Oliver Reed "Tommy". With their reckless lifestyles Reed and Moon had much in common, and both cited the hard drinking actor Robert Newton as a role model. Christopher Lee, a friend and colleague of Reed, commented on his alcoholism in 2014: "when he started, after [drink] number eight, he became a complete monster. It was awful to see." Reed was often irritated that his appearances on TV talk shows concentrated on his drinking feats rather than his latest films and acting career. On 26 September 1975, in front of a speechless Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show", the bellicose Reed had a
Oliver Reed his second film with Winner, alongside Michael Crawford. After playing a villain in a horror movie, "The Shuttered Room" (1967) he did a third with Winner, "I'll Never Forget What's'isname" (1967), co-starring with Orson Welles. Reed was reunited with Russell for another TV movie, "Dante's Inferno" (1968), playing Dante Gabriel Rossetti . Reed became a star playing Bill Sikes in "Oliver!" (1968), alongside Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Mark Lester, Jack Wild and Harry Secombe, in his uncle Carol Reed's screen version of the successful stage musical. It was a huge hit and Reed's performance much acclaimed. He was in the