Lawrence Tierney and Wil Wheaton

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Dude, would it kill ya to admit that the F-word that this old crazy coot used was and is very offensive to millions of people.

Pack yer bags, we're goin' on a guilt trip!

Look, I'm not the one who said it. Offensive as that word may be (and I'm not arguing against that), this situation is still funny. You know, funny? As in humor? As in laughing?

In the end, though... Go crying to Tierney himself if it pisses you off that much.

I dare you.

 

[Doug Otte]

Looks like he was a dick and an asshole.

I wonder how much of it was due to dementia later in life? My Dad became quite obnoxious in his last years, and it wasn't until near the end that we realized he had Alzheimer's.

Doug

 

[Mott the barber]

Never knew this story. Hilarious!

 

[AJBryant]

Looks like he was a dick and an asshole.

I wonder how much of it was due to dementia later in life? My Dad became quite obnoxious in his last years, and it wasn't until near the end that we realized he had Alzheimer's.

Doug

No, Tierney *always* had "issues." Check his bio for info.


Tony

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

When Wheaton replied that he didn't, Tierney responded by saying "Why the hell not? What are you, some kind of sissy faggot?". When Wheaton replied that he was not strong enough to play football, Tierney said "Well, maybe you wouldn't be so weak if you played football!".

I gotta be honest, I didn't even find this worthy of a chuckle. And it's not political correctness over him using the word "faggot". It's just humor usually requires some level of originality, and I don't see too much original about calling a skinny kid a sissy faggot because he doesn't play football.

While he was standing at a urinal, word got around that the legend was there, and soon a bunch of guys were staring at him. Tierney turned around and barked: "What? Are you trying to see my cock, you faggots?"

Okay, now that's funny.

 

[JM1776]

Looks like he was a dick and an asshole.

[McCoy]"Which is a hell of a time saver!"[/McCoy]

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wonder how he behaved when he did that DS9 episode (Business as Usual). If he tried mouthing off to Avery Brooks...

 

[WAxlRose]

Larry used to be my neighbor in Venice, CA around 1994. He was a true character and very friendly. He was one of those guys that could sense if you were a good person or not and he'd treat you accordingly... if you seemed sketchy, he'd sort of "haze" you. He never did that to me though.

He was warm and friendly from the get-go and never represented himself as anything special. He was just a regular guy and I think he didn't realize how big of a star Resevoir Dogs made him.

First time I saw him, I was coming back from the store around the corner from my place near The Venice Boardwalk. There was an old guy just sitting on his beach cruiser on the sidewalk like he was lost in thought. I look up at him and he must have noticed my mouth had dropped open with recognition. Then "the face" spoke, "Hey kid, I'm Larry, I live right over there." I say, "I know who you are, you're "Nice Guy" Eddie's dad!" He seemed a little surprised, but continued, "Oh, you know me? Do you live around here?" I was like, "Yeah, you're a really good actor. I've seen some of your old movies too, my grandmother was a big fan. I live on the next street over." Then he goes, "You seem like a good kid... and your grandmother obviously has good taste. Anytime you wanna talk or need anything or if someone's bothering, you come right over and see me, alright?"

It was just one of those total Gangster moments. I'll never forget it. Anyways, he got to be friendly with my aunt and uncle. My uncle was French and, because Larry had some bad years as an actor and couldn't find work, he moved to France to make films for awhile. He spoke fluent French and liked talking to my uncle about France and the old days.

You hear all these stories about his bad side, but I never saw it. I'm not saying it wasn't there -- I've heard of some of the things that went on at his house -- but he was never anything but sweet and gentle towards me. Larry was just one of those old-school alcoholics with a split personality. I'm not sure if he was an angry drunk or one of those people who drinks to dull their angry side. So, the cheerful guy I knew may have been a product of self-medication Who knows? But I was glad to know him.

 

[Avon]

what he said only seems funny if you're not gay. and easily pleased.

 

[Mage]

Wow, a real hero, picking on a kid.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

As you might remember, Lawrence Tierney played holographic gangster Cyrus Redblock in "The Big Goodbye". I was browsing on wikipedia and encountered a funny anecdote:

In 1988, Tierney played the role of a tough holodeck gangster in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In between scenes Tierney encountered the teenage Wil Wheaton on the steps outside Paramount Stage 16 and asked him if he played football. When Wheaton replied that he didn't, Tierney responded by saying "Why the hell not? What are you, some kind of sissy faggot?". When Wheaton replied that he was not strong enough to play football, Tierney said "Well, maybe you wouldn't be so weak if you played football!".

Maybe it's well-known, but I hadn't heard this before.

When he was doing Resevoir Dogs he got into a spat with Tarantino that ended with Quentin screaming: "Fuck you, you fat fuck! You're fuckin' fired! Take your fat fuckin' ass off my fuckin' set!"

Tierney is a rather... polarizing personality.

 

[Steve67]

Tierney made the likes of Robert Mitchum and Lee Marvin look like Shia Leboeuf (the hero of today's generation).

More on Tierney from Eddie Muller's book, Dark City:

"He was the only actor in Hollywood who posed for more mug shots than publicity photos. The day his mother killed herself in 1960, Tierney was arrested for breaking down a woman's door and assaulting her boyfriend.

His off-screen antics also continued, and in 1948 he served three months for breaking a student's jaw. Throughout the 1950s, he faced a string of charges from kicking a policeman while drunk and disorderly to hitting a waiter in the face with a sugar-bowl and attempting to choke the life out of a cab driver."

Tierney's the kind of guy one gave a wide berth...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm wondering why an ultra tough guy like this would agree to do shows like TNG and DS9 in the first place.

 

[RandyS]

I'm wondering why an ultra tough guy like this would agree to do shows like TNG and DS9 in the first place.

The same reason every actor who is "above Star Trek": the paycheck.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Ya, real funny. Homophobia is real funny.

Homophobic people are extremely funny.

 

[Trekker4747]

From things I read it's either Lawrence Tierney had a type of sense of humor you'd really have to "get" in order to get, or he was out if his mind. His appearance on Seinfeld, and what the cast has said about their experience with him, shows that.

He may have been a great actor but calling a teenage-boy a slur for not playing football or stealing a knife from a TV-show set is a bit... nutty and over the social line.

 

[RAMA]

This is the sort of thing that gives Hollywood some really interesting characters...of course in a car wreck sort of way.

RAMA

 

[BillJ]

what he said only seems funny if you're not gay. and easily pleased.

Guilty on both counts.

 

[Steve67]

Those who find it funny probably think so because it happened to Wil Wheaton. The hatred for this poor guy has never ceased to baffle me.

 

[Art Vandelay]

^ I like Wil Wheaton, and I read all of his brilliant non-fiction books. Heck, I even appreciate Wesley!

Nonetheless, I find the anecdote to be funny, not because I think homophobia is funny, but because Tierney's incredible and over-the-top randomness is.

Wil himself does a side-splitting reading of the anecdote in the audio version of his Just a Geek, so even he could appreciate the humor of the situation.