|
[when asked if John belived his own lies]
Bill Amerson:
Oh yes, John did beleive a lot of his own lies. John often got so carried away with lying about stuff that he frequently began to beleive his own lies himself. One of the stories that John told to the public was of my doing.
During the early years of his career, John and I came up with a story about John being a gigolo. Once a year duirng the late 1960s and early 1970s, John would fly to England to stay for a week with a wealthy, middle aged widow named Lady Agatha to be her companion and escort. She would pay him $10,000, as well as pay for his round-trip plane ticket and give him a one diamond a year so he could put onto a ring that he wore on his right forefinger. Now for the record, none of that was true. But the public loved hearing it and the press ate it up. Many yeras later during the summer of 1984, John and I rented a fishing boat and we went fishing of Catalina Island. John then started talking about the old days, and how he loved traveling on loctaion to Mexico, Hawaii, etc, to film of his films.
During that time he said, "remember when I used to go to England once a year to meet with Lady Agatha? " Incredulous, I looked at him and patiently said, "John, you never went to England in your life." John said, "what do you mean? " I said, "we made that up.
Don't you remember?
That was a sotry you and I made up together for the press." After a pause, John said, "oh, that's right." So, bottom line, he did believe a lot of his own bullshit.
|
