Stars Behaving Badly: Disastrous Celebrity Hirings

On January 7, 1894, the first copyrighted motion picture was produced at Thomas Edison’s "Kinetographic Theater," otherwise known as the "Black Maria" due to its resemblance to police cruisers of the era. The movie - all five seconds of it - features one of Edison’s employees, a man named Fred Ott, sneezing in dramatic fashion.

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Not surprisingly, Ott makes no attempt to cover his mouth.

The sad truth is that bad behavior on the sets of movies or television shows is nothing new. Whether it’s Ott spreading germs, Christian Bale lambasting a crew member while filming "Terminator Salvation" or the original Terminator-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitting that he "behaved badly" in his treatment of women, "lights, camera, action" and poor manners seem to go together like Naomi Campbell and assault charges.

Bad behavior is all too common in the workplace, but even career-ending moves can't match the drama of these celebrities' show-stopping stunts. (Want to invest in the movies? Find out which stocks to watch in Analyzing Show Biz Stocks.)

One and A Half Men
Recently, in what his publicist Stan Rosenfield referred to as "a preventative measure" in a statement released in February, Charlie Sheen, star of TV’s top-rated comedy "Two and a Half Men" went into rehab following a series of very public and very embarrassing incidents. Among these was a fight with his wife Brooke - on Christmas Day, no less - that ended with felony menacing, third-degree assault and criminal mischief charges being levied against the 44-year-old actor. According to USA Today, Sheen has not yet entered a plea in that case and is due back in court on March 15.

Meanwhile, as Sheen attempts to confront substance abuse problems that may or may not plague him in the future (based on his publicist's explanation for the actor's rehab stint), CBS is in line to lose a lot of money. Advertising Age reports that the average cost of a 30-second ad on the show is $226,335, second only to similar spots run during NBC's "Sunday Night Football" and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy."

Good Brother, Bad Brother
But Sheen is not the only celebrity whose antics have brought a dramatic production to a halt. Randy Quaid, Dennis’ older brother and an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actor, apparently behaved so badly while working on the pre-Broadway play "Lone Star Love" in 2007, that he was banned for life from Actors' Equity and fined $81,000. A complaint filed by all 26 cast members against both Quaid and his wife/manager Evi alleged sexual harassment, physical violence and a variety of other transgressions.

Jan-Michael Vincent
With his Tom Cruise-like good looks and charisma, Vincent starred in a number of action movies including "The Mechanic" with Charles Bronson, before landing the role as brooding helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the CBS series "Airwolf," co-starring Ernest Borgnine, in 1984. Although the show did well, it only lasted three seasons - reputedly due to Vincent’s alcoholism, a disease he admitted to during an interview with U.S. news show "The Insider".

After a vehicle accident that broke his neck and damaged his vocal chords in 1996, Vincent appeared to be making a comeback of sorts with roles in the movies "Buffalo 66" and "White Boys" along with a guest spot on "Nash Bridges."

George Reeves
The first television "Superman," Reeves played the "Man of Steel" from 1951-1958. Like Vincent and unlike Clark Kent, however, Reeves apparently liked some fire in his water.

"Everyday at 4pm, George had an open bar in his dressing room on the set," recalled Phyllis Coates, the actress who played Lois Lane in the first 26 episodes of  "The Adventures of Superman," which was sponsored by Kellogg’s cereal and aired on ABC.

In fact, alcohol may have been behind Reeves’ untimely death. Following the cancellation of the Superman series in 1958, producers planned on bringing the show back for a two-year run starting in 1960. However, in the early morning hours of June 16, 1959, (just three days before his planned wedding to socialite Leonore Lemmon), after a night of drinking and partying, Reeves was found dead in his bed, a bullet hole adorning his right temple. The death was ruled a suicide.

After various attempts to salvage the series, including the suggestion that it continue on as "Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen," "The Adventures of Superman" was alas laid to rest with Reeves.

Shannen Doherty
What list of show-stopping celebrities would be complete without Shannen Doherty, the bad girl who played the nice girl, Brenda Walsh, on the original "Beverly Hills 90210" series. True, Doherty’s firing in 1994 didn’t halt production of the hit show, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. During her four-year tenure on the Fox drama, Doherty was reportedly often late and and feuding with fellow cast members. According to Tori Spelling's 2008 memoir, when Doherty left, she "felt the same as everyone else, like I could breathe again."

Strong words. Certainly nothing to sneeze at.