particularly interested in Loren's impression of working with
his movie star pals-not just Brando, but Gregory Peck in Arabesque in 1966,
and even Charlton Heston in the 1961 El Cid. "I was going through my epic
period," Loren said, making it sound like an apology.

Michael was eager to learn what he could about Cary Grant, with whom
Loren had appeared in the 1957 The Pride and the Passion and the 1958
Houseboat. One of Michael's all-time favorite films was Bringing Up Baby.
Grant made the film in 1938 for RKO opposite Michael's friend, Katharine
Hepburn. "I like leopards-that's why I liked the movie," Michael said.

He asked Loren if she could arrange for him to meet Grant. "Ask your
friend Katharine Hepburn to set it up," Loren said, somewhat dismissively.

Weeks later Michael learned that Grant had fallen for Loren, filling her
dressing room with fresh roses every day during the making of Houseboat. "I
knew he loved me," Loren later said, "but he never came right out and said
so-that's not his style." In spite of her wooing by the handsome actor, Loren chose to stay with Carlo Ponti, her husband. Michael later learned that Loren
had even spurned the advances of President John F. Kennedy.

In March of 1987, when Motown Productions launched a special for
Showtime's cable network, Motown on Showtime. Michael Jackson, Loren
went on the air as an expert on Michael Jackson. So did Elizabeth Taylor, joining Yoko Ono and Gene Kelly. Two people refused to cooperate: Diana Ross,
still angered by Michael's boycott of her wedding to Arne Naess, and Michael
himself. Michael's refusal to participate in his own tribute could only be
viewed as arrogance by Motown's Berry Gordy Jr.

When he heard that Ross had turned down Motown's request to host his
tribute, Michael attempted a lame explanation to the press. "I was jealousthat's why I didn't go to the wedding," he falsely claimed. "I wanted to marry
Diana myself. The fourteen-year difference between us doesn't matter to me."

At this point in Michael's career, not one member of the press, even the
most gullible, believed him. To an increasing degree, his straight talk was met
with greater and greater skepticism.

Michael got even with Ross. Even though he was not participating in the
Showtime "lovefest," he had total control over the project. The American public heard that Ross had taken credit for discovering The Jackson 5, but
Michael now began dismissing that claim as publicity hype. "Not a word of
truth to it," Michael said in direct contrast to statements he'd made since the
70s.

Michael was once overheard backstage at a concert talking to people he
perceived as stagehands, not knowing that Jonathan Reeves was a freelance
reporter who lived and fed on the fringe world of celebrities. "I can't be seen
with run-of-the-mill celebrities, people like Richard Gere or Cindy Crawford.
With my status in the world, I need to hang out with Jackie, Elizabeth, or
Marlon. Sophia Loren is definitely A-list. I mean, she even won an Oscar. I'm
proud to be photographed with
her. She's so elegant, so beautiful, and, also, the world's
best chef."

An artist's portrayal of MJ and Sophia Loren